Soul Mates (Tori Kelly)

Chapter 4

Lynnon's POV

I drop the box I was holding on the floor and plop down next to Tori. I patiently wait for her to finish drinking from her water bottle before I grab it out of her hands to take a swig. I hand the bottle back to her and lay my head down in her lap, then I shut my eyes and relax into her.

Ever since I stopped by her house last week, Tori has been acting strange towards me. She's been hesitant about hanging out with me and only seems to want to do things if Kamari or if one of our brothers will be with us. I also noticed that she doesn't turn into a big cuddle bug when we're just chilling in the house and I have no idea what's going on with her.

I've asked her about it and she claims that everything is fine, but I don't believe her. I'm not one to pry and I know that she'll open up to me when she's ready, but it still hurts that she's lying to me for the time being. If it's something that I did I would like to know about it sooner rather than later.

"This is the last box."

I open my eyes to see my dad putting a box down, and then I see Kamari, Hendrix, and my mom following close behind.

"Hendrix, come help me put the bed back together," dad commands. Hendrix nods his head and they both make their way down the hall towards my room.

"Well, I'm going to go to the grocery store and I'll grab some food on the way back. What do y'all want to eat?" Mom asks.

"Mom, you don't have to do that. I can go grocery shopping later," I object as I sit up and move to lean my back against the wall next to Tori.

"Hush child. I'm thinking pizza. Yay or nay?"

"Yay!" Both Tori and Kamari shout.

"I'll be back in an hour or two," she says and I watch her walk out the door.

The three of us fall into a lighthearted conversation until we're interrupted by Tori's text tone going off.

"Kamari can you hand me my phone," Tori ask and Kamari grabs her phone off of the counter. "Who is it?"

"Brandon," Kamari says mockingly and hands Tori her phone. "You better reply quick before he gets his whitey tightys in a bunch about you being here with us."

"It's not you he has the problem with," Tori mumbles quietly to herself, but sitting less than two feet away from her, I clearly hear what she said.

I cut my eyes towards Tori and furrow my eyebrows as I watch her reply back to his text. "Leave him alone, Mari. He's in love. What do you expect?"

"Oh, whatever, Lyn. You're always taking his side," Kamari says and rolls her eyes, clearly annoyed.

"I'm not taking his side. I'm just trying to see things from his point of view."

"How do things look? Enlighten me, please." Kamari sits down across from me and raises an eyebrow, giving me her full attention.

I glance over at Tori to find her intently watching me and I sit up straighter against the wall. "Well, I mean it seems someone always has to force you to spend time with him," I say softly because I'm becoming uncomfortable under their unrelenting stares.

"Force," Tori scoffs, "You sound like him."

"Okay, maybe not force, but encourage. I mean I had to encourage you to go on the date in the first place and whenever I was home I would have to," I say.

"That's not fair. We had a time constraint whenever you were home," Tori says and turns her body to face mine.

"Okay, but I'm home for good, so what's your excuse now," I ask, turning to face her and Tori just narrows her eyes at me.