Best Friends (ON HOLD)

Chapter 25.

•Eric•

"What do you want Eric?" Justis asked when all I did was stop at her locker. "I didn't even say anything." "Do you have something to say?" "Yes." "Then say it before I leave." "What's Andria's favorite flower?" "Why?" "Because I feel bad and I want to make up for it." "Nigga that was two months ago. That's pretty late for an apology." "I know, but she wouldn't talk to me." "I wouldn't either." "Please?" "White roses." "Thank you!"

I really do feel bad about hurting Andria. At first I only thought she had a nice body, but then I realized she has an amazing personality. I never really got the chance to get close to her because of Chresanto, but now he's gone so I can talk to her. I'm pretty sure he liked her, but he didn't make his move as far as I know so now it's my chance. "Hey Dri." I smiled when I saw her. She looked at me and mumbled some stuff then continued walking. I started walking backwards until I got in front of her and pulled her into a hug. She didn't hug me back and I expected that. "Why are you touching me?" Andria asked. "I'm sorry." "Leave me alone." "I'm sorry for everything. For putting my hands on you, disrespecting your friends, everything." "I accept your apology." "So do you forgive me?" "I'll forgive you I'll but never forget." "Can I take you out to dinner tonight?" "I don't know. I have to check with my parents." "That's fine. Text me if you can go." "I blocked you." I chuckled and put my number in her phone. "Unblock me on Instagram too." I said before leaving for my class.

The rest of the day I had a smile on my face. I'm working on becoming a better person and I realized that that takes a lot of work. This is one of the things I'm doing to become a better person. According to my mom she says if she hadn't threatened to ground me and take my phone away my stubborn ass wouldn't have agreed to this. Which is true. When I got home I started my homework and waited for a text from Andria. I actually finished my homework before I got a text from Andria so I figured she wasn't going to go. My phone vibrated and I picked it up.

Andria: What time u picking me up

Eric😎: Ig around 5. So ur going??

Andria: Yeah I'll text u my address

Andria texted her address to me and I went to change my clothes. I put on black jeans, a white polo shirt, and my white NIKE Air Force 1s. I grabbed my phone and headed out the door. "Where you going?" My mom asked. "Out with a friend." "You've never dressed this nice when you're going out with a friend. Does this friend happen to be a girl? Is there something you're not telling me?" "Yes this friend is a girl. She's not my girlfriend though."

...yet

"We'll have fun. Not too much fun where I'd have to come beat your ass, but just have fun." I nodded and grabbed the car keys and jacket then left. Before I left I made sure to spray some cologne on me. The address Andria texted me wasn't actually that far from my house, but before I went to her house I went to a flower shop. I walked in and all the pollen hit me and I sneezed. "Hi!" Some cheery lady smiled when she saw me. "Hi." I said back. "What kind've flower are you looking for?" "White roses." "Are they for your girlfriend?" The lady asked, leading me to the white roses. "Don't have a girlfriend." "Oh you play for that team?" At first I didn't know what she meant, but I quickly caught on. "No I don't play for that team. All you need to know is that the flowers are for someone special."

   Once I found the white roses I bought them and started driving to Andria's house. I got there and got out to ring the doorbell. After a few seconds a little boy with answered. I figured it was Andria's younger brother because they had a few of the same features. "Who are you?" He asked. "A friend of Andria." "The only guy friends of Andria that come over are Chres and Jacob. Andria your-" Before he could finish his sentence Andria came down the steps. "Hey Eric." Andria waved. "Hey, you ready to go?" I asked. Before Andria got to the door her mom came in. Obviously she didn't want me to know what they were talking about because they started speaking in Spanish. After ten minutes Andria's mom left the room and Andria walked out the house. "I'm sorry about her. She thought you were a girl when I said 'my friend'." Andria said. "It's fine. She was just being protective since she's never met me." "So where are we going? Because if it's somewhere fancy I'd feel underdressed." Andria said looking at her outfit. I didn't see anything wrong with it honestly. She had on black skinny jeans, a white Mixed Chicks hoodie under a leather jacket, timberlands, and a denim baseball cap. "And sorry for my hair. I was washing my hair then I went to get dressed and my mom moved my flat iron." Andria continued. "It's fine seriously Andria. We're just going to go to the park, and get some food. I only want to get to know you better." I chuckled. "Oh! I guess I dressed good."

