SONDER

𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘺

"There might be, but that doesn't involve you. It might just be time for you to move on. If he can do it, you can too."

"I don't want to move on anymore! I just want Mekhi back."

"But you caught up with these hoes and you thuggin'!" Leila recited the lyrics from Red Eye.

"I don't know what to tell you. I'm constantly giving you advice when you ask but you never take it. If he's talking to someone else then what are you going to do about it? Cry? Because it's getting old, Saida, I'm sorry, but it is."

"Having human emotions is getting old?" She scoffs, reaching out to grab her phone that she'd thrown. "Whatever, bro."

"Whatever then." I shrug. That wasn't what I meant and she knew it, but I wasn't going to stress it. I had more important things to worry about.

•••

"I'm scared as fuck, I feel like I'm about to shit myself, bro." Zaire ranted as he got out of the car, nervousness all over his face.

"Why?" I laugh although I was nervous as well. "It's just my parents. They're nobody to be scared of."

"Yes, they are! What if they don't think I'm good enough for you? What am I going to do then?"

"They're not going to think that. You just need to be yourself. You're a nice person, they'll see that. Just talk about what you like."

"They like track?"

I shrug my shoulders. "My dad does, my mom tries to enjoy it because I run. Just...be cool. If all goes well, we can go with you to that party tonight."

"Alright, alright." He nods his head.

I grab his hand and lead him into the house where everyone was seated at the table. Saida was deep into her phone, Leila was drinking some water, and both of my parents were talking about something that was probably incredibly boring.

"Hey, y'all," I smile once the front door shuts, letting go of Zaire's hand. "This is my boyfriend, Zaire."

"Hi," He waves at them with an awkward smile. "It's nice to meet y'all."

"It's nice to meet you, too." My mom says, a look of concern on her face. "Do you want some water, hon? You look exhausted."

"He had a track meet earlier." I say, which causes my dads eyes to light up. "He's tired from that. Come on, let's sit down."

"Track?" My dad asks once we get to our seats. "You run? Or you do discus?"

"I run. Distance."

"Distance?" Saida finally looks up from her phone. "With Mekhi?"

Here she goes, y'all.

"Yeah, I run with him." He nods, looking back at my dad. "You used to run back in your day?"

"Did I? I went to the Olympics one year! Came third place, got the medal and everything!" His excitement was clear.

"Olympics? Sheesh, Mr. Baker, Zion said you liked track but she didn't mention this." Zaire nudged my shoulder.

"Call me Don—and like is an understatement! I love track. I was so happy when Zion wanted to join."

"Way too happy. We basically trained all summer, fall, and most of the winter. It was tiring."

"Think of all the offers you've been getting since last year though, train hard enough and you might run for D1 schools. You get any offers, Zaire?"

"Yale, UCLA and Morehouse have been the ones I've really been considering, but I've gotten a few more."