Impossible Dreams

Chapter 5

"Know what?" Rick said, when Lauren got into his car.

"What?" Lauren said. "And why didn't you say 'hi' and kiss me
first?"

"Hi," Rick said, and leaned over to kiss Lauren.

"Okay," Lauren said, smiling as she put on her seat belt. "What
is it?"

"I've talked with Coach Lamont," Rick said. "I hired Coach
Frazier."

"You hired him?"

"Yeah, as my personal trainer."

"You're paying him?"

"Yeah."

"Why don't they pay for him?"

"I ain't no Shaq," Rick said. "I ain't no star player. The team
ain't going to pay for this. They already have a coaching staff
to deal with everything."

"Then why do you need Coach Frazier."

"I need more."
 
"Why?" she said.

"Well," Rick said, "You know I didn't play well yesterday, even
though we won.  So this morning I had a long talk with Coach
Frazier. Then I knew what's the problem."

"What's the problem?"

"I didn't work hard enough," Rick said. "I'd been playing with my
gift. I mean, not the one in my pants."  He smiled as he turned
over to look at her.

Lauren laughed. "Say it once more," she said, mocking a
disgusting expression. "And I'm getting out of your car."

"Okay," Rick went on. "Anyway, I realized that I'd not been
playing with my heart. I can't compete with the best players,
simply can't, because I don't have the heart. I may grab a
double-double everyday, but will lose to them when it matters. I
also don't have enough details and experience."

"You've been in the NBA for five or six years."

"Yeah," Rick said. "Six years. But you know, I never got any
major minutes on the floor until now. If you count minutes on the
court, I'm just a rookie, at most a sophomore. Anyway, I need
someone who knows me for post-game play-by-play reviews and skill
refinement. I also need to work on my defense. Coach Frazier says
I'm too ambitious for steals and make too many mistakes."

"I'm not sure if I know what you're talking about," Lauren said,
smiling. "But I'm glad you have realized what you've been missing
and have decided to work on them."

"I want to show them my best," Rick said. "I had never thought
about winning a championship. But I do now. Well, not really now,
but I do want it, one day."

"Why not now?"

"We're too far away from it."

"Work harder," Lauren said. "Idiot."

"It's a basketball game," Rick said. "You can't put MJ in a
crappy team and tell him to get you a ring, and I ain't no MJ."

"Make yourself better than MJ," Lauren said. "Or I'll stop going
out with you."

"Please," Rick said. "Don't do this to me."

"Don't do what?"

"Teasing me," Rick said. "And relating yourself to the game."

"I thought you like the teases."

"Nah."

"Then why have you been teasing me all the time?" Lauren said.
"Forty shots, eighty shots."

"Okay," Rick said, laughing. "I like you teasing me. But I still
don't like you relating yourself to the game."

"Why not?" Lauren said, giggling.

"I, well," Rick said. "I'll tell you when we get inside." 

Rick stopped his car in front of a restaurant. A valet parking
attendant came over to take his car as they went inside.

"Okay," Lauren said, after they were seated. "Now go on."

"Let's order first," Rick said. He waved the waiter over.

"Okay," Rick said, while waiting for their food. "You know, I had
never thought about us being together, I mean really together,
not like pure friends. You know what I mean?"
 
"Yes."

"Okay," Rick continued. "They were just dreams."

"Dreams?"

"Yeah," Rick said. "Dreams. You know, dreams are happy but unreal
things. You can't catch them and you can't make them come true."

"Wait," Lauren said. "I thought all those were teases.  They
weren't teases?"

"Well," Rick said, smiling a little embarrassingly. "They were,
and also dreams."

"My goodness," Lauren said, laughing. "I didn't know that. Since
when? Don't tell me it was the first time you saw me."

"Nah," Rick said, laughing. "You were just a kid. Well, in fact
not really a kid. You know what I thought when I first saw you in
cheerleader uniform?"

"No," Lauren said. "What did you think? To see me naked?"

"Nah," Rick said. "Damn, I should. I was stupid."

Lauren laughed. "Okay," she said. "What did you think?"

"I said to myself: Oh, this can't be that silly kid."

Lauren laughed and slapped his hand. "Okay, Go on," she said.
"Wait. So you really wanted me as part of the additional double
thing during the twenty shots bid?"

"Nah," Rick said. "Well, first of all. It didn't matter which
girl was there, if they had doubled me again, I would have taken
it. I was out of my mind already. It would be great if it was
you, even though you wouldn't be sleeping with me. It would be
really fun teasing you for the rest of your life."

