Explosions of Grandeur.

This is where to post any NFL or NCAA football franchises.

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Soapy
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Explosions of Grandeur.

Post by Soapy » 07 Aug 2019, 17:28

“Ready! Ready! Down! Mike’s a bitch, Mike’s a bitch! Set....go!”

Between the laughter, the ball was snapped to James who took a deep seven step drop. He scanned the field -- starting from his right going left before going back to the right again -- and then fired a laser of a throw to Tyler near the sidelines.

Tyler dragged his toes inside the pylon and quickly turned around, throwing his arms in the air.

“Run that shit back!” yelled Jordan, the corner who Tyler had left in the dust for the game-winning touchdown.

“Fuck that,” James said as he started walking towards the bench, “I’m too fucking tired and this sun is going to be the death of me.”

“We had workouts before this,” Tyler joined him on the bench, “These motherfuckers talking about working out after this shit, too.”

“Why not?” Javi shrugged, taking a breather from the one-on-one exercises he was doing with Jakobi on the sidelines.

Tyler had texted James to come be quarterback for the group of DBs and receivers that wanted to get some field work in after the team’s morning summer workouts. The small group kept expanding and expanding until even some of the graduates that were destined for Long Beach City College -- Jakobi, Ian and Cam -- also joined them.

“Because,” James scoffed.

“Let them young boys work,” Jakobi interjected, “They’re not trying to end up like us at City.”

“Speaking of,” Cam perked up, “When you coming up, man?”

“How about....never?”

“He’s too good for JUCO,” Tyler chuckled, “He had a taste of that D-1 life and he ain’t looking back.”

“What taste? I never even made it to campus,” James laughed at himself, “I’m not looking down at City, it’s just...it’s not for me, man.”

“Our quarterback is ass bro,” Cam shook his head, “You’d definitely start.”

James stopped engaging in the conversation and it slowly died down. The topic quickly changed onto more important matters which was what kind of trouble they were going to find themselves on this summer night.

“We ain’t done the beach right in a minute,” someone suggested.

“The day is still young,” James flashed a smile.

....

“Why this nigga bring his girl?” Cam shook his head as they finished unloading the last of the cooler.

James grabbed the other end and helped him carry down the slopes that led into an unoccupied area of the beach, “You wanted a straight sausage fest?”

“She’s cool with this girl I’m talking to,” Cam sucked his teeth as they joined the rest of the group that were already a few tequila shots in.

“Tiffany ain’t exactly a pillar of fidelity,” James dropped the cooler onto the sand as a few eager underage teenagers rushed to his feet.

“What does that mean?” Cam raised a brow but James left his question unanswered.

Cam’s criticism of Jakobi bringing his girlfriend aside, it was turning into a fun night. James, Tyler, Jakobi and Cam had made the trek down the beach with Tiffany bringing almost half-a-dozen of her friends with her. James had already made his way through most of them over the years so he was sole interested in what was a rare day off for him.

“You’re being quiet today,” Tiffany scooted up next to him as the rest of the group had started getting into the water.

“I’m just chilling,” James said plainly, “I’m not exactly full of youthful joy like these guys.”

“You’re only like a year or two older,” she smiled.

“Are we going to address the elephant in the room?” James turned around to face her, “I know it feels like I’ve been ghosting you but....”

“It’s fine,” she dismissed him, “I get it, I heard what happened.”

“Fucking crazy,” James muttered to himself as he shifted his body in his chair to now be looking out onto the ocean, “I finally thought I was out.”

“I know.”

“I thought you’d be angrier,” James let out a small laugh, “You were blowing my fucking phone up.”

“I just knew you were going through a lot,” Tiffany sighed, “I know you think of me as like this fucking bitch but I’m not like that. I can be different, I want to be different. I wanted to show you I’m not this psycho bitch before I tell you.”

“I hear you,” James said softly, “Wait, tell me what?”

