DETERMINATION | Book One

C H A P T E R 37

C H A P T E R
T H I R T Y - S E V E N

"Go fish," She giggled watching him get upset since she had none of the numbers he needed. "You got any eights Derek?"

Smacking his teeth, he handed her his eight. "You cheating man! You looking at my stack or something? Cause this ain't fair." Taking the eight she made her match sitting it neatly in a stack.

"I'm not looking at anything, I'm just good at this game." She boosted doing a happy dance once she saw she was down to her last two numbers.

Standing up he threw the cards down, "I quit, you got two cards and I'm sitting here with twenty fuck this." Walking into the kitchen, Hazel laughed getting up to follow him.

"So you mad? You just beat my ass in 2k and Madden but did I fuss?"

"Yes, you complained the whole time."

"Oh, well its only cute when I do it." She shrugged reaching inside his fridge to get a water bottle. "Get me one too,"

Tossing him one, she untwisted the cap to her bottle taking a sip. "It feels like old times when we used to hang out back in the day." She blurted out causing him to smile.

"Yeah it does, crazy how fast time flies and how things change." He mumbled as he stared off into space.

This was the usual routine for them, afer work he'd call her up and she'd come over and chill or they sometimes went out just like old times.

And since Hazel husband worked in the Oil Field, he was never home so to actually have a friend to call on and to hang with was needed.

Walking back into the living room, she turned on the tv going straight to Hulu to watch episodes of Atlanta. Sitting with her legs tucked underneath her and her arm rested on the armrest, she became engrossed with that while Derek sat beside her in deep thought.

Playing with his high school class ring, he bit his lip out of uncertainty. Sensing his mood, she muted the tv as she glanced over at him wondering why he got so quiet. "You alright? That quick the vibe in the air changed."

"Yeah, I'm cool .. just in deep thought about things."

Turning to face him, she raised her eyebrow. "You want to talk about it?"

"Nah, its cool .. I don't want to over step boundaries or disrespect anybody." He mumbled trying to drop the conversation but he knew Hazel was the type to keep asking questions.

Frowning, she cocked her head. "What are you talking about? Over stepping boundaries?"

"Nothing Haze.. I'm good."

Continuing to stare, she wasn't going to let up until he talked. She worried about him a lot since she knew he was suffering from heart ache. A lot of times she came over just so he wouldn't be lonely and she liked being around him. "You know I'm going to keep pushing this until you tell me.. you know you can tell me anything D." She nudged his arm

Instead of replying, he simply shrugged wanting to show her his thoughts rather than voice them. He leaned in closer towards her causing the air in her lungs to come to a halt as she stared at his plump lips and back to his eyes repeatedly.

No words were exchanged as they both waited for one to make the first move. He got lost in her eyes like he always did hating he let her slip away when they were younger. But here she was now in his face, he felt in his eyes this was a second chance for him..well he at least hoped it was.

Don't kiss him.. she said in her head but as if her heart wanted her to shut up she leaned forward as her lips grazed against his for quick second which gave him the sign she wanted this just as bad as he did. Pecking her lips a few times he soon devoured her lips into his as their lips moved in sync with another.