, the team finally had a break for restoration. It was only for a day but it was better than nothing at all. Being in the Major Baseball League meant playing a game every day of the week for six months — the world series exempted. It could be tough on the mind and body because not only were you playing every day, but you were also flying to the competing teams.

Imagine draining yourself of all your energy by laying your heart on the field, just to top it off with jet lag. The MLB life wasn't all rainbows and sunshine. It was a fun game to play but it could wear you thin with its demanding schedule. It was why the coaches attempted to shove sleep down your throat, but sleep wasn't easy to come by for me. Insomnia persistently kicked my ass. The longest I could sleep was four hours and that was on a good day.

Today would have been the most perfect day to drink all of my nutritious juices and sleep as much as I could, but it wasn't happening. My body wouldn't allow it. So rather than torcher myself by attempting to sleep, I was up moving around the house to keep active.

"I don't know why I expected to wake up to you in the bed." the voice of my fiancé Brielle caught my attention.

I glanced over toward the staircase to see her walking toward me with a small smile. Due to her being fresh from the bed, her tawny skin deemed pale and bright. In nothing other than a tank top and panties, she approached me tossing her wavy, jet black hair to the side. I wrapped one of my arms around her curvy frame allowing her to snuggle against me.

With her head thrown back, she looked up at me through her hazel irises puckering her lips. I bent down connecting our lips for a kiss.

"How long did you sleep?" she questioned.

"Two hours. I just been down here watching movies to pass time. I didn't want to wake you up."

"Thank you because I was tired." she pulled away going over to the fridge. "The ER was crazy last night."

"Yeah? Did somebody die?" she frowned at me. "It's a legit question."

"No. No one died last night but an old man was close to it. His wife stabbed him for taking the last piece of steak. It was crazy."

"Sounds like you."

She laughed. "No it doesn't."

"But it does." I bit into my sandwich. "You got anything planned for today?"

"Yep. Me and the girls wanna go shopping for a little bit then go movie hopping. I haven't movie hopped since high school so I know it'll be fun. You doing anything?"

"I mean.. I wanted to hang with you while I had the time. I ain't been home in almost two weeks."

"I know and I'm sorry but the girls and I planned this days ago. We can hang later on tonight."

I huffed.

"Why you gotta catch an attitude? I said later. It's not that serious Gio." a grimace took over her face.

"This the third time I've been home and you flaked on me." I raised my voice unintentionally.

"Who are you yelling at?" she eased toward me causing me to smack my teeth. "No, who're you yelling at Giovanni?"

"Don't come over here with that bullshit, Brielle. I'm not tryna fight with you this morning. I don't have the energy for it."

"I just wanna know why you're yelling at me." she clasped her hands together shrugging her shoulders.

I knew that was my time to walk away from her. Brielle liked to try and show some sort of dominance over me when she felt like I was 'trying her'. It happened more than it should have, but I took it with a grain of salt because of her upbringing. However, it led to a lot of unnecessary situations between us.

Her bare feet pounded against the wooden flooring as she trailed behind me into the living room. I took a seat on the couch only for her to step in between my legs invading my privacy. I then knew what type of time she was on, therefore, I sat my sandwich aside.

"Brielle, you just woke up so chill out with all that."

"It doesn't matter if I just woke up, why do you try and talk to me like I'm your child Gio? Do you see me walking around here yelling at you?"

"Aight, my fault. Damn. You act like I'm supposed to be okay with you flaking on me every time I wanna spend time with you."

"But I said tonight so what's the problem!? It's not like I'm pushing you off to the side."

"You forgot you work tonight? How are you gonna be with me and be in the ER at the same time? You got superpowers now?"

She punched me. "Don't get slick with me, Giovanni."

I poked the inside of my cheek with my tongue to keep my anger at bay. It was in these moments where I had minor thoughts about risking my livelihood. Brielle was extremely aggressive and she sometimes took it too far to prove her strength. I had no plans on putting my hands on her, but I wasn't going to let her constantly hit me for the hell of it.

"Brielle you better step your ass away from me." I warned.

"Or what?" she leaned closer. "You not gonna do anything. I dare you to put your hands on me."

"Why do you always do this shit? What is wrong with you? Do you get some sort of kick out of testing me and my patience?"

"Do something about it, Gio."

I smacked my teeth. "Bri get the hell away from me."

"Oh you mad? Hit me then. I've been waiting on it."

I frowned. "I'm not about to hit you. Especially just because you want me to."

"Better now than later. I'm ready, so wassup?" she took a step back signaling that she was ready to brawl.

"Brielle I'm not your Pops or that bitch ass nigga you was messing with before me. I'm not about to fight with you and there will never be a day where I do."

"Psh, yeah okay." she rolled her eyes in disbelief.

"I'm being deadass. We've been together for how long now? I'm not that person and you know it. Stop trying to make me out to be someone I'm not."

She looked at me for a minute or two searching my eyes. After she found what she was looking for she unclenched her fists with a solemn sigh.

