Tinder, Love and Care

19. The Basketball Game

He was waiting for me long before I got off the plane.

Butterflies filled my stomach as I walked toward the familiar car. On it, he rested with a lazy smile on his face that threatened to steal my breath away.

"It's about time you came back." The words sounded sweet as they left his full lips and arms enveloped me.

A sigh left my lips at the comfort they brought. All feelings of restlessness and anxiety were quieted while I was held tightly against his chest.

He bent slightly so that his lips brushed against the shell of my ear with each word,

"I missed you, Lil' Cin." Justice whispered before slowly pulling away from me.

I smiled brightly at him in response, offering words of thanks as he took my suitcase wordlessly.

"So, have you been watching our show?" I asked once the car was in motion, trying my best to appear nonchalant.

"Yeah, I had to find out if ole dude really did it." Justice responded, and I gasped in feigned horror.

"The betrayal!" I shouted, but Justice chuckled in that dark honeyed timbre before turning to look at me.

"I'm just messing with you, flower girl." A knowing gleam shone in his eyes at the familiar nickname. Who told him?! "Nah, but to keep it a stack, I can't do shit without you, Lil' Cin."

My eyes locked on his at the words, my heart beginning to beat fast in my chest at the way he was staring right through me.

"You managed 22 years without me, Casanova." I rolled my eyes playfully while turning away, but I still caught the way he licked his lips slowly in the window.

It sparked something inside of me, bringing back the sheer pleasure I'd received in this very car. Phantom feelings of his fingers and lips on me blew across my body and took residence in my heat.

"Yea, but I'm starting to think some of it was in vain." He muttered lowly, the words just managing to escape my hearing.

🦋

"Girl, I missed you!" Divine screamed as she surged forward to hug me tightly.

I was nearly knocked off balance from the force of it, but a smile twice as powerful was mirrored on our faces.

"Never part from me again, you beautiful beautiful hyacinth." Divine gushed as she pressed my cheeks together with both of her hands and kissed everywhere she could get to.

I laughed at her antics with Olivia rolling her eyes as she leaned casually on the wall. I practically had a koala on my back when I finally got a chance to hug my other friend.

"Alright, alright with all the mushy stuff, y'all. Let's hurry up and go to the game." Olivia complained, but we all noticed the hint of a smile on her lips.

"It feels like it's been forever since we all went out somewhere together." I spoke, my arm hanging off each of their shoulders as we walked toward the arena.

The beginning of a new semester was our group's golden hour. It was the calm before the storm of assignments and exams, and it was too early for any of us to have any obligations other than work.

All the schedules align, and we're suddenly not restricted to just lunch and a hangout every-so-often to actually catch up.

Because college is when you realize the horrible awful of friendships: they're hard as fuck to find and even harder to find time between this person's job and that person's boyfriend to hang out. Then you realize the absolute worst part of friendships... some of them just aren't going to make it.