"My goodness," Lauren said, shaking her head. "Okay, so, since
when?"

"I'm not sure," Rick said. "I think it's your junior year. I
think it was when I came home for Thanksgiving or Christmas.
Suddenly that silly little girl who lived next door to Coach went
poof, and an attractive girl showed up to give me a hug." 

Lauren laughed again. "Wow," she said. "And since then you've
always wanted to sleep with that attractive girl, huh?"

"Nah," Rick said, laughing. "Well, okay, I think a little. Hey,
stop kicking me. Anyway, Nah, I think it was after a while. I
mean, I saw sexy chicks all the time, I can't be drawn to you
simply by that. I think it's how we talked, and how you teased
me."

"Duh," Lauren said, sticking her tongue at him. "I don't think
I'd ever teased you during those days. I had a boyfriend."

"Yeah, I think you had a boyfriend, too. But you actually had
done the teases as well. You remember when I joined you guys to
watch a movie? It's a James Bond movie, I think." 

"Yeah," Lauren said. "I remember. Yeah, it's a James Bond movie.
And we made you pay for it, too.  So?"

"You remember that new point guard Jack who replaced me?"

"Yeah, I remember," Lauren said, giggling. "We called him JJ,
short for Jack the Jerk."

Rick laughed. "Okay," he said. "He lived next block, so we went
home together. He asked me if you were with me. He said he'd
never seen you flirt like that."

Lauren laughed. "Those weren't flirts," she said. "Well, okay,
may be friendly teases."

"So you admit you had teased me," Rick said, smiling.

Lauren laughed again. "Okay," she said. "So?"

"So, of course nothing happened. You know that. I knew you liked
teasing me, playing with me, but weren't really interested in me.
And I'd been happy to have you as a friend. Never thought about
anything. But dreams are dreams, you can't control it. I never
told nobody nothing bout these dreams."

"Well," Lauren said. "You've done a very good job keeping me in
the dark. Anyway, so what about relating me to your game?"

"Oh yeah," Rick said. "So, I mean. I think we are kind of
together now." He smiled at her.

"Maybe," Lauren said, smiling.

"It's scary to think I'll lose you. I mean, you know I can't be
MJ. I deserve to lose you if I do something wrong to you, but it
sucks to think I may lose you because I'm not good in basketball.
 You know what I mean?"

Lauren mulled it over.  "Okay," she said, smiling. "I'm not
related to your game anymore.  But you still have to be better
than MJ, or I'm not seeing you again."

Rick laughed. "You're impossible," he said. 

"I am," Lauren said, smiling. "Want to dump me?"

"Nah," Rick said, laughing. "Hey, do you want to see my place
after the dinner?"

"Do you mean you want me to sleep with you again?"

Rick laughed again. "Nah," he said. "I mean to see my place, I
mean it. Okay, okay, that too."

"I'll think about it," Lauren said, giggling.

"Hey."

"What?" Lauren said, and laughed.

"Are you coming to our last home game? I mean, the last regular
season home game."

"I'll think about it," Lauren said. "How many tickets can you
get?"

"How many do you need?"

------------------------------------------------------------

"I still can't do the math right," Vanessa said, as they walked
towards the gate. "If we win, we go to the playoffs?"

"Depends," Lauren said. "The Grizzlies are playing the Bobcats
right now. If the Bobcats win, we are out. If the Bobcats lose
and we win, we are in."

"We'll see the result on the big screen during the game," Jimmy
said. "They should be near half time by now."  All three of them
were wearing Knicks shooting shirts that Rick bought them.

"Looks like your guy has to be superhuman again today," Vanessa
said as she shrugged. "Yuck, against Houston. Yuck."

The Knicks put up an early run and led the Houston Rockets by
twelve early on, but the Rockets started narrowing the gap. The
Knicks led by six at the end of first quarter. The Rockets
further narrowed the gap and evened the game at half time.

The audience turned their attention to the huge screen hung above
the arena for news about the other critical game. Everyone rose
in joy when they learned the Bobcats had just lost their game, as
if they had already earned a spot in the playoffs.

"It's not over yet," Jimmy said, after his chanting and returning
to reality. "We still have to win this game."  He then realized
he had just pushed Lauren off him. "Come on," he said to Lauren.
"Let's kiss again."

Vanessa slapped Jimmy, then said to Lauren. "I'm a little
worried. Your guy doesn't play like a superhuman today. How many
times did you do it with him last night?"

Lauren poked Vanessa. "I was in my room last night," she said.
"You know that."

