Trust

Chapter Eleven

Lichelle Andrews

Come outside.

The phrase was simple, yet my heart pounded as if the text had said something worse. I felt my face flush and I almost texted DeMarcus Cousins back. I wanted to question him why he was texting me at all. I wanted to tell him to leave well enough alone. At least, that's what I told myself to do. That's what I knew I should have done. At least, what I thought I should have done.

Please Lichelle.

The next two words melted me and without thought I texted back to give me a couple of minutes. I looked over at Justine who was already grinning at me to hurry up. I laughed and waved my friend off.

"Don't do that. I'm dead ass wrong and we both know it."

"Only thing wrong is you haven't told Shakyra yet and you're acting like he's not your man when we both know..."

I sighed.

"I mean sis, at this point just get it all out the way. There's no point in hiding. Plus, I know if a girl tries to make a claim, you'll be tight. You know he's been getting wild action since he read that essay."

I rolled my eyes but felt my skin burning. The thought of that essay pulled every kind of feeling out of me. I was so emotional over how this man broke down his thoughts of me and each and every one had been beautiful. It was so much that I wanted to jump right into his arms right then and there. Still, I couldn't bring myself to do it. I did the exact opposite which was to run from him and ignore him for about two weeks' time. However, I was tired. I was hiding from him. I was hiding from Shakyra and even more so, I was hiding from myself. It made me exhausted.

"'Chelle."

Justine watched me as I freshened up. I was pulling on a pair of grey sweatpants with a white cropped top. I was about to slide on the matching jacket on when I looked up at my friend.

"What's up?"

"Don't wait much longer to say somethin', sis. I know it's hard but...you don't want the fallout."

I nodded, sighing, "I know...I know."

"Also. Remember you're human. Humans fuck up from time to time. If she truly loves you, she'll forgive you. It's only Boogie, no offense."

I laughed and nodded. DeMarcus was definitely a pain so I couldn't take offense at all. Not when he'd been on my nerves for years. Also, I remember him not being particularly nice to Justine in the beginning as well. It was pretty much the whole reason Kofi stepped away from him as a friend. It was something I admired in my friend for the longest time. Black men were heavy on bro-culture just as much as White men were. I didn't understand it. They were so afraid of being gay however a lot of their actions...

Something I'd always noticed but always found weird was that John never truly stepped up to DeMarcus when he picked on me. Most of the time I knew that DeMarcus would never escalate things to a certain level but still...it was just weird. Wendell stepped in more than John had and he'd been Shakyra's boyfriend. He always dismissed DeMarcus' behavior as nonsense but never stepped in when he should have.

After I finished freshening up, I texted DeMarcus and caught the elevator downstairs. I walked through the door, trying to tell my heart to calm down but it only beat faster. It came deafening when I saw DeMarcus across the street. He was in sweats himself except they were black. I grinned, foolishly and walked across the street toward him. My smile faltered as I saw the frown on his face and I swallowed, wondering what I was walking into.