Just A Girlfriend (BWWM) ✅

sixteen

KIT

"Yo! Break his ankles Craig! Craig! Do him how you did Jimmy!" One quick jerk and Creg stumbled to the side giving me free rein of the next. I flicked my wrist and the ball soared straight into the net. Kevin jumped on my back while Benson gave me a thumbs up from across the gym. "Nah, you know we can't stand you, Richie." A nice nickname that may or may not have something to do with my parent's tax bracket. "When we doing round ten?" Jamal plopped down on a bench to swallow his entire bottle of water.

I took a seat next to him and grabbed my hydro flask to cool down. "I'm off work starting Tuesday so what do you say I meet you down here on Wednesday for some one-on-one. Craig needs to rest his knee caps." He walked past me with his hands on his hip in exhaustion before flicking me off. "Whatever old man."

"Yo, so when you gonna buy some of that good stuff off me. you ain't hit me up for some green in a minute. Suddenly you're all spiritually healed today?"

I'll admit that I smoked a few times a week after college and I couldn't pinpoint why. Then Teshia and I's relationship started getting better and I stopped. Next thing I knew she was completely ignoring me which is something I would have never done to her and it feel like I'm high without her. It's a beautiful thing.

"I'll find you a new customer. I'm kind of in-between moving out of my current place and I can't have any sort of drugs messing with my mind right now."

"You and your girl finally expanding out into the world?" He nudged me while wiggling his eyebrows.

I quickly disagreed with what he was laying on. Teshia and I have been more than safe in bed and she's reassured me of that more than once. "Actually I think we're... broken up. She hasn't been home. Blocked my calls. I talked to her mom and she always says Teshia isn't around but I can hear those stupid LA dramas she loves playing in the background. I'm starting a new chapter in my life and it's not going to be with her."

"Even more reason to smoke some weed."

"No."

"We headed out! See yall next week."

We waved goodbye to the other boys on the court before finally turning to gather our own things. "Do you believe in soulmates?" I don't know why of all people I was asking Jamal this when he's never serious and dumb as rocks. "Because for some reason people keep coming back into my life and my body keeps telling me to let them stay."

"Yeah, I believe in soulmates, soul shits, soul crushers. Got a new edible called Soul Snatched that's going for 30% off." He let out a goofy laugh that I didn't even react to. "I do believe in love. Wanna know why?" I nodded. "I've seen you in two phases of your life. When you were eighteen and now that you are twenty-one. I will never forget the look on your face when you thought your best friend was cheating on the girl you... love." I jerked my head to look at him in disbelief that he remembered a time so long ago. "Then the look on your face now as you mentally battle with yourself at the idea if it'll be that way again."

"But there's no competition. Everyone who I tried so hard to please has left my life not giving a damn if I was okay or not. It's just me and her at this point and I've been giving my all meanwhile she's been giving me mixed signals."

Jamal shrugged strongly and let his shoulders hang almost to the ground. "I don't know man. I love Mary Jane because she don't argue, she don't cheat and she damn sure don't confuse the hell out of me. You need to talk to you and this girl to figure this shit out. Tell her how you feel with your whole chest and stop trying to be Mr. Suave. That shit didn't get you nowhere last time."

It was a bad call to come to Edith but I wasn't ready to face Nova with everything that I've been feeling lately. She's seemed to be in the calmest moments of her life and I didn't want to be the reason her life fell apart... again.