My Little Secret

Problematic

Dominic Carter

Man I swear it was about 2:00, and people were just clearing out. It was a mess, but I guess I'll clean up in the morning. It wasn't like my parents would come home and say something, I lived alone.

I dapped my boys up before they headed out. I didn't remember seeing Jacob leave and it was odd for him to leave without saying something first. It wasn't that big of a deal so I let it go.

I went upstairs to my room and laid across the bed. It was dark, I didn't even bother to turn my tv on. I didn't feel sober at all, but I wasn't wasted.

Zoey was heavy on my mind. Seeing her today made me have flashbacks. The last time I remember seeing her at my house, was the time she came over so we could finish our science project, but that was like sophomore year. We used to be pretty cool and I don't really know what happened.

I swear I had the biggest crush on her last year but it was obvious she wasn't feeling me. Shit, I don't blame her. I didn't realize how bad I treated her. I mean I didn't mean any harm when I cracked a joke or two. It kept my boys laughing so I kinda disregarded her feelings.

I figured it was too late to text her, so I'd just shoot her a text in the morning. I plugged my phone up to the charger and turned over, preparing to go to sleep, but my phone started to ring. After a few rings I grabbed it to see who it was.

"Ayo, Jay. What's good?"  I answered. "Man are you sleep? I'm at the door." Jacob replied.

Why was he at my place? Something must've been up.

I rolled out of bed and trotted down the steps. I opened the door after rubbing my eyes, kind of waking myself up.

I put my hand out for a dap but he walked right through the door. That was odd, but I just brushed it off.

"Damn the party must've been good, it's a hot mess in here." I closed the door and shrugged. "You know how my partys are." I chuckled a little.

"You pull any girls bruh?" he asked blankly. After thinking about it, more less, I really hadn't. My mind was focused on certain someone.

"Actually, nah dude. I saw you catching up with Naomi though." I said jokingly."That's bull shit. I was just doing that to mess with-" he paused. "her head."

It was silent for a while. Jacob sat on the couch. I snapped back into reality and wondered why he came over here in the first place.

"Uh, my dude did you need anything though? I mean it is kind of late."

He got up. "Nah not really. Just came to holla at you brother. I don't want no problem with you man. You was just a little close to someone tonight. Watch yourself man. You know I play dirty." And with that he just left.

The hell was he talking about? I guess he was trippin. I was even worried about it. He must've had alot to drink if he had the courage to come to me at this time of night talking reckless. I wasn't going to sweat it. I locked the door and carried myself back up the stairs, crawled back into the bed, and prepared to go to sleep.

___
When I woke up, my head was throbbing. Even though I was up, I didn't wanna move. The light from the sun wasn't making it any better either. Maybe I did drink a little more than I thought I did.

After about thirty minutes of just laying there in silence, I got up so I could take something. I walked into the bathroom and checked the counter for some tylenol. Luckily, I had some. I grabbed the bottle and went down stairs, into the kitchen, and fixed myself a glass of cold water. I knew I should've have taken that medicine without food on my stomach, but I wasn't even thinking at the time.

After the medicine kicked in, I cleaned up. It took me a good hour and a half. Then I figured I'd  shower, get dressed and get out the house.

Once I got dressed and all that good stuff, I thought about the things I could do today. The boys would hit me up with moves later. Although Jacob was trippin last night, I took it as if he was drinking way too much and was off his cool.

I could always just chill until the boys planned something up. It was only twelve and I didn't want to be in the house all day.

Man, Zoey was still lingering on my mind. It's been a while since we had a civil conversation. I thought about it for a good minute and once I built up the courage, I called her. After a couple rings, she picked up.

"Hello?"
"Hey, it's Dominic.." There's was little pause, as if she was shocked or something.
"Oh.. uhm" she chuckled. "What's up?"
"Nothing at all. I was actually calling to see if you wanted to, maybe, get into something today. Like old times."
"Dom.. I wish I could but-"
"No, I understand. No need to explain yourself."
"Yeah.. uh, well talk to you later then?"
"Of course."
After saying goodbye to one another, she hung up the phone.

Man, that brought back memories. That's was my first time talking to her on the phone in years. I swear she's always been the only one to call me Dom, and even though it seemed as though I got curved, it felt different to me.

Maybe I was just being a softy at the moment.

Knocking me out of my thought, Marcus sent me a text telling me to meet him at his place. I didn't hesitate to tell him that I was on the way. I grabbed my keys and headed on out.

___
"Man, last night was crazy." Marcus said while turning on the game. "What happened to you?" I asked. He handed me a controller. " Bruh, Lexi texted me.  She asked if we could talk." He chuckled.

Lexi was Marcus's ex. They've been off for a about 6 months now. Something about Jacob messing with her before they were even a thing, I mean I could understand why that was a problem. She was always with him and he was always with Jacob.

Even though she swore she didn't mess with him, if Jacob said he had "fucked his bitch" there was a 10/10 chance it a actually happened. As bad as that sounds, it was normal for them. They were always throwing shots at each other but always had each other backs.

"So what you gonna do?" I asked. He was crazy for that girl. Man was in his feelings for like a month. We couldn't get him to talk to other girls or nothing.

"I don't know what to do. Everybody knows I have love for that girl. But knowing that Jay messed with her, I can't." he shook his head.

"You got a decision to make bro. Have you heard for him today anyway?" I asked, thinking about what happened last night. "Uh, nah. After Lex hit me up, he was the last person on my mind. You?" I shook my head.

"Nah, he came to my house at like two something on some bs." Marcus scrunched up his face. "What you mean?".

"He was like I was too close to somebody or something like that, and I needed to watch myself because he plays dirty." I said, making myself laugh.

"Man, what the hell? who was he talking about?"
"Like I know. I wasn't even around anyone like that. You know how I be."

"You must've said something to Naomi. You know that's his girl." he joked.

" I didn't even know she was there until she made that big scene so she could talk to him."
Naomi had a thing for Jacob. Even though she slept with the whole school, she always came for him. The Jacob we all knew doesn't push away a plate and that's what's he's been doing to Naomi for the longest... I wonder why.