Nouveau

Chapter 14: Reactive

Laive

Today was the day.

The fat lady had clearly sung the walls down.

"I can't look...I'm scared."

Laive's grades had posted for the semester, and she felt like she was about to pass out. L was terrified. The Banner Web Portal had been logged into, and she couldn't bring herself to click on the link for Spring semester grades. They were both standing with their bodies turned sideways, face to face, with the screen illuminating the left side of her face and the right side of his.

"What you mean you can't look?"

"It's not funny Tremaine. I really can't do this..." She was panicking.

Laive turned to walk away but Tremaine quickly grabbed her by her arms.

"Look at me."

"Tremai-"

"Laive." Tremaine quickly grabbed her hands in his. "Whatever you scared of ain't even on there."

She stood there quietly, her anxiety was pulsing hard at her wrists.

"The quicker you do it, the faster it'll be over with." He encouraged. "Come on baby girl, just click on it."

"Tremaine...No" she was laughing at him tickling her sides.

"You want me to do it?"

He turned towards the computer, leaned over the glass table top to press the mouse key, and illuminated the blackened computer screen. L slowly inched behind him peaking over his left shoulder. She had tucked the majority of her face onto the back of his t-shirt, and her hands were impatiently resting at the center of his spine.

Click.

Laive almost went into cardiac arrest when she heard Tremaine click to open the link on her computer. She shrieked and turned away to face the living room couches as her hands covered her eyes. L had to drop to her knees to try and gain composure of her anxiety. She was trying her best not to freak out about the grades she thought she had.

"Awh that's messed up-"

Laive jumped up, "What?....What Tremaine?"

"-They just letters. You still want ice cream? Let's just go get that black cherry shit you lik-"

She shoved him out of the way.

"Tremaine....what does it say?!" Laive's heart had dropped to her stomach. She froze as she looked at the screen's content carefully.

Tremaine was snickering in her peripheral, "It's a 4.0 baby girl. I didn't expect anything less..."

Laive's eyes widened and she began to scream and dance in joy, "Tremaine! I'm so...I can't believ- ...Lord have mercy!"

Tremaine

"Aye. Ayyye. Aye Ayyyye," Tremaine was hyping L up while she danced.

Playfully twerking and hitting the dougie, Laive was super turnt. He hadn't seen L that happy since she'd been in LA with him.

"I told you L...I told you!" Tremaine was so happy for her.

He twirled Laive in a circle and gently pulled her into him. She couldn't stop smiling as she put her arms around his waist. Tremaine arms wrapped around her shoulders and he softly kissed her forehead. "I'm proud of you.."

Their bodies were slowly swaying back and forth. Laive was smiling into his chest, and when she looked up at him, Tremaine brushed her soft curls out of her face.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" L was blushing.

"Cause you so dope.." Tremaine was still tucking her hair out of her face. He gingerly kissed her forehead again. "I'm so fucking proud of you L...for real"

She hugged back into his chest, and they continued to gently sway from side to side.

"Laive...baby girl? Wait a minute...What's wrong?"

The front of his shirt was soaked from her crying. Tremaine lead her over by the couch, sat them on the floor, and leaned his back against the edge of the cushions.

Laive was wiping her tears with the sleeve of her sweat shirt as Tremaine situated her between his legs. "Come on now...Why you crying? We supposed to be celebrating"

She was sniffling, "I...I'm-..I'm just relieved."

They were still slowly rocking from side to side as he tried to soothe her.

He pulled her spine into the center of his rib cage, and his arms hugged the front of her waist. The back of her head was resting on his left shoulder, and he saw her sigh with closed eyes. Tremaine was careful to space between his center and her behind. He didn't want her to feel like he was being inappropriate. Sloppily, he planted a quick kiss on her right temple.

"Seriously!...Now Tremaine!" Laive screamed and he saw her smile.

"Why you hitting me?"

"You play too much."

His hands moved to the sides of her arms and he carefully rubbed them, "You think the dean got my Medical Doctorate ready?"

"Your Medical Doctorate? So you went to Med School?" She had a smirk on her face.

"Yeah...You ain't get that 4.0 by yourself. Does that shit work like song writing?"

"SHUT. UP!" Laive was giggling.

"For real, like Dr. Laive Réaux ft. Tremaine Neverson. Your boy gone be official."

"I can't with you, I just can't"

"You gone give me my credit L. I don't play 'bout this money"

"Tremaine, PLEASE.."

They were cracking up at his silliness.

"My bad, my bad."

He really wanted to ask her to finally open up and talk to him. She was relaxed and comfortable enough, he thought. And Tremaine felt confident that he had Laive positioned where he could put her in a bear hug if she tried to get away.

"Baby girl. "

"Hm?" she quietly responded.

"It's been three weeks since yo-"

Before he could even finish, L was trying to get up. He quickly tightened his hold on her.

"Nah, we not doing this."

"Let. Me go!"

Tremaine held her even tighter, and she tried to pry his arms off her.

"You holding all that shit in ain't healthy Laive...I don't care. I'm not going to be here for the next couple of weeks, and I need to make sure you're ok."

"Stop!"