⚠️Please keep in mind that they are 18,19 years old. They're still figuring out their emotions while learning who they are. This is not justifiable for toxicity, but it is a reality. Thank yeewww
+Keep On-Kehlani+
THIRD
The game ends in a tie and goes into overtime. Everyone is on edge as a player fouls Hakeem. They line up and wait for the foul shots, he gets two. This makes or breaks the game.
He takes a shot for the first one....
A miss.
"You got this, Keem!" Taija shouts for him to hear.
He looks in the girls' direction and they all smile at him, even Malia. His hands tremble as he's handed another ball. He bounces it twice as he breathes calmly.
He takes another shot....
Clean.
The team goes crazy as the dancers clap for them.
Malia still looks upset so the guys don't sweaty hug her. With the exception of Tyrell because he doesn't care what attitude she has. He wants his hug.
She doesn't put up a fight in giving it to him, or verbally complain about how gross he is. She just screws her face up as he hugs her. Malia sees Xavier and his friends walking over and waves to them.
They dap each other up and she hugs him. As the groups file out, Malia and Xavier walk and talk together. Namjoon watches as they pair together, getting instantly irritated by the sight.
He doesn't even look down when Chloe attaches herself to him. Raeya passes by and catches his eyes. She looks from him to Chloe then back again. She scoffs out a laugh as she crosses her arms and walks out of the gym.
"Y'all did great tonight. You look good in your little uniform." Xavier's fingers ruffle the fringe on her outfit and she smiles at him.
His compliments feel like a pick-me-up to the mood that she's in all night. She welcomes them with a smile, one she doesn't have to force.
They get to the campus intersection where they need to part ways and the two stop walking. The cold December wind nips at them and Malia shivers. Xavier wraps his arms around her in a hug, attempting to ebb her cold. It does very little and they both laugh about it.
"You're beautiful, Malia."
"Thank you." She says and he kisses her forehead.
It's a chaste kiss, one of friendly acknowledgement. He knows that what their friendship initially stemmed from seems wrong. He can only hope that she'll allow him time to right it. Seeing what she doesn't, he watches as the basketball team walks toward them. They're all talking amongst themselves, one is looking for Malia.
"It really is Namjoon, isn't it?"
"What do you mean?" She looks up at him.
"The reason that Chloe wants you distracted so bad."
"If she wants him to herself, she can have him. I'm not going back and forth with him about it anymore."
Xavier shakes his head as his eyes meet Namjoon's. "I don't think he wants her, Lia." He looks down at her. Their faces are close, sheltering from the cold.
"You don't know that. Nobody does."
"I know what a confused freshman struggling with his mental looks like. I also know what it feels like to see the person you like around guys you don't know. The emotions, hormones. Everything becomes very confusing, very quickly."
Malia's brows furrow and Xavier looks back up. She turns around to see Namjoon walking past them with their friends. They're a distance away but there's no mistaking the glare in his eyes.
"He doesn't like me. He just likes what I have to offer. If he did, he wouldn't still be talking to Chloe."
"Lia, don't misunderstand me. You're a great human, definitely top five. But you're 18, probably live with your parents and you're definitely not putting out sooooo." He looks at her hoping she'll catch his drift.
She rolls her eyes.
"If having sex with you was the only reason he wanted to be around you, he'd have stopped being around you by now. He's D-1 and he's not ugly, can you imagine the amount of sexually explicit messages he gets in a week? At 19? People can be... very tactful to get their way, Lia."
Malia doesn't say anything and Xavier sighs. He grabs her hand, swinging it as they continue to walk to her suite building. He walks her to the suite door and they say their goodbyes. He just confused the hell out of her and she needs a shower to think and clear her thoughts.
Her mind is muddled now and she doesn't know what to think. She doesn't know what to feel.
Malia stays in the showers for almost 30 minutes. She throws on an oversized hoodie and some pajama pants. Malia grabs her textbook and laptop to go upstairs to study with Namjoon. He's supposed to go over the things she didn't understand with her before the midterm tomorrow.
She doesn't really care to see his face right now, but she needs to or she might miss the questions. She values her education over her emotions. She knocks on the suite door and Midas opens it, looking at her funny.
"He forgot something?"
"What?" She walks into the suite and peeks into Joon's room. "Where is he?"
"He said he was going downstairs to you."
"That's dumb. He told me to come up here earlier."
"Well, I know he went down the stairs. I watched him as I was talking shit. He ate my last cupcake."
Realization hits both of them and Midas scrunches his face up. Malia just walks out and goes back downstairs.
Cause I know he not bailing on my study session for some head.
She has every intent set on banging on Chloe's door to tell Namjoon to bring his ass out to help her study. No sexual content is more important than her grades. She gets down the hall and hears his voice. She stops in her tracks until she hears him again and then her.
She shakes her head and covers her ears, walking back to her room in a hurry. She's angry as she paces her floor. Eventually, she comes to terms with it, having no other option.
She puts her headphones in and starts to study. Her eyes water a few times, spilling over her lower lashes, but she sucks it up.
She's got shit to do.
