Jug and Finesse

Ruby

Diamond in Visual .

Shantii

I stood in the parking lot of the spa, feeling terrible. I felt bad for Keshina because honestly, she didn't deserve that shit from Makaysia and Heaven.

They love bothering us, for some reason they want us to suffer. You've killed her child, what's worse than that? We haven't even bothered them, we've never given them a reason to hate us but they do.

I grabbed a dry erase marker from my book bag and drew Jaylon's number on my cheeks. Number 12.

He didn't have practice, he had text me that in the spa. He had a game. I drove to Kmart and picked up a 6 pack of blue Gatorades along with some of our favorite snacks I knew he'd crave after a long game.

Last, I stopped at Burger King and ordered us both a triple decker, hold the pickles, and large fries. I shoved the drinks and snacks into his all black Nike duffel bag and pushed it to the backseats, along with the food.

When I arrived, the game had already started. I pushed through the crowd of people and sat in my normal seat, duffel and food in hand.

I stretched out and threw my hair into a ponytail, the gym was burning up. As soon as I sat, the crowd stood up, applauding for someone who made a shot. I looked and saw Jaylon hanging from the rim after making a dunk.

I laughed, and unraveled my burger. He was showing off the whole game, making dunk after dunk, 3-pointers, and crossing the opposing team's players.

Each shot he made, I was on my feet, clapping and screaming for him. At one point he did the moonwalk as a victory dance before blowing me a kiss. A few of the freshman girls in front of me giggled and caught it.

I laughed at his face.

By half time he was sweaty, hungry and thirsty. He joined me on the bleachers and placed me in his lap. I kissed his lips and handed him his food and drinks. I slid out of his lap to hand him a towel.

He used it to blot the sweat from his forehead. He tore into the burger and took long gulps of his drink. I looked at the cheerleaders and wrinkled my nose at their uniform. It revealed too much.

"Baby, Makaysia and Sharanda keep bothering Keshina about her miscarriage and it irritates me. Like I can't do anything to stop them, they don't listen. It hurts me seeing them hurt her, you know?" I spread across the seat.

"Yeah, that's fucked up," he agreed. "I don't know what to do," I folded my hands together. "As terrible as it sounds, the best thing to do is nothing. Let them talk, it's just words. I know it hurts Shina too but she needs to learn how to not let their words affect her," he advised.

"Easier said than done," I bit into my burger. "You're right," he pulled me into his arms and continued, "But if you don't, they're going to drive you crazy. I hate that this is the one thing I can't protect you from, because their females," he sighed.

"Oh no, it's not me who's affected. It's Shina," I clarified, "But she's my best friend, that baby would've been like a niece or nephew to me, it's just frustrating. They want us to suffer but why?" I asked.

"Because you have me and she has Quinn," he answered. I blinked then shut his argument down, "No it's deeper than that, they have mental issues," I crinkled my eyebrows.

He finished off his burger and fries and dug into a bag of chips. "Come here," he pulled me into his lap so I was straddling him. He rested his palms on my ass and squeezed, distracting me from my thoughts of Heaven and Makaysia.