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Yeah, it's been awhile. We're sorry but school just completely got in the way, now that we're on a break, updates WILL be coming to you! We're expecting at least three updates to be done by the end of our break and we're making them as eventful as possible.
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I did not think that he would take my little statement seriously —the one where I said that I was genuinely curious to watch Isiah play a game of basketball — yet here I was, sat watching him from straight up close.
The guy had me here, front row, watching him as he sped up and down the court, faster than my eyes could tolerate. But that didn't stop me from assessing him every so often. The game had already the third quarter and luckily enough, his team was winning.
Every so often, whenever he'd score a three pointer or whatever they called them, his eyes would always roam to where I was and he'd offer me a wink. There was no denying that the court was where Isiah belonged, it seemed as though the entire team relied on and benefited from his skill.
Over the past week, we'd been hanging out a lot and it was really, really great spending so much time with him — we'd discovered a mutual love for things I'd have never expected. For example, Isiah had a soft spot for children, which I saw in action when we—somehow—ended up in a kid's park, and he was obsessed with this band called Timeless. Let me just say, Timeless songs were probably worth 70% of my Spotify music — how was it possible to be so alike?
"C'mon, boys! I'm not paying you to lose!" The coach yelled beside me. He was an old man who, bizarrely, wore a pair of sunglasses inside, complimented by the bushiest moustache I'd ever seen before. Instead of the team's black and red coloured clothing, he wore all black and, quite frankly, looked terrifying.
Then, almost instantly, Isiah grabbed hold of the ball, but lost it moments later to an opponent, resulting in the coach flipping and kicking the bench beside him. The expression of pain on his face was too real to ignore. I couldn't understand how he was so upset, it was just a game after all.
However, since then, Isiah's team had scored countless times and, eventually won with over double the points of the opposing team.
---
"Thanks a lot for coming today, sorry if it was all was a little boring." Isiah smiled as we walked, his arm slung comfortably over my shoulder.
I raised an eyebrow, "Are you kidding? You won! It was brilliant, I don't think I've ever seen you so happy before."
"Really?"
I grinned, "Yeah, I'd love to come again."
I hadn't lied either — he truly looked as though the court was his home, it seemed as though dribbling and shooting were second nature to him. After my reply, Isiah looked pleasantly content, and we both ended up in a peaceful silence. He dug through his pockets for his car keys and soon enough, we were sat side by side.
He had gotten changed already, but his hair was still messy, falling down onto his forehead, which was a look I quite liked on him. It was obvious that Isiah was worn out, because every few minutes he'd try his hardest to conceal a yawn. However, he did try his best to keep awake.
You see, we still had a few more things to do.
And, soon enough, I'd gotten the call from Nadine I was expecting.
"Martinez! You left yet?" Nadine's voice blared through the other line, causing Isiah to wake up a little. That's how loud that woman was, she could wake a guy up just by speaking normally.
I hadn't even explained to Isiah how Nadine and I had made up yet, but he knew that we had talked things over. Shortly after, she'd invited us both along with her to see Adam perform at a local jazz bar, and seeing as I hadn't had much of a chance to hear him, I had to accept. Isiah couldn't help but bring up the fact that he wanted to have an actual conversation 'with the girl that ate almost all of the cake at the family gathering that time'.
"On our way. Are you there already?" I quizzed.
I could practically see Nadine rolling her eyes, "Yes, Sahara! I've told you this a thousand times. I'm getting here for six, you get here with your man at seven..."
"Would you stop referring to him like—" I paused, noticing Isiah raising an eyebrow. I sighed, "We'll be there soon, okay? Promise."
I never gave her the chance to reply, instead I hung up and leaned back in my chair, "She's hard work. Thank God for Adam." I joked. "Hey, if you're tired you can always go home and get rest, y'know?"
He shook his head, "Nah, that's boring. You're way more fun, babe."
"Oh, I know that," I winked, "By the way, be prepared for an interrogation, Nadine is a very curious person, and wait...you're giving me the babe status now?"
"Why yes, I am." Whilst driving, he smiled to himself and placed his hand on top of mine. "And I don't mind, I think we can both agree that I ask a lot of questions too, right?"
----
The bar was quiet, something I expected it to be on a Tuesday evening. The bright purple lights lit up the name, PAPAYA. Isiah whistled beside me, seeming more in awe than I was as Nadine made me come there often.