I hated that she swore I would repeat the actions of her father. It was sometimes draining to constantly remind somebody of who you aren't, but I loved her. I knew she had it hard being abused by her father as a child then turning around and being abused within her relationship. I never judged her for it, only applauded her for her strength but it seemed like she saw otherwise sometimes.

These antics of hers weren't a thing while we were dating. She was always cool and mellowheaded. That was until I kneeled down and placed that ring on her finger. It was almost like she waited until she knew she had me to try and dominate me. However, I wasn't letting that happen. But I still refused to put my hands on her and give her what she wanted.

She was trying to get to me before I got to her, and at times it scared me. People like that were unpredictable.

"I'm sorry." she whispered backing away.

I pulled her back to me. "I love you alright? I'm not going to hurt you."

"I'm sorry." she repeated.

"I know." I kissed her cheek. "Tell your friends you're taking a rain check. We need to spend time together."

"Okay." she climbed from my lap heading upstairs.

I watched after her until she disappeared behind the wall. I then released a hard sigh running a hand down my face. Hopefully, the two of us spending the day together would lower the tension Bri was holding. Maybe the stress from work was getting to her head, because she hadn't gotten too aggressive in a while. Something had to be off.

In a matter of minutes she was back downstairs resting against me while I searched for a movie to watch. She had her phone in her hand scrolling along one of her social media accounts. I peered down at it to see her passing many pictures of various people.

"What app is that?" I inquired.

She looked up at me. "Instagram. The app I've been trying to get you on for years now."

"All you do is post pictures?"

"You can post videos, boomerangs. It has IGTv now and of course I showed you the live, but other than that yeah."

"My manager told me I need to set it up for better endorsements. I think the deals I have now want me to expand to social media."

"I mean that is where the most people are nowadays. You want me to set it up for you? We can do it right now." she sat up.

"Yeah go ahead."

A wide smile covered her face and she began mashing things on her phone. "Okay what do you want your username to be?"

"It can't be Gio?" I frowned.

"That and Giovanni are already taken."

I scratched my head. "Just do Gio Hoffman. If that's taken then I don't know."

"Nope, that works. Now a password... Brielle01." she gave me a goofy smile.

"That'll work." I shrugged opening my phone to download the app for myself. "What has to happen next?"

"You're such an old man. Now you follow people that you admire or know and post. After that your followers will start rolling in. Who do you want to follow?"

"Of course you, Chad, and Pete."

As she found my homeboy's accounts, I logged in on my phone and allowed myself to be swallowed by the social media world. I found myself searching for people that I hadn't seen in years – Korin Alexander being one of them. When I discovered her page my eyebrows raised in surprise at her large following. She was sitting on the edge of two million.

It lead me to read her bio which told me that she was a model, author and activist. The pictures and videos amongst her page confirmed each title. She had really made a name for herself and people seemed to love her — which I concluded from the positive and applauding comments she had. The world definitely loved who she was and everything she stood for.

"Oh my God! You have to follow her. Her speeches will make you want to conquer the world." Bri peeked over into my phone.

"Yeah? What does she talk about?"

"Mainly mental health and social injustice but she talks about everything really. Her recent speech was about how important it is for African Americans to research and learn the true knowledge of their history."

"That's wassup." I nodded my head choosing to follow her as Bri suggested.

Afterward, I simply tossed my phone aside to keep myself from being on Korin's page any longer. I took Brielle's phone from her hand and placed it along side mine, out of the way.

"What you doing?" she slightly furrowed her brows.

"Spending time with my fiancé." I answered planting a soft kiss on her exposed chest. "Is that fine with you?"

"Perfectly fine."

«»

, it was gone. I was on my way to the ballpark for the seven o'clock game that I wasn't so positive about us winning. We had a very fair chance, but with the way we ended our last game it wasn't looking too good. Hopefully the day of rest gave the team its spunk back for today.

I maneuvered through traffic in hopes of making it to one of my favorite sandwich spots before one o'clock. What I did not feel like doing was waiting in a lengthy line of hungry people. There would be arguments and attitudes that I was not up for. All I wanted was to get my sandwich and go without any problems.

"I ain't ask nan nigga for nothin', I took the Hardaway." Derez Deshon blasted throughout my Maserati Ghibli.

I bobbed my head mumbling the words while waiting on the pedestrians to cross the street for my turn. The minute they were out of the way, I turned and made a park on the side of the street. I was lucky today because there was usually no available parking in front of the shop. I opened the door and climbed out squinting my eyes from the bright July sun.

One thing that I loved about New York was that though it reached crazy low temperatures in the winter, the sun still could shine bright like I needed it to in the summer. Growing up in the South, where the sun was always out, I needed this heat every so often.

I locked my car doors behind myself as I rounded the car to step onto the sidewalk. At the same time, the shop door was opening and Korin was walking out. We looked at one another, but she didn't even hesitate to lower her shades over her eyes and attempt to walk past me. After so many years transpiring without us being in contact, I imagined our meeting to be way different than it had been. It was like she didn't care for my presence.

