DAWG

Ten

Ten

Zayne found himself standing outside on the porch, his tall frame leaning up against one of the white pillars that aligned the brick building. He allowed his eyes to stare out into the clear blue sky as both his hands remained placed into the pockets of his khaki cargo shorts. He'd been outside for awhile attempting to clear his mind. His thoughts were still racing, confusion the highlight of his silent reeling. He was nowhere near close to figuring out what he wanted to do and that unknowingly forced him to keep to himself.

His gaze faltered, making him peruse the few giggling girls walking past the frat house. He nodded at them, deciding to do without a verbal acknowledgment. The loud laughter of his fraternity brothers then swept through the quiet air. "Sup Oz," They each greeted in passing. Zayne smirked, welcoming them all with their honorary handshake. Among the group were his two best friends, Major and Brian. He hadn't seen much of them lately, he knew he'd talk to them eventually. He couldn't purposely avoid them for too much longer.

The other men filed into the house, leaving behind his two friends. Unbeknownst to Zayne, this was about to become an intervention. They'd been able to tell something was heavy on his mind, he wasn't being his usual self. "Aight, so what's bothering you," Brian questioned, plopping down onto the stairs near him. Major settled into a chair, propping his feet upon the banister, "Yeah, you've been too quiet lately. I haven't seen much of you bro, besides in passing or when we're in class together." Zayne focused in on the busy campus, he shrugged his shoulders with a shake of his head. "I... well, damn. I don't even know where to start." He mumbles, quickly deciding against lying to them.

Brian sighed, "It's that serious?" He nodded, still unsure of himself, but more than ready to get it off his chest. Realization quickly settled on him when he remembered the small photo currently in his pocket. That picture stayed with him - every detail of it embedded within his memory now. He pulled it out and handed it over to Brian first. "An old childhood picture of you?"His hazel eyes begin to race over it. Zayne couldn't contain his small grin. It was crazy how much Zayvion resembled him. It had nearly thrown him off like that at first glance too.

"That's not me... that's Zayvion, my son."

He began to nod to reassure himself of his confession. He'd said it out loud to someone else for once - someone other than his reflection. He could feel their piercing stares in an instant. "Wait. Hol' up, hol' up...since when do you have a kid, Zay?"Major said, hopping up to retrieve the photo from Brian. Zayne tucked his hands into his pockets, clenching them tightly.

Brian broke out into quiet laughter, "Damn, I told you bruh. You see what playing around with all these girls gets you," He was always the one to chastise him and Major about entertaining more than one woman.

"You can't even deny him... that's alllllll you!"Major chortles before returning the picture to him.

"Yeah, yeah, I fucked up. I finally realize that I'm not invincible." Zayne smirked, earning more laughter from his friends.

Major nudged his shoulder, "So who's his mom?" He mentally flinched. He knew that question was coming and there was nothing he could do to avoid it. He heaved a deep sigh while rubbing one hand down his face. "Promise Taylor," He mumbled with a roll of his eyes. Brian seemed unfazed at his answer. "Damn, no wonder she showed up out of nowhere last week..." Zayne could see that Major wasn't sure how he should react. "Yeah, it took me by surprise too. I never saw it coming..." He hefted his chin towards the sky, his tongue tracing his bottom lip.

"So what are you going to do, you gonna be there for him?" Brian asked the question that'd been plaguing Zayne ever since he found out. He shrugged, wearing his honesty as if it were his heart. "I don't know. I've been trying to figure that out." There was no point in trying to hide how he was truly feeling.