She was as crisp as the air in May and he was as stifling as an early August afternoon. The names Whitley Mae Gilbert and August Alsina seemed to be ordained to them by God. Complete polar oppositions defined by their nature, way on the farthest en...
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"Shit, I'm so damn sore," Chris sighed as he plopped down into the arm chair.
He tossed his athletic bag to the side and began to massage his thighs before closing his eyes and throwing his head back.
"Coach got y'all working extra hard, huh?" Whitley asked grabbing some ice out of the mini fridge.
Chris simply nodded as he continued to try and relieve himself of the physical stress he was experiencing as a result of a grueling basketball practice.
"You think you're ready for the game?" Whitley asked handing Chris a ziplock bag full of ice wrapped in a cloth.
Chris thanked her and placed the ice on his thigh before nodding again.
"As far as me personally, for sure. As far as the rest of the team, I think most of us are pretty set. Just a few niggas that I'm prayin' don't let their temper fuck up the game. Like Ty, that nigga is a hot head. One lil' bump from somebody on the other team and he ready to fight. He plays too aggressive and that shit be getting him fouled. He's too good at threes to be getting fouled out. If that nigga get out first half, we fucked if it's a close game and we're down."
"You're so humble," Whitley chuckled.
Chris furrowed his eyebrows at her seemingly random statement.
"You talk about Tyrone like he's the star player when you can do everything he can... when you're quite literally the face of the athletic department," Whitley continued.
"Nah," Chris shook his head, "I'm only as good as my team. Without them supporting me the way they do on and off the court, I wouldn't be shit."
Chris wholeheartedly believed that to be true. Realistically speaking, without a team there could be no star player. Plus, Chris' popularity around campus stemmed from his basketball career. His success in his other campus endeavors were also the result of his basketball fame.
"So what's been up witchu lil' bit?" Chris smirked, thinking she'd have something juicy to tell him about a new romantic interest or petty girl drama.
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Whitley plopped down on the small futon next to Chris with a family sized bag of pickle flavored chips in hand. She threw her head back and stared up at the ceiling while Chris reached for a few chips from the bag.
"Not shit, unfortunately...," Whitley trailed off, attempting to find something interesting that happened in her life recently that was worth mentioning to Chris.
"I feel it," Chris said before popping a few chips into his mouth before resting his head on Whitley's shoulder.
"Oh, actually I got a text from Corinne today," Whitley said, turning her head to see Chris' reaction.
She was apprehensive about mentioning it in the first place, because Chris did seem genuinely hurt by Corinne ghosting him. So much so, his jaw flexed slightly upon hearing her name.
"How's she doing?" He asked dryly, trying to get his overwhelming emotions to subside.
While he was still extremely disappointed in Corinne and upset about the entire situation, he was a very respectful man who harbored a lot of love in his heart. So much that it wouldn't allow him to act as if he wasn't concerned about the woman. However, Whitley only shrugged.
"I dunno. That's what she asked me, but I didn't respond. I'm just tired of her thinking she can check in whenever she wants like she's still around. Like she didn't just up and leave and not tell anybody anything... but I'm honestly surprised she never gave you an explanation. If there's anything I had to learn while being her friend, its that most times boys come first," Whitley chuckled, "the only reason I let that slide is because she's always rocked so hard behind me and I understand what made her that way."
Unbeknownst to most people who knew Corinne, she had quite an interesting upbringing that ultimately led her to value male validation more than female. She started out living the perfect life with two loving parents and an adoring little sister who did everything together and always made time for each other. It wasn't until she reached middle school that her father got laid off from a well paying job and began to spend most of his time searching for work. Naturally, depending on a single person's income to provide for a four person household was financially depleting. The family vacations stopped, and so did many of the family weekend outings. Once her father was able to find work again, he was practically never home. He had two jobs now that required him to work from six in the morning to nine-thirty in the afternoon.
This took a toll on pre-teen Corinne who was at the prime age for puberty and boys. Her father was never around to teach her the games boys were going to play on her. He was never around to teach her how to conduct herself when boys would begin demanding things of her. Of course she had a mother she could turn to, but her mother would always tell her she was too young to be worried about such a thing. If only her mother knew how wrong she was, because from that point on Corinne began to teach herself about boys, and she wasn't teaching the right lesson either.
She had taught herself that in order to gain and keep male attention, she had to do everything they wanted. She began to send nudes prematurely, and if it weren't for her parents strict rules about going out or having someone over, she would've began having sex early too. Luckily, she did lose her virginity the right way. Although early, she lost it to her boyfriend of 3 years while she was in high school and she didn't do it until she felt she was ready. It wasn't until college with no parental supervision that she began to have sex with anyone who'd give her attention.
Sadly, that wasn't Corinne's intention when she came into college. She thought she'd go, see an attractive guy who thought the same about her and the two would have a nice platonic relationship before taking things further. She thought she'd get her fairytale love story just like her parents. However, because of her looks, she learned very quickly that men at school only lusted after her. Because she had no boundaries and didn't know how to set them without fear of losing male attention, she'd give into the lust. Corinne's ignorance to the origin of her behaviors caused her to be oblivious to the fact that Chris could have very well been her fairytale love story. If only she had been aware and mentally strong enough to abstain from sex until meeting him. However, Chris was unaware of this about Corinne and Whitley didn't feel it was her place to tell him about it.
Chris furrowed his eyebrows, wanting to know more, but he feared if he inquired about it he'd find out more than he was truly prepared for. He just nodded and tucked in his bottom lip, placing his head on Whitley's shoulder. There was a comfortable silence that filled room. He closed his eyes as the unusual feeling of peace consumed him, but it wasn't due to silence. It was as if Whitley's presence relieved him of all the stress and mental commotion he was experiencing. Suddenly, a chill went down his spine and butterflies fluttered around in his stomach. He sat up a little to see if Whitley had noticed him flinch, she seemed to be asleep with her head resting against the wall and lips slightly parted. Chris smiled to himself and returned his head to her shoulder.
