Jalen and his oldest brother John had just finished playing two pickup games of basketball and were in the weight room doing bench presses. They started off with 185 lbs. on the bar and worked their way up to 225 lbs. John had finished his fifth set of ten bench presses and was spotting Jalen.
“Come on, bro, you can give me two more,” John encouraged him.
Jalen’s arms were starting to wobble once he reached nine reps, and he struggled mightily to finish his set. John tried to give Jalen a mental edge by placing his fingertips on the bar ever so slightly.
“This is all you, Jalen,” John said, and Jalen was able to lift the bar from his chest one last time and place it back on the bench.
Jalen grabbed his bottle of water and gulped the last of it, and John said, “Good job, bro. You’ll be up to 275 lbs. in no time.”
“Thanks.”
“You seem like you have a little pep in your step today. You were destroying poor Ronnie on the court earlier.”
“I always destroy Ronnie on the court every week. I don’t know why he thinks he can guard me.”
“Nah, you were being a little extra today. You didn’t have to flush on him like that.”
“I didn’t have a choice…he would’ve blocked it if I didn’t go hard at the rim.”
“But damn, you cocked back from Cleveland with that dunk.”
“Thanks, man. I still have a little left in the tank.”
Jalen paused and said, “I met a girl yesterday.”
“I knew it was something,” John said. “What’s she like?”
“Man, I like this girl a lot…she’s beautiful, she’s smart, and she’s very down to earth. I see her on the train just about every morning, and I finally mustered up the courage to step to her last night when I saw her at the Food4Less gas station.”
“Yeah? That’s great, Jalen.”
“Thanks, John. We hung out at her place last night getting to know each other after I took her out to dinner, and I spent the night.”
“You slept with her on the first date?”
“We didn’t have sex, but yes, we slept in the same bed and held each other all night long. I really have feelings for this girl.”
“What’s her name?”
“Her name is Lisa.”
“I’m glad that you’ve met someone special…I was beginning to worry about you.”
“Why? Because of Kenya?”
“Yes, because of Kenya, Jalen. Look, that was a hard pill to swallow for all of us. She was family, and she was the love of your life.”
“Yeah, you’re right, but I can’t mourn her forever.”
John paused and asked, “Are you going to work out some more or are you done?”
“I’m going to hit the showers, bro.” Jalen answered. “I’m supposed to hook up with Lisa tonight…she’s cooking dinner for us.”
“Good for you, man. I’ll see you later.”
“Later.”