Becoming Mrs. Bryant

𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐄

Jason

"Hey bro!" I said as I entered Nick's dorm room. I hadn't seen him in what felt like forever. "What's been happening?" Nick looked at me like he had expected my company or something.

"Can I ask you something?" Nick asked, to which I nodded. "You can ask me anything kid," I replied, now getting worried. Nick wasn't that type. He didn't ask if he could ask you shit, he just straight up said whatever it was that was on his mind.

"If you were dating a girl, and her friend was your homie, and they fucked, how would you feel?" I looked at Nick as if he'd lost his mind, that was a fucking no brainer. "Pissed?" I said, "amongst many other things. Why?"

Nick shrugged. "Just wondering" he said, "would you be pissed at your girlfriend, or at your friend?" I cocked an eyebrow. "Nick this seems a little personal" I voiced, "did you do something?" Nick shook her head with intensity. "Nah."

"I'd be mad at both, especially if the 'homie' and I were close." Nick nodded, "how mad?"

"Depends on the scenario."

"Let's say your friend knew the girl's weaknesses and kind of used it against her. Or just pretty much put her in a tight, hard to say 'no' situation."

"Oh, I'd be mad. Mad enough to kill both of them."

"Ok."

"Bro," I said, "this is too specific. Did you do something?" Suddenly a lightbulb went off in my head. "No way!" I damn near yelled in realization.

"You fucked Nova. You fucked Nova!"

"I didn't!" Nick retorted, standing up. "It was genuine curiosity." I shook my head. "Your wording was a dead giveaway," I said. "You and Aubrey are friends, close friends." Nick looked stressed in all honesty. "Jason on everything I love, I did not fuck Nova. I swear."

"On everything you love?" I asked, "put it on your mother right now." Nick put his hands up to where I could see them. "On my mother, I did not fuck Nova." I made a face, but nodded. "Okay," I said. "You're a mama's boy, so I believe you."

***

Rico

I had came to football practice late, so I still had been in the locker room when I could hear a very loud Nick and Jason approaching. Not that I needed to, but given the fact that my whole fiasco with Nova was still relatively new, I figured it would be best that I keep a low profile and avoid these two as much as I could for now. So, I hid in the back.

"Yo," I heard Nick saying to Jason, putting a little fear into my heart for a moment.

"Is there a place to charge my phone in here?"

"Probably by the sink," Jason answered. Seconds later, a swift knock was heard on the door. I really, really hoped it wasn't coach looking for me.

"Nobody ever knocks the door," I heard Nick say as a small "ding" noise that has been well recognized as a phone connecting to charge, was made.

"Well, what the hell are you doing standing around?" Jason asked his friend, "go open it."

"Tallahassee police department" A stern voice said. "Your coach gave us the okay to come down to the locker-room and check for some people. Are uh, a Nicholas Rosa and a Jason Watson here?" The room got quite for a second, and I couldn't see Nick or Jason from where I'd been hiding, so I had nothing much to work with other than assumption and sound. My guess at this moment was that Nick and Jason had been looking at one another.

"I'm Nick" Nick replied, sounding like he was asking a question more than he did stating a fact. "And that kid right there is my friend Jason. Is this about Lewis Tavares? Or is something else going on?"

"It is in fact about Lewis," the officer said, "this won't take more than 15 minutes, don't worry. I'd just like to ask you two a few things. Is there anyway that you young men could step outside for me please?"

"Sure" Jason said, and I waited until the heavy footsteps I heard became more and more faint. Once they were silent, I stepped outside of my little corner and looked around before walking into the bigger section of the locker room.

I walked past the mirror, where Nick's phone had been, and noticed that another message came in. I tried my best to mind my business, but I saw that the message was from Nova. It said "don't tell anybody Nick. I'm serious."

"Don't do it," I thought.
"Do not, do not, do not."

Another message came in, from somebody else. "Fuck it" I whispered as I tried to slide up and unlock Nick's phone. I imagined that I'd spend the next ten minutes trying to decode whatever password Nick had, but I didn't. Instead, I just assumed that he was born in 2002, or 2003. I realized that he couldn't have been born in 02, so I typed in 2003. If that didn't work, I'd try his graduation year: 2022.

"Shit!" I said as I noticed 2003 went through. I only cared to see Nova's conversation with Nick, because a part of me still didn't believe that she was married at nineteen, and to a woman at that. I scanned through, trying to find something juicy, which didn't take me long at all. Just yesterday, Nova and Nick allegedly had a conversation about them having sex recently. In it, Nova discussed Aubrey and mentioned that she "loved her wife very much."

"Okay" I thought, "so that is real."

I quickly took four screenshots, typed in my phone number, and sent it to myself. I then turned on Nick's location on his phone between the conversation with him and I before I deleted the our texts on his phone. After that, I marked Nick's conversation with Nova as "unread," and deleted the screenshots I took, from Nick's album. In fear that he might check his "recently deleted" one day, I also deleted the photos from there.

I turned off Nick's phone and decided to quickly pack up, then leave through the back door. I'd just tell coach Latrell that I'm feeling unwell and can't make it today. I don't think he'll mind.