December 25th.
Fly and Taylor flew to Los Angeles to watch the main event of the NBA Christmas game at Staples Center—the Los Angeles Lakers vs. the Miami Heat.
#Defending Champion VS Big Three#
#Kobe VS LeBron James#
It can be said that this Christmas game was full of highlights.
Its terrifying popularity had already broken boundaries; at least in North America and East Asia, many people who didn't follow basketball knew about this epic showdown.
How could Fly miss such a great opportunity to ride the wave of popularity?
As Taylor's Christian Louboutin red-soled boots crushed the ice crystals at the entrance of Staples Center, the ESPN camera swept over the subtle pattern on her skirt—it was the words "Taylor Swift" embroidered with thermal-sensitive thread, gradually becoming visible under the warm air conditioning inside the arena.
Fly, on the other hand, wore very simple winter sportswear, which was his usual attire during his vacation.
"Hey, Fly, I've heard your great name for a long time, I didn't expect to meet you here for the first time."
A mature England accent from behind caught Fly's attention.
It turned out to be his peer, the world idol, Beckham.
At this moment, he had just tightened Victoria's mink scarf for the third time, and then eagerly greeted Fly.
"Hey, David, I'm a fan of yours. I grew up watching you play. Thinking of the world-shocking banana kick, I feel incredible!"
Fly still held great goodwill towards Beckham, a celebrity with very good public appeal in his previous life.
Victoria, Beckham's wife, also greeted Taylor.
Both were figures in the American entertainment industry, Victoria and Taylor had known each other for a long time, but they weren't close...
"Hahaha, really? It's truly my honor to be liked by the best super rookie in football history!"
Beckham laughed heartily, stepped forward, and hugged Fly.
Then Beckham joked, "You did something big at Old Trafford a while ago, a hat-trick + century birthday celebration, wow, it was truly incredible!"
"You know, that's Old Trafford, Manchester United's home ground. I grew up there, and I've truly never seen anyone create so many famous moments there."
"Fly, I'm genuinely impressed with you. If it weren't for your identity as an Arsenal player, I would have wanted to befriend you long ago."
Fly chuckled, showing a rare moment of humility in front of Beckham.
"No, I'm just a newcomer now, it's nothing..."
"If I can reach half of your height in the future, I'll be very satisfied."
Hearing this, Beckham pointed at Fly, shaking his head continuously, and said self-deprecatingly, "Hahaha, don't tease me."
"Compared to a genius like you, I'm nothing. Scoring over 40 goals in just half a season, are you kidding me?"
"My god, I've never scored more than 30 goals in any season in my entire life, but you've already scored 40 goals just a few months after your debut, it's too exaggerated."
The two exchanged compliments, then walked into Staples Center together through the VIP channel.
Taylor and Victoria chatted about industry gossip and recent fashion topics together.
After entering the arena, Fly and Taylor, along with Beckham and Victoria, sat in the first row of the celebrity-exclusive viewing area.
Just after the group sat down, cheers suddenly erupted from the venue.
Fly looked around and saw that the broadcast camera was focused on them, specifically on him and Taylor.
Although Beckham had been developing in the United States for several years, his popularity in the United States was far less than that of Taylor beside Fly, because he was involved in the MLS, which received little attention.
Even Fly, the super rich second generation who had just become famous in North America, might not be able to surpass her.
As for Victoria, her development in the United States had also been relatively ordinary, and she was more known publicly as "Beckham's wife."
If Beckham's popularity in North America wasn't very high, let alone hers.
This is also why Victoria, despite being so much older, spoke somewhat submissively when interacting with Taylor.
After all, the 21-year-old girl in front of her was simply too famous in this land!
In other aspects, whether it was commercial value or money-making ability, Taylor completely crushed Victoria.
Otherwise, with Victoria's personality, she wouldn't be chatting so enthusiastically with a small-time celebrity.
In the TNT studio, Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith couldn't help but exclaim when they saw the scene shown by the broadcast camera:
"Wow, look what we see, Fly Adams, who has ignited public opinion across the internet recently, oh, my god, I didn't expect him to be here to watch the game, the popularity of this game is going to explode!"