“I know last time....just hear me out....last time, things were so different. You were with Beck, I was just getting with Jakobi but like, you have a job now and I can leave my parents house now and...”

“What are you talking about?”

“I’m.....I’m......”
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Caesar
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Explosions of Grandeur.

Post by Caesar » 07 Aug 2019, 18:07

Soapy wrote:
07 Aug 2019, 17:28
“I’m.....I’m......”
Image
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Captain Canada
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Explosions of Grandeur.

Post by Captain Canada » 08 Aug 2019, 10:06

:drose:

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Soapy
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Explosions of Grandeur.

Post by Soapy » 08 Aug 2019, 10:11

Caesar wrote:
07 Aug 2019, 18:07
Soapy wrote:
07 Aug 2019, 17:28
“I’m.....I’m......”
Image
laughing at another man's downfall smh unruly behavior
Captain Canada wrote:
08 Aug 2019, 10:06
:drose:
son collapsed just like that when he heard

Topic author
Soapy
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Explosions of Grandeur.

Post by Soapy » 08 Aug 2019, 16:23

“When do you want to schedule your next appointment?”

The lady behind the raised counter held her smile as he shifted her gaze from Tiffany and then to James.

“The 21st,” Tiffany finally answered.

“We’ll get you all set up,” she replied with an even bigger smile.

James didn’t wait for the pleasantries to be finished before he headed out of the door. A few minutes later, Tiffany joined him, hand on her now pronounced belly.

“They were nice,” Tiffany sat on the bus stop bench as James just kept bouncing his toe on the hot summer pavement.


“I really don’t get why you have me doing this shit,” James shook his head as he looked down the road to see if he could see the bus.

“It’s not shit,” she scoffed, “It’s important. I don’t know, I thought maybe you can finally start to see this for what it is.”

“And what exactly is that?”

“It’s a blessing,” she said with a smile, “I know you probably didn’t care but after the first time, I was so worried that I wasn’t going to be able to have kids. No one talks about it but that’s why I think my auntie can’t have kids.”

“Congratulations,” James said with a sarcastic tone.

“I don’t know why you don’t want to look at this with, I don’t know, some sort of happiness. It’s going to happen, I’m too far along for it not to this time around, so you might as well make the best of it.”

“Make the best of it with your boyfriend,” James sat up, “He should be here, not me. Ain’t even no telling that it’s mine.”

“I can tell,” she rubbed her belly, “I just can, I don’t know what it is. Ja...Ko....he doesn’t really cum in me like that, like ever. We always wear a condom and...”

“You told me you were on the pill,” James scoffed, “But of course, he wears a condom.”

“You weren’t complaining about this raw pussy when you were in it,” she snapped, “Sorry, I’m really trying to be a positive person but you’re bugging my style right now. “

James sat back down as they sat in silence for the next few minutes. A bus came by but it wasn’t the one they were waiting on.

“He’s not my boyfriend.”

“What?”

“Jakobi,” she sighed, “I broke up with him...we’re not together anymore.”

“Great,” James let his head drop into his hands, “You couldn’t have dropped this baby off on him?”

“He deserves better than that,” she said as she held back tears, “He treated me so good and.....I couldn’t have him get all excited for this baby and have him come out not looking like him. It’d crush him, it’d ruin his life. He’d have dropped out of school, gotten a job, ruined his entire life over a fucking lie.”

“Fuck my life then, huh?”

James had had enough. He got up, took another hard look at Tiffany as she was now completely sobbing, almost uncontrollably. He shook his head before turning around and walking away.

....

“Hey, it’s your set. James? James? Sorry, it’s your set.”

Javier’s finger snapped in front of James’ face, bringing him back to reality.

“Doze off on me for a minute,” Javier laughed as he helped James get situated under the bar.

“How am I doing?” Javier asked as he got under the bar.

“You’re doing good,” James said, not paying him much attention as Javier finished his rep.

