Now, suddenly, this young German college boy from South Africa was pushing me around, telling me what he wanted, and making me do it. He was calling me Nikki, like we were peers, but he also kept calling me MILF, like I was his personal pornstar. He wasn’t intimidated by the age difference between us, didn’t care that I was married, and didn’t seem to give a damn that he was friends with my son. He’d handled me so roughly, even when I’d told him no.
This must be why my father had warned me not to trust white boys back when I was a teenager myself. Because they’ll say or do whatever it takes to get what they want. And now I knew what that was.
Still, despite what had happened, I held out hope that he’d been chastened by my words, and that he might finally be feeling some shame over what he’d been doing to me. Tomorrow was the final day of the tournament, and if I could just avoid being alone with him until then, Danny and I would be able to get on a plane back to LA and leave this whole episode behind.
But that’s not what happened.
Danny needs routines, especially at a tournament like this, where so many things are already different and disorienting. So I decided, perhaps unwisely, to go back to the same pizza place for the third straight night.
Obviously, I didn’t tell Johan what we were doing. But evidently, I didn’t have to, because as we were sitting down, he walked though the door, plopping down next to me in the booth as if he’d been invited.
“Hey Danny,” he smiled, giving my son a high five. “Great work on the 4×4 today!”
“What are you doing?” I hissed, turning my face so that Danny wouldn’t see my reaction. “I didn’t ask you to be here…”
“We’ve been eating dinner together here every night,” he smiled. “I just assumed we’d do the same thing tonight.”
I looked over at Danny, who was already brightening up noticeably in Johan’s presence.
“Two beers,” Johan called out to the server. “And a Coke.”
Just like the night before, Johan was charming and engaging at dinner, building Danny’s confidence and getting him talking. In spite of everything, I have to admit that seeing Danny open up like this and have a real conversation was still a pretty magical thing for me, so much so that I was almost able to forget what his friend had done to me earlier that day.
Then, midway through pizza, Danny got up and went to the bathroom, leaving me alone with Johan.
“Nikki,” he said, turning to me. “I just wanted to say that I’m sorry about what happened earlier. I… I got carried away.”
“I don’t want to talk about that,” I said tensely, my eyes darting towards the bathroom where Danny had disappeared.
“I know, but we do need to talk,” he said. “About tomorrow.”
“What about tomorrow?” I muttered.
“Danny’s going to break my last world record,” Johan said. “In the 3×3.”
“We’ll see,” I said uneasily.
“He should,” Johan said. “He’s fast enough. As long as he’s feeling good and confident, if he’s able to concentrate, then he’ll break it for sure.”
“So then what do we have to talk about?” I snapped.