Adaeze

30

Made it back home a little bit before 11 only because I didn't stop to get food like usual.

I peaked into my room just to see if she was still there.

She was stretching so she'd only just woken up.
I snickered.
"Good morning." I greeted while I walked in and dropped my bag.
"Good morning..."
She sat up and looked at me.
She rolled her head to the side to stretch her neck.

If I didn't smell like sweat I'd jump on her.
One of the straps to her shirt was fallen past her shoulder. And she was leaning back with her hands on the bed. She's not wearing a bra. They're staring at me. Both of them.
She fixed her strap and got out of the bed. I averted my eyes.

"You look good." she said. Her hand felt my chest as she walked past me and left my room.
She went into the bathroom and shut the door.

I fell to my knees.

Then laid down on the floor in the middle of my doorway.

I heard my dad chuckling. "Practice must've been rough huh?" he asked and went down the stairs.

~~~

I'd woken up after my post-practice nap.
It was only for three hours. I'm slacking.

I stretched up and walked to my door to brush my teeth a second time.

While I brushed, I could hear my mom, dad, and Tatum downstairs but wondered where Adaeze was.

Like she could hear my thoughts, she came into the bathroom.
I looked at her before I spit into the sink.
She was dressed with her hair and makeup done. She was in jeans and a crop top.
I rinsed my mouth out and spit while she fixed her hair and looked in the mirror.

"Where are you going?" I asked her.
"Ife's on her way to get me. She wants us to go out together. We're getting lunch and then going to the mall."
"How long is that gonna be?" I wondered.
"I don't know." she shrugged. "A few hours maybe?"
Oh...
"Okay..." I responded.

"Do you want to come?" she asked.
"No, I gotta...help my dad with some stuff..."
"Okay." She smiled and nodded.
She turned and left the bathroom.

I just stood there.
I didn't have to help my dad with shit.

She peaked back into the bathroom and I tried to act like I wasn't just standing there like a weirdo.
"I'll miss you." she stated.
I snickered. "I'll miss you too, mama."
She checked her phone.
"She's here. I have to go."
I nodded.
She waved to me and left.

Now what was I supposed to do?

I sighed and just left the bathroom.

I walked into Tatum's room and he was on the game.

I just started messing with the stuff on his dressers.

"What?" he asked after taking his headset off of one ear.
"Nothin'." I shrugged and kept looking around.

I looked at the tv screen while he played. It was some war game.

"I wasn't talking to you." he said into the headset. "Cover me."
I watched him start shooting at a couple of guys.
I got bored and left. But not without flicking his light on.
"DUDE!" he shouted behind me.

I went downstairs.

I saw my mom getting lunch ready.

"Hey, honey. You okay?" she asked me.
"Yea."
"How was practice?"
"Same as usual."
"I'm surprised you're awake right now." she snickered.
"Yea. What're you making?"
"Pasta salad. Figured it would be nice since it's hot outside."
"Mm. Where's dad?" I asked.
"He was in the garage but he might be cooling off in the pool by now."
"Okay."
I walked off to the back of the house.

I could've gone into the weight room in the garage to lift like my dad but I just did that for an hour and a half this morning.

I walked outside and saw my dad relaxing in the pool. I grabbed the basketball and started dribbling.

"Hey, Ko." he greeted.
"Hey." I said and shot it. It went in.
I picked it back up and casually dribbled between each leg while staring out into our backyard.

"Dad." I called.
"Yea, bud."
I stared down at the ground while I dribbled.
"I took Adaeze on a date." I admitted.
I heard the water move and noticed he was looking at me.

I looked through the back door window to make sure mom wasn't coming then walked over to him.
I placed the basketball on the ground then sat on it with my arms on my knees.

"And how was that?" he asked.
"Really good." I scoffed. "Like really good."
"Then what's the problem?"
"I don't know. I think I'm stressing out about something but I don't know what."
"Is it your mother finding out? Because I can promise you, I haven't told her anything. And I won't." he stated.
"No, it's not that. I mean I hope she doesn't but if she does it's not the end of the world." I responded.
"Alright..."
"I just..."
"Are you over the ex?"
"Reagan?" I questioned.
He nodded.
"Yea. For a while. I've been over that since like June."
"Then what's going on, champ?"
I sighed and stared at the pool. "I don't know. Maybe I'm over Reagan but I'm not over what she did."
"Ah..." he sighed.

I looked back at the backyard landscape.
"I mean...three years of my life and you fucking ruin it for like ten minutes is fucking crazy." I scoffed.
"It is."
"I would've never done something like that to her. I still would never do that. To anyone. That shit hurt, man. Are you serious?" I complained.
"Yea, bud. You got every right to be pissed. Nobody deserves that."
I scoffed.
"We've all been cheated on once or twice. It's very rare your first relationship is a perfect one. But whatever happens, you don't let it affect how you see other potential relationships."
I started picking at my nails.

He smacked my hands for me to stop.

"Just cause you go to a restaurant that had bad burgers doesn't mean you stop eating burgers. You just stop getting them from there." he stated.
"Yea."
"Yea, Reagan's a fucking asshole. We know. We clarified this months ago. And you can be mad. But don't assume that just because she did some messed up shit, the rest are gonna do the same thing." he stated.
"It's just really hard to wanna give that much time to someone and know that at some point they could make it go to waste if they really wanted to." I admitted.
"Risks. You take them everyday. You still play basketball even though there's a chance you could get injured and not play again."
I sighed.
"You got back on that skateboard time and time again even after that one time your mother had to drive you to the hospital and I had to leave work because you broke your arm." he reminded me.
I just looked at him.
"Don't make this the one time you pussy out of something, son. You've never done that before and I didn't teach you to." he stated.
"Yea...I know..." I sighed.