Chapter 14

The Forum in Inglewood

Tori couldn’t believe she had sat through nearly four quarters of a basketball game. She had wanted to go home at halftime but did not want to ruin it for Ashley who was obviously enjoying herself and the view she was getting. She and Devin noticed each other immediately upon his entrance on the court. He waved, she nodded. Throughout the game when he wasn’t busy, he glanced her way. Ashley noticed this and she also noticed the way Torian practically ignored him. Devin Howard was one of the finest men on the team. Torian had to be crazy to ignore him. She wondered if they knew each other. Devin was a USC alum. Torian was one too, so it was possible they knew each other.

“Ms. White, I think Devin likes you. He keeps eying you when he’s not busy with the ball.” Ashley giggled.

“Ashley, how many times must I remind you that I’m not much older than you, nor are we in the office. You can call me Torian.” Tori said, completely ignoring Ashley’s comment about Devin.

“Sorry…Torian. I’m just used to it. But anyway, Devin Howard is fine!”

Tori eyed the younger women, then sighed before answering her. “Yes, he’s quite attractive. I’m sure he has lots of women following behind him. I would not want to be a part of that.”

“Well, there’s no harm in looking though.” Ashley said as she watched Devin run down the court, stop at the three point line, and score. “He’s poetry in motion. Better than Kobe.”

Tori almost rolled her eyes. She wanted to explain to Ashley about Devin but chose to keep her mouth shut. She wasn’t too keen on letting it be known to people who didn’t already know that she once dated the great Devin Howard and dumped him. They’d wonder if she was crazy. She didn’t need to hear that again.

When the game finally ended, with the Lakers being the victors, Tori grabbed her purse from under her seat and stood up, ready to be out. She and Ashley were both surprised when Devin came up to them.

“Tori! You leaving?” Devin asked. Ashley looked from Devin to Tori and back to Devin again. Devin pretty much confirmed that he and Tori knew each other.

“Yeah, I am,” Tori answered. “Good game.” She started to walk off but Devin reached out and grabbed her hand.

“Wait, Tori, I want to talk to you.”

“Not now, Devin. I’m tired. It’s been a long day. I’m ready to go home.” Tori pleaded.

“Please. You know it’s been a while since we‘ve seen or talked to each other.” He looked over Tori’s head and noticed his team was heading to the locker room. “Look, I gotta head to the locker room. Will you wait for me?”

Tori did not recognize the voice that came from her that told him yes. That couldn’t have been her. But she guesed it was because Devin’s face lit up into a smile.

“Thanks T, this means a lot to me. I want you to wait near the locker room.” He started to walk her that way but noticed Tori held back. “What?”

“Did you notice that I have company?” Tori nodded toward Ashley.

“My bad,” Devin smiled. “What’s up, I’m Devin.” He extended his hand to Ashley who shook it earnestly.

“I’m Ashley, I’m Ms. Wh-Torian’s assistant.” She quickly corrected herself.

“Nice to meet you. Both of ya’ll come with me.” He turned around and walked toward the locker room, smiling, waving, and shaking hands of fans as he passed them. Tori and Ashley followed behind. Upon coming to the locker room, Devin spoke to the security guards and pointed to Tori and Ashley, to let them know that the women were waiting for him and that it was cool for them to wait near the door. Then he disappeared inside. The guards offered them seats on a bench nearby and they sat down on it. Tori started questioning her sanity.

Okay, this is bull. Why am I waiting for him? Crazy. I should get up and walk out here and go home. We have nothing to say to each other.

She almost did just that when Ashley’s voice broke through her thoughts.

“Not trying to be all in your business or anything, and you don’t have to answer but how do you an Devin know each other?” Ashley asked Tori innocently.

“We went to college together.” was Torian’s only reply.

“Oh.” Ashley replied and decided not to ask her anything else. Devin seemed to be a touchy subject with Torian and she understood when a woman didn’t want to open up a can of worms. She guessed that they must have dated at one point but she wasn’t going to ask.

Devin came out of the locker room twenty minutes later dressed casually in a pair of khaki shorts and a t-shirt. He smiled when he saw that Tori was still there when he got back. Part of him just knew she was going to leave him hanging and be gone when he came out.

“There’s a diner around the corner. Marcello‘s. How about we go there and get a little something to eat? I’m starved.” Devin looked from Tori to Ashley, waiting for a response.

“I’m not hungry. You guys can go ahead and catch up like you want to. I need to be getting home.” Ashley announced, clearly aware that Devin needed this time alone with Tori for whatever reason.

“But you came here with me in my car.” Tori turned and looked at Ashley.

“I’ll catch a cab, no biggie.” Ashley smiled.

“I’ll pay for it.” Devin offered.

“You don’t have to do that.” Ashley was shocked at how nice Devin was.

“No, I insist. A gentleman should always pay for a lady’s safe return home. It’s really no problem for me to do that.” Devin answered.

“Wow,” Ashley smiled. “Thanks. That’s one of the nicest things someone has done for me.”

“Well, from your genuine shock, it must not happen too often. That’s a shame.”

Tori watched the exchange in front of her with raised eyebrows. This wasn’t the Devin she remembered. Was he putting on a show? Trying to impress her? Or what? She said nothing as Devin led them out to the front of the Forum. He signed a few autographs on the way, posed for a few pictures, and accepted congratulations on a good game. Tori almost smiled. Devin had achieved his dream of the NBA, she should have been proud. Despite all the craziness he did while in college, he succeeded, graduated with a degree and still went to the NBA, unlike most of his peers who either dropped out, got killed, or went to the draft in the middle of college without getting a degree as back up. She could not be mad at that.

“You two have a good night.” Ashley said as she stepped into the cab. Devin held the door open for her, handed her a fifty dollar bill, told her to keep the change, and bid her good night before closing the door.

