blessed • stephen curry [sequel]

xvii. spaces between us

please read with low expectations 😢 i havent written in a while

—

Stephen

It has been at least 10 minutes since there was silence between Klay and I. All we ever do was talk about basketball that we ran out of things to say anymore. I could feel he wanted to say something else but he was arguing against it.

I placed the glass back on the kitchen island as I watched him sit on the couch.

"How's Zaya?" he asked.

I dried my hands with a towel. "She's resting."

Klay quickly shook his head. "No, I don't mean that."

Looking at him, I realized what he meant so I released a heavy sigh. "Honestly, I don't know. She says we're okay, but I can feel this distance she's putting between us."

"Understandable," he noted, "If Shay was in that situation, you know—"

"I don't think you'll be in the kind of situation I have, anyway," I joked, which was true in nature.

Again. Silence.

Another minute.

Or two.

The television was open but we both know we had our minds somewhere other than a baseball game.

"Why do you stay?" he suddenly opened up. "With Ayesha."

Maybe it was because I didn't expect him to say something until we left that I was a little taken aback.

"Is it because you want to?" he asked. "Or because you need to?"

I huffed to myself. What a pathetic situation I was in, really. "You know the answer to that."

"That doesn't mean you don't care about her, if it means you're obligated to," he said.

"I don't know," was all I could say. "I honestly don't know. I hate myself for being the reason I put her through that."

Klay averted his gaze. "And you're putting Arzaya through something worse, don't you think?"

Even if I don't put myself in her shoes, I knew that girl too much to tell that she was suffering emotionally. I didn't want that at all. I hated myself so much for it, but was there something I could really do?

"Choose, before you lose one of them for good."

Klay's words rang in my ears as if reality hit me back to hell. I didn't realize how long I zoned out until Arzaya came down the stairs and headed for the kitchen.

"Good morning," I greeted, walking to give her a peck.

She simply nodded before going towards the refrigerator.

"You going out?" she asked before drinking from a bottle.

I hummed in agreement.

She didn't say anything else; just silently put the bottle back in and walked past me like I was a stranger.

"Well, don't keep her waiting," she said before climbing the stairs without paying a single glance at me again.