LaMelo Ball - By Ari

Nineteen

My eyes felt heavier than a thousand sacks of flour as I pushed them open, the brightness of the room I was in blinding me. My head hurt worse than ever before and the fact made it very difficult to focus my vision on anything. I squinted my eyes and I realized that I was in my own bedroom, tucked in my familiar comforter that smelled so much like my dog, Reese. I shifted around my head ever so slowly since I was in so much pain, and my breath hitched in the back of my throat when my gaze landed on a figure sitting in a chair beside my bed, the person obviously sleeping with their arms crossed and neck tilted to the side in their slumber. The longer I stared, the more features popped out at me; fuzzy caramel hair, extraordinarily skinny legs, long limbs, and tanned, shiny skin.

Him.

It was almost like I was in a dream, and my soul was outside of my body. This couldn't be real and I tried to process what was happening while old visions of me laughing with and kissing a lanky boy played in my mind like a movie projector. I couldn't believe that he was here, LaMelo, the very boy who betrayed me was sitting at my bedside yet again, when I had vowed to never even be within a hundred yards of him for the rest of time. I couldn't help but watch as his chest rose and fell softly as he breathed, in a deep sleep. I wanted to wake him so I steadily sat up in my position and leaned my back against the headboard of my bed frame. The air was cool in my room and it felt so good to get out from under the heavy comforter. Clearing my throat, the sound made LaMelo sift around in the chair for a moment before his eyes fluttered open, and sooner than I expected, his chocolate eyes were staring back into mine. We were unable to stop looking at each other and neither of us knew what to say. I had so many questions that were floating around in my head that I wanted to spill out like a milk carton on a kitchen counter, but I remained quiet.

"Nevaeh and her friend ganged up on you," he reminded me and his voice was so familiarly smooth and soft. "They apparently gave you a mild concussion and a bruised rib, but you'll be okay."

Oh.

I still didn't say anything as I looked down at my hands and theirashyness. The cracks on my palms seemed to remind me that I probably looked like a heroine addict and I wish I looked good in front of the boy who betrayed me, but I didn't care at this particular moment. My side hurt with every breath, but it was tolerable so I let out a large sigh to fill in the silence.

"Can you hand me the lotion that's on my dresser behind you?" My throat was so sore that my voice barely projected in the large bedroom, but my question came out clear and confident somehow.

Hesitantly, LaMelo reached behind him and retrieved the lotion bottle from Bath and Body Works and handed it to me, our fingers touching for the slightest moment and before I knew it, the creamy moisturizer was in the palm of my hand, the amount about the size of two quarters combined. I rubbed it into my skin, a flow of relief washing over me as if lotioned hands could cure all my pain. It didn't, but I felt a little better mentally for some weird reason.

"How are you feeling?" he asked and my half-closed eyes flashed to him as soon as the question jumbled out of his lips.

Besides the pounding, never-ending headache and the fucked up rib?

"Alright, I guess."

Lover Boy scooted his chair closer to me and his cologne filled my nose. It smelled so good. "Look, Cori, I don't want to be on bad terms with you anymore. You got your point across pretty well; I'm a liar and a cheater. But I learned my lesson. I don't like to see you hurt and to feel like you hate me."

"You're right, I do hate you."

Sighing and shaking his head, he slowly reached for my hand and played with my fingers like he always used to do when he would tell me something important to him. If I had the energy, I would've reached my arm back and slapped the little bitch out of him but I allowed him to touch me. He wasn't hurting me in any way so there was no use in hitting him or pulling away, no matter how much I wanted to.

"You trying to keep your distance from me will not lessen my affection for you," he gave me a hopeful smirk. "All your efforts to save me from you will fail."

That little shit quoted my favorite movie. (A/N: THE FIRST PERSON WHO CAN GUESS WHAT MOVIE THAT QUOTE IS FROM WILL GET A SMALL SHOUTOUT IN THE NEXT CHAPTER!)

After thinking for a long moment, I blew out a big breath and looked down at his long fingers that were laced with mine. "We can be civil, but we are most likely not ever going to go back to the way it was before."

There was a gleam of sadness in his eyes, but his lips curled into one of his famous grins. My stomach knotted up when he brought his lips down to the back of my hand and kissed it gently, his touch still lingering there long after he pulled away.