“So…your car or mine?” Devin asked as he stood at the curb with Tori.

“You take yours. I’ll take mine. I want to leave directly for home after leaving the diner. Don’t want to have to come back here for it.”

“Okay. I’ll see you there.” Devin walked off. Tori walked off to find her car, still questioning why she was entertaining Devin. She kept telling herself they had nothing to say to each other, yet she was still going to meet him at a diner. She had to remind herself that this was not college and that they were both grown now and should be able to have civilized conversation. That’s what she told herself all the way to Marcello’s. He drove up just as she was getting out of her car. They walked into the diner together. He picked a booth in the corner and they sat down. A waiter immediately took their orders. He ordered lasagna and she ordered a chicken salad.

“How have you been, Torian?” Devin asked once the waiter left.

“Fine. I’ve been making it. In fact, I just got promoted to General Manager at my firm this morning. That means six figures for me so I’m happy about that.” She answered.

“Congrats on the job promotion. What do you do?”

“I was an ad exec at Lewis & Associates. Now as general manager I will be pretty much running the entire office, under my boss of course.”

“Well that’s definitely something to celebrate. We should get some wine for this occasion. You drink?” Devin asked.

When Tori shook her head no, Devin apologized.

“It’s cool.” Tori said.

Devin grabbed her hand and flipped it over, his eyes trained on the scars near her wrist. “I saw this when you handed the waiter back the menu.” He traced the mark left by the razor with his finger. This made Tori uncomfortable and she pulled her hand back from his grasp.

“It’s nothing.” Tori said quickly. By the way, I want to thank you for being there for me back then, even though we weren‘t together. I know I didn’t thank you then but I do appreciate it.” She remembered the flowers and hospital visits by Devin. Even when she didn’t want to see him he had shown up to offer her support.

“You don’t have to thank me. I would have done it anyway. I was worried about you. I know how you felt about your friends and I am truly sorry that had to happen.”

“Thanks.” Tori replied. She wanted to change the subject. She did not feel like talking about her friends’ murders. “So what’s been going on with you? You ballin’ and everything. I’m sure you have a lot of interesting things to talk about.”

“What’s there to say?” Devin smiled. “You know I eat, sleep, and live basketball. That’s all I’ve been doing the past five years. You know I made rookie of the year my first year in the NBA. I’ve been MVP quite a few times, had to fight Kobe to get it though.” He laughed at the mention of his teammate. “We’re in the middle of playoffs right now so it’s that MVP time again.”

“I see. Ya’ll are on the same team but there’s competition between ya’ll.”

“It’s all good. A little competition is good, but it hasn’t gotten to the point where he sees me as Shaq and wants to out me from the team. We do get along on and off the court.”

“Well, that’s good.”

“Besides, Kobe getting up there in age. It’s time for homie to pass the torch.” Devin laughed. When Tori didn’t laugh with him, he stopped and looked at her seriously. “But really, how have you been? I have not seen you crack a smile since I saw you at the game. That’s definitely not the Tori I knew. I used to be able to make you smile or laugh at anything.”

“I just…don’t find much to smile about these days. I mean other than the promotion. I worked my butt off for that so I’m happy about that. Outside of that, there’s nothing.” She answered him honestly.

“You don’t have anyone in your life to make you smile?” He asked.

The waiter came back with their food before Tori answered him. He asked her again once the waiter walked away.

“I don’t have time to let love in my life right now. I can’t go through that again.”

Once the words were out, she could not take them back. Devin heard them loud and clear.

“Are you talking about me or Chris?” He stared at her intently. She put her fork down and looked up at him, wishing she had not said a word. It was bound to come out one day though.

“What?” She asked.

“You said you can’t go through that again. Are you talking about my cheating or Chris’s dying? Both broke your heart?”

“Of course Chris’s death broke my heart. So did Chey’s and Shad’s. They were my friends. I loved them.” She answered.

“That’s not what I’m talking about though. I mean, it is, but what I’m getting at is, were you in love with him when he died?”

Yeah, she knew he’d ask her that one day. “Yes, I was.” She answered him. Why lie? All of that stuff was years ago. No sense in him being upset about it now. But damn him for making her think of Chris again. He was a touchy subject with her, always would be.

“Were you in love with him when you were with me?” was Devin’s next question.

“Yes.” was her next answer. “And he loved me. But we never told each other. He died before we could. End of story. I hope you don’t come at me with any kind of accusations, because for one, you didn’t love me, and two, you repeatedly cheated on me while trying to take my virginity. I wasted time with you when I could have been with someone who really did love me. I don’t blame you for the time wasted though, I blame myself.”

There she said it. Now he knew the truth. How she really felt. If it hurt his ego to know that she loved someone else while being his girlfriend, oh well. She had the best intentions with Devin but he ruined it, and in the end her heart won out.

“Tori, I’m sorry.” was all Devin could say.

“Don’t be. I forgave you a long time ago.”

Tori stood up from her seat, tossed a few dollars on the table, and hurried from the restaurant. She needed to get home so she could be alone. The short lived conversation with Devin had opened up a can of worms she had spent five years desperately trying to close. She wanted to cry and wanted to do it in the comfort of her own home. She bumped into somebody who was walking in as she was walking out. She was looking down so she didn’t see who it was. She mumbled her apology and continued on out the door. Devin followed after her, calling her name. Kyle stood near the door looking back at the woman and the guy he recognized as being the famous basketball player. The woman had looked like she was near tears on the way out of the restaurant when she bumped into him. He figured the baller must have told her that whatever they had going on was over. Oh well, Kyle thought as he went on into the restaurant, what ever happened to ‘I don’t chase them, I just replace them?’”