Kenny Smith added, "And Taylor Swift, this couple came together to watch this game. I think the entertainment media in Los Angeles will be overjoyed today. This is the first time this couple has watched a game together at a venue."
"That's right, the incredible non-professional flyer and the young queen famous in North America, the popularity of this combination is absolutely no less than this epic showdown today!"
Speaking of this, Charles Barkley suddenly curved his mouth, smiled at Kenny Smith, and said, "I heard Fly seems to have a good relationship with LeBron. Do you think he came to Staples for this game to support LeBron or the Lakers?"
"You know, supporting the Lakers' opponent at the Lakers' home court is not a popular thing, especially when he is a big celebrity. It might bring him a lot of unnecessary negative news."
Kenny Smith rolled his eyes at him and said angrily, "How would I know? To be honest, it's hard to say how good Fly's relationship with LeBron really is, after all, Fly's comments under LeBron's posts are really...haha, you know."
Barkley recalled for a moment, seemingly remembering something interesting, and also chuckled, saying no more.
During the pre-game warm-up, Fly saw two familiar figures—the man with '24' printed on his back and the man with '6' printed on his back.
Among them, the man with '24' printed on his back was shooting meticulously, his whole body like a machine, flicking the ball, jumping, shooting, making it... no, it's iron!
After hitting iron three times in a row, Kobe frowned, clearly very dissatisfied with his warm-up performance.
Seeing this scene, Fly thought to himself, "Oh no, I guess I'll be hearing the crisp sound of hitting iron all night."
As for the other side, the man wearing '6' familiar went to the scorer's table by the court, sprinkled magnesium powder all over his hands, then swung his arms, the magnesium powder forming a cloud in the air, combined with LeBron James's expression, giving a sense of "reigning over the world."
Because Fly's seat was close to the scorer's table, some of the magnesium powder sprinkled in the air drifted towards his location.
Fly quickly put his arm around Taylor, then shouted to LeBron James, "Hey, LeBron, is this how you treat your good brother?"
LeBron James heard this and looked back, seeing the face that had been all over the internet recently. His expression instantly turned into "joy," and he quickly walked to Fly and extended his arm:
"Wow, Bro, I didn't expect you to come and watch my game live, I'm so touched, hahaha..."
Facing the black hand covered in magnesium powder, Fly just touched it lightly, then immediately let go, and instead lightly punched LeBron James's thick chest with his small fist.
"Bro, I've told you before, the future is yours. Old guys like Duncan and Kobe are no longer your opponents. I believe you can win the championship this year!"
LeBron James grinned when he heard this, nodded and replied, "Definitely, Bro, I'll take your word for it, and I also wish you win the Premier League championship and the Champions League championship this year!"
Unlike most Americans, LeBron James had some understanding of England football, otherwise he wouldn't become a minority shareholder of Liverpool in the future.
After saying a few words to LeBron James, Fly returned to his seat, while LeBron James walked to the center of the court, preparing for the game.
The live broadcast camera kept showing Fly. When Lakers fans saw this superstar chatting and laughing with the Heat's "second-in-command," a burst of boos erupted.
They welcomed celebrities from other fields to watch games at Staples, as this proved the Lakers' heritage and popularity.
But they couldn't tolerate a celebrity who came to watch a game at the Lakers' home court ignoring the Lakers' leader Kobe and instead chatting and laughing with the opposing team's star. In their eyes, this was disrespect to the Lakers!
Fly heard the boos from the crowd. He knew his recent actions had caused dissatisfaction among the fans, so he didn't say much, just blew a kiss to the fans and sat down with a smile on his face.
Seeing that Fly not only didn't repent but even doubled down, the fans' boos grew louder.
"Hani, you've completely offended the Lakers fans now. You know, the number of Lakers fans in this world is not small, especially in Los Angeles, almost one out of every two people is a Lakers fan. Isn't what you're doing offending people?"
Taylor was a bit puzzled by her man's cheeky behavior. The Fly in her impression wasn't like this!
Fly shrugged and said helplessly, "I didn't want to either, but I saw my good brother, how could I not say hello?"
"Who knew Lakers fans were so narrow-minded? I just said hello to LeBron before the game and they booed me, it's really speechless."