“I’m happy with my weight,” Javier finished up his set, “I just feel like I’m going to get moved to defense at the next level and want to get my speed up.”

“You just have to ball out your last two seasons,” James explained as it was once again his turn to get on the bench, “The rest of that shit will take care of itself. Jerome went D-1 and he’s barely taller than you.”

“He was a monster,” Javier said with a smile, “He used to fuck my ass up when I was on the scout team as a freshman.”

“They call him Big Daddy Jerome for a reason.”


James lifted the bar and did a few reps on the bench press before returning the bar to it’s rack. He slowly got off the bench, wiping the sweat off his forehead.

“I think I’m going to cut this shit short,” James slapped Javier on his back.

The gym had cleared out and they were the last two here. Carlos’ trust in James had increased over the last few months to the point that James was now in charge of closing down the gym.

Javier was agreeable to the workout coming to a close, helping James clean the place up before he finally flickered the light switch and brought darkness to the place.

“Any schools start hitting you up yet?”

“A few camp invites,” he nodded, “I think Michigan asked me to go to this camp but I’d have to pay for it myself. I’m waiting for one of the local schools, I could go to their camp.”

“Where do you want to go?”

“Stanford would be nice,” Javier grinned, “My sister wants to go there too though so I don’t know, kind of want to do my thing, you know?”

“I thought she was going to SC.”

“Nah,” Javier shook his head, “She’s staying here this year, doing two at City before maybe going to Stanford. Her financial aid came back and it wasn’t enough to cover for USC without her taking mad loans and she didn’t want to do that.”

“She’s staying here?”

“Yeah,” Javier sucked his teeth, “I was trying to get her car too and everything, fucked my summer up.”

James took the news with a lot more grace and joy than Javier.
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Explosions of Grandeur.

Post by Captain Canada » 08 Aug 2019, 17:08

Not really fucking with Tiffany. Hate her fucking name too.

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Soapy
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Explosions of Grandeur.

Post by Soapy » 08 Aug 2019, 17:36

“You have to go. There’s no question about it. Iman, tell this man!”

“I’ve seen their facilities,” Iman held his hands up, “I ain’t mad at him if he’s not trying to play high school football 2.0.”

“I’m done,” James shrugged as he let his fingers run through the side of the 2008 Nissan Altima that he had been walking past for the last three weeks, “I can’t believe this bitch is still for sale.”

“It has a million miles,” Brandon looked at the white sheet that was stuck to the car’s driver side window, “Stop changing the fucking subject. You really want to stop playing ball, man? You just got fucking good at this shit.”

“Fuck you,” James’ focus remained on the car, examining the tires this time, “It’s easy for you to say this shit when you’re staying in a nice ass campus in a nice ass dorm.”

“Not to be a dick,” Brandon sighed, “You’re not exactly staying at the Holiday Inn right now.”

“Low blow,” Iman winced, “He’s right, though.”

“It’s simple,” James stood up straight, happy with the conditions of the tire, “If I go to school, fucking play for another two years for real no goddamn reason, I’m not going to be working for two years. That’s money out of my pocket, money I don’t have to get this baby right here.”

“He’s got a point,” Iman shrugged.

“I can’t believe I’m spending my time off doing this shit,” Brandon returned his attention to his phone.

Iman and Brandon were both back home from college, taking a rest from the grueling summer workouts in Tucson and Palo Alto respectively. Iman was desperately trying to earn playing time as a true freshman and avoid the dreaded redshirt while Brandon was hoping to bounce back from an uneventful first year.

“Is this the day?”

The salesman came out of the office, fully dressed in a suit under the California sun, and walked onto the dirt lot where the three men were standing next to a bevy of cars. On this particular day, similar to the previous days before, James’ attention was on red 2008 Nissan Altima.

“I think so,” James nodded, “I’ve done test drove this bitch a few times.”

