Indulgence (Incomplete)

21 Questions

Jennifer was lying in bed aimlessly scrolling through her social media accounts. She tried to call Aaryn but kept getting her voicemail. Aaryn had been on her mind since their rendezvous a few days ago. It still left her with goosebumps whenever she thought about it. The one thing that did bug her was what she said about Derrick. How did she know they were hanging out? I mean how big of deal would it actually be they weren't even friends. She put her phone down and sat up. "This is dumb" she got up and walked to her sisters' room. "Hey Jamie you up?" she knocked on the door and waited for an answer.

As she was about to walk in Jamie appeared, her face flushed, and just barely poking her head out. "Hey, uh yeah what's up?" she smiled awkwardly.

"Do you have someone in there?" she whispered as she pointed to the door.

"What? No." she gawked. "Okay yeah." She looked embarrassed.

"Uh, okay" she started laughing. "I'll talk to you in the morning."

She waved her sister off, before heading back to her room. She was really bored, but didn't feel like getting dressed and going out. Plus she didn't really know who to call, she spent most of her time waiting around for Aaryn, her friends quit inviting her places and she stopped keeping up with them. She could hear them now, oh we were going to invite you to the club but we knew you'd leave as soon she called you and we didn't want to get ditched again. She laughed to herself, she was not the type to ditch her friends, she was just committed to Aaryn.

Just as she was ready to call it a night her phone started to ring.

"Hello?"

"Hey, were you asleep?" the low and smooth voice said.

"No, I was just getting in bed why?" she looked at her phone to see who was calling since she didn't recognize the voice. "Derrick?"

"Yeah who else would call you from this number?" he laughed but his voice was matter of fact.

"You sound different over the phone. What do you want?" she didn't want to tell him she never stored his number

"I'll take that as a compliment, and just looking for a little conversation." His voice sounded hopeful.

"Um, okay so talk." She climbed into bed and turned off her lights except the one on the night table. Jennifer also muted her TV.

"I was thinking... maybe we should get to know one another better. As friends I mean, last time we hung out it was a little awkward."

"As friends?" Jennifer was skeptical.

"Strictly platonic."

"Okay, so what do you want to know?" Jennifer was smiling, this wasn't what she expected her night to turn into but it's better than Netflix. Plus she might be able to figure out what was going on between Aaryn and him.

"Do you love my sister?" His voice sounded a little sad.

"Whoa, no holding back I see. No I don't love her, but there's just something about her, it's like an escape" she was blushing on her side of the phone. "What's your middle name?"

"Isaiah. What are you escaping from?"

She smiled. "Wouldn't you like to know. How old are you?" she laid on her left side getting comfortable.

"Twenty-three. Do you normally sleep with people you're not dating?" Derrick didn't realize how much he cared about his sister and Jennifer's relationship until now.

"Wait, who said we weren't dating? Do you know something I don't?" Jennifer was getting angry, and she genuinely wanted to know the answer.

"No I just – I mean, it's not my place just forget I said anything. Tell me about –"

"No, cut the bullshit Derrick. What's your deal, what do you want?" she decided it was time to get direct answers.

"I don't understand." He said flat out.

"You know what I don't understand? What's the deal between you and Aaryn, do you guys have a bet going on? Am I some sort of prize?" her voice was breaking.

"What? No, Jen it's not like that I swear. I don't even know where you got that idea from."

"It's Jennifer. And maybe because last time I was with her she somehow knew I was with you before. Not that I care it's not like something happened, but I sure as hell didn't tell her, and it was only me and you Derrick."

"How about you stop making things up? Yeah I told her I saw you, and we went for a run but that was it. I was unaware being around me was some sort of secret." Derrick was getting annoyed at the fact he had to explain himself when he did nothing wrong.

"I'm not a trophy, I'm a person who deserves to be treated with nothing but respect so I will not be a part of some sick game between the both of you."

"You know what... stop talking right now. Let me break this down for you." His voice got serious.

"I don't need-"Jennifer tried to interrupt.

"I said stop talking Jennifer." He took a deep breath. Jennifer was sitting up in bed now, a puzzled look came across her face. Was he really talking to her like that?

"There is no game, there never was and there never will be. I'm too grown, with too much on my plate to play keep away with my sister. I saw you that day, and I just knew I wanted to get to know you. You're beautiful, and I don't know what has you so uptight or insecure but if you're gonna play damsel in distress, don't count on either of us to save you. You want respect? Then you need to give it back." He exhaled. Glad to finally get that off his chest. He was tired of her accusations.

Jennifer sat up, speechless. Slightly impressed that he had the balls to put her in place so soon, but more that someone actually did put her in her place. She knew she had a habit of over stepping but she hadn't realized she pushed him.

"Hello?" he asked after no response.

"Yeah I'm here" she was at a loss for words.

"Are we good now?"

"Yeah." She said in a low voice.

"Good, I'm going to sleep Jennifer, have a good night." And with that Derrick hung up.