The Guilty Pleasure

Eleven| Consideration

Riley

My coffin shaped acrylics tapped the screen as I scrolled down my Instagram timeline, liking pictures. Lena and Rio came across the screen, making me smile. They were the cutest and I couldn't have been happier for my friend and hoped that my story didn't rain on her parade once it dropped. She deserved happiness and her new man brought that into her life.

Besides my dad and Raven, Lena was my biggest fan. The encouragement from her got me very far. She had always had my best interest at heart since we met in middle school. The memory brought a small smile to my face as it played back in my head.

"Whatchu smilin' at?" Yasir asked as his ass finally appeared back on the screen. I looked down at my MacBook and shook my head. "You smilin' bout something. Might as well share."

I let out a deep breath and sat my phone on the table. "I met Lena when I was twelve. My homeroom got switched in the middle of the school year because I was gifted and needed to be challenged." I fanned my hand, dismissively, trying to get to the good part. "There was this one girl that would always pick on me. She was one of the prettiest girls in school. I was heavier back then and on top of that, I was so shy."

"That's hard to believe."

"It shouldn't be. I still am shy." I admitted. "I've just gotten more comfortable in my skin."

Yasir nodded his head, causing his blonde curls to bounce. "The confidence you exude now is sexy." The biggest blush appeared on my face as I tried to look away from the camera. "Nah, let me see."

"Could you stop?" I whined.

"Aight." He flashed a wide smile at me. "Finish ya story, mama."

"Anyways, this one girl would always make comments bout my weight and one day, Lena stood up for me in front of the entire cafeteria. Told the girl I could lose weight but she would always be ugly."

"That's real," he nodded. "Genuine people are hard to come by."

"That girl tried to fight her." I said, speaking on the memory. "I didn't even know Lena but she had my back. She told me she was tired of me not standing up for myself. That was the day that solidified our friendship."

"Hm," he hummed. "But you didn't tell her bout us?" The question definitely came out as an accusation more than anything else.

"She, um, she does know." I confessed. "We had lunch earlier today and I told her."

"Why didn't you tell her sooner?"

I fixed the laptop on my thighs and stared at him, trying to get a read on the energy he was throwing out. "Because I didn't know if I was really gonna do this thing with you. Now I know for sure, therefore, she knows."

He pulled at his beard as his brows furrowed. It was clear that there was more on his mind but he didn't say anything.

"Does that bother you?" Yasir shook his head but I could tell that he was not telling me the truth. "You don't have to lie to me." I licked my lips. "Just be real."

"Y'all seem close and you keeping it from her seems odd." He tilted his head before shrugging. "Seems like you weren't serious and was just playing games."

The unsure look on his face had me breaking our eye contact. I looked at the glass of wine that was on the table and lifted it to my lips because I needed the alcohol to calm down my damn nerves.

"I wasn't serious." The admission slipped past my lips, making him arch his brow. "I didn't know what I wanted to do. My plan was to fuck you and get it out of my system but that's not the way shit played out."