"Yeeaaah, Stephen." Heart blushed a bit as her eyes went from the TV to Jordan's.
"Well damn, shawty. I didn't know it was like that."
"Yeah. I don't mean to come off all conceited or anything, but it kind of surprised me that you didn't recognize me as Stephen's girlfriend. A lot of people do and I've kind of just gotten used to it."
"I can see that. I don't really keep up with basketball or anything. If it's on, it's cause my siblings are watching it. I don't really pay attention to any of that. Just kind of keep to myself, you know?"
"Hm, makes sense."
"So would he be mad if he knew you were here?"
"He knows. But why would he be mad? We're friends." Jordan playfully smirked before laughing and shrugging.
"Friends. Yeah. Exactly."
~
Stephen clicked his teeth as he shook his head and threw his phone onto the island counter. He took a sip of his beer before stretching and letting out a big sigh.
"Why?" Draymond said, keeping his eyes on the TV.
"Why what?"
"Why you gotta breathe like that? What's wrong now?"
"I just miss her, that's all."
"Jesus Christ, Steph. With everything you got going on, you still in your feelings?"
"I can't help it. I'm just not used to this."
"Used to her being busy and having friends? And having a life? Man, I already talked to you about this."
"She hasn't even opened my snapchats." Steph said checking his Snapchat once more.
"What?" Draymond said in disbelief of what he just heard. Over Snapchat? "Hell no. Hell to the no. I'm about to become an agent myself and work with Heart so you could stop moping around."
"I'm sorry." Steph slightly pouted as he plopped onto the other couch and rested his forehead against his fingers.
"Get it together. Please."
"Look." Steph leaned over onto his knees and folded his hands together, signaling he was about to go in on a certain subject.
"Lord, here we go."
"No, no, no. Listen."
"Do I have a choice? I'm listening."
"You see, something about that Jordan kid is very suspicious."
"Oh yeah, very suspicious." Draymond mocked him. "He's a guy, I get that. But you're also making it seem like you can't trust your own girl to make the right decisions."
"I know she'll make the right decisions. I just don't know him. So I can't say that I'm all cool about it. Or that I trust him. We're guys. At the end of the day, we have the same motives, whether we act on it or not."
"True. But don't sweat it. If he's a friend, then he's a friend. She clearly doesn't have anything to hide if she was straight up about it like that."
"Yeah. I just.. don't want him trying things on her. Sheesh. He gets to be there at her shoots. Can't say I'm not envious. But at the same time, it makes me a little mad knowing she out there in damn near two pieces of cloth covering her private areas."
"That's just the way things work, bruh. Can't fix that."
"What the hell?" Stephen said lowly as his eyes widened. "Am I really seeing this right now? She has a snapchat up on her story with Jordan."
"Let me see this kid." Draymond walked over to the couch and plopped next to Steph as he replayed the story. "Ew? Are you serious?!"
"What?"
"I should smack you upside the head and drop kick ya ass after. You're trippin' over this child? This boy looks like he just left the womb."
"Okay well that's besides the point."
"No, that isn't. I can't even believe you went in on the whole thing, MADE me listen and then this is what it turns out to be."
"I'm just protective of what's mine!"
"Clearly. You fought Klay while he was damn near naked." Steph shook his head. "Have you two even talked?"
"Here and there, but not as much."
"Let's go kick it with him. Maybe he can help you get your mind off of it."
"Yeah, by trying to distract her on his own again. Look, I'll join you two but I'm not bringing Heart up around him ever again." He said before pointing back to his phone. "Can we get back to this issue?"
"What issue? There is no issue. He's two weeks old. You need to get your head straight before I do it for you."
"Wait, she's calling." Steph put up his finger to shush him as he ran to another room to answer the call. "Hey sweetheart." He heard rustling on the other line before Heart had a chance to respond.
"Hey!" She said cheerfully. "What are you doing?"
"Chillin' with Draymond. We might go see Klay in a bit."
"Oh that sounds fun. A little boys night out?"
"Yup, BNO it is. What have you been up to beautiful? Seems like you've had quite a day with uh, Jordan."
"Oh yeah it's been nice! He's just been showing me around and introducing me to some spots around town. Now I have more places to go explore on my free time." She giggled.
"Showing her around? No, tell him she's grown!" Draymond mouthed out after following Stephen into the room. "She's grown!" He continued to mouth out & gesture. Stephen pushed him away and continued to put his finger up to silence him.
"That's cool I guess. Are you still out?"
"Yeah, but I'll be home soon. He has to go do some stuff with his family."
"Oh okay, I like the sound of that." He quickly caught himself. "Oh uh, I mean uh, that's good."
"Huh? What did you say? I'm sorry babe, I can't really hear you, there's a lot of people in the area."
"I said that's good. Maybe we can FaceTime later?" She laughed in the background.
"Babe, I'm sorry. I'll call you later okay? I love you, bye!" And with that, the call quickly ended. Stephen stared at his phone in confusion, and quite frankly, pretty hurt. He didn't know if he was overthinking or over-reacting about the situation, but one thing he knew for sure was that he felt more distant than ever from his girlfriend.
The distance continued to grow, and he hated it.
"Damn." Draymond sighed and patted Steph on the back.
"Come on, let's go chill with Klay. She'll call."
"I guess so."
"It'll be alright, man. It will." Stephen shrugged before running upstairs to change into comfier clothes for their outing.
For the remainder of the night, Steph tried to keep his mind off of his relationship with Heart by enjoying the company of his boys. The texts were kept at a minimum and it made his heart ache a bit. As much as he wanted to trust her, he didn't like the situation one bit. And it made him angry, upset, frustrated, all of the above.
Getting home, he figured he'd FaceTime her before it got too late. Pushing aside all feelings he felt at the moment, he laid in his bed, with nothing but basketball shorts on and his lamp on. He played music softly from his laptop as the call continued to ring for a couple of times before Heart finally picked up. She was lying on her bed, half asleep, which made Steph smile to himself a bit.
"You fall asleep already?" He asked softly.
"Yeah, I'm sorry Wardell. It's just been a long and tiring day."
"Adventures were a bit tiring today, I see."
"A bit."
"Well, go to sleep. I'll be here."
"Okay." She said before drifting back into sleep. He stared at her through his computer screen and began to question where his relationship with her was going. Although he's already determined she was the girl he wanted to spend the rest of his life with, he wasn't sure if that was where they were headed.
He could tell you it was his biggest fear at the moment.
~
(Hotline Bling Cover - William Singe)