“I’ll get the paperwork going,” Ignacio flashes a smile, “Brandon, tell your father I said hello.”

The boys returned to their banter, mainly teasing Iman about the barrage of pictures that were now flooding his Instagram. The reserved cornerback had found a new sense of confidence about him, fully taking in the scenery and ambience. Almost every week, a picture of Iman with a few guys would hit Instagram with a decadence of nature serving as the backdrop.

“He’s Hollywood,” James joked, “How do you leave California and get more boujie? Where they do that?”

“I’m just jealous,” Brandon added, “PA is fun and all but it ain’t fucking Tuscon. We went on a visit my junior or beginning of my senior year and I swear, you can’t walk more than 100-yards without running into an Instagram model.”

“That’s how Miami almost got me,” Iman shook his head, “Everything there is enticing, I’m telling you.”

“Next boys trip,” Brandon snapped his fingers, “We have to do Miami but like proper. It sure as hell beats getting sun-bathed out here.”

“You ain’t had to come,” James let out a dry chuckle “I just needed Iman’s car to be honest. A motherfucker is tired of taking the bus every single day. I don’t even miss y’all, I miss your cars. Besides, this is going to be a lot more fun than your girl’s slumber party tonight.”

“I do not miss those,” Iman agreed, “Best part of single life is no more dumb-ass obligations like that.”

“It’s not a slumber party,” Brandon corrected them, “It’s a girls-night-in but she hasn’t seen me in a while so I’m the plus-one.”

“Help your boy out,” Iman nudged James, “Go with him, that sounds like an easy pickings. I’d go but my parents have this big-ass dinner they’ve been planning since graduation. Motherfuckers missed me before I even left.”

“I don’t know about that,” Brandon replied.

“What?” Iman asked.

“That is true,” James looked at Brandon, “Why you ain’t invite me, man? I promise I won’t do any of her friends dirty.”

“It’s not that,” Brandon muttered, “Be....Beck is going to be there.”

“She’s back?”

....

“I sure love having you have that car,” Eric laughed as James kept in through the backdoor, a few minutes early for his shift, “No more excuses about missing the bus.”

“That was like twice,” James entered the office and clocked into his shift.

“I need you up front today,” Eric ordered as he handed James’ a uniform. Given that James worked primarily in the back outside of customer’s view, he typically just wore a black shirt and jeans.

“I ain’t finished my cashier training yet,” James groaned as he grabbed the shirt, “For real?”

“At least until about three,” Eric explained, “I’ll even clock you in as both CSR and kitchen-staff, how about that?”

“Say less,” James quickly took off his shirt and started walking towards the front of the restaurant.

“You’re naked,” Stacy, one of the cashiers, greeted James as he was still in the process of switching shirts once he got to the other register.

“Drink it in,” James said as he poked his head through the hole of the shirt.

As soon as his head was out, Vanessa was standing right in front of him with a group of people around here. He had never seen her friends or seen her outside of the specific environments that he had introduced her to. Her friends looked like the kind of friends someone as smart as Vanessa would have, which only made her beauty stand out even more.

“Hey,” James said without much base in his voice, “Hey.”

“Nice shirt,” she scoffed before turning around to face her group, “We were just going to do the chicken family basket, right?”

“Make sure to get it spicy,” one voice responded.

“Smothered,” another added.

“I don’t like smothered,” someone else said.

“You can do half-and-half,” James interjected, “Or split it up however you want.”

“Half and half then,” she turned to face James.

“Your total is $34.67, will that be cash or card?”

“Card.”

“Actually,” James tapped a few buttons on the screen in front of him, “$23.19, it’s the ‘Friends of the Show’ special.”

“No, thanks. I’ll pay the $34,” she turned around once more, holding her hand out while everyone chipped in their piece.

“The fuck you aren’t,” said one of the girls, “She’ll take the $23.19, thank you, very much.”