I pulled up to our first stop and got out the car. I went on Andria's side and opened the door for her. She got out and looked at the building. "You think my nails look bad?" She asked since I brought her to a nail salon. "No! I don't even pay attention to your nails. I just wanted to bring you here because I know girls like to get their nails done and stuff." I shrugged. "Oh...ok. I was going to do my nails, but I'm glad I didn't. Should we do 50/50?" "No because I'm paying." "I'll pay half." "No I'm paying the whole thing." "We're going to go half and half." Andria stated thinking I would actually listen. We walked in and Andria immediately went to go look at the nail polishes. "I'm paying for her, so if she tries to pay tell her it's already taken care of." I told the lady behind the front desk who was looking at her. "Is she getting a manicure or pedicure or both?" "Which one is her fingers?" "Manicure." She chuckled. "That one." I said paying for it.

I sat down and waited for Andria to be done. Soon she walked over to the front desk. The lady said something and Andria glared at me. I looked at her and got up. "Ready to go?" I asked. "You payed? I told you we're going 50/50." "And I told you no." "You're frustrating." A couple woman laughed, probably because they thought we were a couple. We walked out the nail salon and got in my car. I started driving to the pizza shop and asked, "What color did you get?" "When I first went up there I saw a cute purple, but it was too bright to have on in the winter time. Then I saw this gray, but I didn't think it went with my skin tone. I went to black, but that was too dark for me. Then I just chose dark blue." Andria said showing me her hand. I chuckled at how she went on and on about all this stuff I didn't even know about like I was a girl. "Do you talk to Jacob and Justis like this?" I asked. "Yup. I mean they don't understand what I'm talking about half the time because it's always something one girl said in my class about someone else and they think I'm not listening, but really I be getting all the tea. Most of the time I have to repeat myself when I'm telling them this kind've stuff." "Did you just say 'I be getting all the tea'?" I asked laughing. "Hell yeah! I could be sitting there and then they just start throwing shade and stuff at their so called friends." "Wow." I said pulling into the parking lot. We got out and walked in the pizza place. 'The Night Is Still Young' by Nicki Minaj played and Andria started singing. She can really sing.

  We could get our pizza as soon as we walked in so we grabbed which ones we wanted and sat at a table. "How come you don't sing more?" I asked. "Because I don't like singing like that. I like to act and model." "Cool. So you want to walk down that long aisle?" "It's called a runway stupid." Andria laughed. "Well you knew what I meant." I laughed along. While we were eating we kept talking. It wasn't a quiet moment since we sat down. When we finished I paid and we left. The park wasn't that far from the pizza shop, so we walked over. As soon as we got there Andria led me to a tree. "This is my tree." Andria said. "What do you mean your tree?" I asked. "When I was like 7 I wrote my name on here. See?" Andria said pointing to her initials carved on the tree. "You come here a lot?" "Yup. When I'm bored, sad, mad, confused, or even when I don't feel like going home right away." "It seems relaxing." "A couple months ago I found a stray cat here. That's why I come here a lot too. He's still here I'm pretty sure." Out of nowhere a kitten walked and rubbed against Andria's foot. "Is that it?" "Yup." She smiled picking it up. "How do you know it's a boy?" "I don't. I just say it's a boy." "Does he have a name?" "Prince." "How come you never took it home?" "Because my mom doesn't want stray animals in the house." "Well what if you took it to the vet and got all the shots he needed then took it home. I don't think he'd be considered a stray after that." "True. I'd have to get enough money to pay for a vet though." "Don't worry. We can come back tomorrow if you want and we can take him to the vet." "Yay! Thank you so much!" Andria smiled flinging her arms around my neck. I hugged her back and we continued walking.

  I really got to learn a lot about Andria just from spending this little amount of time together. All her goals, aspirations, hopes, everything. I wasn't going to ask her out today only because I'm just getting to know her really. Even though we've gone to school together for a while now I never really talked to her. So for now I'm just going to take it slow. "I think we should go. It's starting to get a little dark." I suggested. "Yeah I guess." We walked back to my car and I put my arm over her shoulder. Somehow she ended up on my back claiming she sprained her ankle. We got to my car and I put her down. "Oh look at that! My ankle feels better now." Andria said moving her foot around. "You a trip." I said shaking my head. "Boy bye." We laughed and I started driving Andria to her house. Soon we got to her house. Andria was about to get out the car, but I remembered the flowers. "Wait!" I shouted. Andria turned around as I reached in the back to get the flowers. I handed them to her and she smiled. "My favorite." She mumbled more to herself. I watched as she walked into her house then pulled off. We're just going to stay friends.

For now...