"I mean phone sex."

Lauren laughed and slapped Vanessa. But she was more worried than
Vanessa. She began feeling ill when the Rockets slowly gained en
edge and led by five at the end of the third quarter. The Knicks
fought off the deficit in early forth quarter, and neither team
had any meaningful lead since. It was a very tight game. It was
also a game with both teams making many mistakes.

"Your guy's been rather dull today," Jimmy said to Lauren during
a time-out. "If not for Peanut and Kenny, we won't have a
chance."

Lauren nodded her head. "Yeah," she said. "Peanut and Kenny have
been outstanding."

"It looks like the game will be determined by the last shot,"
Jimmy said.

Indeed Jimmy was correct. The Knicks were leading by one but the
Rockets had the possession with eighteen seconds to go. The
Rockets called a time-out, regrouped their players as well as
formulating a play, and then went for their last shot. They made
a basket when the clock was down to two seconds. The Knicks
called a time-out. The entire audience was silent.

"If it's the other night," Jimmy said to Lauren. "I'd bet a
hundred to one on us as your guy would definitely make it. But
he's a so-so-human today and I don't know who to count on."

"I don't know either," Lauren said. "May be Peanut, or Jerry."

"I think you're right," Vanessa said. "Jerry will be coming in.
Diesel is sitting."

Before the ball was in-bounded, Rick ran toward the referee, and
called another time-out.

"What's he doing?" Vanessa said.

"I don't know," Lauren said. They both looked at Jimmy.

"I don't know," Jimmy said. "They must have found something and
need to change the plan. We only need one, so I don't think we're
going to see a 3-pointer, unless it's from Rick, but Rick's not
exactly Rick today."

"They're in-bounding it now," Vanessa said, as Jerry went to
stand beside the referee at mid-court.

"Why are they taking out Kenny and bringing in Diesel?" Lauren
asked Jimmy.

"A bigger screen, I think," Jimmy said. "I bet Rick's going to
make a fifteen to eighteen foot jumper."

When players started moving before the ball was in-bounded, Rick
faked a move to the baseline and then dashed toward the top of
the key. The player chasing Rick nearly bumped into the defender
guarding Diesel, who had set a screen for Rick before he went
toward the basket himself. Rick continued to move to the key,
taking the Rockets defense with him, as Jerry threw in an
alley-oop to the basket where the unguarded Diesel made an easy
slam dunk.

The arena was in chaos even though there was still more than a
second to go. The Rockets kind of tossed the ball away to welcome
the Knicks to the playoffs.

"That's one of the most brilliant moves I've seen," Jimmy said to
the girls when they were filing out of the arena. Great decoy,
great screen, pin-point alley-oop, and slam dunk from the least
expected. Brilliant and stunning!"

They had some food and then went home.  Vanessa and Jimmy went
into her room to celebrate their team's victory.  Lauren changed
into her pajamas and waited in her bed.

"Hey."

"Hey."

"Can I come pick you up?" Rick said.

Lauren laughed. "Where are you?" she said.

"Just dropped off Coach Frazier."

"Well," Lauren said. "You know it's the time of the month for
me."

"I know," Rick said. "I just want to be with you."

"Okay."

"That was a brilliant move," Lauren said, after Rick gave her his
kiss in the car.

"Thanks," Rick said, smiling.

"You made it up?"

"Well, I suggested, and Coach refined it."

"Why?"

"Everyone was expecting it from me," Rick said. "They were, like,
gluing on to me, and I wasn't playing that well today. I didn't
have that buzz."

"Wow," Lauren said. "Amazing. I like that."

"I knew you would," Rick said. "I seldom get compliments from
Coach Frazier, but he complimented me a million times tonight."

"Why were you not playing that well today?"

"Honestly, I don't know," Rick said. "I don't know if it's the
pressure, or I'm a little tired, or because you're having your
period."

Lauren slapped his arm as she laughed. "You really are a jerk,"
she said.

"I told you it's not a one man game," Rick said. "I wasn't
playing that well, but Peanut and Kenny did, and we had a chance.
Jerry was a non-factor today, but he made a perfect alley-oop to
send us to the playoffs."

"So how do you feel about being in the playoffs?"

"I don't know," Rick said. "We'll have a brief rest first, while
Coach works on it."  He laughed.

"Poor coach," Lauren said, laughing.

"Hey!"

"Huh?"

"Are you working tomorrow?"

"You know I am."

"Want to call in for a day off?"

