Never Have A Baller's Baby

It was a sobering discovery to realize that in his eyes, she wasn’t worth being with. It hit her heart like a wrecking ball, and she wept again as she lowered herself down into the warm sand, and watched the sea rushing in through salt teary eyes.

Her cell phone buzzed and she pulled it from her pocket, wiping off more tears from her eyes. She saw that it was a text message from her best friend Eva. Eva wanted to know if they could meet for coffee, and Naomi felt as if she had suddenly been thrown a rope that might pull her out of the abyss she had found herself in.

She texted Eva back and asked her to meet her in half an hour. Eva answered that she would. Naomi walked along the beach back to her car and let a deep breath go in an attempt to calm herself. She needed to talk with someone about Scott and get a different perspective, a fresh opinion on all of it. Her best friend was perfect and would be up to the task.

Half an hour later, Naomi sat waiting at a small café table in a little coffee shop. Snippets of quiet conversations and soft music filled the air around her. She tried not to be impatient as she waited, and it wasn’t long after she had ordered her cup of coffee that Eva walked through the door of the café, looking around for her, and waved when she caught Naomi’s eye.

Eva was dark-skinned and round everywhere; her black hair was rounded around her circular face, and her body was round, nearly from the ground up. She brightened when she saw Naomi and lifted her hand to wave at her as she made her way to the table.

A server came to her and got her coffee order, and left them. Eva made herself comfortable and then eyed Naomi carefully.

“What’s bothering you?” she asked pointedly. “I can always tell. You’ve been crying. I can see it.”

Naomi’s shoulders fell and her eyes dropped from Eva’s gaze, falling to her cup of coffee as she stirred it.

“I’ve had a hard day. Something bad happened that I need to talk with you about. I need your advice,” she admitted quietly.

Eva leaned forward and closed her hand over Naomi’s. “That’s what I’m here for. So tell me all about it.”

Naomi pursed her full lips for a moment and began. “Well, I guess I have to start by telling you that I’ve kind of been seeing someone… I guess.”

Eva’s dark brown eyes opened wide in surprise. “Seeing someone? What on earth are you talking about? Why is this the first time that I’m hearing about this? Who is he?”

“I can’t tell you who he is. He’s adamant about keeping up his anonymity. He wouldn’t want me telling anyone about us. Also, I’m sorry that this is the first time you’re hearing about it; I wasn’t exactly sure if there was anything to tell because I’m not sure if we’re…” she trailed off and frowned.

Eva lowered her brows somewhat. “Not sure if you’re what?”

With a shrug and a guilty sigh, Naomi raised her eyes back up to meet Eva’s. “I’m not sure if we really were seeing each other. It’s not like anything else I’ve ever done. So… there’s this guy. I am working on his house. I’m redecorating it. He and I kind of started to get to know each other and things kind of warmed up between us, and then… then things….” she trailed off and swallowed.

“Things got hot?” Eva offered.

“Yeah.” Naomi’s heart picked up its pace. “Things got really hot.”

“So what’s the problem?” Eva asked curiously.

“Well, we have only spent time together at his house. I go there to work and he’s there… and we… well we wind up in his bed most of the time. It’s been going on about six weeks so far. I’ve really started to like him.

I was there today, working, and he showed up and as usual things went the way that they always do with us. We wound up in each other’s arms on the floor of the room I was decorating.” She frowned and traced the tip of her finger around the rim of her coffee mug as she spoke.

“I told him afterward that I wanted to start seeing him outside of his house. You know… to start actually dating and really being a couple, rather than the two of us just hooking up at his house. We’ve never been anywhere together. We’ve never done anything together. I feel like I’m not getting even half of what I should be getting from him with just the sex. It’s the weirdest situation. It’s never been like this for me before. I’ve always had relationships that are traditional. I meet the guy, we start dating, things heat up… and the rest is history until the inevitable breakup. This one has been totally different right from the start.

So, we were lying there and I told him that I was thinking I’d like for us to do things together outside of the house. You know, dating. Like normal people.” She sighed heavily and picked up her spoon, stirring more cream into the dark brew in her mug.

Eva frowned and cocked her head to one side. “So what’s the big deal?”

“He doesn’t want to date me.” Naomi ans

wered her in a low voice.

“Doesn’t want to… wait, he wants to sleep with you but he doesn’t want to date you? That’s awful! Why doesn’t he want to date you?” Eva was completely indignant.

Naomi leaned in a little closer to her friend and lowered her voice. “He’s a sports celebrity. He wants to keep a low dating profile. He says he has his public image to look out for. He doesn’t want to be seen with me in public. He wants to be on his own and do his own thing in public, and I can’t be a part of that. He said that he has to think of his team and his career. He can’t be with me in public, but he still wants to be with me in private in his home.”

Eva’s eyes narrowed into this slits. “So he wants to screw you, but he doesn’t want to take you out and date you like a real girlfriend?” It was clear from her sharp tone that she didn’t approve of the situation at all.

“That’s what he said, and it bothered me so much that I told him we were through. I said that I would finish the work on his house, but I wasn’t going to be with him in a personal capacity ever again. I told him that we were done. I was so angry with him. I left, and I gave myself some time to think about it, but I’m just a little unsure. I mean, what if I was too hasty? What if he has a good point about being careful with his public image?” She looked at her friend imploringly.

Eva shook her head adamantly. “No. Absolutely not. You’re not a girl for hire, Naomi. You are a classy, strong, intelligent, beautiful woman, and you deserve to be with a man who knows that, and who wants you. You definitely don’t need to be with anyone who doesn’t want you except for sex. He’s using you! I don’t care what kind of celebrity he is! That’s not how a man should treat a woman.