A Diamond In The Rough

Just A Friend

-Chance-

It was like I was noticing the features of her face for the first time. From her full pink lips, to her perfect button nose, to her soul capturing eyes. The way her eyebrows naturally arched... They way her cheekbones seemed to be perfectly placed on her beautiful face... Why had I not noticed these things before?

She was so beautiful and smart. I watched her answer the questionnaire our professor had given everybody with ease, biting her lip as she concentrated. It was like as soon as she finished reading the question, she'd already figured out the answer and her pen scribbled away, leaving blue ink where empty space had previously been. It was almost too ironic. I'd been filled with something that definitely wasn't there before and I didn't have any answers for it.

Speaking of space, I was giving her zero of it, with her chair basically pulled between my long legs and my arm draped across the back of her chair as I leaned over her shoulder. This wasn't too out of the ordinary, honestly. I could admit that I was always very affectionate with Ren and invading her personal space. It'd been that way since we first met, purely because at first it annoyed her and there was nothing I enjoyed more than annoying her. But it slowly became habit and after a while, it didn't even feel right to not be up under her. Ren always carried a warm and loving energy with her and being close to her was soothing in a way. It was a stark contrast to what I grew up around. Once I met her family, it made sense. Her folks were just loving people. And no matter how hard of a time her Pops gave me, I know in some way he did look at me like the son he never had. When it came to my folks, it was barely any of that. My father was in and out of our lives whenever he felt like it and my mom, in her bitterness, always took her frustrations out on me for supposedly looking just like him. She never had anything nice or loving to say to me, that is until Cass died and she was left with me. Then she had the audacity to try and guilt-trip me into staying close to home so she wouldn't be lonely. I left as soon as I could and I barely go home during breaks. This summer I didn't have a choice though because I had to come back to campus early for conditioning, but it was just as pointless as always.

"Hey," Ren's concerned voice broke through my thoughts. I took my eyes off her paper and met her gaze.

"Wassup?" I asked, trying my best not to watch her lips as she talked.

"Are you okay? I was about to ask you something and when I looked over, you were clearly deep in thought," she questioned. I failed at not watching her lips almost instantly and I don't know why, but I wanted to feel them against mine.

"I'm good, just was thinking about being at home over break and how whack it was. I'm cool though," I brushed it off, deciding to leave those thoughts alone for now.

"You know you can talk to me about anything, right?" she offered, her eyes still full of concern for me and my well-being. I simply nodded, gazing back at her with appreciation.

I always loved that about her. No matter what she had going on or what she was in the middle of, she made sure to be there for me when I needed her. I'd started this friendship solely wanting to be there for her, but she was so good at reciprocating that having my back was like second nature to her. I'd always been appreciative for it but I was starting to realize I never actually looked for that in any of the females I was attracted to. If they was thick and wanted the dick, that was enough. No other boxes needed to be checked cuz I had no plans of keeping em.

But Ren deserved to be kept. To be placed on a pedestal that no other female could even come close to occupying. She was the prototype of what every nigga wanted when thinking of a wifey and I can't believe I never peeped. I mean she was my friend so it wasn't like I wanted to wife her but... she was definitely deserving of the title. No doubt about it.