A.M
"What made you want to come to the mall with me?"
I slid my phone into my pocket as Kylene stood next to me, peering around the many stores in awe. "I just moved here during the summer and I haven't had a chance to go out and go shopping," She clicked her teeth before continuing. "I also wanted to get Zaid something for his mom since her birthday is coming up," She said it like it was nothing and I fought like hell to keep the scowl from making its presence known on my face.
"Oh yeah, you know Katrine?" I grumbled, feeling spite creep up my spine like a sudden itch. "Yes! Zaid introduced me to her when she came by during our study hall, looking for Mrs. Neal," She simplified and I rolled my eyes, grinding my teeth. "Great."
Not that it bothered me because it didn't, I just noticed how awfully close she and Zaid were becoming.
Kylene narrowed her eyes behind her glasses as we walked into Tommy Hilfiger, hiding a smirk. "You shouldn't be wary of him or me, Aaron. You have no competition," I took that in the way that meant that I was far superior to him in this bet and I nodded in agreement. "Of course. I'm the king of Northvale," I winked, walking to go look at a rack full of shirts. She raised a brow, indicating that she wasn't talking about the same thing, but she disregarded it after.
She snorted before picking out a few things to purchase as did I. I was lucky to be me because I got a cashier's discount once she rang up my charges and I didn't have to pay that much. Kylene gave me a glare as I walked out with three bags for the price of one. She called it conning, I called it making use of who I was. We went to a few more stores, buying things and sharing jokes before she decided that she was hungry.
It was then when we were chomping down on cinnamon sugar pretzels, that she turned to me to ask a question.
"What do you think of Zaid?"
I made a face at her. "What do you mean, what do I think of that fool?" I grunted, immediately disgusted at the fact that she had the nerve to ask him about him. "Ignoring all reasons why I currently detest him, He was—is my best friend," I sighed heavily, displeased with myself. Even if I was angry with him, I wasn't going to deny that he was still very much so part of my life, and he will always be.
"It's hard to shake off a bond so deep like ours because it's been ingrained in us for years. He's clueless, prone to accidents," I recalled a time where he tripped on a rock as we were hiking up a mountain, and he didn't think that it would turn into a very painful sprain that had him out of commission for two weeks. "Nosy as hell, stupid," I snorted at all of the memories we had bundled up inside of our minds, just waiting to explode in the form of words.
"But there is a reason why he's my best friend and not anyone else's."
He figured out his own way of getting me to calm down when my temper got the best of me, something my parents are still trying to do to this day. He told me that whenever I got so angry when he wasn't around, just think of the time when he fell off the monkey bars in 5th grade. I would go from being angry to rolling around the floor, laughing like an idiot. He always knew what to say and I could trust him with any secret. That was purely why I was still hesitant about forgetting about him because a good best friend was hard to find, and finding family in someone like that was especially harder.
"He is a pain in my ass, don't forget that," I proclaimed in a serious manner because that was one thing that people had to know about Zaid.
"That's a side of him that only I had the privilege of seeing. I don't mean to boast, but we are the most transparent with each other than we are with our own parents," I attested to that because it was so true.
It was also because of that I couldn't directly confront him and tell him why what he did hurt me. If I said even the smallest thing, he would know and he would read every single part of me as if he was flipping the pages of a long and complex novel. I wasn't quite ready for that yet because it would mean coming to terms with things I haven't dealt with.
Then I stopped myself, almost choking on the sweet flavoring of the pretzel. "Wait, why the fuck are we talking about that bastard?!" I spat, irritation coursing through my veins like heroin. "Nobody ever asks me about myself. It's always about that stupid idiot, and I'm sick of it!" It was such a hard pill to swallow, feeling like people only wanted to talk to me if it concerned that fucker. No one actually wanted to get to know me, and me only. It was always 'How did you and Zaid meet?', 'You two are best friends?', 'What's he like?' or even 'How good is he in bed?' like that was something I would know.
Get real.
"You're right, you're right," Kylene chuckled, throwing her hands up in surrender and I rolled my eyes in annoyance. "I just wanted to know what you thought of him because he seems to think so highly of you," I shrugged, not knowing what she meant by that. "I just wanted to make sure it was the same for him."
She drunk a bit of her tea before opening her mouth again. "I'm not sure I ever asked, but what is that you want to do when you graduate and go on with your life?" I was feeling giddy for some reason because someone was asking me about myself. "I obviously want to go to college, hopefully, play ball there. I want to go pro," I said, unable to contain my glee. Basketball was the love of my life and I had many awards, entries in my journal, and countless pictures to prove that. I loved it and that was the one thing no one was going to take from me.
