The Chronicles of Life. (Complete)

Letting go.

The friends had all been sitting in Connor's backyard drinking and basking in each other's presence. It was getting dark and they were all full from all the food they'd eaten that day. "Ooh that one is cute", Anele said to Dineo. She had tagged along with her cousin Ntombi and their other cousin Mpumi earlier that day. The girl had been sitting with Dineo going through profiles on tinder.

Anele had introduced the girl to the app. Dineo had told her how she struggled with boys and she'd promised it would make her life a lot easier. Dineo however had been swiping left on every single guy frustrating her. "Why is his chest out on all his pictures? does he not own a shirt?", she'd asked and earned a grunt from the other girl. "It's a thing, it's cool", Anele replied mentally face palming herself as Dineo continued to swipe left. She abruptly stopped after a few hundred swipes when she saw a tall, dark handsome stranger.

She decided to stalk him on Instagram because that's the most logical thing to do right? Anele left the girl alone in satisfaction. Her job was done.

Dineo was now Facebook deep stalking the boy when Nathan took a seat next to her. "I've never seen you so concentrated on anything before", he'd joked. The girl blushed then hid her phone. "leave me alone", she said attempting to hide her smile. She failed. "Who's it?", the boy asked trying to take her phone from her. "Some stupid guy I saw on tinder. It doesn't matter, he doesn't even know I exist", the girl said with a shrug. "Well swipe right then. How else is he going to know you?", Nathan asked his friend. "Yea but what if he doesn't like me?", she asked. "What if he does?", the boy said softly.

It had always frustrated Nathan how the girl was so self conscious. He wished she knew how amazing she was and how any guy would give anything to be with her. He knew it had all been because of Siya. The boy's rejection had really taken a toll on her. He didn't like her so she thought no one ever would. She was really mistaken.

Nathan's friends outside the group always asked about the girl, they were interested in her. He'd been protective of her because they were players and he didn't want them hurting her. She was off limits and they all knew.

The boy had known the girl almost all his life. Dineo was his twin sister Vickie's best friend. He didn't like her when they first met because he felt she'd taken Vickie away from him. Sure he had other friends but his sister was his best friend. Who did she think she was to just come into their lives and take away what they had? He couldn't stand her.

When Vickie died they'd been each other's rock. They'd both lost someone who meant the world to them so they put their differences aside for Vickie's sake. She always wanted them to get along. The two friends stayed like that since.

"What's his name?" he asked the girl. "Michael. He's Ethiopian. His favorite color is red", the girl said shyly. They both laughed when she realized how creepy that was. "Yea? do you know his address too?", he joked. "I mean I could find it", they both laughed because they knew how true that was. You give the girl a name and she'll find just about anything you want on the person.

The two friends stared at nothing in comfortable silence after their laugh fest. "You can't keep doing this you know?", Nathan started. "You can't not put yourself out there because you're afraid to get rejected.", he trailed off. "So what if he doesn't like you? There's plenty other guys who will", he continued. "I want you to swipe right on that guy, and when he swipes right too...Believe me he will - get to know him. Open your heart out and see what happens", he finished. "I mean sure but isn't tinder like for hook ups and stuff?", the girl asked with a light chuckle. "I specifically remember you being on it on several occasions for that exact reason", the girl said then laughed when Nathan got speechless. "Touché", he said then joined the girl in laughter.

A person looking from the outside would easily assume the two friends had a thing for each other, but their bond had been similar to that of siblings. Nathan was protective of her as a brother would to his sister. Neither of the girls he'd dated understood that and he'd had to let go of a lot of them because of it.

It wasn't that he didn't find the girl attractive. Sure he had a type when it came to dating but to him beauty was diverse. The girl was beautiful no doubt but she wasn't really someone he'd usually go for so his girlfriend really had nothing to worry about.

The couple had been great so far since they had their falling off the day before but he could tell the girl wasn't completely over it. He knew the argument would come up again at some point because it always did.

They were doing great at that moment and he was fine with it. He'd thought maybe if the other girl got into a relationship then his girlfriend would stop her obsession with the girl. He needed to push Dineo to start seeing someone. For both their sake anyways.

"You have to promise me you'll at least try", Nathan said in a more serious tone. "It might not be with Ethiopian Michael but try. K kid?" he joked. "I promise I will.", Dineo said looking at her friend.

She'd decided then she was going to put herself out there. It didn't matter if she ended up getting hurt, that was a part of growing up wasn't it? She couldn't stay stuck up on Siya anymore. He'd told her he wasn't into her like that, so there was no point holding on to hope that they'd be an item one day.