Sham

17 :) Aminah

After the whole situation with Alex last week, I've finally decided to get some answers from him but he's been avoiding me. One time when I tried to talk to him about it after class, he told me he would text me later that he had somewhere to be, another time when I tried to talk to him, he went ahead with Nate, saying they are late for practice. He pulled the last straw two days ago when I texted him but he left me on read, the two blue ticks indicating that he indeed saw the message.

I was having a quick lunch with Jenny before heading to BD's when Alex and Nate came and sat with us. "Hi ladies." Nate said

"Hi." we said.

"Hey stranger." I scoffed as he said that, not sure what exactly he wants from me now.

"What, so now you are no longer avoiding me?" I quizzed, not able to get over the fact that he's acting like he hasn't been avoiding me all through the week.

"What? I wasn't avoiding you" he said confused.

"Yeah, and my aunt is the Dean of the school." I mocked him.

"Minah, I swear I wasn't avoiding you." He said, taken aback with my accusation.

"Then why is it that when I tried talking to you after class you just walked passed me, or the time I saw you at the hallway, or the time I sent you a text which you failed to respond to after receiving it. Still think you aren't avoiding me?" I cocked a brow at him.

"I told you I had practice during those times, I promise I wasn't lying to you, and I didn't receive any text." he said the last part confused.

"Umm, I might have been the one who checked the message," Nate said meekly and three pairs of eyes turned to him. "It wasn't intentional though. I was with Alex's phone when the text entered so I unknowingly clicked on it."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Alex ran a hand through his hair and shot daggers at Nate. "You are a dick, you know that right?" He said before turning to me. "Let me make it up to you." he said to me. "Should we get dinner later?" he suggested.

"I have work." I said standing up and packing my things.

"What about after work?" He said and I sigh. "I get off work late Alex, and you also know that." I saw Jen from the corner of my eyes, telling me to agree with him.

"I'd wait till you get off then." he said and I folded my hands over my chest.

"I'm getting off by 11pm." I have no intention of working overtime today so I'm getting off work earlier even though I really shouldn't. The reason I've been cranky is not just because of Alex, I have some students loan that are long overdue for payment yet I haven't been able to raise the complete payment. My aunt isn't aware of this, she thinks my scholarship has covered all the books and living expenses but it didn't, which means I still need to make extra cash asides from my allowance.

My aunt doesn't need to add this to her many expenses so when she asked if the scholarship covers all expenses including housing, I told her it did.

I don't really have much of an avenue to pay the loan except if I probably work overtime and maybe demand an advance payment. While the former seems doable, I'm not so sure about the latter seeing as how I've never needed to collect an advance of my pay.

I was due to submit some projects tomorrow, that's the reason I'm not working overtime tonight. As much as I needed to earn money, I need to maintain my scholarship because I doubt I'd be able to continue school without it.

All through my shift at BD's, I kept thinking of ways to tell Brad I need an advance but at the end of the day, I wasn't able to. He didn't seem to be in a good mood since he came back from his date, so I decided to let it slide for today, I was gonna have to tell him tomorrow then.

My shift at Highlights was a bit better since I was able to mention it to Bob. I wasn't exactly expecting him to agree since I just started working there not too long ago but the response I got is still better than a No. He said he was gonna see what he could do about it and he'd let me know tomorrow if it would be possible or not. At least, that seems better than a no.

Just like Alex said, he stayed true to his words as I saw him make his way to the bar at exactly 10 minutes to 11. Aside from the fact that he made me know he was around, he kept his distance and allowed me complete my shift. I finished not too long after and soon enough, he lead me out to his car.

"Where do you want to go?" He asked and I shrugged, telling him to choose a place. Even if it seems pretty late on the clock, there's never a late hour on the busy street of Cali. "Should we go to my place?" He asked again and I whispered a very low "Okay." lost in thoughts about my problems.

It wasn't too long before we got to his place and he led me inside. The moment I stepped a foot in the place, I noticed how small my dorm is in comparison to his place. It was a large two bedroom apartment which he apparently shared with Nate. The whole place was kept neat, and nothing seemed out of place.

"What should I get you? Does spaghetti and meatballs sound okay, or do you prefer something lighter?" He asked and I shrugged in response. I heard him sigh before he crouched down at my front. "Minah, is everything okay? You seem disturbed." he said.

"I'm fine, I just have a lot of things on my mind." I forced out a smile.

"Come on," he stood up. "Let's go."

"Where?" I asked but stood up nonetheless, following him into another room in the apartment. It was set up like a mini gym. A treadmill was placed on one side, and a climbing machine on another side. A punching bag was hung in the middle of the room and I immediately knew what he brought me here for.

"Here," he handed me some gloves. "Let's get some steam out." he said and I sighed, hitting the bag effortlessly. "Is that all you've got?" He asked and I hit the bag, adding energize to it. "Come on, hit it harder." he held the bag from the other side and I hit it again, and again, and again. I kept hitting till I couldn't anymore before I stopped, breathing heavily.

"Feel better?" He asked, spotting a smirk.

"A bit." I breathed out, leaning on the bag to catch my breath. It wasn't until I looked up that I realized how close we are, and how Alex was already staring at me. "What?" I feigned indifference even though all that was going through my mind was literally bad thoughts about him.

"Nothing," he said with a smile. "Just wondering how you'd react if I told you I like you." I blinked once, then twice then I scrunched my brows.

"What?" I asked again, not quite sure I heard him well.

"I like you Minah, but you are so stubborn I don't know if I'd be able to convince you to be mine"

"I'm not one of your fuck buddies Alex."

"I wouldn't want you to be" he stared at me intensely. Is he saying what I think he's saying??

"What then?" I probed.

"Never mind." he shook his head, putting his head down on the punching bag. I could have sworn I heard him mutter something along the line of you're messing with my head Minah. I was still undoing the straps of the gloves I had on, slapping myself on the head for being excited for nothing when I felt eyes on my face. When I looked up, I saw Alex already staring at me again.

"What?" I said, still not feeling too great about his earlier words- Never mind. "Why do you keep staring at me? What do you want for me Alex?"

"I want you to be my girlfriend." he voiced out, finally saying the words I want to hear.

"What?" I confirmed. "You are not joking right?" I said.

"I'm not," he said, maintaining eye contact. He likes doing that, so I've noticed. Maintaining eye contact during a conversation and giving his full attention.

"Okay." I said simply, trying hard to stop my smile from showing.

"Okay?" He asked unsure, taken aback with my answer.

"Okay." I repeated, feeling the corners of my lips turn up.

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