We Started As Friends (August Alsina)

Chapter 10

August opens the door for me, with an expression matching the one of a father who just caught his teenage daughter sneaking in at two in the morning. "Sorry." I smile innocently.

"You had me worried. You didn't call."

"I'm sorry, I forgot." I explain.

"How was it?" He asks, pulling me into a hug. He removed one arm and I hear the door close and lock.

"It was okay. She's stable but they don't know how long that'll last." I explain. "How was your time with your brother?"

"It was good. We talked about the possibility of me moving to Houston one day." He informs me.

"When is one day?"

"No time soon, maybe afta' I finish school."

"Oh." I nod. "Did I wake you up?" I pull back, looking at his eyes. He looked tired.

"Nah, I was up wit' Trav fo' a while."

"Okay. We can have dinner tomorrow, right? I'm exhausted." I yawn. He nods.

"It's twelve in the morning." He reminds me.

"I got kind of caught up."

See, this is what happened.

"Lee Lee, can you come over for a little? I still can't cook too well and I need some help with my homework." Kyle tells me.

"Sure, but I can't stay too long." I tell him.

We leave the hospital after we hugged his mother and told her goodbye. Well, after she had fallen asleep.

------

"Are you okay?" I ask Kyle, stirring the meat. He doesn't answer, just continued staring off blankly. "Kyle."

"Huh?" He asks.

"Are you okay?" I turn to him.

"Yeah, just kind of tired." He nods.

"You go get some rest while I cook. I'll wake you when it is done." I promise.

"I can't sleep til I get this work down." He chuckles. "You know me."

"Yes, I do. I know when you get upset you over work yourself so you don't have to think about it."

"Leah." He sighs. "I can't lose my momma, the one person who cares about me. She brought me into this world. She was supposed to be there to see me go to prom, graduate high school and college, give me advice, meet my future wife and know her grandchildren. It's not fair."

Kyle begins to cry and I cut the stove off, going to the other side of the island to pull him into a tight hug.

"It's gonna be okay. God has a plan." I rub circles on his back.

Eventually, we end up on the couch. Kyle lays his head on my chest, I play in his hair, attempting to soothe him. "Remember when we were together and after every disagreement we had, I'd by you pizza and we'd sit on the roof and watch the sunset and we would always apologize then and there." Kyle remincises.

"Yeah. We've had some good times." I agree, smiling. "And then when we were playing grand theft auto in your room and we stayed up til two in the morning, just so you could teach me how to play better."

"I remember that, you got in so much trouble for trying to sneak in that late."

"And you told my parents it was your fault because you didn't want to wake me up after I had fallen asleep." I smile.