Worlds Divided | j. baker

thirty three

"Ms. Grace, do I have to go?  I thought it was just family?"

"Alo, we all know you're just as a part of this family as Spencer or Dillon. Plus you're already dressed up and we are not letting all your work go to waste." Alondra sighed and looked down to her outfit, and not to be cocky, but she did look good.  On the inside, she felt like she outdid herself, even if it was just a banquet type of setting.  "I'm gonna go see what's taking them so long, you can go raid the kitchen."

She tried not to let the fact that that sentence made her excited, but she was kind of itching to ask since everything in Armando's house was healthy with Rachel doing Keto, whatever the hell that meant. "I won't let you down, Ms. Grace."

Alondra immediately went to the pantry since she wasn't trying to get full before eating at the award ceremony. Crenshaw never really had these types of events, let alone an event for the LA Tribune, so it was a new territory for all of them. Alondra was excited and really proud of Spencer, and the only downside she saw was that she'd have to be around Jordan for the night. The universe was really not working in her favor. She was in the middle of dancing and eating a honey bun when Dillon waltzed in and looked her up and down with his suit on. "Where are your shoes?"

Both looked down to Alondra's sock-covered feet, and then she started doing footwork while still chewing. "I didn't want to crease my Air Jordan's." She shrugged. "Is Spencer ready yet? If we don't leave in 10 minutes we'll be late."

× × ×

Whoever decided to host the award ceremony outside at night in the end of fall in Los Angeles was currently being despised by Alondra. She, Dillon and Grace were sitting front row with Spencer, and Billy was sitting behind them with his family, minus Laura. Olivia knew it was being held outside, and forgot to tell Alondra, so she was sitting hunched with Spencer's suit jacket around her. Right behind them, Jordan was keeping an eye on them because Spencer had his arm on the back of Alondra's chair, but he was kind of wishing it was his jacket around her.

The jacket was honestly keeping her warm, but then Spencer needed it when he went up for his acceptance speech. He was accepting the last award of the night, and once he was called up to the stage, people were standing up and clapping before he even got to the podium.  At first, he was reading off a list of people he wanted to thank for getting him into the place he's at now, then he went to read off the list the pastor at his church read on Sunday.  It was a list of people from Crenshaw that were killed because of the gangs, and got no media attention, until now.

"From now on, I'm winning this race for them.  It ain't just about scholarships or making it into the NFL.  It's about giving back to where I came from as much as I can.  It's about giving them more opportunities so they can write their own stories."  Spencer took a second to look around at the crowd, more specifically at the critics that got every word he just said.  "Thank you."

Again, people stood up to clap, but his family in the front row were feeling extra proud of him.  Spencer went back to his seat as the guy from the LA Tribune, the host of the event, took Spencer's spot at the podium and did a quick closing speech that dismissed everyone.  The football team was all waiting to congratulate Spencer and Billy one more time, but Alondra went to the drinks before going to the car with Dillon and Grace.  At least that was what she planned to do until Jordan grabbed her arm and pulled her aside.

"Pendejo, I almost spilled my sparkling water on my shoes." Alondra muttered, looking up to glare at Jordan. "Can I help you? It's windy and cold."

Before saying what he wanted to, Jordan took his jacket off and secured it around Alondra's body—not like he was waiting all night to do it. "Um, it's been a week so I thought it would be a good time to talk now."

"Talk about what exactly?"

"About us. I'm not really good with relationships. I probably haven't had a stable one since like middle school, but I'm really sorry."

"Look, I'm not that mad anymore. We weren't official, but I did stop talking to guys when I thought we were getting serious. And we went out on dates so I don't know how the hell you thought sleeping with someone else would be okay, especially the same night we had our beach picnic in our homecoming clothes, like who does—"

Mid-rant, Jordan just grabbed Alondra's face and kissed. She thought it was a little rude of him to interrupt her short monologue, but she wasn't that mad and continued to kiss back. But the slap she gave him once he pulled away told him the exact opposite.

"What was that for?!"

Alondra looked up at him and simply shrugged. "I said I wasn't mad, not that I forgave you. It's gonna take more than that to make me give you another chance." Jordan stared at her in disbelief, a little upset that they weren't getting their fresh start. She started taking his jacket off and then pushed it against his chest. "Enjoy your weekend, Baker."

HAPPY NEW YEAR BABIES 🥳 forgot that i never said that lol.  it's like 11pm right now soooo late update check 😝

i dont really converse with u guys and that's ghetto so any new year resolutions??

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