Dear Mr.Right,
So I got this scholarship opportunity from Mrs.Applewood, man that woman talks a lot. But I guess she has good intentions, b̶u̶t̶ nvm I don't want to be rude let's move on. Anyways she paired me up with this guy Yamir, he's cool, he's nice, he's smart I think it'll go easy. Schools still fucking boring though, just ready for college...and I'm ready to meet you :( .
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"bout time you got here," my friend, Jacob spoke as he welcomed me in the house.
Music was already playing loudly, it was packed, people were dancing everywhere, shit looked straight out of a movie but this is what parties were usually like after games.
"My bad, I got caught up." I told him truthfully.
After I dropped off Hayden the traffic back to my house was really bad, then when I got home my mom needed me to do a bunch of chores, I lost track of time.
"Hey Mir Mir!" I heard loudly from my left.
I turned around to meet the annoying face of the girl who went by Ericka. The girl had no shame, she was annoying and unapologetically so—Not to mention she insisted on calling me that ugly ass name despite the fact we weren't even close.
"Sup Ericka." I smiled, returning her gesture with a friendly side hug.
It was hard for me to be mean, even when it was justified. I just didn't like making people feel bad or shit like that—it was childish I know...
"you look good!" She flirted loudly.
"Thank you, hey do you know where Markus is?" I questioned, asking her the whereabouts of her brother in hopes to change the subject.
"Oh he in the kitchen." She replied, "but I wanted to see if you—"
"Thank you, I really need to speak with him I'll be right back." I told her before walking off quickly.
I didn't even go to where Markus was at—I didn't care to even speak to him I just needed to get away from her.
"Yamir wassup homie." I heard ahead of me from my friend Darren.
I think Darren was somebody I was genuinely close to here, and I wasn't just doing it to be polite.
"Wassup bro." I smiled as I walked over, meeting him for a handshake.
"where you been, everybody was looking for you." He questioned as I took a stance on the wall next to him.
"Got caught up at home." I answered truthfully again.
"They need to turn off this sad shit, I wanna dance." I spoke.
"Yeah no doubt they—"
"Yamir, Where you been bestfriend!" A voice cut Darren off.
"Oh my god, Kira carry yo bird ass." He sighed.
"Bitch ain't nobody talking to you I was talking to Yamir." She spat back, mugging him dramatically.
"anywaysssss," she drug out dramatically again, "when we gonna go on our date bestie." She smiled in my direction, playfully tugging at the chain on my neck.
She in fact was not my best friend, again I just didn't know how to get her to stop without being rude..
"I—"
"Bitch if you don't leave him alone." Darren interrupted.
"Who you calling a bitch!?" She argued.
"You bitch!" He shot back.
I took that opportunity to walk away and continued exploring the party.
The two of them would argue for days and days, and I for one was not trying to sit and listen to that.
"Oh shit 'chall it's the black Tom Brady." Someone spoke, causing laughs to erupt.
I turned around to see a guy named Damonte. I swear this nigga had a joke everytime I saw him. He never crossed a line because I had no problem speaking up for myself, I guess after a while I just got tired of fake laughing.
"My nigga you was too cold at that game Thursday, had that whole crowd jumpin." He nodded, extending his hand for me to shake.
" 'preciate it." I nodded as I shook his hand.
"You tryna hit?" He questioned, motioning to the blunt in his hand.
"I'm good." I waved off.
"You still don't smoke?" One of his friends asked.
I'm surprised the nigga could even see me with how low and red as his eyes were.
"Nah" I shook my head, "Y'all have a good time though." I told them, dapping each of them up before continuing on my way.
Finally, they changed the music to something faster, some rap.
Soon as I heard the first beat to one of my favorite songs I headed to the dance floor.
Moment I joined in to the dancing with everybody else there was a circle that formed around me of people hyping me up.
It was fun, I really did like attention, just not the annoying kind. This was good attention, football games were good attention, being the star player was good attention.
I don't want to be a narcissist so I always remained humble, I just think the attention helps me ignore some insecurities if that makes sense.
The rest of the party was honestly fun as shit, I stayed away from the weed and alcohol because I'd have to drive home—nevertheless I still had fun.
Once I arrived home I parked my car and walked in. I'm sure everyone was asleep right now, it was pretty late at night.
Course my dad was probably still out, but he was always out late for work so I'm not surprised.
It took me a while to earn the freedom to be out like this, especially growing up with a black mom and Italian father, but I got it.
"Vinny is Dad still out?" I asked our guard who stood next to the front door.
"Yes Sir, he should be home around 2 AM, your ma and little sister have already went to bed for the night." He explained.
"oh okay, thank you." I told him which caused him to nod.
After completing my hygiene for the night, I headed to bed.
