Teenage Love Affair | s. cooper #LLTC (EDITING!)

004

Destiny pursed her lips, "Fine. That's probably best anyway."

"Yeah, okay," Sharife said simply, as he slid his Jordan 4s back on.

Destiny remained on the sofa, a pout remaining, as Sharife walked up the stairs and let himself out of her house. As soon as Sharife was in his car, seat belt buckled, he let out a groan, "What the fuck? What the absolute fuck?"

Sharife paused for a moment in continued disbelief then sighed as he scrolled through his phone for his favorite Lil Baby song, letting the song's bass create slight tremors in the interior.

Sharife started the car and then backed out of her driveway, driving out of the neighborhood.

After getting on the highway and getting off on exit nine, Sharife drove a couple more miles and then parked at the nearest Waffle House to his location.

The inside of the breakfast franchise was slightly cramped, full of people even this late in the afternoon and the grease from the food cooking behind the counter filled the space.

When Sharife turned his head to the right of the restaurant, he spotted Kylah sitting alone at a booth, oversized headphones in, a plate of chocolate chip waffles, and hash browns with cheese on top in front of her, both half-eaten.

Normally, he would sit at the counter when coming to a Waffle House alone but he had the promise to keep to his friend. It was this promise that came to mind when Sharife exhaled a little and then approached where she was sitting alone and in her own world.

"Hey." Sharife slid into the booth across from her and Kylah jumped a little in her seat, pressing a hand to her chest, "Oh, shit." The curse word sounded a little unnatural due to her soft-toned voice.

"What are you doing here? I didn't know you lived in Atlanta too." She continued and Sharife shook his head, "I don't. I was uh, coming from Destiny's."

At her name, Kylah's coffee-warm brown eyes widened, 'Please don't tell her that you saw me eating here." She pleaded as she plucked out her headphones, stuffed the object into her purse, and started cutting into her waffle.

"Destiny?" Sharife raised an eyebrow, amused at her words, "Why not?"

"Technically, we're not supposed to have junk food during the season. We're not even supposed to eat heavy carbs during the season," She sighed, a soft but sad sound, "Usually before our seasons officially start B.J. and I would come here and have breakfast for lunch but..." Kylah trailed off then shook her head, "Destiny saw me here, she would tell our coach so quick." Kylah admitted then daintily stuffed a piece of waffle into her mouth, chewed, and swallowed, "He would cut me for sure."

Just then a waitress who appeared to be in her mid-twenties with a short black bob, walked up to them, popping her gum a little, "Hi, welcome to Waffle House, sweetie. What can I get you?"

"Uh, can I just get a bacon egg and cheese melt, with grits, toast, and my hash browns covered?" Sharife asked as he looked towards the server.

"No drink?" The waitress raised an eyebrow.

"Apple juice. And can you get her a refill of hers?" Sharife nodded at Kylah's empty glass.

"Of course. I'll be right back." The waitress responded and then walked away with Kylah's glass.

"So why can't you eat like a regular person?" Sharife asked in a curious tone.

Kylah chuckled a little as she moved from her now-finished waffle to her cheese-covered hash browns, "Um, well. Our coach weighs us and if we get above a certain weight number, we get cut."

"Ouch." Sharife cocked his head, "Without saying anything first?"

"Yeah," Kylah softly laughed again, "It gets brutal sometimes. More mass means it's harder to get through a routine." The waitress came back with Sharife's food and the two apple juices, put them on the table then walked away again.

"So how have you been? Since BJ's gone, how have you been?" Sharife asked, trying to play coy.

"Um, I've been good. School just started so..." Kylah laughed a little and put down her fork, "I'm sorry. This is weird. I don't understand what you're doing."

Sharife stared at her for a moment, trying to come up with a response, "What do you mean?"

"I don't understand what you're doing," She repeated, her eyes on her plate of hashbrowns, "I mean... You've seen me around with Brandon before like mad times but not even a full two weeks ago you didn't remember my name," Sharife cringed at the retelling of his moment of rudeness and Kylah continued, "Now you're here having breakfast for lunch with me and hitting my phone like we're friends. Like it's normal when it's weird."

Sharife rubbed the back of his neck and then glanced up from his still-full plate to her, "You know what's weird? You not looking at me during this conversation."

Kylah tucked her full lips in, effectively hiding them but lifted her doelike eyes to his face.

"There we go," Sharife said in a low tone, "And I don't see why we can't be friends."

"Destiny would freak out, me being friends with her boyfriend," Kylah snorted, lifted a forkful of hashbrowns to her mouth, chewed, and then swallowed, "Don't need that kinda drama."

"Not her boyfriend," Sharife corrected.

"Oh," Kylah blinked, "You might wanna tell her that," She added, her tone lower than usual, "She can't stop talking about you."

"I'm not her boyfriend and ion see why we can't be friends," Sharife repeated, "Brandon's gone and things can change."

"Things... Can change." Kylah repeated, her tone unsure, "I still think this is-."

"Weird. You've said that. Just go with it." Sharife said with a shrug, "My season hasn't started yet so I can fill in for Brandon. At least today I can."

Kylah's expression visibly brightened, the lines from her confusion lessening and lessening until they disappeared.

With a hearty grunt of satisfaction, Sharife finally shifted his full focus to his meal, completely satisfied that the matter was finally settled between them. Before he could lift his fork to his mouth, Kylah cleared her throat, "Wait."

When Sharife looked up again, the younger girl was holding up her refilled cup in a clear toast, "We usually do a pre-season toast. If you're gonna be Brandon, you need to toast first."

Sharife paused then chuckled, scooping his own glass full of apple juice and clinking it to Kylah's.

"To the season." She spoke, a half smile now gracing her full lips.

"To the season," Sharife repeated, his eyes tentatively locked on hers.

NOTE FROM KY
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