When star athlete, DeAndre Parker clashes with a tough no-nonsense female classmate, he quickly learns that unlike basketball, there's no playin' hard in the game of love.
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Darnel wasn't picking up. It had been two weeks since we last spoke or seen each other. I blamed Ashley. I blamed college. I blamed everything that was getting in the way of his coming around or speaking to us. This was unlike him to turn his back on his family. He always came home or at least called.
I sat at Chris's house up in his bedroom waiting to get in contact with Darnel, but so far, it was a no-go.
I wanted to leave a voicemail calling 'Nel out on his shit, but he picked up. "What do you need, Dre?"
No 'hello, how are you'?
Swallowing down the first bitter thought that came to mind, I pushed past it, ignoring his tone of sounding stressed. "You've been MIA."
"I've been busy. Do you need anything?"
Yeah, my brother. "Too busy for us?"
"I've got a lot on my mind right now...." Darnel paused before adding, "I just need some space."
"Space?"
"I just need time away from the family. There's a lot on my mind and I don't need any bias distractions, plus with finals coming up I just need all the space I can get."
I had the biggest feeling Ashley wasn't getting space. But I didn't bring it up.
"So we're a distraction?"
"I'm not saying that—look, I gotta go. I'ma call in a week or two, okay?"
I didn't respond. My hand was too busy shaking for me to respond. He wasn't abandoning us. He wasn't changing who he was. He wouldn't do that. He couldn't do that. Never.
"It's going to be okay. I love you, Dre."
"Yeah." I hung up and set my phone aside.
Fuck him.
Chris came back into the room carrying two bottles of water. He handed me one before retreating to his bed and scooting back until he was sitting up against the wall.
We were supposed to play basketball, but I had to pick Cree up from the dance studio and I didn't want to do it all sweaty. I lived fairly close to Chris, but wasn't in the mood to travel home and then go and get Cree.
"I need a favor," Chris came out and asked, bringing me from my thoughts of Darnel fucking up.
"How much?"
"Your dad's going to take Devonte to Miami after graduation, you going?"
I shook my head. They were going for a week and it was tradition for it to be one on one.
"My dad's going to chew my ass about geography and I know he's going to be bitching for the first week of summer about it..."