It never really mattered what I time I went to sleep because my body always naturally got up early. I honestly just think I had formed some type of schedule unknowingly.
7 AM - I woke up, took 30 minutes to just wash my face and brush my teeth.
By 7:30 I was on a morning Jog, by 8 I was eating breakfast, and by 8:30 I was heading to school.
On weekends I usually just spent an extra hour working out, which was what I was doing now, before taking a shower and just doing whatever I had to do for the day.
"Morning Ma," I spoke as I entered the kitchen after returning from my morning shower.
"Hey Mir, take a seat, breakfast is gonna be ready in a minute." She spoke.
"Yes ma'am." I replied as I took a seat at the dining table.
"Hey Ma remember that scholarship I was telling you about, the one from Mrs.Applewood."
"You and the other boy—Ah what was his name again, Kayden?" She questioned.
"Hayden," I corrected with a chuckle, "but yeah I was probably gonna meet with him today, I'm not sure if I'll go over to his place or if he'll come over here, or if we choose somewhere else entirely, I just wanted to give you a heads up." I explained.
"No problem." She spoke, "just make sure you clean your room and take the trash out before you leave."
"Yes ma'am." I nodded, pulling out my phone.
After heading over to the social media app I smiled at all the pictures and stories from last nights party. I actually scrolled over to Haydens story to see what he was up to.
He was really like a closed book, I'd seen him around school of course but prior to yesterday I'd never held a conversation with him or heard him speak, I hadn't even seen him smile.
There wasn't anything too important on his story, he just posted a short video of a coffee mug with a sza song in the background.
I chuckled to myself and reacted with a heart since I liked the specific song he used in the background.
"Phones away," my mom spoke as she placed the plates down on the table.
"Yes ma'am." Both my sister and I responded at the same time.
I'd been so into mine that I didn't even notice my little sister sitting across from me.
"How school?" I asked her.
"Good! I got a 95 on my quiz yesterday." She cheesed
"Forreal?" I smiled as I played up the excitement for her, "which one was it princess?"
"the math one you helped me with!" she giggled.
"see I told you, easiest thing in the world." I nodded as I began eating.
Once I was done I excused myself from the table and began to take out the trash like my mom asked.
After that, I texted Hayden to see how he wanted to start working.
I chuckled at his messages and grabbed my Mac before placing it in my bag.
The drive to his house was a good ten minutes but it went smoothly today since the traffic wasn't as bad.
When I pulled up he opened the front door and waved.
After parking I grabbed my bag and walked up.
"Hey," I nodded, extending my hand.
He shook it awkwardly which caused me to laugh as we walked in.
"what?" He questioned, shutting the door behind us.
"Why did you shake it like that?" I asked as I stood still.
"Wait did I do it wrong?" He questioned genuinely.
"no it's fine, don't worry about it." I Told him.
"well no, now I wanna know." He frowned.
I didn't want to offend him but I also didn't want to lie so I just decided to sugarcoat it.
"I could just tell it's not a way you're used to greeting somebody, it wasn't that serious though—I shouldn't have made that joke, I apologize." I spoke seriously.
"Oh well yeah, I'm a hug kinda person with friends and stuff like that—it just caught me off guard so I over thought it, my bad." He explained, scratching the nape of his neck nervously.
"hug, got it." I nodded, looking around.
"wait I wasn't saying that because—." He cut himself off with a sigh and I felt the need to assure him it was fine after that.
"Hayden you're cool." I chuckled while shaking my head, "please don't be nervous."
"where should we work?" I asked
"Oh uh, my room—follow me." He started.
I followed him as he walked up stairs and took a right before entering what I'm guessing was his room.
It was nice, very neat, and kinda had this YouTube type vibe. Everything was labeled and placed neatly in different spots—I liked it.
"You can sit wherever," he informed as he himself took a seat at his desk.
I decided to take a seat on the edge of his bed before beginning to unpack.
"So I was thinking about some topics to write on, and I actually came across one that I wanted to run by you." He started.
"word, what was it?" I asked
"What it means to be unconditional." He smiled.
"I completely understand if you don't want to do it, but I was just thinking it would be interesting, everywhere has their own definition of what it means to be unconditional so I found it interesting." He explained.
"I'm down," I smiled, "yeah let's do it."
"Really?" He questioned, "okay cool." He said with excitement, which was definitely something I hadn't seen him show before.
"so what does unconditional mean to you?" I questioned, pulling out my laptop.
He pulled his knees to his chest and sat back in his chair as he responded, "um, to me it means to be reliable, unwavering, non judgmental, to be present through thick, thin, or anything in between." He nodded.
I typed down everything he said then nodded, "what about you?" He asked.
"Unconditional," I repeated the myself, "are we talking about love?" I then asked.