"If that doesn't happen, then I'll become a chef. I'm planning on dual majoring in culinary arts and sports management. I love cooking, so why not do it for others?" I smiled and Kylene tilted her head, finding me to be interesting. "Of course, I want to get married, maybe have some kids, but only when I finally obtained my dream."
True, it would be nice to marry someone who shared the same goals that I had because it would mean that they understood the hectic workload and the immense dedication that path brought, but I couldn't be choosy. I couldn't help who I fell in love with.
If it happened, I was just going to let it happen naturally.
"I think that's pretty cool, how ambitious and driven you are. That was one thing that Zaid said that he really liked about you, among other things," She carefully mentioned and instead of getting angry that she brought him up again, I felt a flutter in my heart once I registered her words.
Then the fluttering increased. Was I dying of a heart attack? I had to be. "Oh, he said that?" A dopey grin consumed my face as she nodded, snickering slightly as I blushed. Zaid never usually talked about me to me unless he was insulting me or calling me names. The same could be said for me because I would never tell him to his face how much I really enjoyed having him in my life. That kind of thing guys didn't do because it was just too awkward.
We looked at each other and shared a laugh in the honor of Zaid, and it felt good because I was actually talking about him and I didn't feel irritated.
"I know why you get upset when others talk about Zaid in front of you because you think that they don't care about you, but that's not true, Aaron," She gave me a soft grin and I listened intently. "They already do, but Zaid talks so much about you to other people, so they have no choice but to ask you about him because he never discloses much about himself."
My eyes widened as I truly contemplated the words that were coming out of her mouth and resonating in my mind.
"In a way, we learn about you from him and we learn about him from you."
I shook my head playfully as she continued to state that there was no need to feel some type of way about that.
I could tell my methods were already working on her. I had to follow through with step one: playing hard to get, in order to make her want me even more. I let Zaid get her attention and I distanced myself from her in hopes that she would reach out to me, and look what happened. She texted me this morning, asking what I was up to and if she could join.
I still had my charm.
Now, we were onto step 2: making her want me. This task was probably the easiest because I had to be mysterious and closed off in order for her to inquire more and more about me. I did that on the daily and it worked out because I had girls lining up down the hallway, something Zaid wished he had.
After we had a deep conversation, something I never had with other females, we gave each other a hug. "Don't forget to text me when you get home!" She waved to me as she sauntered to her car and I chuckled, wondering it was that I felt for her. She was refreshing to be around and today's encounter only proved that but oddly enough, I wasn't thinking about the bet only until she brought it up.
On the 15 minute drive home, I blasted my feel-good playlist as the wind slashed against my hair. Today was off to a good start and I somewhat had Zaid to thank for that. It wasn't long before I parked in my driveway, staring in confusion as I got out, making my way to my house.
I entered through the front door, seeing another truck in the driveway. "Oi, mom, dad!" I called out, hoping that they were here. It was the weekend, Saturday to be exact, so Maia was at Lina's house and Natalia was out. I was the only child that remained at home because I wanted time to myself to digress and to relax, play a little Call of Duty, kick some ass, and then repeat.
"You have a guest," Clarissa gave me a sympathetic look and I raised a brow, wondering what on Earth she was talking about. I stared at her in a stupor, waiting for her to continue with some sort of thesis because she couldn't just leave me hanging. She pointed with her head up the stairs and it dawned on me. "He's in your room," She explained and I nodded, wondering what he was doing here. I didn't care if he showed up unannounced, but today he said had something to do with his mother, something to talk about.
Either way, this was going to be very interesting.
"Hey," I called out once I walked into my room and I got the feeling that something was off. With his head tucked away on his lap under his folded arms, I heard sniffling coming from Zaid and my body shot up on alarm. "You okay?" I shut the door, walking over to sit down next to him.
It pained my heart to see him cry because he never usually did, except for the times when we were kids.
"What's wrong, man?" I put my arm around him, unconsciously pulling him close to me. "Talk to me," I could feel his tears staining my shoulder as his arms wrapped around me. I ignored all emotions of contempt and anger because he didn't deserve that right now and it wasn't the only thing that I felt for him. I watched as he looked up at me with tear-stricken green eyes, a shudder wracking his body and I knew that this was something bad, very bad.
"He's back," He murmured in a solemn voice and I tilted my head, wondering what he was talking about. I rubbed his back in an attempt to console him as I shushed him quietly. "Who exactly is back, Zaid?"
"My father."
Score for Aaron Moore.