++++++
Malia gets two and a half hours of sleep total. Xavier texts her in the morning and she asks him to bring her something caffeinated. He meets her at her midterm room with two canned drinks. She opens one as soon as he hands it to her and chugs it.
"You look dead." Xavier says, taking in her appearance.
"We're funeral buddies, then. You don't look so hot yourself."
"How much sleep did you get?"
"Two and half hours. You?"
"Four. I only have one midterm today though so I'm not too bad off."
"Lucky. I got two. When does yours start?
"Two hours after yours."
Malia's eyes widen. "Boy, why didn't you tell me that? Got me waking you up for nothing. I could've gotten my own drink."
He shrugs. "I was already up. My friend and I are going to the library so it's fine." He checks his watch and looks at her. "You should probably get in there, though. I'll see you later."
"Okay. Thank you." She calls to him. The first midterm is for her second block. It's in a lecture hall and multiple other students are in there from different classes.
When the test starts, she finishes her first turbo shot and gets to work. She uses the entire three hours given, going back to check over her answers twice before handing her test in.
She has a three hour gap before her second midterm. The one that she's worried about. She goes to the library and checks her phone while her laptop starts up.
She heart reacts a few replies to her Instagram story. She posted herself studying last night saying that she was 'over it' about ten minutes before she fell asleep. Many people agreed and were telling her 'good luck' on her exams.
She locks her phone and begins going through the stuff she didn't understand. The day that she got help from Namjoon, he wrote notes for her in the textbook and highlighted them. She reads them over and then does a few practice questions.
She gets two of five correct and rolls her eyes. That's a failing grade. An hour and half in and she gives up. She slumps back against the chair and huffs. Malia knows that she isn't stupid. So for this to be so hard for her to grasp is irritating her beyond belief.
"Need help?" Namjoon's face appears as he stands above her.
"No." She sits up and fixes her bangs that have slid from her forehead. He looks at the papers that she did the practice questions on and scrunches his face up. He picks it up and looks confused.
"Yes, you do. What the hell is this? Did you forget everything we went over already?"
"Nope."
Namjoon narrows his eyes at her and sits down anyway.
"I don't know what your attitude is for but I did nothing to you. Redirect it."
"Maybe if you wouldn't have bailed last night, I'd have gotten the questions right."
"I was busy and so were you."
"Clearly." She snatches paper out of his hand and he snatches it back.
"Do you want help or not? I really don't feel hearing you complain about getting them wrong when I'm trying to help you and you're not taking it."
Malia rolls her eyes and looks away from him. She needs the help, she knows that. She just really wishes it didn't have to be from him. She doesn't respond and he puts a clean sheet of paper in front of her.
"Do the ones you got wrong over again so I can see what you did." His tone isn't so harsh anymore and she picks up her pencil.
Three steps into the problem and he stops her. He shows her what she's doing wrong and corrects her. She does it over and gets it right.
He explains why she kept getting them wrong and realizes that she did the same thing for all the questions marked incorrect. He understands why it's confusing her, there's two methods for the equations depending on what symbols are in them.
It tripped him up too at first.
At the end of the three hour gap, they both pack their stuff up and walk to the midterm room for the fifth block that they have together.
Xavier is coming out of it with the rest of the students. "You look dead." Malia mocks his words from earlier.
"Thanks. That feels wonderful to hear." He says sarcastically. She hands him her second turbo shot .
"I don't need it. I think I'll be fine. Take it." She offers him the drink.
"You keep it. I only had one today, remember? I'm about to go back to sleep."
"Oh, yeah. What kinda magic you do?" She narrows an eye.
"Agh. Brujería." He shakes his head. "My wuela would kill me herself." He says as he laughs. "Good luck on your test." He calls to her as he walks off.
"Thank you." She say back as she walks into the class.
Namjoon sits relatively close to her and she looks him up and down. He does the same but slower and she looks away, rolling her eyes.
Malia takes the exam just fine until she gets to one of those questions. It's fresh in her mind but she still feels skeptical about it. She remembers what Namjoon said and answers. She doesn't look back at it and continues on with the test.
In the end, she checks her work and scans over the questions that she's not so sure of. She uses the full extent of the time and when it's time to turn the test in, she's still wondering if she got any of them right.
She's upset with herself for not being able to fully grasp the concept. Malia leaves the exam room and walks to her suite. She doesn't speak to anybody on the way, her eyes are focused on the ground.
Chloe isn't there which makes Malia happy. She can relax without the thought of people interrupting her peace.
Or so she thought.
Namjoon knocks on the suite door harder than he normally would. He didn't intend to, he's just upset. Lord knows he doesn't know his own strength.
Malia gets pissed as soon as she hears the banging and stomps to the door. He walks in and she walks past him to her room.
"She's not here."
"I didn't come for her. Wassup with you? Why you been acting weird?"
"I'm not."
"You are, Malia. I already told you about that ignoring me shit."
"And I told you to stop fucking Chloe."
"I'm not about to keep repeating myself to you. You're not deaf and I'm not a fucking parrot."
"Get out my room. Go find your girlfriend. I'm not about to keep playing with you."
