Link Up ✔️

Chapter 76

There was no question I was with the right guy.

King was on another level compared to Diallo. Things started pretty well with Diallo in the beginning. But looking back, I did not see the red flags. I did not know to look for them,

With King, I was on guard to look out for them. Was he controlling? Was he mean-tempered? Could he be psychotic like Todd, and become obsessed with me? Was he a secret womanizer, like Donell? That was the experience I had with guys my age right now.

Or maybe King had some other red flags. I had my guard up.

So that's why even with King showing me he was a great guy, I was leery of it. I had trust issues. I wanted everything to be perfect, but knowing it never would, I did not want to settle for something either.

Cooking for me was nice, I appreciated it. He knew things I liked. That was a plus.

Then he surprised me again another day, taking me out to where our first date was, Bonkers. It felt different being there with him now as his girlfriend. I changed so much since that naive girl on my first date. King showed me then what a great catch he was, I was not ready to see it.

And still...

"King is gorgeous, smart, romantic, crazy about you...what else do you need?" that coming from Chandler as we were hanging out in the lounge on our floor Sunday afternoon, bored with nothing to do but eat and watch TV.

"Yes, and after my brother the loser, that's an upgrade," Gay added, tossing hot Cheetos in her mouth while I munched on Red Hot Riplet hot corn chips my father sent me. Along with all my other favorite St. Louis snacks, like Billy Goat chips, Gus's pretzels, and decadent slices of gooey butter cake.

"Look I was wrong about one guy...I might be wrong about King."

"Then you make the mistake and move on. But you can't go into the relationship already expecting it to blow up," Gay said.

"True!" Chandler piped in sipping her slushie from Quik Trip and eating microwaved popcorn. "They all start great."

"Roomie, you're thinking about this too much. How do you feel about King? That's all that matters. Live for the moment, not worry about tomorrow."

That was easy for Gay to say. Even though she was still seeing Felix, she was seeing other people too and Felix was cool with that. They both were so free with dating, while I could not handle being with one person.

While my friends may be cool with just a link-up, I wanted more than that.

After hanging with my friends and discussing my relationship blues, I called King to see if he wanted to hang out.

"I have this project I'm working on with my study group..." he said with hesitation. "I'd rather be spending time with you."

When he said things like that, I did not doubt he was the one. I liked that King was not overly clingy, wanting to be with me twenty-four-seven. We each had our friends we spent time with and went to our own activities. We tried to see each other every day, but sometimes we just Facetimed and that was okay.

"No worries, I should study as well."

"This won't be an all night thing. I can swing by later if you want."

I wanted that so bad, but I held back from being clingy. "No, no, don't bother. You'll be tired and need sleep for-"

"Come on Rave, it's no big deal. I'll bring a pizza over if you're still hungry."

"I am always still hungry!" I laughed, even though I stuffed myself with all my snacks. That was not dinner, that was a snack.

After I finished chatting with King, I needed to check in with my father and Angel. Of course, I called Angel before I tried my father.