"I mean I guess that falls under the umbrella, but it's not specifically what we can talk about."
"Okay well— to add onto what you said, I guess just to be trustworthy, honorable, in general you just gotta be the right person for whoever it is you're being unreliable for."
He sat quiet for a moment then responded, "yeah um, yeah that's perfect." He nodded
"Okay bet, bet." I typed, "also, we should probably work on introductions." I suggested.
"Like one by one we'll go and introduce who we are, our credentials, you know stuff that might impress the judges." I added.
When I finished he looked really nervous so I spoke again.
"I'll go first." I smiled, placing my laptop on the bed before standing up.
I face toward him and stood up broadly, "Good Morning, firstly I want to say thank—wait why are you looking down?" I questioned.
His gaze had been planted on the ground ever since I started talking.
"I can't hold this eye contact while you're staring at me like that." He spoke.
I laughed then spoke, "Hayden you know they'll be staring at you and you'll be expected to maintain eye contact."
"well yeah that's different." He shook his head.
"you want a tip?" I questioned, "just look at my forehead, that's what I use to do when eye contact made me nervous."
"okay, I'll try." He nodded.
I gave him one last look of reassurance before repeating my introduction, "Good Morning everyone, firstly I want to say thank you for this opportunity. My name is Yamir Marino, I'm the quarterback for Ulysses High and I'm currently in my senior year of high school. My current GPA is a 3.89 and my post high school plans are to attend college on a D1 Football scholarship where I will study sports medicine."
I took a deep breath when I finished then spoke, "aight, how was that?"
He nodded and gave me a small golf clap pulling a laugh for me.
" 'preciate it." I smiled, returning to my seat on the edge of his bed.
"so I guess it's my turn." He sighed, standing up.
"yessir." I responded, turning my fitted cap backwards.
He released yet another shaky breath then spoke,
"Ok so My name is—"
"Now Hayden..." I spoke smacking my lips.
"I'm kidding I'm kidding," he waved off.
"Good Morning everyone, my name is Hayden Terrel, I'm from Los Angeles California but relocated here last year. Ever since my junior year at Ulysses High I—" He paused when his gaze visibly fell from my forehead to my eyes. I waited for him to start again, I was genuinely interested in what he was saying.
I figured he was nervous so I thought best to comfort him through it.
"you got it." I comforted lowly, "it's just me and you."
He nodded and took a deep breath before speaking again.
"—I have maintained a 4.0 gpa and consistently been top 5 of my class." He spoke, "my dream school to attend is Florida AMU, a top tier and highly prestigious HBCU where I hope to study Film. If Given this scholarship I promise the money would go to good use."
Moment he finished I stood up and clapped, he rolled his eyes but smiled at my dramatics.
"Thank you."
"I didn't know you wanted to go to FAMU, it's a good school, I was hoping their scouts would look into me." I revealed honestly.
"It's literally my dream school, I really hope I get in." He responded as he walked back over to his chair.
Just as I was about to speak my phone alerted with a text message from an unsaved number.
I already knew who it was and why they were texting me so I didn't bother to respond yet.
"well I don't want to hold you up on Saturday, we've made a lot of progress today so you can head out whenever you want." He muttered lowly as he spun around in his chair to look back at his computer screen.
"wait are you sure?" I questioned, trying not to think to much about the 'I'm home alone' text I just got.
"yeah it's cool,I um—I have plans anyways."
"Oh okay," I nodded, not wanting to hold him up any longer.
I packed up quickly and followed him to the front door. We said our goodbyes and went our separate ways.
He was a really genuine boy, I honestly saw us continuing to be friends even after this whole presentation was done.
Finally I responded to the text message.
I didn't lock the number because the person really wasn't that important to me.
She knew what she was, and I knew what I was. It was an agreement nothing more.
Her name was Angie, she went to our highschool but nobody knew we messed around—which is how I wanted to keep it.
We were nothing more than a link and that's it.
I really didn't have time for a girlfriend right now, which is why I always put it off, or let girls know my intentions ahead of time.
Wasting someone's time or breaking their heart was never something that I wanted to, so I tried to be as forward as possible. If I felt like someone was catching feelings I'd politely just end the relationship with them.
I don't know if that made me a bad person, I really tried to make sure everything was understood and mutual. It's not like I wasn't ready for a relationship, I just know—as of now I would not be able to put my all into it, I didn't have the time.
Or maybe I just hadn't met the person, I don't even know, what I did know was, as long as I was honest, then having fun wasn't wrong, or at least handling my business wasn't.
I pulled out my phone and responded to Angie's text.
"omw."
♥ ᴅᴇᴀʀ ᴍʀ.ʀɪɢʜᴛ ♥