Chapter 8
Iplaced my phone on silent after Kayla’s tenth text message and fifth call that went unanswered.
Kayla was a cheerleader whom I dated off and on since my sophomore year, and right now we were off, and I planned on keeping it that way.
I didn’t like the clingy shit. I didn’t care for the always wanting to post me because I made her look good on social media.
Everything Kayla posted was some off-guard shit.
She whined and did the most. It was actually our mom’s idea for Kayla and me to date.
Her and Kayla’s mom were friends in high school, and the thought of their children together was a dream for her.
I ain’t want that shit.
Kayla didn’t even like basketball. When we did hang out, all she did was scroll on her phone, talking shit about people. That wasn’t my type of vibe. I’d be playing the game and tuning her ass out. When Mama asks if I'm inviting Kayla over soon, I keep telling her I’m not on that with Kayla.
I tossed the phone onto the couch cushion next to me. Kayla must’ve found out that I was home alone this weekend and wanted to come over on some freaky shit. We were each other’s first. I mean, she was practically thrown at me. I wasn’t thinking about Kayla right now.
We’d eaten our tacos while watching Space Jam. Now Scottie was sitting on the floor where she preferred with her knees pulled up to her chest. Seeing her guarded and uncomfortable at times made me realize just how different our worlds were.
Sliding down, I sat beside her with plenty of distance between us. Scottie didn’t even look up from the movie.
“Hol’ up, is this your first time watching this?” I asked with stretched eyes.
“Yeah. We don’t have cable at home,” she answered.
“Ahhh. I can grab you anytime and bring you here to watch some shit. Especially on weekends and when summer time hits…”
“Wait. Who said I would be spending all that time with you?” Slim laughed. “Slow your roll.”
“We have extra rooms too…” I added, wiggling my brows. “We’ll have a blast.”
Scottie laughed, covering her mouth. That made me smile wider.
I heard niggas talking down on Scottie, calling her a boy and masculine…
she wasn’t masculine at all. She was lean and fit from exercise and basketball.
She was pretty, too. Her smile made her cheeks rise, and her eyes crinkle.
When her hair wasn’t braided, it was curly and right now it was slicked up into a messy, curly high bun, which showed off her heart-shaped face more.
“Can you stop looking at me like that. It’s giving weird.”
Rubbing my eyes, I laughed. “My fault, I zoned out for a moment.”
Slim cut her eyes to me. “Well, don’t do that again.”
I grinned, rubbing my chin. Scottie and I together would be wild, like on some Love and Basketball type shit.
It sounded cliché as hell, even in my own head, but the parallels were there.
The game, then tension, the way we looked at the world from opposite sides of the tracks. It fit just like the movie.
I watched the side of her face when she focused back on the seventy-five-inch screen. Scottie had a roughness to her, but there was a softness there that people missed if they weren’t really paying attention to her. I saw it. I saw it all.
“So,” I started, stretching. “There are games coming up. Each team needs to put up eight hundred.”
Scottie tossed her head back and groaned. “I wouldn’t even be able to pitch in.”
“I’ll put it up,” I said with a shrug like it wasn’t anything. It wasn’t. I had plenty of money and access to more if I needed it.
“I can’t ask you to do that, Kane…”
“You’re not asking. I’m offering, Slim.” I licked my lips. “I just ask for one thing.”
Her eyes narrowed into slits. “What?’
“Don’t let this shit get addicting. One or two games and you’re out.”
Her brows furrowed. “Why are you acting like this could get me killed or something?”
I scoffed. “When you cross paths with the wrong niggas…anything is possible.”
Slim rolled her eyes as if I was just talking out the side of my neck. “I promise I won’t get addicted to whooping these niggas in basketball, making them cry, and running home to their mommies.”
I ran a hand down my face as I chuckled. “Maaaan.”
My phone rang, and I when I saw it was my pops, I excused myself and walked down the hallway.
“Hello?” I answered.
“Who is that in our home, Kane?” his deep voice boomed.
“A friend,” I replied, uninterested in where this convo was going.
I couldn’t do shit right in his eyes. He didn’t want me on that side of town, but when I brought that side of town to me instead, he still had something to say.
He assumed that when Jalen was over to play the game, he was here to steal whatever he could find that was valuable.
That was far from the truth. Jalen ain’t touch shit over here, he had no business touching.
Pops was paranoid and bougie as fuck. Mama liked Jalen, but whatever Pops wanted, she followed.
I wasn’t letting him run Slim off, though.
I felt she needed me…and maybe I needed her too.
“My friend, Scottie,” I replied, making sure to keep my voice down.
“And where is she from? I’ve never seen her before.”
“You haven’t met all of my friends,” I countered. “She’s good people.”
‘She’s good people? When did you start talking like that, Kane? Where is she from?”
I sighed. I thought he and Mama would be too busy to be looking at the cameras. I should’ve cut the damn WIFI off.
“It’s not slang. She’s from Love Heights,” I answered. I could have lied, but I chose not to at the last minute. The lie was sitting on the tip of my tongue.
