Kicking sand into a black girl's fresh braids probably wasn't the best way to make friends for six-year-old Marshall Stone. In fact, that's how he found a rival.
Love Lewis has always disliked the boy that had her mother on a rampage when she came h...
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A WEEK AGO
One thing I can never be shocked about with Parker Lin is his ability to invite himself into my apartment spontaneously — well if I can even call it that. I did invite him over here to help me set up my new couch but I definitely didn't tell him to walk in unprovoked.
But, here he sits with his legs crossed as I return from my trip to the bathroom, my morning coffee running through me at the speed of light.
"How did you even get in?" I question, thoughts scrambled as I stare at him searching little bags for the required screws, "The door was locked."
"I made a copy of your key when you moved in, bro." He says like that's totally normal. "What if there was an emergency and I had to come check on you?"
My brows furrow as if the answer is obvious — which it might be to everyone but him, "The landlord, Parker."
"Psh," He waves me off, "Yeah fucking right. I count on no one but myself."
Right.
Parker and I have been friends since elementary school when he moved to Charlotte from Nevada. At first, our friendship was characterized by me letting him cheat off my assignments — which is concerning when you think about the fact that this was the most basic level of learning — then it became us hanging out at each other's houses and then doing it every day. The next thing I know, we're both playing basketball for the school that's tied for number one in the region, North Atlantic University.
Of course, we're tied with our rivals across town, Lakeview University. Home of the fucking eels. Respectfully, who actively signs themselves up to be called an Eel? A snake wasn't good enough?
Following the trend of oceanic animals, we've claimed the Dolphins — can't tell me that's not a million times better.
The only reason we don't live together is that he is a whore to the highest extent. The man can't go a week without having sex and I'd rather not have to smell that.
Luckily, my father is willing to sponsor my bank account with rent for a single-bedroom apartment off campus as long as I do what I'd planned to do anyway — law.
"You ever think about how man just came up with these concepts and made them things?" Parker's question comes as I settle on the floor beside him, turning screws into the feet of the couch I'd managed to get after someone broke it. "Like who the fuck thought of a couch and was like, 'I'll make a sitting apparatus and name it a couch'?"
I stare at him blankly, "Apparatus?"
"Word of the day."
Okay. Apart from Parker's slight obsession with his phone's new Word of the Day feature, courtesy of an app he coded, he has a thing for making sure I know he's making good use of it. There hasn't been a day in almost 600 days that he hasn't used a new word around me.
