The Sophomore || Tori Kelly

Just Playing House

tuesday afternoon

Tori stood in the kitchen of her and her friend's apartment making lunch for she and André, since he had been staying with her since Sunday. He refused to leave her alone after what Josh sent him. And it worked out, since Tori didn't want André around his drug using roommate. So, he got an air mattress next Tori's bed on the floor home for a while, until he could find a place of his own and move out of the campus dorms all together. "Bro! No! That's not even right!" André yelled lightly pushing AJ as they played 2k.

"You saw that three, right?" He taunted. André shrugged him off as he continued to play. Tori was glad that André was becoming friends with her friends. Especially, since they were people she trusted not to lead him down a bad path.

"Alright AJ. Alyssa has texted me again asking if you were leaving yet. I think that's your que!" Tori yelled from the kitchen. Before she even made it back to the living room, AJ was out the door on his way to his love.

Tori carried a plate with chips and a sandwich, Andre dropped his controllers on the coffee table and sat back. Tori took her place next André with her legs kicked lap over his lap, leaving the plate on her legs. "So," André sighed. "What's the plans for today?" He asked, grabbing his half of the sandwich.

"You are getting your DNA test sent in today," Tori said mentioning the unopened box on the table ready be filled and tested. "After that, I don't know what your plans are, but my brother has a soccer game tonight that I'm going too. And then, Jo, Jordin, Kamari, and I are going to Isla Vista to meet up with the guys. You and Michelle are more than welcome to join, though," Tori invited. André shrugged with a huge bite of food in his mouth.

"Sounds good. What time?" He asked, ready to invite his little sister.

"Probably 9. My brothers game ends at 7, and I'm hoping to leave straight from there to go to Isla Vista," Tori replied. André wiped his crumb filled hand on his shirt and started to text his sister. "We have paper towels," Tori said. André glanced directly at the roll then back to his girlfriend with a huge smile.

"Sorry," he apologized sinking into his neck.

"Don't sorry me. Getting those stains out of your shirt is hard," Tori whined. André waved her off and went back to texting.

"If it's so hard then I'll have my mom do my laundry again," André suggested. Tori threw a chip at her boyfriend's head with perfect aim.

"I'm sure your mom is tired of doing her grown sons laundry," Tori rightfully assumed. She had been doing his laundry for a week and was already tired of it. "Speaking of your mom..." Tori trailed off, switching to a more serious tone. "When can I meet them? I have never met your parents or your niece," Tori asked as if this was new information to André.

"I don't know. When do you want to? You can come in this time when we get Michelle tonight," André shrugged. Tori's eyes burst out of her head.

"Tonight? What if they don't like me?" Tori freaked. André stared at her as if she had the words clinically insane tattooed on her forehead.

"Why did you ask to meet them if you didn't want to meet them?" André asked, highly confused. Tori pulled her legs under her and sat the plate on the seat behind her.

"It's a big deal to meet your parents! You remember how you met my dad? He still doesn't fully like you and that was almost two months ago!" Tori flipped. André rose an eyebrow and cocked his head to the side.

"As long as you don't show up in a bikini top and daisy dukes, I'm sure they will be okay," André replied. "They will love you. You are funny and sweet and not trying to sleep with me, so I'm sure it will be fine," André assured. Tori jumped off the couch and almost tripped as she ran to her room to find an outfit. Before Tori could even get her door shut, André had taken the plate and polished off Tori's half of the sandwich and the chips that was supposed to separate their sides.

6:30 PM

Tori sat at her brothers indoor soccer game in high waisted dark washed jeans and a cute, off the shoulder, autumn schemed, stripped crop top. André sat beside her lounging in most likely dirty, Adidas soccer pants and a t-shirt he found at the bottom of his duffel bag that was originally on his dorm room floor. Laura was next to her daughter while Allwyn sat on the first row of bleachers couching from the sidelines. "Do you have your sermonette for Sunday?" Laura asked, caring less about her sons soccer game. Tori shrugged.

"I don't know. I have the teens and I'm honestly nervous. I mean with our living situation right now I don't really feel that good about teaching them," Tori truthfully answered. The Bible talked terribly about living with someone before marriage and that's exactly what was happening.

"Oh yeah," Laura remembered. "How is his apartment searching going?" She asked. Tori glanced at her boyfriend who was definitely into this game, then back to her mom.

"It's going. We are going to look at one of the apartments not too far from mine, but definitely better, tomorrow." Laura was uneasy about this but had to suffer in silence. If her husband were too find out about Tori and André's current living arrangements, they would be making funeral arrangements.

"Keep me updated. The end of the semester is coming and I want to make sure he has a place to stay once he graduates next semester," Laura said, reminding Tori that André was two years older than her and in his senior year. It was easy to forget when he acted younger than her a lot of the time.

"I will," she whispered, zoning out for the rest of the game.

6:45 PM

Half time hit and Tori was ready to bounce. She was anxious about meeting André's parents and she really had to pee. Quickly, she tapped Andrés arm and got up, assuming correctly that he would follow. André whispered a sweet Goodbye to Laura and jogged after Tori. "You ready?" He asked, excited to see his parents. Tori tossed André the keys to his truck, but moved in the opposite direction of the gym doors.

"I'm going to pee, bring the truck around," she instructed, before sprinting to the bathroom.

—

After washing her hands, Tori felt her stomach flip and spun around to the stall she just left out of. Within seconds she was vomiting into the bowl. Tori didn't realize exactly how nervous she was about meeting André's parents. Well, she didn't realize that that was her excuse for vomiting at least. She had only one shot before getting to the game, so she was highly confused.

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To Be Continued...