Jaded Between Shades

Prologue

Have you ever fell for someone that was way out of your league? I'm talking YOU compared to Beyonce or Drake. Have you ever fell for both at once? Have you ever looked online or in a magazine and saw these incredible pictures of couples and thought...who the fuck took the picture? Well the answer is probably me. And if you ever seen pictures of Andre and Jasmine, it's definitely me. We met in high school. Andre who looks like could be a close relative to Andre 3000, and often was called Mr. 3000 when he was on the Varsity basket ball team. He was also did Track and Field. Then there's Beyonce, or should I say Jasmine. She was a cheerleader for the basket ball team. And I was the photographer for the school newspaper. The day we met was during the second semester of my freshman year. The game was just ending, and Andre just scored the winning shot. I took pictures, and made sure to get them at certain angles. After the games they usually congratulate and congregate in the middle of the basketball court. Andre walked by jasmine, and did a slow smile. I took the shot as they stopped to chat with each other. I took another as Jasmine reached up for a kiss from Andre. I guess I forgot to take the flash off of the camera cause it went off when I took the last photo. They both looked up at me...fuck. I probably seem like a creep taking their picture like this, but can you blame me? It was like seeing a hollywood kiss right in front of you.  I thought they would be mad, but as they approached me I saw Jasmine smile.

"Hey, can we see what it looks like? I'm Jasmine. You're..."

"Uh Hi, sure...uh Jade."

"Jade, nice to meet you, and this is Andre."

"Wassup." He smiled.

"Um..here, these are the last couple of shots I took."

"Wow you even caught me taking my jump shot...are these going in the news paper."

"Um...not all of them, I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable by taking the picture of you guys kissing."

"No,no this looks great. I don't mind it being in the paper do you?" She looked up at Andre. 

"Nah this looks real good. " He nodded and smiled.

"Okay great, I was worried you'd be offended."

"No worries Jade, hey listen, we're all going out for Pizza at Gionni's, you wanna come with us?"

"Um...I'll have to ask, but sure."

"Okay see you there." 

She walked away with Andre in tow, and I was wondering if I could even do this. Riley, my older sister, texted me just then and said

"I'm here, you ready to go?"

"Uh yea...do you think mom and dad would mind if I went out for pizza with some friends?"

"You know they would, but don't worry, I got your back, I'll just say I took you, which I will so it's technically not a lie."

"You're the greatest sis"

"No problema, lets get going!"

Half the school was still mingling around when I met my sister outside to get in her car.

"Sheesh, It's even worse than when I went here." She said as I got in her beat up station wagon.

"You mean when dinosaurs roamed the earth."

"Yep ancient civilization was much better back then." we both laughed.

"So is my baby sister finally gonna stop being a hermit and actually get some friends?"

"Maybe...I don't know. I was invited to go after a cheerleader named Jasmine saw the picture I took of her and her boyfriend."

"Oh how quaint, the full of herself barbie and her boy toy athlete, how cliche..." She rolled her eyes.

"Well you just said so yourself, I don't have any friends...so be nice please."

"Anything for you kiddo, anything for you."

We arrived at Gionni's Pizza place, and all the nerves were buzzing through me. All I ever did at this point in my life was study, read, and take pictures. I wasn't like normal kids, and this felt like a chance to finally be normal. 

"You want me to come in?"

"No...I'll be fine."

"You sure?" Riley shot back.

"Yea, I'm fine, text you when I'm done?"

"Yep, I'll pick you up in about 2 hours, is that fair?"

"Plenty, thanks"

I went into the restaurant, there was so many kids from school that swarmed the place. I wondered how I would find Jasmine and Andre, however I didn't have to, they found me very quickly. 

"Jade! Come here!" Jasmine yelled across the room. She saved me a spot between her and Andre. They had a huge pepperoni and sausage pizza sitting in front of them chowing down while the rest of the students laughed and talked.

"Want some? or you can order up at the front if you don't like this kind." Andre said next to me.

"Uh sure I like pepperoni and sausage."

It was with that that this became the day Jasmine, Andre and I all became friends. I was scared that day that they were trying to pull some trick or cause my embarassment somehow by tricking me in front of the entire student body, but nothing like that happened. We just enjoyed some really good pizza, and talked about what we like to do for fun.

When my sister came to pick me up, she saw how happy I was.

"So you had a good time I see. You made some new friends?"

"Yea...I guess I did." I smiled. 

Jasmine and Andre have been high school sweet hearts from the first semester.As years went by, I was the third wheel mostly. They never tried to make me feel that way, but it still would happen. I didn't care about it much until few months ago. Andre finally proposed to Jasmine on her 29th birthday, which he would've been broken up if she got to age 30. Six months prior me and jasmine had a discussion about their 15 year relationship and him dragging his feet. A lot has happened between them. I always joked that we were the black version of Cory, Shawn and Topanga. But Jasmine wanted to get married and have a family, but in separate conversations with Andre, he felt like he wasn't ready. He knew that he had been with her however he felt like because he had gotten stuck to her for so long that he didn't really get to explore what's out there in the world. For me, this was never an option either way. I am single to a fault, involuntarily celibate, and depressed. My photos mean the world to me, and don't worry I'm not the cliche wanting to be a big shot photographer; it's just my hobby. I work for a call center selling cable and internet. I need the pictures of couples to remind me love exists. It has been 3 years since my last attempt at love and it still hurts.