One•Shots

trenton + harlem

h a r l e m *

I'm supposed to be on a date right now, but instead, I'm sitting in my car at my best friend's apartment building, trying not to make eye contact with the police officer who's here for his shift to guard the building.
I actually was on a date, but I literally got up and left in the middle of it. I feel bad, and I'll have to message her later to apologize, but the only thing, or person, I should say, I could think about was Trenton. I sigh and finally get out of my car and into the early-June evening air, walking into the lobby of Trenton's building. I walk up to the desk.
"Hello, sweetie," the woman says. "Who're you here to see and what is your name?"
"Harlem Hartley, here to see Trenton Welker. He's in 4B," I tell her. My voice shakes, but I don't know why. Trenton and I have been best friends for about four years now; he's two and a half years older than me at 21; I'm 18, but I'll be 19 soon and just graduated.
"Let me check his status and list,"
Inside of each apartment is a plaque that has two buttons, and whether you're home or not is the button that's 'turned on'; the person working the front desk can see on the computer the status of the button. The list is a list of people that the person living in the apartment fills out of people that they can let up without paging them and asking if they can be let up or not, but they still offer to page the person for you if you'd like.
It's silent for a minute. A girl and her young daughter are sitting on the couch behind me; the daughter is bouncing up and down and looking around.
"Already, he's home and he's put you down as someone we can let up. Would you like me to page him?" the woman asks.
"No, I'd like to surprise him,"
"Alright," she rolls backward in her chair and hits a button. "The door's unlocked, you can come on back, baby,"
I smile at her and thank her. I walk through the unlocked door and see her hit the button to lock it back out of the corner of my eye. I walk through the opening and go down the hall to the stairs.

I stand in front of Trenton's door with my fist raised in the air.
I knock.
"Be right there!" Trenton calls. He comes to the door a minute later, his hair wet.
"Harlem? What are you doing here? I thought you had a date--?" he says. Before he says anything else, I walk inside the apartment and put my hands on his face, pressing my lips against his. Trenton jumps from shock, but he puts a hand on my hip. I pull back, looking at him. He goes behind me to shut the door.
"What was that about?" he asks me, a slight laugh in his voice.
"You were all I could think about," I admit, looking at him. "I walked out on her."
"What? Why? I thought you liked her?"
"I thought I did too, Trent, I don't know, I couldn't stop thinking about you, and--did I mess everything up?" I groan.
"Hey, it's okay, come with me," he says, grabbing my wrist and pulling me over to the couch and making me sit down.
"Let's talk about this--" he begins.
"Talk about what?" I cut him off. "There's nothing to talk about."
"Yes, there is, Harlem,"
"What is it, Trenton? I--What else could you possibly have to say to me?"
"Har, if you would just let me talk," he starts. He looks down at the couch and grabs my hand, sliding his fingers in between mine. "You did not mess everything up,"
He looks at me and smiles softly while he squeezes my hand gently.
"I'm going to go down to the front desk for a minute, okay? You stay here, I'll be right back," He tells me, dropping my hand.
As soon as the door closes behind him, I look around his apartment wondering what in the world I've just done.

Trenton comes back a few minutes later; I look up at him as the door opens and he walks in.
"Sorry about that," he says. "I had to let them know that you were gonna stay the night so you wouldn't be coming back down."
"I--what?" I ask in confusion.
He walks towards me with a grin on his face. When he reaches me he pulls me off of the couch and onto my feet. His lips press against mine softly and he starts to move backward, causing me to stumble. His hands cup my face as he kisses my lips gently and he spins around, gently laying me back on the bed.

🗝️

"I told you that you didn't mess anything up, Har," Trenton says to me.
I look over at him, blinking slowly.
"You're so adorable," he says softly with a laugh. He draws my face close to his and pressing his lips to mine.
"I'm glad you came over tonight," he whispers.
"Me too, but I am sorry for that girl," I say, laughing.
I reach for my phone and pull it out of my pocket. I've got two missed calls, and eight unread text messages from her. I wince when I see them and instantly regret not texting her before coming in here.
Luckily, she's not mad at me.

🗝️

Julie
hey, where'd you go? (today, 6:03 PM)
is everything alright? (today, 6:34 PM)
was it something that I said? (today, 6:58 PM)
I'm so sorry if I said something that annoyed you or made you mad! I've been told that I have a tendency to do that! (today, 7:02 PM)
hey, just whenever you get the chance, text me and let me know that you're alright! Even if you don't want to go out again! (today, 7:46 PM)
I want to thank you for tonight, I really had a great time! (today, 8:09 PM)
thank you for being so sweet and kind as well, and leaving money for the bill! (today, 8:17 PM)
also, I'm so sorry for blowing up your phone! (today, 8:28 PM)

Harlem
Hey, Julie! I first off just want to apologize for leaving in the middle of the date with literally no warning. It's awkward and it was really rude of me to do, but there was someone that I literally couldn't stop thinking about and I just on a whim left without really thinking and drove to his apartment. Again, I really am sorry about this whole thing, and I hope that we could maybe be friends? (today, 9:36 PM)

Julie
Of course, I completely understand. You didn't really seem like you wanted it to be a date this evening. I am completely on board with being friends, though! (today, 9:37 PM)

Harlem
Thank you so much for understanding! Yeah, I didn't really want to be there as a "date" but I thought that I should try it. It obviously didn't go that well. 🙃😅😂 (today, 9:41 PM)
Thank you again for understanding! Have a good rest of your night!

🗝️

"Okay, so she's not mad at me," I say, breathing a sigh of relief.
"That's good," Trenton tells me.
"She was actually really understanding about the whole thing!"
"That's good too,"
He leans over and presses his lips against my neck.
"What are you doing?" I ask him, smiling despite the question.
"I love you, Har," Trenton whispers in my ear, sending shivers down my spine.
I move to look at him and look into his deep green eyes.
"I---I love you too, Trenton," I whisper.
He smiles at me and leans over once again to kiss my lips.

5/11/2020