Into His Love

Fourteen

Kimberly | Sunday

I stand at my art easel, paintbrush in hand, carefully adding detail onto my artwork. The doorbell rings, but I don't budge knowing that my mom will get it. Seconds later I hear laughing and talking downstairs.

"She's upstairs in her room. It's so good to see you, sweetie." I hear my mom say.

"You too, Mrs. Anderson." A familiar voice says. It's Nadia. I laugh to myself because the last time I saw her she was wasted and it was hilarious.

After a few seconds of muffled voices, the talking stops and I hear footsteps coming up the stairs approaching my room. Nadia walks in without knocking, which isn't a surprise, and she looks terrible. Her hair is in a ponytail and she is wearing sweats and a t-shirt. The bags under her eyes are dark, nothing less than visible.

    "Please remind me to never drink again." She plops onto my bed and groans. I place my paintbrush down on the palette and sit on my bed next to her.

"Mhm. I think you should take it easy. Or even better there's this really cool thing. Really. It's called....not drinking underage." I tease. She rolls her eyes but doesn't respond.

"I called to check on you yesterday but you didn't answer." I let her know.

   "I was sleep all day. The best cure for a hangover." She smiles all goofy like. I stand and walk to get the tv remote.

   "What'd you do yesterday?" She questions.

"I went shopping with my mom," I pause, "and then later yesterday night I went out with Isaiah."

She hops up and crawls over to me when I sit back on the bed.

"Hold the hell on. Like on a date?!" She grins her eyes studying me.

"I guess?" I shrug. I'm pretty sure it was a date. Was it? Do 'friends' even go on dates? "I don't know."

"Oh, my God!" she exclaims, clapping like a maniac. She lifts her brows at me. "Y'all have been spending a lot of time together."

   "Nadi, we are just friends." I roll my eyes.

    "What?! All I said is that y'all have been together a lot lately." Her face is lit like a Christmas tree with excitement.

   "You're implying something that's not happening." I continue flicking through the channels avoiding eye contact.

   "Girl! You're vibing on him. You're blushing right now and you can't even stop smiling." She laughs.

    Blushing?

    "No, I'm not! Can we talk about something else, please?" I beg.

    "Fine. Do you want to work on the research project for English tomorrow after practice?" Shit.

    "I..uh...I'm actually helping Isaiah study for Government tomorrow." I glance over to her.

   "Oh, really? Interesting." She smirks trailing her words, wide-eyed. "You do know what they say about tutors right?"

    "Nadi!" I take a pillow and throw it at her. It hits her head before toppling to the floor with a soft plop.

    "Just saying." She giggles shrugging her shoulders.

"Wait. So are y'all studying here?" She questions and I nod slowly realizing I should have reflected this question because now she will freak out about this, too.

"You're going to let him meet your mom?"

"No." I scoff. "She told me yesterday that she's going to be out with Josh's mom."