The One She Loved

Chapter sixteen,

hello.

"Hey, Pooh!" Faven exclaimed, embracing Luvie. She stepped aside, letting Luvie walk into the house before shutting the door behind her. "I missed you, girly,"

"I missed you too, I'm sorry for being distant," Luvie apologized, pausing in the foyer.

Faven waved her off, standing in front of her. "You know we'll never trip off that or take it personally. I've been sleeping most of the days away anyway since I've been working overtime," she explained as they walked towards the back of the house.

Faven led her outside to the back patio where Tyra was lounging on the pool floaty in the pool. "Pooh!" Tyra cheesed, waving her hand like an excited child.

Luvie softly laughed, returning the childish gesture. "Hey Ty," she spoke to her, eyeing her medium-length knot-less braids. "I like your hair,"

"Thank you," Tyra grinned, running her fingers through her braids. "So, what's been up? We haven't seen you in forever—and yes, I know it's only been a few days,"

Luvie let out a heavy sigh, slipping her slides off and sitting down on the edge of the pool as she dipped her legs in the water. "There's so much going on," she stressed, lazily wading her feet.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Luvie hesitated at first but then reluctantly nodded her head. She tucked her hands in her lap, beginning to recall the events that had been happening since their last link.

Although Luvie wasn't quite ready for her friends to know about her and Asanté, she was in need of some venting. She'd usually talk to her mom or even Sacha, but she wasn't on good terms with either.

She hadn't talked to Sacha since their argument weeks ago. She didn't bother to reach out since Sacha didn't seem to care to reach out to her.

Luvie wasn't going to apologize for enforcing her boundaries. She was tired of people not respecting her wishes and if she had to end long-term friendships for people to get the picture, then she would.

She was content with keeping her small circle of just Faven and Tyra along with her few acquaintances. They respected Luvie's boundaries and weren't pushy when she took time to herself.

"Okay...what the fuck?" Tyra glanced over at her sister as they both sported shocked expressions. "And this all happened within a span of a week,"

"I'm sorry that happened boo, how are things wit' your family now? Are you still not talking to them?" Faven asked as she rested her arms across Tyra's lap, using her to float in the water.

Luvie shook her head, messing with the water droplets on her thighs. "No—I mean, I talk to my mom but my dad and brothers? Yeah, they can go to hell right now," she said.

"We got an extra phone in there we don't use, do you want it? I think that's a bit unfair and extra for taking your phone," Faven offered, as Tyra nodded in agreement.

"And it's definitely fucked up that they didn't check your brothers for the way they treated you. Especially Nazim—like I get it, he blames himself for what happened to your uncle that he's directing his anger toward everyone in Asanté's family. However, he's a grown-ass man acting like a child," Tyra chimed in, gesturing her index finger around.

"Exactly and they owe you an apology. They used being concerned about your safety as a justification to mistreat you over this situation wit' Asanté, they handled this very poorly," Faven preached.

The girls could admit that they couldn't fully believe that Luvie's parents tolerated the boys' disrespect towards her, given that they didn't stand for anyone else to disrespect her.