The Double-Tap Accident

Chapter Eight: Three Degrees From Lebron James.

Dedicated to viall2005 for the covers above and below! thank youu <3

Chapter Eight: "Three Degrees From Lebron James."

"YOU'RE MEANING TO tell me that you were in Aven's room and you guys did nothing?"

Mariam had asked this question three times. Each time in disbelief. I gave her the same answer of 'yes' as we walked towards our classes the following afternoon. I was in the process of fixing my scarf as we went up Edgar Hill, attempting to shield myself from the cold air potentially numbing my face as Mariam continued pestering me for an answer she wasn't going to be happy to receive.

"We just watched Glee, talked, and ate Twizzlers." Not much more to say.

"I refuse to believe that."

"That's all we did!" I assured her, moving my hand from my scarf once it was in the right placement. "We played this game with his roommates, talked more, and he dropped me off at home. He was chill about it."

"Nothing?"

"Mariam."

"Absolutely nothing?" She shook her head, looking at where Iman was standing in the distance, waiting for me outside of the South Campus building. He wore a bubble jacket similar to my own but his was a light brown and he had a red hat over his head that mirrored the purple one I was wearing. Like us, he was freezing from the cold, rubbing his hands together as we approached him.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"If a guy invites a girl over and they watch Netflix, what does that mean?" Mariam asked.

"That they're going to fuck." He said.

"Or it can mean that they literally just watched Netflix," From personal experience, I understood exactly what Mariam meant but even at that moment that I was in Aven's room, I knew what that night was about. It was simply comfortable and simply comfortable was not enough for Mariam Sada.

"On a bed." Mariam continued. "It was on a bed. That is code. That is sex."

"You're crazy," I told her.

"What are you two talking about?" Iman asked.

"Aven invited Jaime over--"

"Not really," I interjected. "His roommate just wanted me there so he could get laid which he did. Aven and I just hung out by association."

Mariam waved a hand to dismiss my words, but Iman's eyes were wide. "Wait, wait, Jaime and Aven?"

"Jaime and Aven," Mariam repeated, crossing her arms.

"There is no Jaime and Aven," I told the two of them as people moved around us, lucky to not be paying attention to this mindless conversation I was warped into.

"Wait, wait," He repeated. "You're meaning to tell me that you spent the night over at Aven's? You're fucking Aven?"

My hands went to my face in shame from his loud voice asking the question while another small part of me wished that was true. Oh, God.

But the thing with Iman was that once he asked one question, he didn't stop. Sometimes it was endearing. It must have been a trait he had at four that never went away. Other times it made me want to grab a pin and take the bubble out of his bubble jacket.

"Do you what this means? Like, if you guys are hooking up? Or are you planning on getting together? Because that would make you my sister in law by association. And, like, you're already, like, a sister to me but Aven is like my brother and-wait, no, that's really weird that would make you two siblings and that's gross. That's practically incest."