breathe. | lamelo ball

eighteen

i know the whole stealing fiasco happened in 2017 but let's pretend together

December 21st, 2018

Melo entered Rumi's house excitedly. His mood had been heightened over the past three weeks and it had him skipping with nearly every step he took.

He and Rumi spent every day together, either at his house or hers. Rumi had been coming over so often that she and Tina would watch reality shows together and make incoherent threats towards the people on the screen. Melo loved to see them bond, although the two of them didn't see it as a forced type of thing. They just loved the drama of reality TV and talking about it. Dip was obsessed with Rumi too, always putting his head in her lap when she was sitting down and whining for pets.

Basketball was going well too, surprisingly. Lavar told Melo to focus on his senior year and they would talk about it closer to the end since Gelo got in trouble with UCLA. Despite the media degrading his brother, it was a huge stress reliever. That meant all he had to do was do well in school and ball out on the court, which was easy.

Melo entered her room to see it empty, but he could hear soft music from upstairs so he figured Rumi was up there painting again. She had been holed up there every day, painting on canvases of all sizes.

He hopped in the shower and washed the sweat off of him from practice. He smiled as he picked up his soap that Rumi always made sure he had. They basically lived together because her mom was still never home. Melo did notice that they were talking more often, however, and it showed in Rumi's mood shift.

He took the stairs up to her bonus room two at a time after he finished showering, ready to see her. She turned to smile at him when he reached the top. Melo snickered as he looked at her paint-covered arms and apron.

He walked over and grabbed her face, placing a fat kiss on her temple. Melo had obliged by Rumi's friend rules, but she couldn't stop him from touching her.

Rumi never did, she lowkey loved how physically affectionate he was. He always had to be touching her in some way if he could.

"You always up here painting bae," he told her as he flopped on the couch across the room. She blew a curl out of her face and turned back to the canvas, "That's because I've been getting so many commissions. I'm trying to hit 10k in commissions by the end of the year and I have ten days."

Melo looked impressed, "I ain't know you sell all of the stuff you paint."

"Where do you think I put all of the huge canvases? Up my ass?" She laughed. He shrugged with a half-smile, "Ion know, it has been looking fat."

She snorted, "Yeah right."

"I mean, I can help you get it if you want," Melo said casually with a cockily shrug as he rubbed his waves making her laugh loudly.

"I'm good for now, maybe later. I'm just trying to get Christmas money for my mom and your family," she giggled at his request and angled her wrist upwards to add pink. Melo smiled, "You don't have to do that shawty."

Rumi turned around and winked, "Yes I do Melly."

Melo wanted to point out that it was four days from Christmas and her mom wasn't even home, but he refrained from it. Thinking about how Rumi's mom did her sometimes made him irritated, so he tried not to. He knew that her mom had pill problems a few years ago but that was it, so he didn't want to give his two cents when he ain't know the whole story.