On a mission to fulfill his dream, Alex goes and makes things right with Niyah. She's a crucial part in helping him make it through this scrimmage. He buys some flowers and a teddy bear. He knows that she'll be leaving her school after doing the one class that she has to do in the building. She manages to take her classes online to manage this whole sports thing. He pulls up in the parking lot. He'll get his absence from school erased and blame it on health reasons. He always gets let off the hook for that. He parks beside her car. "I look like a creep." He thinks to himself. Just as he gets his thoughts together, she comes outside. She unlocks the car. He doesn't want to startle her, so he gets out so that she can see him.
"Alex?" She says.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."
"I was about to pull out my pepper spray."
"Don't do that." Alex laughs. "I was trying not to scare you but I did. I was coming to give you these." He hands her the gifts.
"Awwww. You didn't have to." She pokes her lip out.
"I wanted to. I felt bad about leaving you out there on the bleachers."
"I understand."
"I have some things to tell you. Maybe not in a school parking lot, but I have some stuff I want to talk to you about."
"Ok, but you're going to miss your last class of the day."
"Don't worry about that, I can fix that. Do you have anymore classes?"
"Nope, I'm all free." She says. He starts thinking of places they can go without being disturbed. The park parking lot has to many memories and home is going to have Aaron and Roni there.
"We can go to my place." Niyah says out of the blue.
"Do you just live in my brain?" Alex jokes. laughs. He follows her to her place in his car.
"So this is my place." Niyah opens the door for him.
"This is huge! When are your parents coming home?"
"Graduation."
"Huh?"
"My dad's a business man, he's never home. Anyways, enough about me. Sit." She pats a seat next to her on the couch. He follows her instructions.
"Where do I start?" Alex says. He gets into his whole story. At this point he's tired of telling. Ever since they stopped living with no adults, he has had to tell the same store hundreds of time. This time is necessary though. He tries to warn people about what they're getting into.
"I've been seeing you all over the news. The story is everywhere but I didn't know the extent of the damage. That's a lot."
"It is. Your not upset about the past person I was?" Alex asks.
"Nah. I trust that you've changed. You seem like you don't like the old you and have bettered yourself." Niyah replies. Alex looks her up and down. Something about her and her ability to read him intrigues him. Her acceptance is what he wanted.
"Enough about me, what about you? Tell me your life story." Alex prays on.
"Whew, your in for a long story."
"I'm all ears." Alex gets comfortable on the couch. Niyah goes into what shaped her. She's from a small town. Very poor place. Her mom and dad are divorced. They divorced after her dad got a big job that pays a lot. Still to this day Niyah doesn't know why they divorced. Niyah was sent with her dad. Better opportunities. Now her dad is never home and she has the house all to herself. She's doing her best to make a future what she wished she had.
"You don't get lonely? I mean no siblings and always working. I'm sure it gets lonely."
"Sometimes. I have on and off friends though. I do have a brother. He's in jail though. My dad didn't provide for my mom and she has to have money some way, so drug dealing and gang banging it was for him. That lead him to jail."
"So we both have a villain back story." Alex jokes.
"Yeah" Niyah laughs. This time she's the one who looks at Alex. Never has she been this vulnerable. She normally has her walls up, but he made her feel comfortable. She notices Alex is looking at her too. His teeth pull his bottom lip in.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" She asks
"Like what?"
"I don't know." she giggles
"Am I making you nervous?" He looks at her lips. She nods yes. She looks at his lips too. They look back up at each other's eyes. They follow the gazes and their lips crash into each other's. Alex's hand move from her thigh up to her waist. He pulls her up to his lap and she wraps her arms around his neck. They never break the kiss. They can feel the moment getting heated. They both weigh their choices in their heads. They can go further or they can take things slow. They both pull away. They look at each other in the eyes. Alex tucks Niyah's hair behind her ear. He holds the back of her head a strokes her cheek with his thumb.
"I like you. A lot. I really want this to last." He says.
"Me too."
"You want to take this slow?" He asks. She nods.
"So I guess good night for now?"
"I guess so."
"Thank you for my gifts."
"No problem." Alex looks at her with his hand at the bend of her back. He leans in and gives her a kiss goodnight. She smiles and waves him bye. Alex sits in his car, hands on the wheel. He thinks about what just happened. He's so glad that it went the right way. For the first time in a long time, he doesn't regret something that he did. He told himself that he wouldn't do this again, especially after getting out of a long term relationship, but here we are.
