Searchin' | Shuri

Part Seven

"Nothing." She shrugged.

"Shuri. Be honest with me. It looks like it's more than nothing."

"We're just.. having fun."

"What does that mean"

"Don't worry about it." She answered, placing herself back on my chest.

"No." I argued, pulling her back. "Tell me."

"Hazel, why does it matter?"

"Because I need to know" I felt myself starting to get irritated and the fact that she wouldn't answer the question meant there was something more to it.

"You don't. We're just friends Hazel, what I do really doesn't concern you." She shrugged again.

"It doesn't concern me?" I repeated, offended by her response. "You know what. Don't worry about it Shuri." I pushed myself off of her lap and grabbed my things from the couch.

"Wait." She grabbed my arm, pulling me back to her. "I'm sorry. I just don't want to say anything that'll mess up what we're building."

"Yeah. Too late for that" I snatched my arm away and continued to my room, closing and locking the door behind me.

I couldn't believe she would say something like that. I thought we were getting closer but apparently not.

I was laying in bed scrolling through TikTok ,hoping to find something that would make me laugh and get my mind off of the conversation with Shuri, when I heard the lock on my door being unlocked.

I knew it was Riri because she's the only one who had the extra key to my room.

"Hey bestie" She smiled as soon as she walked through the door.

"Hey" I gave her a small smile.

She sighed as she came over and laid in the bed next to me.

"What's going on Hazel?"

"Nothing" I responded still scrolling through TikTok.

"Okay. Now you ask me." She said, snatching my phone out of my hand.

"What's going on Ri?"

"I miss my best friend" She turned over now looking at me.

"Ri we see each other all the time"

"Yeah, you're right. We do. but why do I feel like you've become more of Shuri's best friend and less of mine?"

I shrugged.

"Shuri told me what happened tonight. I took your side"

I gave her another little smile before sitting up and leaning against my headboard.

"You gotta talk to me Hazel. I'm trying to respect your boundaries, but it's really hard when I see someone else come and knock down those same boundaries."

"I just don't wanna talk about it Ri."

I could see sadness fill her eyes as she frowned.

Maybe I wasn't trying to understand her point of view. I would be upset if she started to shut me out for someone else which is probably what it looks like I'm doing.

"I just really like her Ri. I feel so comfortable around her and she makes me feel like I can be myself. She brings something out of me that I've never seen anyone else be able to do."

"I know. I can tell by the way you look at her. The way you try to get her alone as often as you can. When you sneak to her room in the middle of the night and sneak out the next morning."

My mouth dropped hearing her say the last part.

"Yeah, I know" She laughed. "And I support you Hazel, you have to know that."

"When you said she doesn't have the best track record. What'd you mean?" I asked hoping to get an actual answer this time.

She sighed, "Shuri is an amazing person, but she's still healing Hazel. She's not the type to get her feelings involved because she's afraid of losing someone else. Her flings are usually just flings." She shrugged. "I don't know what it is but I can tell it's different with you. Bria is just another convenient fling, but you. She's giving all that she can right now, I know it doesn't look like much, but she's trying."

I nodded, taking in everything that she had just explained. A part of me understood yet another part of me wanted her to give me more than what she was giving.

"Thanks" I responded, reaching out my arms to give her a hug.

We sat there for a few hours catching up on things that we felt like we've been missing out on for the past few weeks and making plans for Thanksgiving and Christmas which was coming up soon.

After Riri left I laid in bed, staring at the ceiling. I sighed, knowing I wasn't going to be able to sleep and the one person that helps with that had pissed me off. I thought of the pros and cons of the situation, eventually letting the pros win.

I slowly got out of bed and tiptoed to the other side of the apartment finding myself stopping in front of Shuri's door. I contemplated knocking for a minute, letting my pride win I slowly turned around and started heading back towards my room.

The sound of the door opening made me turn back around. Shuri was standing there with her shorts & a tank top on.

She looked so good.

"Come on" She said as if she had been waiting on me all night.

I walked back towards her room, pushing past her and taking my normal spot on the bed. I snuggled into the covers that smelled just like her. She closed the door and walked over to the bed, taking her spot beside me.

We laid there in silence which wasn't usual for us, we would talk about any and everything, but I'm sure she knew I was still upset.

She turned on her side, facing me and grabbed my waist pulling me closer to her. I took this as permission to wrap my legs around her and bury my face into her neck.

"I'm sorry for saying what I said." She mumbled against the top of my head.

"It's fine," I shrugged. "You're right. It's none of my concern."

She sighed "I didn't mean it like that."

"It's fine Shuri. Let's just go to sleep." I suggested, hoping to end the conversation which I'm guessing did because a few minutes later I heard snores coming from her.

Even when I'm mad at her, I can't stop my feelings from growing for her..