Vanessa somehow begrudgingly took the discount and James handed her the receipt. He wanted to say something but as soon as she got the receipt, she was on her way.

“He’s kind of cute,” whispered one of the girls.

“Hold me down,” James told Stacy as he jumped over the counter.

“What the fuck?”

James hurried himself to Vanessa as she was getting ready to sit down with the rest of her group, “Can I talk to you real quick?”

She looked at her group and several of the girls’ eyes got wide, screaming at her silently to say yes to the ‘cute cashier’. She sighed and stepped to the side before following James a few feet away from the table.

“What?”

“I just,” James started. He had wanted to talk to her for months but never actually figured out what he wanted to say. It didn’t help that a lot of things happened between now and then to keep his mind cluttered.

“I fucked up, you know, like a lot. Not just with you but with her...”

“Beck. Her name is Beck...or Rebecca, but yeah, she has a name.”

“I know, I know. I’m just saying that I'm not just that person in that video or even that person that night with you and Tyler. I’ve just been...you helped me, like a lot, and I failed you that night with Beck when that shit happened and I failed you by not being at Fresno right now.”

“Wow,” she scoffed, “You think I give a shit about you not being at Fresno?”

“I just mean....”

“Okay, buddy. Good talk.”
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Explosions of Grandeur.

Post by Captain Canada » 08 Aug 2019, 18:39

Give the man a break, man's obviously seen better days :dunkface:
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Caesar
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Explosions of Grandeur.

Post by Caesar » 08 Aug 2019, 19:02

Soapy wrote:
08 Aug 2019, 17:36
“Okay, buddy. Good talk.”
Image

That boy taking L's like he in Chicago.

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Explosions of Grandeur.

Post by Soapy » 09 Aug 2019, 21:19

“You’re just like your brother.”

“That’s a bad thing?”

James couldn’t help but laugh at Brian’s genuine question.

“I’m fucking with you,” James tapped him on the back, “Your brother just had an habit of falling back as he throws. You’ve got enough arm to do that shit in JV and freshman ball but in varsity, that’s a pick six.”

The two had endured the rain, not paying any mind to the soggy field as they continued to go through their grueling two-hour workout. Brian was the latest of the returning players for Poly that had turned to James for some offseason training. There was an irony to the fact that one of the laziest players during his time in high school was now everyone’s go-to man to get an edge up on the competition.

James ran another out route and this time, the ball came to him on time and on target. He slowly started walking back towards Brian, hands on hips, when the sophomore held James’ up from the grass.

“It’s her again.”

“Don’t get a girl pregnant,” James shook his head as he finally answered the phone. The sixth time was the charm, “Hello?”

....

“It’s not all going to fit in my fucking car!” James spat towards the general direction of the trailer park as Tiffany came out with yet another load of boxes.

He had been in her room plenty of times and never noticed how much shit was there. It was tons and tons of shit for a room that wasn’t much bigger than a walk-in closet.

“I’m sorry,” she sighed as she dropped one more box at James’ feet.

James shook his head before lifting it up, stuffing it into the backseat, “It’s not going to take anymore.”

“I’ll get the rest some other time,” she walked back inside of the house and James was relieved when she came out with only a charger and her phone. She placed it inside the passenger front seat and sat in.

James joined her, taking a deep breath as he knew this was a conversation he didn’t want to have.

“Are you going to tell me what happened?”

“They found out,” her voice cracked, “Everyone fucking found out. It’s not easy to fucking hide anymore!”

“Hey,” James placed a hand on her shoulder, “Who? Found out what?”

“My mom find out I was pregnant,” she wiped her nose with the sleeve of her shirt, “Jakobi came in, I’ve never seen him that angry before, just yelling and yelling. My mom heard him and she told me I had until next week to get my shit out.”

“Just let her cool out,” James shrugged, “That’s the kind of reaction you expect, to be honest, can’t blame them.”

