Page 51 of Free Agent

Which was made so clear when the music we’d had playing in the background switched and the opening strains of Dru Hill’s “I Should Be” started playing.

I turned to Tim with a grin, shaking my head.

He was the one whose phone was connected to the Bluetooth speaker.

“Come on, man, don’t do this shit.” I laughed, and he shrugged.

“Don’t do what?”

“You know exactly what.” I chuckled, eyes narrowed as my sister Tamira came into the camera frame with me, holding up an empty liquor bottle upside down in front of her face.

“Lies,” she sang, “And deceit?—”

Shit.

I couldn’t even help myself.

I started singing along with full fucking gusto.

With no shade intended, for real.

This being my jam didn’t have anything to do with Montgomery Rudolph being the exact kind of motherfucker Sisqó n’em were singing about, trying to convince that woman she should drop ol’ boy.

It wasn’t my fault the shit was relevant.

It wasn’t my fault that “All The Things Your Man Won’t Do” was next on the playlist.

It wasn’t my fault that “You Should Let Me Love You” was up after that.

I was too busy with hotel room karaoke to pay much attention to the comments on the live stream, but when that last song ended and I came back to them, I immediately started laughing.

There were a lot of comments about bro code and “Mr. Lowdown” and whatever the fuck else. The majority were rocking with me though.

Which… was funny and all that until I saw people were tagging Aurora.

Instantly sobering.

I wasn’t trying to send any bullshit in her direction.

“Hey y’all, don’t tag her in this stuff, aight? We’re just fucking around, all having a good time, just let it be that,” I admonished.

I couldn’t guarantee how much good it would do, but I couldn’t not say anything, and I was pleasantly surprised though, to find that most people did let it go. But after that, it was time to call it a night.

I set myself up in an extra room in the suite I’d set up for my siblings, not seeing the point of going back to the team hotel for the night. With nothing to celebrate, most of the team was opting to hang with their families and lick their wounds before we headed back to Connecticut.

About an hour later, I was reclined in bed, and decided to stop avoiding the inevitable. I went on and checked my phone.

I wasn’t too surprised that there was a text from Aurora.

Wow. That was something. - Rori M

Shit.

It didn’t take rocket science to guess that she’d either seen or heard about the livestream, and wasn’t impressed, and I couldn’t blame her for being pissed.

Instead of a true reply, I hit her back with eye emojis, trying to test the waters a bit and get a gauge on where her mood was since a couple of hours had passed since she initially texted me.

Eyes is all I get? Oh, okay. – Rori M

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