Chardé
"I see you on tv doing ya thang though," Chelsea said as she threw the last bit of her and Bryan's clothes into the dresser and flopped down on the bed. I smiled remembering the days we'd all be over her house, laying on her bed in the same positions.
"I try. It's amazing though; being on the court and all, with the team that I've grown to love as a family. I honestly never thought that playing professional basketball would be my career, but here I am and I love it," I smiled.
"What about you Tang? How's the shop going?" Chelsea and I turned our attention to her as she texted away on her phone.
"It's going good and it's what I love to do."
Chelsea clapped, "What about you guy's love life? I'm ready to be in somebody's wedding man! C'mon!"
I looked at Tangy and she looked at me. We both shrugged knowing that our love lives weren't shit. My virginity still remained in tact and I didn't date. Tang talked to a few guys here and there, but it was nothing too serious. We were both just as single as the day we were born.
"You guys have got to be kidding? Char, please don't tell me you're still a virgin too? You're twenty five for God's sake!" Chelsea exclaimed.
"Hey, don't judge me. I just haven't found the right guy..."
"Technically, you did find the right guy. You just let him go," Tang added.
"Nobody asked you," I popped her on the back and she laughed before tending back to her phone.
"I don't understand you two," Chelsea said as she shook her head. The bedroom door opened and Bryan peeked his head in, "Everybody else is here."
We all immediately jumped up and ran down the stairs like little kids. Quan, his wife, Mal, and his girlfriend were all sitting around in the living room with Martell.
My smile faltered a little at Mal's arm resting comfortably around Stephanie's shoulders as they sat extremely close on the couch.
I quickly replaced it when Quan looked up and noticed me.
"There's my all-star!" He yelled while jumping up from his seat beside Aliah and hugging me.
"Aw Quan, it's been so long! You look good, but you still short as hell."
"Hey, hey, hey, I've grown a foot since high school," he joked. I hugged him back and as we released Aliah pulled me in for another. There was no doubt she was pretty, my boy did a good job.
"It's nice to finally meet you all," Aliah said as she pulled away and looked around the room at everybody else, "Quan does nothing but talk about you guys. Y'all's friendship must've been pretty strong back in the day."
"Yea, we were the crew. Nobody could touch us back then," I replied.
Mal cleared his throat and I hadn't noticed that he'd stood from the couch. He held his arms out expectedly, "Come on Angel. You know you want to."
I smiled at the old nickname and slowly made my way towards him. I was aware that all our friends were watching us intently right now. They all knew what had went down between me and Mal that night after the championship game and how we felt about the other. Stephanie and Aliah were probably lost as hell right now.
He got impatient with me taking my time and met me halfway, pulling me into his strong arms and embracing me with the hug that I'd missed so much. He still wore that same Polo cologne that he and Leek always did and it made me close my eyes and sigh.