"No," Lauren said. "Actually, I thought about it, but eventually
decided not to. I will never live in anyone's shadow."

"Okay," Rick said. "I understand that. What if I come to pick you
up when you get off work?"

"I'll still be having my period," Lauren said, smiling at him.

"You know I don't mean that," Rick said. "I just want to be with
you."

"So you don't want a blow job tonight?"

"Well," Rick said. "I didn't mean that. But, you know, now that
you've mentioned it. Damn, you're starting to kill me again."

Lauren giggled. "Well," she said. "I'm having a long day
tomorrow, getting off at eight."

"Okay," Rick said. "Hey!"

"What?"

"Move in with me."

"I'll think about it."

"Please?"

"I'll think about it."

"I don't know how long I can stand this."

"You mean you're still hard?"

"I am," Rick said with a sigh. "But that's not what I'm talking
about."

"Pull it over," Lauren said. "I'll blow you now."

"Are you serious?"

"Do you want it or not?"

------------------------------------------------------------

"Is the game over?"  Lauren asked when she came back to her
apartment on Saturday.

"No," Vanessa said. "Three minutes to go, but I think we're
toasted. Trailing by fifteen. Why so late?"

"Damn," Lauren said, as she walked over to the couch. "A girl had
to leave early and asked me to take up her class. How is he
playing today?"

"He's pretty good," Vanessa said. "He's everywhere, twenty six
points and eleven assists. It's the useless A-team guys."

"Where's Jim?"

"Working late," Vanessa said. "I think he'll be here anytime."

The Knicks finally lost by nine.

"You know," Vanessa said. "The average spread on the sports
wagers is fifteen points. So it's not too bad."

"You betting?" Lauren said.

"No," Vanessa said. "Some of his coworkers are, that's why I know
the numbers."

"I see," Lauren said. "Where are you guys going? No dancing
tonight?"

"How do you know?"

"You never wear jeans to a dance."

"Yeah," Vanessa said, giggling. "Don't feel like doing it
tonight. I think we'll go to a movie after dinner. Do you want to
come?"

"Nah," Lauren said. "I'll stay home."

"I'm not going to blow him in front of you."

"That's why I'm not going," Lauren said, giggling.

"You're such a bitch," Vanessa said, laughing. "But join us for
dinner."

"I'll think about it."

"I believe he still owes you a dinner."

"Does he?  I thought the cover charge at Le Jardin was counted as
one." 

"Nah, Bruce paid for it. You don't even know you'd taken
advantage of him?"

"No," Lauren said, laughing. "Damn, I should've known. No wonder
he wanted me drunk. He wanted his investment back."

"Poor Bruce," Vanessa said. "Half bottle of vodka and he's down.
And he didn't even see you pour your bottle into the ice basket."

"I didn't," Lauren said, laughing even harder. "You did, you
bitch."

Vanessa was also laughing. "By the way," she said after the
laugh. "I don't get it."

"Don't get what?"

"Why are you still staying here?  Why haven't you moved in with
him?"

"Should I?"

"I don't know," Vanessa said. "But you're spending more time
there than here."

"It's just, you know, he was having a few days off," Lauren said.
"When he's playing, he's on the road half of the time."

"So you're moving in with him when the season is over?"

"I don't know," Lauren said. "I really don't know. Let's see how
things go. What about you?"

"I don't move in with guys unless I get a big diamond ring as an
invitation."

Lauren laughed again. "That's good advice," she said.

"Diamond's not easy for Jim," Vanessa said, giggling. "But no big
deal for your guy."

"I was thinking about a diamond boat," Lauren said. Then she
heard the buzzer. "Hey, I think it's Jim," she told Vanessa.

"Well," Jimmy said, when they were at the restaurant. "I'm not
that much concerned. First, a best of seven series doesn't really
start until the third game. Second, we really don't have a chance
against the Pistons. They're too good to be a first round
opponent."

"Oh well," Vanessa said to Lauren. "Looks like you'll be moving
in a couple weeks."

"I didn't say I was going to move," Lauren said. "I honestly
don't know."

"Where does he live?" Jimmy said.

"The Kingston, in Queens," Lauren said.

"Very nice place," Jimmy said. "But I thought he lived in
Westchester."

"He doesn't make that much. You should know that."

"He will," Jimmy said. "All time regular season highest
percentage 3-point shooter, nearly a double-double per game,
indefensible at the perimeter. He's not going to sign for less
than ten million next season."

"Is he going to stay with the Knicks?" Vanessa said to Lauren.

"I don't know," Lauren said, giggling. "I'm not his agent. Damn,
I wish I were."

