90s Love

Chapter 5

The new semester also brought on less time with my girls. Rocky got busy with preparing for student council. Nicki helped out at her mother's daycare. Will had the girls' basketball team. And Kay, in a shocking turn of events, had Aaron and Aaron's friends.

And I, I went to school and went straight home.

I had all this free time and nothing to fill it with while my friends were all doing their own thing. We still spent time together in school, but we were getting distant. And I felt like I was the only one noticing.

"What's up with you?" Calvin demanded to know when he walked into the house, his best friend, Tyree, trailing behind him, interrupting my TV time.

"What?" I gave him a look. "Why you talking to me like that?"

"You're always in the house. You having girl problems?"

"No." I denied eating a chip out of the bag that was on my lap.

"What's up with the girls then?" Tyree asked, taking a seat and swiping the bag. "Doesn't Kay have a lil boyfriend?"

"Yeah. I think." I shrugged. "And the others are busy. I'm not, so I'm here."

"Well, that just sounds sad," Calvin spoke. "You gotta have more friends."

"I have enough."

"Well, that's debatable seeing you still don't got people to hang out with." Tyree quipped.

I looked between the two of them. "Y'all don't wanna hang out with me?"

"If I can get the remote." Calvin snatched it from my side, changing the channel, and I groaned.

"Calvin!"

"Go take a walk or something Nae."

"Why?"

"Cause you can't stay in the house forever."

"I can try."

"Bye, Janae."

Letting out a breath, I reluctantly rose from the couch. Walking to my room, I grabbed my jacket, slipping it on, and grabbed a couple dollars. I decided that if I had to go somewhere, I'd go to the corner store and buy another bag of chips.

No matter how annoying Calvin was, he sometimes meant well. And seeing how I'd been feeling, a walk around the block didn't sound too bad.

"Pick me up some Cheetos." He requested as I passed the living room to get to the door.

"Okay."

"And some Twinkies," Tyree added.

"Boy I-"

"Thank you!"

I exited the house and zipped up my jacket a little higher, seeing it was windy.

The five-minute walk to the corner store felt like an eternity with how cold it was outside. Once I was close enough, I jogged inside the store, the little bell chiming indicating my arrival.

"Hey, Janae." Tommy, the man who ran the store, greeted me. He was middle-aged and had kids that were older and younger than me. The corner store brought in a good profit for him.

"Hey, Tommy." I waved softly before going through the aisles, searching for what I wanted. The little Valentine's Day display caught my eye in the chocolate aisle, making me decide to get a snickers bar for myself.

I didn't forget to grab what the boys wanted before I made my way to the front.

"How's school going?" Tommy asked just to make small talk as he rang up my items.