"Looks quite extravagant, if you're asking me." He raised an eyebrow, "This guy must be semi-famous."
I shrugged, "I suppose so. His group are kinda— how do I put this? — their music is kinda alternative RnB. They're really good though, and they're looking to drop an album soon." Then, at once, a funny thought came to mind, "imagine Nadine as a roadie."
We walked together into the club, which already had a few people stood in the crowd. The background music was low, so people could talk to each other easily, and whilst it was still dark inside, I could see the people around me much better than usual. Isiah, however, looked slightly lost and so I found myself linking my arm with his and guiding him towards the front as he continued to look around in awe.
Seeing Isiah look like a child on Christmas day was extremely entertaining to me, "I take it you haven't been here before?"
Looking as though I'd pulled him out of a daydream, he looked down at me and laughed, "Sorry. I was just thinking about how every time we go somewhere, you've recognised the place and I haven't, yet I've lived here practically my entire life. Boy, I need to get out more."
"Hey, at least—"
"There you two are! "
At once, Nadine came into our vision, looking especially model-like on this occasion with her hair newly dip dyed and out in loose curls. Her dress was an incredibly nice peach colour, which went particularly well with her white heels.
"What took you both so long?" She pulled me into a hug, "nice to finally, properly meet you, Isiah. Is Sahara being nicer to you?" She raised an eyebrow like such a parent.
What was the nicer about? I was pretty sure she was supposed to be on my side!
He chuckled, "A little bit better. I'd keep my eyes on her if I were you," he, too, crossed his arms but after a short few seconds lowered them, "Only kidding. She's been super nice, even came to watch me play basketball!"
Oh, crap. I already knew just what Nadine would say next.
"Nadine don't—"
"Did I ever mention that time Sahara and I volunteered to help my brother out with a charity basketball game?" Nadine smirked, "I don't think I did, actually! It's a great story."
"Go ahead!" Isiah tried to hide his irritation at the mention of Jacob. He seemed quite embarrassed, actually after the dinner's events.
"So, basically, we had started playing and all was fine until Sahara caught the ball and a team member on the opposing side grabbed it from her, like she took it so easily, as if Sahara was nothing. Of course, she tried to get it back but... er, when it was next thrown it hit her square in the face, and she was out cold for about twenty minutes. No lie."
I could see that the two of them had tried their hardest not to burst into laughter, but unluckily for me, they'd failed and laughed together for what felt like hours.
"You—just! W—Wait..." He struggled, "C'mere. Poor girl, at least you tried!" He pulled me into a hug, yet I still wasn't convinced. "I'm sure you did well either way!"
"Yuck, this is getting all touchy feely. I'm going to find out how long till Adam's set starts." Nadine disappeared immediately.
"Y'know what, S? I like Nadine!" He chuckled, "She seems like a great friend."
I rolled my eyes.
Within fifteen minutes, the bar had managed to get a few more customers in, giving the room more of a buzz. Soulective had begun to set up the stage and Nadine joined us at the front once again, this time discussing her latest date with Adam.
"—then, when he was dropping me home he invited me to his family's house for some pre- Christmas thing!" She grinned, "Hey, wait I think I have a picture of the bracelet he bought me on Facebook. Girl, you would not believe how beautiful it is."
Hearing her stories about how close her and Adam were was a great thing, but it made me wonder if I really was ready to be like that with Isiah. We had no label, which we both had agreed on and we were focusing more on hanging out and getting to know each other, but the commitment and idea of change had always been tricky for me, even earlier, when he had called me 'babe.' It was an absurd feeling that both frightened and excited me.
I looked over at Isiah who had, weirdly enough, just turned to look at me too. He offered me a slight smile, showing off his dimples. Just as I had went to say something, the sound of Adam's voice interrupted me.
"Hello, everyone! Thank you for coming tonight, this is our third time performing here," Cheers erupted from the small crowd of people, "We hope you enjoy tonight!"
Surprisingly, I couldn't hear the usual cheer of Nadine. Instead, she was stood glaring at her phone. The start of the song had begun, but it was as though she hadn't noticed.
"Nadine?"
"Mhm?" She immediately looked up, "Sorry, I was..."
