nothing less ➸ demar derozan

thirty-one

DeMar

"You doing something for Valentines?" Kyle asks me and eats one of his smashed up donut holes. He hands me one and I take it.

"Of course," I eat the donut hole whole and continue walking down the sidewalk. I didn't bring my car again and Kyle doesn't own one so we're on our own feet.

"Like what?"

"Taking her out to the beach. She's been stressing lately with a lot of things, and I think she likes the beach so we're going."

"You think she likes the beach?" He looks at me.

I shrug, "Yeah...I mean who doesn't like the beach?"

"What if she's scared of sharks?"

"You're right. Imma do a picnic thing on the beach then. Girls love that stuff, and I know she likes that corny stuff."

Kyle chuckles, "True."

Him and I talked about mainly basketball before we split our ways. Once I got home, I dug around for a basket to put the food in and made sure to pack everything we needed to make sandwiches. I also put some fruits and a chocolates that I had got for her a couple days ago. I grabbed a teddy bear that I also bought for her.

Spoiling her was the best thing I could do at the moment especially since we haven't seen each other a lot.

"Where you headed?" My mother asked me. I finished texting Ella that I was on my way before looking up and kissing my mother's cheek.

"On a date with Ella."

"Be safe out there. That poor girl has gone through so much already—including you," she says and I frown. It has been hard for the both of us and everyone in our circle.

"I know, don't worry about us, Ma," I gave her a reassuring smile.

"Here you go," she says and sticks her hand into my pocket. I furrow my eyebrows, because I wasn't sure what she put in there. I took out whatever it was and saw two condoms.

"Ma!" I exclaimed. "We're not-"

She waves her hand in front of me, "You teens always say that and mean another. Just in case you two decide to get hansy there you go."

"I don't need this," I said and took them out.

She looks at me with a shocked expression, "Oh, is your pull out game that good? My ass! Take them."

I chuckle, "We're not going to have sex tonight, but I will take them since I'm about to be late. Bye, Ma."

"Bye, Deebo."

I drove to Ella's house and knock on her door. I decided to give her flowers to her now since I didn't want them to die in the car. However, Ella didn't answer the door and instead it was Arion.

"What's up," he opens the door for me.

"Nothing, just picking up Ella."

He nods, "She's in her room."

"Alright," I said. I go upstairs before things could get awkward between us. Every time I see him I think of him sitting on the ground and that damn cop. I hated thinking about that incident.

I didn't see Reggie nor Haro in the house as I went upstairs. I wondered where they were. I knocked on Ella's door before entering. She smiled when she saw me come in.

"Hey, beautiful," I said when she gave me a hug. I popped the flowers out of my back and she exclaimed.

"They're roses! I love them. Follow me while I go get a vase for them," she said and held my hand as we exit her room.