my past life

•3•

[2 weeks later]

"You're trash!" Zion yells.

"Shut up," Austin says. "This is why I don't play basketball with your ass."

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

Right now we are home. Nicole and I are watching Zion try to play basketball with Austin. It's not going too well.

I roll my eyes, "Austin, just go do something else. He can play alone if he's going to be a bitch."

Austin walks away and Zion rolls his eyes, "You don't have to be so mean to him," Nicole says.

"He sucks," Zion states.

"And?" She asks. She stands up from her chair and takes the ball from Zion. She shoots it and it goes right in. "He doesn't play basketball, so you can't expect him to be good."

"He doesn't even try."

"Sure he does," she shoots the ball again, but misses this time. "You just think he doesn't try because he's bad."

"Not true."

"Yes, true," she says. "I would love to watch you paint. You would be terrible at it."

"Whatever."

She shoots and makes it, "Cut him some slack and next time ask someone else to play with you."

"Okay, okay," Zion says. He takes the ball from her and starts to shoot around alone.

Nicole walks back over to me and I smile, "Glad you said it and not me."

"Why?" She sits down next to me. "Were you afraid you would be too mean?"

"Yes," I say. "Zion has been going through some shit with his family, so he takes it out on everybody else. I want to kill him half of the time. It's hard to stay patient with him."

"I see that," she says. "But you have to at least try to understand him and what he goes through."

"We are trying."

She smiles and then stands up, "Want to go?"

"Where?" I ask.

"Roof."

"Yes," I say. We stand up from the patio chairs and we go up to my bedroom. I open the window and I help Nicole crawl out and onto the roof. I crawl out and I sit down next to her.

"It's beautiful up here," she says.

"The most beautiful," I say. "But you're more beautiful than any sunset."

"Stop," she blushes. "I don't understand why you always say shit like that to me."

"Why?" I ask. "Are you saying it's not true?"

"Maybe," she says.

I roll my eyes, "You're beautiful. Don't let all the haters tell you otherwise."

She lays her head on my shoulder and she takes a deep breath, "It's crazy how we've been best friends for almost a couple months now. I thought it would be hard to make friends at a new place."

"I'm glad you're with us," I say. "I didn't think I could be so close to someone."

"You are to the boys."

"Well I didn't think I could be so close to a girl. I'm close to Haley, but in a different way. She's more like a sister. You're different."

"How?" She asks.

I shrug my shoulders, "You just are. It's not that easy to explain."

"Try."

"You're like my comfort person. You always know what to say and when to say it. You're super genuine and always so caring to everyone. You are super selfless and you care for others more than you care about yourself. I know that I can trust you with absolutely anything."