The One She Loved

Chapter four,

     "Oh my gosh, are you okay?" Faven asked her, Luvie feeling the wet spot underneath her. She saw a hand extended out in front of her, causing her to look up and lock eyes with Asanté.

     Her cheeks were flushed with embarrassment, as she placed her hand in his. He cautiously helped her up, while Faven and Tyra finally approached the pair.

     "You straight?" Asanté raised an eyebrow, looking over her. Luvie softly hummed, nodding as she dusted off the back of her shorts. He nodded as well, slowly skating away.

     As he did, he locked eyes with Tyra. A small smirk on her face, her eyes darted behind him, making him look back. Mali and Easton were skating by, cheesy grins on their faces. Asanté sucked his teeth, waving his friends off.

     "They need to come out here and mop this up before someone else gets hurt," Tyra said, looking at the small puddle on the floor. "Did your shorts get wet?"

     "It did. Um, I'll be back, I'm gonna go to the restroom," Luvie pointed, still embarrassed from falling in front of everyone.

     "We'll come wit' you," Tyra told her, skating beside her as Faven was on the other side.

     As the rest of the night progressed, Luvie found herself having a good time with her old friends. She hadn't realized how much she missed talking to them, they were like a breath of fresh air from what she usually dealt with, with Sacha and the girls. Though she had love for them, it felt good not having to sit through awkward, shady remarks made between Sacha and Amauri.

     Faven and Tyra were always lively, two peas in a pod. Despite their one year age difference and their separate friend group, the sisters claimed each other as best friends. They knew they could always depend on each other, and didn't have to worry about the other betraying them.

     Luvie somewhat envied what the sisters shared. Though she was fine with being the baby of the family, and was spoiled by her brothers and her parents, she felt a little left out at times, not having a sister.

     Although she appreciated her mom for making plans for them to have their own girls day out every other week, it just wasn't the same as hanging out with someone her age.

     It would've been better if she at least had a girl cousin her age, but even then, the ones she did have were grown with children as the rest of her cousins were boys.

     However, Luvie didn't complain too much about it. They kept her laughing, and were protective of their baby cousin.

     Luvie sat on the bench, sipping from her slushee, watching the others skate on the rink. The corners of her mouth curled up into a small smile as she saw Mali wrapping his arms around Faven. The couple were laughing at Tyra as she bucked at Easton, who had been messing with her for the past minute.

     The only one missing from the equation was Asanté. Sheepishly, Luvie found herself searching for him in the crowd, but he was nowhere to be found. She looked around the building, her eyes finally landing on Asanté sitting at their original table.

     He was sitting alone, watching his friends. Luvie got up and skated over to him, sitting in the chair across from him. Asanté pulled his attention away from his friends and redirected it to Luvie, raising an eyebrow.

     "Why are you sitting alone?" she curiously asked him, wrapping her hands around the top of her cup.

     Asanté shrugged, putting his focus back on the rink. "Same reason why you are," he said. Luvie remained quiet, wrapping her lips around the red straw to sip from her slushee.