“Alanah, what are we doing tonight?”
Jack walks into the kitchen and takes a seat at the island. He had just finished up some meetings with Nike and a signing at Foot Locker. Alanah is making a sandwich with her headphones in. She’s dancing and singing along to what sounds like Beyonce song. He thinks it’s the cutest thing he’s ever seen.
She turns around and jumps in surprise when she sees him and pulls the earbuds out of her ears.
“Why are you walking around the house like a creep?” She walks up to him and gives him a kiss before taking a seat next to him and eating her sandwich.
“I’m not being a creep. I called you twice, but you didn’t answer. Are we doing anything tonight? It’s New Year’s Eve and all.”
“Well, this is your city, so it’s totally your call. I don’t know what’s going on in the area. I’d be just fine sitting around the house with you. Netflix and chill.”
“Netflix and chill, huh?”
His phone vibrates on the counter and he sees a text message from Justice Young inviting him to a party at Ace of Spades downtown.
“You wanna go to a party with Justice and some of his friends?”
“Nah, I really just want to stay in. I haven’t seen you in a couple months aside from FaceTime and I just got in this morning before your game against Memphis and then I went to the game, took a nap after the game and now here we are. I don’t know how you have the energy right now.”
“I have energy for more than you think right now.”
Alanah raises her eyebrows at him.
“Oh, really?”
“Yeah. Let me just let Justice know that we will not be joining him tonight.”
###############################################
Jack woke up to a buzzing on the table next to him. He picked up his phone, squinting at the brightness of the screen.
“Why the hell is Justice calling me at six in the morning? I’m not answering this.”
He muted the phone and put it back on the table.
A couple minutes later, it buzzed again. He grabbed his phone, headed into the bathroom and shut the door behind hm.
“Justice, this better be good, man.”
“Happy New Year, fam!”
“Are you drunk?”
“No. I don’t think so. If I am, this is the best hallucination ever. I need you to get downtown to the car museum.”
“Right now?”
“Yes, right now! Come on, man. It should only take you like fifteen minutes.”
“I need to get dressed, give me twenty.”
Jack and Alanah arrived at the California Auto Museum and park next to Justice’s car. They see him talking animatedly on his phone. He honks the horn to get his attention and Justice waves for them to get out.
“Sup, Alanah. Sorry to have you out so early, I didn’t think he was going to wake you up.”
“Yeah, well he isn’t as quiet as he thinks he is.”
“Alright, Justice. We’re here, man. What’s up?”
“Turn around.”
“Oh, my God, Jackson!”
Behind him he sees a huge billboard with his and Justice’s faces on it that read, Kings New Dynamic Duo: The City is Ours.
“This is our city, man. Our city! You know what that means?”
“So, the trade talk is over and done?”
“Looks like it. It’s time to go to work, man. Let’s make it happen.”
After taking a few pictures of the billboard to send to his mom and his friends, he heads back home with plans to meet up with Justice later.
####################################
“Thanks for lunch, man.”
“No problem, Just. This is a big day for Orange Juice, man. We have got to do Sacramento proud.”
“And you will,” said Bruce. Bruce had dropped by with some endorsement news from Spalding and 2K. And of course, he wanted to talk about the billboard.
“Thanks, Bruce. We can get back to focusing on basketball now.”
“Definitely. The better you perform on the court, the more work I get for you off the court.”
“Big Bucks Bruce!”
“Well, I have some news,” Alanah said when there was a break in the conversation.
“I am moving to Sacramento.”
Jack looked at her in complete shock.
“When?”
“Well, I hadn’t planned on going back. I, uh, actually decided to take the semester off to see how things go out here. I’ll look for somewhere to enroll in the summer. I plan to finish my degree.”
“Baby, that’s awesome news! I can’t believe it. I wanna propose a toast. 2017 is going to be the best year ever.”
“Hold that thought, Pres.” Justice said looking up from his phone before getting up from the table. He came back a few minutes later with Denver Levins.
“Guess who’s back?”
“What? This is great, D. The team came to their senses, huh? You’ve been doing work in the D-League, man. We’ve been watching you.”
“It’s just a ten-day deal for right now. I plan to make the most of it though.”
“We’ll be sure to help you out however we can, man. I’m glad you’re back. Okay, toast for real. 2017 is already off to an epic start.”
03-01-2018, 07:31 PM