“Kane,” he gruffed as if he was annoyed. “Where did you find her?”
“Find her? That’s disrespectful.”
“Excuse me?” he snapped, his temper flaring. He always did this, always treating people like they were gum under his shoe.
“I didn’t find her anywhere. We played a game of basketball. She’s a person, not a stray dog.” I felt my temper flare, too. Mama did say I was just like him.
There was a heavy silence on the other end of the line. I could picture him standing outside the ballroom, his face flushed, pacing while gripping the phone tightly enough to crack the screen.
“I’m in the house.” I ran my tongue along the inside of my cheek. “Isn’t it where you want me to be?”
“Watch how you talk to me, Kane. You’ve been feeling yourself a little too much lately. You’ve been picking up bad habits lately.”
“I swear I haven’t,” I replied, running a hand down my face. “I’m no follower. I’m seventeen. When are you going to let up on me? I haven’t done anything but end up in jail for a few hours and it wasn’t even my fault.” I let out a groan.
He grunted. “You should have never been there in the first place. That’s what happens when you hang with the wrong people, Kane. Why didn’t you invite Kayla over instead? She’s a nice young lady.”
My eyes darted back toward the front of the house where I had left Slim. She was probably stuck on Space Jam still, but I was still being a horrible host.
“Kayla doesn’t have the same interest as I do,” I let him know. “She’s messy and I don’t vibe like that.”
“She’s a good look for you, Kane. Look, we’ll talk about this when I get home Sunday night. Don’t get in any trouble, Kane. Hopefully the friendship with this girl is just that and nothing more. I have to go. The senator is walking over.”
I ended the call as soon as he said that. If I remained on the phone another second I’d be letting my father have it. I may have his temper when pushed, but I was nothing like that man. I didn’t look down on the less fortunate like he did.
Sighing heavily, I strolled back to the living room and just like I thought, Slim was still glued to the movie. It was at the end, but I wasn’t ready for her to go home just yet.
“Aye, you want to hop on the game when this go off?” I quizzed, scratching my head.
Slim shrugged without looking away from the glowing screen. “I’ve never played.”
My brows rose. “Like ever?”
She snickered. “Like ever. Basketball? I can probably still whoop you on that.”
I shook my head vehemently. “Naaaah. I’m too cold.”
“Let me tell me see if my Ma will be lenient with my curfew,” she said pulling out her phone.
The excitement about playing on the game danced all over Slim’s face. I stood with my hands in the pockets of my joggers, bouncing on my toes waiting for her mom to respond. The phone in her hand was something I hadn’t seen before.
At seventeen, I was standing here thinking of everything I could buy Slim like I was a damn trick. She needed shoes, an updated phone, some clothes maybe. And it wasn’t on no shady shit like I was trying to change her. I just wanted to help without crossing boundaries.
“She said two more hours and then I need to bring my Black ass home.”
We laughed in unison.
“Bet. You gon’ have to come up to my room then.” I absentmindedly licked my lips right after I said that, and Slim’s brow rose.
“Don’t try no funny, nigga,” she let known and I help my hands up in surrender.
“I promise to be on my best behavior. You look like you could beat my ass anyway,” I joked.
Slim snorted as she followed me toward the stairs. “I know I can.”
“Maaan,” I laughed. “If you swing on me I wouldn’t even hit you back. I’ll pin your ass up though. Might catch a forearm to your throat.”
Slim laughed. We ascended the stairs and I led her down the long hallway to my room.
“Your room is ten times bigger than mine,” she gushed. “You have it made.”
I smacked my lips because I didn’t like her saying that.
Instead of responding to Slim, I sat on the edge of my bed, leaning over to turn on the game system.
I picked up the controllers from where they were charging and reached one out to her, She took it and sat on the bed beside me.
I swallowed and shook back the thoughts that came to my mind.
I could never take it there with Slim. One, she would punch me.
Two, I would never want to ruin the friendship that I knew I would have with her.
Whether she liked it or not, we were gonna be good friends. Best friends.
Before the game started, I showed her what each button was for in the basketball game.
Slim caught on quickly. She even came close to winning one game.
I won by two points. She was dunking on my ass.
When it was time for me to take her back home, her face fell.
The excitement was completely gone. Now my ass wanted to buy her a PS5 just to see that smile on her face again.
In the car, I put on Crown Heart so it wouldn’t be a quiet ride home.
I was already planning my next hangout with Slim, and she didn’t even know.
If I had to take her to play street ball for the bread, just to be around her, so be it.
As I drove, I realized I had it bad for her and that shit scared me.
I was only seventeen and felt like she was my person.
It had to be fate that we met. That’s just where my mind went.
That shit really scared me, but I could feel it in my soul.
I wondered if this was what young love was, even if it was one-sided for now.
Slim didn’t have to say it out loud, but I knew she fucked with the kid.
She probably ain’t never laughed as much as she did tonight.
I was just happy I was able to do that for her.