“He’s never been mad at me before,” she shook her head, “I don’t know how he found out or who told him, he was just mad. He kept saying that it was his and I was keeping him from his son. I don’t even fucking know...”

“It’ll be straight,” James was semi-relieved, “What’d you tell him?”

“It’s not his,” she cleared her throat, “I know you think I’m trying to trap you or fuck you over but I’m telling you, I know it’s yours. I can feel it.”

“Let’s....let’s worry about that later. You got a friend house you can crash? I’ll keep this shit in my car until your mom cools out, hopefully no one steals this shit.”

“There’s no cooling out. She did the same shit with my sister, she’s not taking me back.”

“Yes, she is.”

“She’s not,” Tiffany shot back, “I need to start standing on my own anyway, I don’t want to raise Thomas like this.”

“Thomas? Hold on, let’s just relax. We need to figure this out.”

“Exactly! We! You really want to raise your child in that fucking trailer park?!”

“What’s the alternative?”

“When Jakobi was applying to school,” she turned around to face James and held his hand, “The student apartments were only like five hundred, six a month. We split that and it’s only like three hundred out of each of our pockets. I can pick up more shifts at Walmart, you’re always busy with the gym stuff and the food place so I know you’re making money now. We can do that, right?”

“Hold on,” James scoffed, “I feel like we’re taking too many steps right now in an emotional ass state. Let’s give your mom a few days and see how things go.”

“How much are you paying in rent right now?”

“More than that,” James shook his head, “But like I just got a car and everything just feels like it’s starting to settle down and I don’t think we need to...”

....

“This is the apartment key, this is the mailroom. You lose either, that’s $45 taken out of your deposit. You want an extra? That’s $65.”

“Do we get two?” Tiffany asked gently, rubbing her belly.

“Fine,” the landlord begrudgingly took out another key and placed it in James’ palm.

The door swung open to reveal a fully furnished one-bedroom apartment. James was surprisingly pleased with the state of it. He had lived in worse and so had Tiffany, evident by the big smile on her face.

“Don’t put your trash outside,” the landlord said before leaving them to themselves.

They walked around the apartment, inspecting almost every item. They had visited a ton of student housing options until they found the one apartment complex that didn’t check to see if you were truly a student.

“I’ll take the couch,” James said instantly after he briefly sat down on the couch to check its firmness. He had slept in worse. He was sleeping in worse.

“Come on,” Tiffany wrapped her arm around his waist, “I promise I won’t bite.”

“Let me get the rest of the shit in here before it gets dark,” James broke away from her grasp, “This doesn’t exactly scream safety.”

James exited the apartment, happy to be out of her sight for the first time in what seemed like days. She had moved in with a friend while they looked for an apartment but was no longer within walking distance of her job as a Walmart fitting room attendant, which meant that James would need to give her a ride every day. They spent more time together vertically in the last week than they did in their previous years combined.

“Jimmy boy!”

James swung around from the trunk and saw a group of about half a dozen people heading his way before one of them stuck out.

“My guy,” James brought Damar in for a hug, giving the rest of the guys a head nod.

“So you’re finally coming?” Damar smiled, holding his arms out, “I need a quarterback, slime.”

“Nah,” James laughed, “I just needed a place to crash and I figure I use one of your many campus amenities.”

“You still a slick talking white boy,” James’ former high school teammate teased, “I can see how you bagged Jakobi’s joint from him.”

“Come on,” James threw his head back, “I need you to kill that rumor, not spread that shit.”

“Tell him,” Damar scoffed, “He was asking about you, asking for you. He ain’t shown up to practice in a minute too, coach about to cut his ass.”

“Can you do me a solid and not let him know my exact address?” James said sarcastically, “I’d really appreciate that.”

“If you join the team,” Damar motioned locking his lips and throwing away the key, “The coaches stay asking about you, bruh. I told them we were teammates and since then? On my ass, boy!”

“We’ll see, we’ll see.”
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