"Easy," Vanessa said, laughing. "Tell him you'll be his agent or
he'll go beat himself off."

Jimmy laughed so hard his head nearly hit the waiter when he came
over to serve them their meals. "It may be tougher than you
think," he said to Vanessa. "Unless they trade Brat Hood away for
just some draft pick options, they're not going to have the
salary room for Rick. Well, not at the new price tag."

Vanessa sighed. "I'll miss you, Lauren," she said.

"Why?"

"Because you're going to move to Los Angeles."

Lauren laughed. "I don't think so," she said. "Actually, I
suspect I never will."

"Honestly," Vanessa said. "Have you ever thought about a future
with him?"

"Have you?"

"I haven't," Vanessa said. "I'm not interested in Rick."

"Damn," Lauren said, laughing. "Why not?"

"Two reasons. One, I love Jim, even though he's worthless. Two,
sue me, but I only sleep with guys with a white dick. Jim, I
forget your color. Can you show us your dick again?"

"I'm wearing a black condom," Jim said. "Does that count?"

Lauren took a few deep breaths to ease her laugher. "I didn't
know that," she said to Vanessa.

"You didn't know what? His dick color?"

"No," Lauren said, laughing again. "Your dick color preference."

"Oh," Vanessa said. "Well, because it's kind of personal. I don't
think I'm discriminative against people with different skin
colors. I have so many close friends with different skin colors
and I love them. I think it's the way I was brought up, and it's
hard to change it overnight."

"I think it's prejudice," Jimmy said. "If you had given it a few
nights, well, of course not now, I won't let you try." He laughed
with them before going on. "Your attitude might have changed."

"I thought you'd only slept with Caucasian and Hispanic," Vanessa
said.

"Actually, I have slept with women of all skin colors," Jimmy
said. I don't have a problem with any of them."

"I didn't know that," Vanessa said.

"You know I was a quarterback at school." 

"Yeah, I know."

"And you know a quarterback sleeps with everyone."

Vanessa giggled. "Okay," she said. She then turned to Lauren and
said. "Are you saying you're having a problem with this?"

"She's already sleeping with him," Jimmy said.

"Shut up, Jim." Vanessa said, slapping his hand playfully. "Are
you, Lauren?"

"Well," Lauren said, shifting. "A little."

"I don't get it," Jimmy said. "You're sleeping with him, and
you're having problem with skin color?"

"Shut up," Vanessa said to Jimmy again. She then turned to
Lauren. "Because of your aunt's incident?" she said.

"Yeah, probably," Lauren said softly. "I think so."

"What incident?" Jimmy said.

"None of your business, Jim," Vanessa said. She then halted, as
if she had thought of something. She said to Lauren. "I think we
should tell him."

"It's kind of personal," Lauren said.

"Nah," Vanessa said. "You'll know why. Go tell him."

Lauren thought it over briefly. "You tell him," she said.

"Okay," Vanessa said, and turned to Jimmy. "Her aunt had a
relationship with a black guy, and had two kids, then the jerk
ran away, leaving them behind. The kids went to foster care. The
aunt ran away from her family. Sounds familiar?"

"Yeah," Jimmy said. "Nearly identical."

"What are you guys talking about?" Lauren said.

"Well," Jimmy said. "My momma had a similar history. She had a
relationship when she was still in high school. The jerk ran
away, leaving my momma behind with two kids. My step-brothers
were sent to foster care when momma couldn't show that she could
raise the kids. She was kicked out of her family. Luckily, momma
met my dad later, or I'd never have existed."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Lauren said. "He's also black?"

"No," Jimmy said. "Whiter than the three of us combined."

"So?"

"So," Vanessa said. "Jerks are everywhere, in all skin colors."

Lauren took another few deep breaths. "Thanks, Nessa. Thanks,
Jim," she said.

"So, you're moving out next week?" Vanessa said.

"No," Lauren said, giggling. "I don't know."

"I hope you remember you'll share the rent till the lease expires
in September, whether you stay or not."

"I remember," Lauren said. "I always keep my word, and I really
don't know if I'll move out or not."

"You really don't know?" Vanessa said, smiling slyly at Lauren.

"I don't," Lauren said, giggling. "Okay, okay. I may, I don't
know."

"Fair," Vanessa said. "So are you going to pay for the movie
tickets?"

"Okay," Lauren said. "On one condition, you blow him in front of
me."

"Why don't you blow him?" Vanessa said. "It's your last chance to
blow a white dick."