"Korin." I called her name walking up behind her.

"What Giovanni?" she spun around nearly whacking me with her curly mane that swung with her.

Her perfectly arched eyebrows were knitted together letting me know that I'd irritated her by stopping her. I took in how her mahogany skin gleamed effortlessly under the sun's bright rays like silk. She'd even grew in height now standing at maybe five foot ten without her heels.

"Are you upset with me or something? You gave me attitude at the bar and now you just tryna walk past me like you don't see me."

"What would I be upset with you about?" she raised her shades revealing her sultry eyes.

"I don't know but I didn't expect for you to be so hostile after not seeing each other for some years."

"Hi Giovanni, glad to see that you still exist after ghosting!" she gave fake enthusiasm. "Is that better for you?"

"Ghosting?" I frowned. "How did I ghost you?"

"It doesn't matter. Hi, I see you. Now I'm leaving." she went to walk away but I grabbed her.

"No, tell me how I ghosted you. I don't remember just going ghost on you, maybe Eliana but not you. I swore I told you I was leaving."

"Nope."

"I had to. I wouldn't have just up and left on you, Korin."

Korin had been one of the most important people in my life back then. I knew for a fact that I told her I would be leaving the night I slept over her house. It was why we expressed how we felt about one another so I know she knew. I would never just ghost on her knowing that I was without a phone and social media during that time of my life.

"Well you did. Now if you don't mind, I have a meeting I'd like to be on time for."

"Can I at least get your number so that we can talk about this?"

"Bye Giovanni." she turned to walk away.

"Well happy early birthday."

She looked over her shoulder with a shadow of a smile covering her lips. "Thank you."

Finally going inside of the shop, I ordered my usual game day order then made my way to the ballpark. Upon arrival I noticed that I hadn't been the only one running behind on time. Along with me were my two teammates and best friends, Chazmon and Pete. I stepped from my car, grabbed my bag then gave them dap on our way toward the entrance.

"What you doing late? You never get here when we do." Chazmon otherwise known as Chad questioned.

"I made it to the shop late and the line was long." I held up my bag of food. "Y'all think we got it today? We were off the other day."

"Man I hope we do. If not Coach is gonna get in our ass!" Pete groaned.

"You already know it. Maybe being able to relax yesterday helped loosen everybody up. I know for a fact I needed it."

"Shit me too. I damn near broke my girl's spine trying to relieve all my stress."

I laughed and gave him dap. "Aye, I feel you dawg."

"Well damn I'm the only one who slept the whole day away? I think I only got up once and that was cause I was thirsty." said Chad, with a head shake.

"I wish I could sleep like that."

"Still got insomnia? You ain't try that tea recipe that my mama sent you?"

"Nah not yet. I keep forgetting that she even sent it to me. I'll try and make it tonight and see what it do."

"Yeah you need to do that before you be out here on the field one day and pass out. We do too much for you not to be sleeping bro."

"I'm with Chad bro. I'm surprised Brielle ain't on your head about it. My girl have a heart attack if she see an ounce of tired in my face. She be tripping." Pete gave his input.

"Man Brielle be knocked out with no problem and she sleep through damn near everything. As long as I don't wake her up she don't really care."

Chad chuckled shaking his head. "Damn."

"I see you finally on the gram though." Pete switched the topic as we entered the club house where everyone else hung out.

It was the place in the stadium where we were able to watch television, play foosball, and simply play around. We would sit in there to pass time before games or even after practice. Some of the players acted as if they lived in here, not wanting to go home for whatever reason. They would stay after the game and get there earlier than we needed to on game day.

I never looked into it because it was their business, but it did make me wonder sometimes.

"Yeah man. I'm still tryna figure out how it work but so far it's cool. Bri said I need to post something today."

"You can't have an empty page bro. Take a picture right now and just throw that bitch on there. The women will love you no matter how you look." said Chazmon.

"What you saying? I look down bad right now?" I frowned, taking a seat on the royal blue sofa.

"Nah, not at all. Let me see your phone. I'll snap you up right now. I'm a beast with this photography shit."

"Listen to the pretty boy." Pete chuckled while moving down on the sofa to be out of the way.

I reached into my pocket taking my phone out. I handed it over to Chazmon trusting he could actually help me out. He took a few steps back before calling direction out to me as if he were a true photographer. With a laugh, I followed his instructions.

"Can you be serious, nigga?" Chad shot me a glare.

"Damn bro, my fault."

After four more snaps, I reached out for my phone no longer wanting to be in front of the camera. I swiped through the photos and he'd actually taken dope shots of me. I gave him props then went to my new Instagram posting my first picture. The first like and comment to roll in was from Brielle: all mine. period.

I locked my phone and placed it aside to tend to my food before it was time to practice.

______

- Any thoughts about Gio and Brielle's relationship?