"What's your problem? This attitude shit is annoying as hell. Especially when I didn't do anything for you to be mad at me for."
"You can stop lying now. It's really not necessary anymore." Malia is calm as she speaks even though her heart is beating out of her chest and she's filled with anger.
"What the fuck are you talking about?"
Malia takes the condom off her dresser and holds it up. "Look familiar?"
He furrows his brows as he looks at it. "I'm not a virgin and I'm not fucking randoms raw. Of course, it looks familiar."
"Cool. Chloe dropped this yesterday morning and I found it on my way to class." She takes his hand and smacks the foil into it. "It's opened and empty. Actually, most of the fucking box is."
"Malia, stop playing with me. I told you I don't have sex with her."
"What do I have to play for? Fuck I look like joking about a condom? How do I even go about doing that?"
He inspects her face before walking to Chloe's room. He goes through both condom boxes. One of them only has three in them, the other has four. That's not the only thing that rubs him the wrong the way, though.
He also finds a packet of papers and an empty pill bottle. He scans the papers and his heart hammers. Malia stands in her doorway with her arms crossed and her eyebrow raised.
Namjoon is internally panicking. "This-.."
He dumps the condoms out and scoffs. He looks at Malia before taking his phone to call Chloe. It rings until he realizes she's in an exam and he hangs up. He's pacing the floor with the gold wrapper in his hand.
"I never fucked her, Malia."
"Okay." She mocks and rolls her eyes as she opens the freezer. She takes her ice cream out and he walks over to her.
She doesn't believe anything that he says. All he does is lie and make her feel crazy. She heard them. How could she be wrong? She isn't even necessarily surprised but it still hurts. The fact that he's downplaying the situation adds to it.
"You think I'm lying to you? I have never had sex with her, I've never even kissed this girl. She's only ever given me head. That's exactly why this shit is a problem! She's putting her mouth and body on other people and still touching me!" He holds up the condom wrapper.
He knew that she was fuckin with other guys. But not to this extent.
"Don't raise your fucking voice at me because you got caught up! That's not my fucking problem. I told you to stop fucking with that bitch and you don't listen. I told you mad times. You fucking played with me over and over again." She pushes him away from her so she can go to her room.
"I hope she poked holes in them condoms! I hope yo ass a daddy at 19. You can kiss half your checks for the rest of your life goodbye."
Namjoon follows her. "Why the fuck would you say that shit? Why would you even take it there?! For what?!"
He closes her door and she yells at him. "Because I went upstairs yesterday for our study time and you weren't there. I came back down here to get you out her room and heard y'all being fucking nasty! I should have yanked you out that bitch room by yo fucking chain!"
He looks at her in disbelief. "I wasn't fucking her. Are you crazy?! She was giving me a handjob. You asked me to give you my test results when I got them. Why would I fuck her right after? I'm in your face almost every fucking day!"
"It almost happened ONCE. We weren't anything and I didn't know what the fuck was going to happen. I haven't touched her like that since. I don't want nobody else but you and you fucking kissing Xavier and yelling at me like I'm in the wrong! I wanted to beat him the fuck up last night, Malia. You really trying me!"
"No. You trying me! I'm done with your bullshit Namjoon. I can't keep doing this shit! You're missing the whole point." Malia yells and her voice breaks. Her eyes water and she sniffles.
"I'm not gonna keep competing with bitches over you. I'm not doing that shit! And you're not gonna keep coming back and forth whenever you feel like it fucking with my head, lying and making me feel crazy about it!" She cries and Namjoon's features blank.
She puts her hands over her eyes to wipe them but the tears keep coming. He goes over to hug her and she allows him to, just needing comfort in the moment. Her arms wrap around his torso and she puts her face into his chest. He soothes her, rocking them side to side as she cries.
His heart clenches in his chest. His throat runs dry and he gulps. He didn't realize it was affecting her this much. She seemed fine to him. A little jealous but he assumed that she was fine because it seemed that she had Xavier. He gets jealous too, he's just much better at masking it and distracting himself.
He's used to it. Hookup culture isn't entirely new to him. But he realizes that it is for Malia. She is new to all of this. He never lied when he said that he only genuinely wants her.
He just doesn't know if she only wants him. If this would be worth the risk that it creates. If passing up Chloe's offer would be the best decision for him regarding her. Would she still want him if he lost his title to everything?
He wipes Malia's tears and cups her cheeks. "I'm not talking to her anymore. Okay, baby? It's over. She's done." She sniffles. Her cheeks are starting to puff and her eyes are red. He takes her glasses off and puts them on her dresser.
"Come on, Lia. Come lay with me." They walk to her bed and she lays on top of him. She hears the frantic beating of his heart as he kisses her forehead.
She looks up at him with her big brown eyes and he melts.
"I'm sorry." He apologizes and she blinks at him.
She's desensitized right now. They both are. Holding onto each for their sense of grounding, they stay that way until Malia falls asleep. Namjoon takes his phone out and blocks Chloe and all of her friends' numbers.
He fucked up and he'll acknowledge that.
But he won't lose Malia because of them.
A|N
+And we have reached the turning point :)