Adaeze

85

Me and Adaeze were sitting down at a restaurant after she finished her last class.

"You have a game Friday, right?" she asked.
"Yea but it'll be easy. That team isn't really that good."
"What if they surprise you?" she wondered.
I scoffed. "I hope they do. Or else it's not that fun."

I remembered something.

"This is the last home game of this year until January. I'm gonna be out of a state for a while..." I told her.
"Really?" she frowned.
"Don't look at me like that you'll make me feel bad..." I covered my face.
"It's okay. I will just hang out with Ife if she's not with Dylan."
"I'm gonna call you everyday." I promised.
She giggled. "I believe you."

Speaking of calls, my phone began to ring.

It was my mom.

"Hello?" I answered.
"Hey, where are you?"
"I'm getting food with Adaeze. Well, the food's been got actually. I think we're almost done. Why?"
"I'm in the middle of getting groceries and your father is still at the office. I need you to go get your brother from school." she stated.
"Alright." I said but I was definitely annoyed.
"Thank you. And what do you want for dinner?"
"Lasagna would be great."
"Lasagna? It's like thirty degrees outside I was expecting you to say chili or soup."
"I've been craving lasagna." I stated.
"Okay. Take that up with your brother and tell me what you two decide on."
"Alright."
"Alright bye bye."
"Bye."
We hung up.
I am absolutely not taking it up with Tatum. I want lasagna.

"We gotta go." I told Adaeze.
She looked at me with confused doe eyes while she ate a fry.
I'm going to go into cardiac arrest.
"I have to pick up Tatum from school." I told her.
"Okay."
We started cleaning up our table to leave.

~

I pulled into the school parking lot and got in the carpool line.

"It is a very nice school." Adaeze said as she stared at it.
"Yea, it's pretty cool."
"Did you go here?"
"Yea. My team made it to state all four years." I told her.
"Wow." she sighed. "What is that?"
I chuckled. "It's like the biggest award a high school sports team can get here."
"Oh okay. Very nice."

I pulled up closer since kids started getting in their parents' cars and the cars would drive off.

"I should probably tell him that I'm the one picking him up." I thought aloud.

I grabbed my phone and called him.
It rang.
And rang.
And rang.
Until it got sent to voicemail.
"Pick up the phone, asshole." I said aloud then clicked his name again.
It rang.

"Yo." I said when he picked up.
"What's up?"
"Come outside. I'm in the parking lot to pick you up."
"Why?"
"Who cares why? Just get in the car."
"Alright."
I hung up.

I sat there waiting for him.

Been a minute since I've been back here.

I'm not one of those people that has bad memories of high school but they aren't that great either.
I was just there.
Me, Dylan, Tristan, and at the time Trevor used to clown around a lot.
There was one time all of us got detention because we were caught skipping. That was actually pretty fun. We kept being told to shut up but it would just make us laugh more while we tried to hide our faces.
They even tried to split us all up. It didn't work cause we would just mouth words at each other or make faces and still laugh.

I looked out of the window for Tatum.

The fuck is taking him so long?

I sighed and laid back in my seat again.

Kinda tired.

"What're you doing when we get back home?" I asked Adaeze.
"Nothing." she answered.
"You wanna take a nap with me?"
She snickered. "Why am I not surprised you're planning a nap?"
"Don't bully me, just sleep with me."
She looked at me.
"Not in a slutty way. In a restful way."
She giggled. "Okay. I will take a nap with you."
"Thank you."

We waited a bit longer.

"Bro, where is he?!" I said and sat up to look towards the school again.

I finally saw him leaving the building. He was laughing it up with his friends.
Now I'm gonna embarrass him for making me wait.

I went to my music app and searched up something ridiculous.
Then I rolled all of my windows down and blared it.

"What are you doing?!" Adaeze asked.
"Asshole had us waiting for almost thirty minutes." I stated.
He looked at the car and his eyes widened in fear while I played circus music from the speakers.
Everyone else was also looking at us.

I watched him groan towards the sky and rub his face with his hands.

"GET IN THE CAR, TATUM!" I shouted.
Everybody looked at him.
"Turn it off!" he mouthed.
"I CAN'T HEAR YOU! GET IN!"
He scratched his head while contemplating if he should actually leave with me or not.
"YOU DON'T LEAVE WITH ME, YOU DON'T LEAVE AT ALL!" I told him.

I saw one of the teachers walk up to him and start talking.

"HEY, MS. WITHERSPOON!" I greeted her.
"HI, KODA! AWFULLY LOUD ENTRANCE!"
"THIS IS TATUM'S FAVORITE SONG!" I smiled.

He finally marched towards the car.

He tugged at the handle of the locked door.
"OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR, DUDE!" he yelled.
"HUH?!"
He stuck his arm through the down window and unlocked it himself before getting in.
I laughed and drove off.

I finally turned the music down.
"I hate you so much." he stated.
"Next time when I tell you to come outside, come the fuck outside. I'm not waiting thirty minutes again. I'll leave you here and make you walk." I threatened.
"I'm telling mom to never let you pick me up again."
"Don't say that like it's a punishment to me. I didn't want to come get you anyway."
"Fuck you."
"I'll put you out on the side of the road."
He sucked his teeth.

"Are you hungry or not?" I asked him.
"Yea..."
I pulled into the nearest drive thru. He eats anything.