Marked

Twenty-One

This chapter is dedicated to Kobe and Gianna Bryant, as well as the seven other people on the same helicopter. All taken from us much to soon, rest easy.

I woke up a couple of days later, and the first thing I did was check my phone. I had slept in and had no idea what I was going to read next. One notification stood out among the rest.

Basketball star Kobe Bryant has died

"No," I whispered to myself. This had to be some sort of fake news. There was no way that this was actually real. He wasn't dead.

I still clicked the notification. A helicopter crash. His daughter. More people.

I felt myself getting choked up. He was a legend. Legends didn't just die out of nowhere, right? He was one of my idols. I sat up with a frown.

I looked it up. Too many news stations were reporting it, it had to be real. Someone would have said something about it being fake by now if it was.

My group chat was blowing up. The one of my team. We all looked up to him so much, and we all wanted to play even close to as good as he did. Not that any of us ever would, but we could still try.

I didn't know why he died so young. And his daughter had her whole life ahead of her. Kobe was an awesome athlete, and an awesome person, an amazing dad. I looked up to him so much.

I guess sometimes horrible stuff happens to the best people.

***

"What am I going to wear?" I said to myself as I rifled through my closet, trying to find the right outfit.

That was the night that I was going to meet Parker's parents for the first time. I was terrified. Parker hadn't told me anything about outfit suggestions, saying that I just needed to be myself.

Not fucking helpful, Parker.

What if they didn't like the outfit I chose to wear? Or what if they just didn't like me in general? I was a wreck. Disaster.

Did girls actually take this long to get ready every single day? How early did they have to get up every morning? How were they not dead from exhaustion?

It took me forever, but I finally settled on an outfit. A light pink button-up shirt, and some of my nicer jeans. I rolled up the sleeves. Should I put on cologne? Definitely

I put some on and looked at myself in the mirror. I ran a hand through my hair. Did I look fine? Or did I look as nervous as I felt? I put a smile on my face and nodded. I was just meeting his parents. He had met mine when I was near death. I could meet his over dinner.

I adjusted my collar and turned around. Grabbing my phone and the flowers I had bought earlier, I left my apartment and started to drive to his place. I had also never been there, and that was another thing that was terrifying me.

It didn't take me very long to drive to the address that he had sent to me, he lived closer to where I live now to where I had lived before. I still hadn't been back to my old house or seen my brother since I had been kicked out. You would think that they would check up on me after I had almost died, but they still hadn't even tried to reach out. Dad said that he hadn't heard anything from either of them either.

I got out of my car and started to walk up to the door. I was still just so nervous. I was so sure that his family would hate me. I knocked on the door and took a step back, taking a deep breath to prepare myself.