Tinder, Love and Care

8. Juggling 101

"Sooo, how was the date with BarBoy?" Divine questioned as we all sat together in the dining hall.

Her presence helped with the underlying awkwardness that was still lingering between Olivia and me. I'd been completely ignoring the elephant in the room, and I didn't really have the energy to address it further.

"It was good, Jabari was a perfect gentleman." I told her, shrugging off the conversation.

"Who's Jabari, and why are you calling him BarBoy?" Olivia asked and eyed me curiously while I focused on eating to avoid fully responding.

"The Que she met when y'all were at that party before you left her." Divine responded, pointedly. She definitely wasn't one to pull punches, and it was one of the things I loved about her. "And we always give our lil boo things a nickname."

"You don't have a nickname for Chris." Olivia objected, and me and Divine eyed each other before bursting into laughter.

"Oh girl, we definitely do."

"What is it?"

"That's not important."

"The Chrissy Monster, CM for short." Divine and I spoke at the same time, and I facepalmed while she shrugged.

As much as I would love to say Divine had come up with it, I couldn't let her take all the credit. It was my spur of the moment, slightly inebriated mind that cooked up the name, and I won't bore you with the backstory.

"Bitch, what?" Olivia exclaimed with her eyes wide while Divine smiled behind a sip of her drink.

"We don't have a nickname for Justice." I redirected.

"Because I'm rooting for Justice, that's a husband right there. Don't do him like that." Divine scolded me playfully while Olivia just rolled her eyes.

"That boy isn't all that." Liv responded, but there was a glint there that said she didn't fully believe what she said, and Divine gasped in dramatic outrage.

"Justice is all that, and a bag of chips." She stated while Liv laughed and I resisted the urge to agree with her.

He really was everything, I just doubted he would be everything for me or if he was already something for another girl.

The sudden jealousy I felt for this imagined girl that possibly existed shocked me.

We're just friends. My brain reminded me, and I ignored the way my heart felt when I considered that's all we'd ever be.

"At least Jabari is clear about what he wants." I mumbled, slightly disappointed that Justice wasn't more overt in how he felt. If he even felt anything at all.

Divine and Olivia's gasps of surprise shocked me from my thoughts on Justice, and I stared at them in question.

"You guys did the do!" Divine screeched, drawing the attention from the tables beside us.

Embarrassment filled me as the people around us turned and eyed our table in curiosity before resuming their meals.

"No, we didn't do 'the do'." I whispered harshly, reaching across to slap a hand over Divine's loud ass mouth.

"Well, you definitely did something." Olivia spoke as she glanced over me.

"Fine." I sighed and released Divine slowly. "We kissed, that's it."

"Mhmmm. I bet you wanted to drop ya draws and crawl up that lightskin ass tree and—"

"Please, don't finish that sentence!" I groaned loudly as I facepalmed.