The Game Changer The Final Score - By L.M. Trio Page 0,85
JJ and I begin to badger him as to why he has yet to move in.
“I don’t know. I guess I’m not ready. Besides, I don’t have any furniture, what am I gonna do? Sleep on the floor?” He shrugs his shoulders.
“So, why don’t you buy some?” I ask sarcastically.
“I don’t know what to pick out. I want it to look right… Why don’t you do it for me?”
“Seriously? You’d let me decorate your house?” I ask, assuming he’s teasing as usual.
“Yeah, why not? You girls are better at that stuff than me. You’d be doing me a favor,” he says seriously. “Here...” He hands us each a magazine off the counter. “…Start pickin’ shit out.”
“Mikey, I’m serious. Do you really want us to pick out everything?”
“DeDe, yes, I’m serious, too,” he says, laughing. “You gonna do it now?”
“I can do it now.” I laugh, flipping through a magazine. “How much can I spend?”
He hesitates. “Uh… is two hundred enough?”
“Two hundred what?” JJ asks, looking at him as if he’s crazy.
“Two hundred thousand?” He shrugs.
“Don’t tell her that!” Luke yells while JJ and I burst out laughing.
“What?” he asks.
“What? Did ya settle another contract without me knowing?” Luke asks, laughing.
The boys both got paid well when they were drafted. They made a few million apiece, but I’m thinking he’s had to have spent a good amount over the last couple of years. He’s got at least another year or two before he’s eligible to negotiate a new contract. Probably a huge contract, if he continues to perform like he did at the end of last season. Luke will most likely have to wait longer since he missed a couple of years. I’m not sure how that’s going to work out.
“No, but what have I ever bought besides this house? You’ve spent more money than me.” He laughs, pointing to Luke. “Our condo only cost about a hundred grand at the time, and we split that. My car doesn’t cost shit. I really don’t spend a lot. This house was my biggest purchase. I spent a half a mil,” he says, shrugging his shoulders.
“Yeah, but the celebrity lifestyle you live… You’ve probably spent a ton of money flying around everywhere and going out with your celebrity friends,” I say sarcastically.
“De, shut up. You have no clue what you’re even talkin’ about. I just got done playing ball like twelve weeks ago? How much money do you think I blew in three months? Nine months out of the fuckin’ year I’m usually in bed by nine o’clock unless I’m playin’ a night game. Despite what you think, I hardly ever go out,” he says defensively.
“Alright, relax. I’m just teasing you,” I say, laughing, knowing I hit a nerve. We still occasionally argue like brother and sister.
“You’re a pain in the ass. You always think the worst.” His eyes fixate on mine, he’s upset by my accusation and it makes me feel sorry for saying it. Then, Luke adds in his two cents agreeing with him.
“Okay, no more arguing. She was teasing,” JJ, the peacemaker, says.
“That’s where you’re wrong… I don’t think the worst,” I say softly to him, keeping eye contact, while JJ is reprimanding Luke to stay out of it. All I can think about at this moment, looking into his sapphire eyes, are how his lips felt when they were pressed against mine.
“Anyway, Mikey, the point is, we just spent about a hundred grand on all of the renovations we’ve done to the house, including furniture. You have nothing to do, but paint and buy furniture. The rest of this house is perfect. De is great at picking out nice things and getting great deals. She used to do it for me all the time,” JJ says. We laugh, remembering when we would go shopping at The Walk in AC.
“Alright, like I said, I don’t know about these things.” He shrugs. “So are you going to do it or not?” he asks, throwing his credit card on the counter. “Here. There’s more than you need on here; whatever you think, just do it.”
“Of course I will, if that’s what you want, but what colors are you thinking?” I hold up the swatches. JJ points to a pretty sage color.
“I’m not thinking. Surprise me.” He laughs. “Just make it look really nice, that’s all I want.”
“You’re sure?”
“Absolutely. When will you be done? I’m going to be losing my roommates soon and I know they’ll miss me, so I want to stay