-6-

I woke up the next morning and prepared for the day with my family. We had fun and it was a good day. We were now sitting at the Olive Garden having dinner. "Zuhair you screamed like such a little bitch", said Ashton one of the twins. Chuckling, I threw a bread stick at him. "Language Ash, and Zury don't play with food", my mother admonished which caused the entire table to erupt in laughter. After dinner we went home. It was funny how I hadn't realized how imperative it was to spend time with them too instead of consistently working. I face timed Min Jae to check on him. 

"Hyung", I said in greeting putting on an oversized t-shirt to go to bed. "Zuhair", he said lowly. He looked so down and dejected and it was breaking my heart. "Where are you?" I asked him grabbing a sweater and some slides. Once I had packed a few things for an overnight bag I called an uber. "Home. I am not going anywhere." "Good im on my way." "Nah you don't have to do that I mean it. Don't go out of your way I will get over this". 

"No, when you hurt I hurt Min Jae, I hurt too. I can't be in my island of positivity here knowing that you are drowning. Lets drown together but also rise together as lame as that sounds. How the fuck do you trust me to write anything when i'm so corny and cliche... anyway let me in when I get there", I informed him hanging up without giving him an opportunity to talk me out of it. Once i arrived i tried opening the door and was happy that he had left it open. I locked the door and went to find him, he was sitting on the single seat couch on his phone. I went up to him and embraced him. I was hoping the couch would be able to handle both of us.

We stayed like that for a while and then went to sit outside the balcony after I had made us some drinks. "You know what fucking hurts is that I had felt like I had found the one." "Do you think you will ever leave porn?" I asked him quietly. He was quiet for a while sipping on his drink pensively. 

"I mean you have to at some point. Its not a long lasting career. I find those old vs young videos fucking disgusting like do people know what their grandpa's are doing in their spare time?"

Laughter erupted from my chest, "we need to start a new movement, hashtag check on grandad he might be filming porn", we both laughed once more.

"But on a serious note though MJ, what's next?"

"Maybe give a nine to five serious consideration. How about you?" 

"I want to be an influencer you know the fucking vibes already babes", I said jovially in a mock Essex accent. "Lay off the Geordie shore and the Love Island", he said chuckling. We drank more and more and at some point became drunk. We were blasting, Icona Pop whilst dancing in his living room.

"I got this feeling on the summer day when you were gone, I crashed my car into the bridge, I watched, I let it burn", I sang. "I threw your shit into a bag and pushed it down the stairs

I crashed my car into the bridge, I don't care!" he chimed. Then together we started singing, "I love it, I don't care! ...You're on a different road, I'm in the Milky Way You want me down on Earth, but I am up in space You're so damn hard to please, we gotta kill this switch

You're from the '70s, but I'm a '90s bitch!" We laughed and downed our drinks. "I am so happy that your mood has picked up", I said diving onto the couch.

"Me too", he said settling in with me.

At this point in the night, at about 2 am we were both exhausted and over the dancing and singing. "Geordie?" I asked him. "Only if its some reruns I want to see Chloe going off", we both chuckled and found one of the earlier seasons and started watching. At some point we knocked out on the couch. I woke up the next day feeling exhausted around 3 pm. My phone was ringing. I let it go to voicemail and moved to the bedroom where Min Jae already was. 

I crashed and woke up around 5 pm. Min Jae was already up. "Hey", I said in greeting stretching. "Would it be such a crazy thing for me to be a stepdad?" he asked. "No, but I just don't like how Shane went about the whole situation. Number one you cheat and then instead of being accountable you start pointing fingers. That was some childish shit. I know you still have feelings for him but wait it out. Go on a date or two. If you still want him then try going to a therapist. I think what is important is for you to talk through your feelings with someone who can help you beyond just listening.

Then maybe at some point the two of you need to chat. I would volunteer myself to be a mediator but I'm too biased and stuck on the fact that he pulled that shit so miss me with that." 

"Thanks, babe", he said hugging me. We showered and then got dressed and went to dinner at a roof top restaurant. The views were insane. As we were having our desert one of the men that had been sitting at a table nearby walked up to ours and greeted us. 

"You are Graysons girl", he asked. I then realised he was a player, Suqoan Barklee from the New York Giants. "Yeah, Suqoan right?" I asked looking up at the beautiful brown-skinned man in front of us.

"Yeah", he responded beaming.

"I spotted you and your friend and just wanted to say hi".

"How's the practice going? You guys have a chance at going to the Superbowl," he chuckled,

"Tell your man to ease up on us when we play them," I chuckled.

"As much as I am a huge fan of yours, sir, I respectfully decline. We need to go all the way." 

Min Jae elbowed me in the ribs. "This is my friend Min Jae", I said introducing him whilst giving Min Jae a side-eye in annoyance. They started talking about something and 20 minutes later they exchanged numbers and he went back to his table and we left.

"What the fuck just happened Zuhair?" he asked me excitedly as we walked out of the restaurant to his car. 

"I think he might like you", I teased him. "You think so?" he asked getting into the drivers seat and putting the car in gear. "Yeah, bruv he ignored me after that quick intro, I swear if it wasn't for his table you guys would have gone on and on."

"He is fucking hot, Zuhair," he gushed. "Bro lets have a threesome and share that dick because damn I want to have my back blown out by him too." 

