On the Other Side

17

Hakeem took one last glance at himself in the mirror and shook his head. No matter how many times he changed shirts, nothing was working for him.

Pink shirt - too bright.

Black shirt - too dark.

Blue shirt - wrinkled to the point of no return. Not even the hottest iron in hell could get rid of those creases. He didn't even know why he was still holding on to it.

Kissing his teeth, Hakeem unbuttoned the navy shirt and reached for the khaki polo shirt at the same time as he heard the knock on his bedroom door.

Shoving his arms through the holes, he turned on his heel to face the figure that stood at the door rubbing his hands together nervously.

It had been almost 2 weeks since the incident and yet Robert had managed to avoid him like the plague. Everywhere Hakeem was, Robert somehow managed not to be. He had even gone so far as to avoid the Saturday game at the rec centre. He never missed a game.

Ever.

It had bugged the shit out of Hakeem because he thought that they were best friends. No matter how many secrets they kept from each other, staying away from him deliberately wasn't cool. It hurt his feelings, he had to admit. To know Robert for so long and to feel so shut out from him hurt him.

He waited for Robert to say something and he didn't have to wait for long. "You got another date with Miss Booty?" He joked, slipping his hands into his pockets.

Hakeem rubbed his jaw. "Yeah man," he replied stoically. "Meeting the parents for the first time."

"Already?" Robert's eyebrows shot up. "Damn. Y'all don't waste any time, do you?" Hakeem chose not to reply to that one.

That had crossed his mind once or twice until he realised that they were grown and there was no formula to these things. One month, three months, a year - you couldn't put a time frame on your feelings.

Laila's parents expressed that they wanted to meet him so he wanted to oblige their request.

"You look like you're struggling to find something to wear though, you need any help?"

Automatically, Hakeem narrowed his eyes. "Boy, you know your ass can't dress."

"What? Son, you don't know about my fashion sense. I'm high fashion."

He couldn't help but chuckle at his ridiculousness. "You dress in the dark, man, stop playing. This ain't 2006 no more, put the bootcuts and Timbs away."

"It's high fashion! You don't get it!" Robert quipped, joining in with his laughter. "Jealous ass."

Hakeem sobered, faint traces of a smile still on his face. They hadn't laughed like this in a while. They hadn't joked around like this in a while.

Heck, they hadn't even talked in a while.

But they still couldn't ignore the fact that the elephant in the room was well and truly stamping its feet as they stood in front of each other.

"Hakeem you're my boy, I hope you know that." Robert began sincerely. "And I wouldn't hide anything deliberately from you." Hakeem's facial expression must have told a different story than one of belief. "I wouldn't! It's just that this... This is hard for me man. Real hard. I don't want you looking at me any differently. Like I'm any less of a man because-."

"If you think I would do that shit Robert then you must not really know me."

His friend rubbed the back of his neck and sighed brokenly. "I hear you, I hear you but- look, I will tell you what's going on. But I'll do that when I'm ready and right now I'm nowhere near ready."