"Was what?"
She looked to and from me and her phone, "It's just— Giselle, she added some old guy on Facebook. I know it's nothing major, like I don't think she's cheating or anything, but I swear I've seen this face in a picture."
At the mention of Giselle, I quickly stretched my hand out to grab her phone. There, on the top of the page was the notification:
Giselle Martinez added Isaac Michael as a friend.
There and then, I had felt my heart stop for a second. Immediately, I clicked onto his profile, hoping that this wasn't the person I had a feeling it was.
Lives in: New York City
His profile picture was there for all to see, and before I had even clicked onto it, I knew who it was: my father.
He had obviously used his middle name instead of calling himself Isaac Martinez. Shaking with anger, I shoved the phone back into Nadine's hands, who looked shocked at my reaction.
I told her not to look for him.
In his display picture, his face looked the exact same apart from the fact he looked happier than I'd ever seen him before. Another thing contributing to my boiling blood.
"Sahara, is this..." Nadine began, "But how?"
"Is everything okay?" Isiah looked over at the both of us, shocked to see us stood frowning instead of singing along to the song playing. "S? What's wrong?"
"I—I need a minute." I'd admitted before making my way out of the venue, into the fresh cold December air. As soon as I'd made it outside, I found myself pacing up and down the sidewalk, my phone in one hand. I dialed Giselle's number, ready to scream down the line, but all this was cut short when the phone went straight to voicemail—not one ring.
So this is what she'd been doing? She couldn't be honest with me, to tell me this was what her intentions were. Yet again, I'd been left out of the loop of things, only there for when everything goes wrong. The only thing I'm needed for is to fix things after they went downhill.
I didn't have long to think alone because both Nadine and Isiah came out soon after, both with similar expressions of worry written across their faces. "Have you heard from Giselle?" Nadine had asked.
"No." I sighed, "I'm going to kill her. I will actually kill her. Why'd she have to keep it from me? I deserve to know! These aren't the type of things that you just get up and do without talking to your sister."
Isiah didn't know what I was talking about, "If there's anything I can do—"
"No, no it's fine. It's complicated, y'know?"
Nadine looked a lot more helpless than she'd usually be — that was because even to her, family issues were barely the topic of conversation. I knew she didn't know what to say to me, and I couldn't blame her. "Have you called her?"
I placed my hand to my forehead, "I've tried. She won't answer. I think I just want to go home, she's stressing me out way too much for me to go back in there."
"I'll take you." Isiah offered.
"Thank you," I forced a smile, "Nadine, you'd better go back in. Tell Adam I'm sorry and that I'll be there for the next one, I promise."
---
This silence was not peaceful.
No, it was full of horrible thoughts, hesitation to speak and the low sound of the radio in the background. Isiah's eyes flickered over to me every few seconds, a look of concern over his face. A huge part of me felt guilty — I had, after all kind of ruined the day.
"Sahara... you don't have to tell me anything, but I don't want you to be upset." Isiah admitted, "I hate it when you're sad."
"I'm not sad, I'm irritated." I sighed, "Thanks for caring though. My sister is just being annoying, but on a whole different scale. I think it's just one of those things that I have to deal with."
"Y'know what you need?" He asked as we pulled up outside my apartment. "Something to pick you up and make you forget all of these events."
I chuckled, "Like what?"
"I sort of owe you a date. A proper one, where we do something together. Something that doesn't involve sitting on a Ferris wheel in the freezing cold or trying on funny clothes. Maybe we could do something like that — if you wanna, that is."
Isiah almost looked nervous, like he didn't know whether I would say yes or not. Of course, he was stressing for no reason, I'd never hesitated to spend time with him before, so why would I now? I watched as his look of nervousness turned into his signature smile. "Is that even a question? Of course I'd like to go on a date. One that doesn't involve that darn Ferris wheel."
"Hey, y'know if it wasn't for that day..." He began.
I chuckled, "You'd have found a way." Did I believe that? Yes, I did. "Anyway, thank you for dropping me home Isiah, I appreciate it."
"You don't even need to thank me, its the least I can do after you spent all day with me. Oh yeah, speaking of days with me, next Saturday?" He questioned.
"Defo. See you then," I nodded before getting out of the car, looking back and giving him one last wave before disappearing through the door.
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