We laughed, i was happy that the night had ended on an unexpectedly high note. On that note i had decided i would go and see my man, so Min Jae was going to drop me off at Graysons. I hadn't seen him all weekend and he was annoyed that I hadn't picked up his phone call when he had called earlier. We arrived and he switched off the car.

"Thanks for pushing me to go out tonight. If it wasn't for you I would still be on my couch thinking about taking that asshat back and getting myself into his messy life."

"Bro, you are my rib. I cannot do this life thing without you. Your happiness really does rub off on me," I said smiling.

"Random question... Is it weird that we once fucked and now I am into men?" I was quiet for a bit contemplating his question.

"Sexuality runs on a spectrum. I have kissed a few girls in my day but I predominantly prefer men and don't think I would ever sleep with a female. But I understand if you say that you like getting railed by men. I mean your taste is amazing sweety." He pulled a face and rolled his eyes.

"What now?" I asked smirking. 

"We can talk about men and shit but I am still masculine, please don't call me your girl", I busted out into a fit of laughter then pulled him in for a hug.

"I will keep that in mind bro", I said opening the car door. He rolled down the window and watched me get into Grayson's building.   

"Let me know once you arrive home safely bitch", I said giggling and waving at him. He threw his middle finger at me and cussed me out before peeling away from the drop off zone. I entered the elevator laughing.

When I got to his floor, I let myself in. He was taking a shower, I tiptoed into the bathroom and then said Boo in an attempt to scare him. I heard him shout oh shit over the water.  He then threw out a shampoo bottle at me that hit me on my arm. I could not stop laughing. He joined in once he had seen that it was me. "That's not funny Zuhair, you scared the shit out of me."

"You threw... a shampoo bottle at me", I said in between fits of laughter. Once I was calmer I joined him in the shower and got clean with him. We dried off and went to his bedroom. "

How was practice?" I asked as he lathered my body with lotion. 

"It was okay. Gruelling but I did what had to be done." He repeated the process for himself with the lotion once he was done with me. I told him about Suqoan and how he hit it off with Min Jae.

"He is a solid kid plays for a great team." I squealed in excitement. "Double dates and becoming NFL wives. I cannot wait." He gave me a look, "NFL wives, doesn't Min Jae identify as being masculine or has that changed since he likes getting fucked." I chuckled.

"He told me to stop that shit but it just tickles me that he gets so annoyed." He shook his head.

"After the Super Bowl we should go away for a bit and just destress, you take time off your job and we go somewhere tropical," he said. I  agreed and then fell asleep in his arms.

______________________________________________________________________

The buildup to the Superbowl was intense and I could barely focus on anything. I was so grateful that the days passed by fast and that the day had come. I had left work early and was getting ready for the game with Min Jae. We were both wearing the colours and paraphernalia for the Old England Vipers, Min Jae didn't want to seem too forward by wearing the New York Giants colours because of how fresh everything was between him and Suqoan. "Are you nervous?" he asked me as we drove to the game. 

"Yeah, I mean if my man wins then we are going to have a great little baecation after this but if he loses the baecation is just going to be  mad tense. How about you?"

"Obviously for your sake I really would want Grayson to win, so you can get that Winners-of-the-Superbowl dick but it would be great for Suqoan to win. But actually nah he should lose so that he can cry on my shoulder and I can be there for him."

I laughed at Min Jae's scheming ass, amused by how much he was infatuated by the man that he had met barely a week ago. They had been facetiming and doing the most over the last couple of days. I was so happy for him because he seemed to genuinely be in a good space and he had forgotten about his ex. I wanted to remind him of the time when he thought that he wanted to be a step-father but it was probably too soon. Something told me that his asshat ex would have eventually left Min Jae and tried to make things work with his baby mama. 

Min Jae was in a shit position by being bisexual and being attracted to heterosexual men. Sometimes I couldn't help but wonder if it would be better for these men to not fall for him because everyone in their messy situations was always unsure of their sexuality and always afraid to be branded as gay even though they happened to both be men.

But with Saqoan there was the issue about  my boys chosen profession but that would be an issue only if they got serious. "Penny for your thoughts?" he asked as we drove in silence. "Bitch you would need a couple of hundred grand to be able to afford my thought, he chuckled and decided to let it go. Once we arrived, we parked the car and went to get snacks before heading to the VIP seats that had been reserved for us. They were warming up and people were still getting seated.

The game was tense.

The New York Giants were winning by 20 points when the half time show began. Travis Scott and Pop Smoke were both performing. For a moment I had forgotten that I was at the Superbowl and had felt like I was in a moshpit at a concert. In that brief moment i had forgotten all about the stresses of Graysons game and had just been able to drink, vibe and let loose with my best friend.

But before we knew it the show ended and the teams came back. Grayson blew me a kiss and I made a silent prayer that his team would win. In the end  it was really close but they won by 2 points. Grayson was so overjoyed, he came by where we were seated and gave me a big wet kiss as everybody in our section was  shouting with joy and excitement at the fact that our team had won. "We are going to celebrate", he shouted before heading  back to his team. An hour later they were done and could leave.

Min Jae saw his man and then left to go and console him. I couldn't help but chuckle a bit. I filled Grayson in on what had been happening between them and Min Jae's dastardly plan. "About that trip..." he said driving us to his apartment so that we could get our luggage and head to the airport. "Lets make it memorable, one for the books."