The Games You Play : A Hood Love Story

Loren (11)

September 17th

I was putting the finishing touches on my outfit when I heard a knock.

"Come in!" Angelo waltzed into the room and jumped on my bed.

"Don't be out too late little girl." He chuckled.

"Last time I checked, I was born first." I smiled. "I won't be, though, I promise. We're only going to take a walk at the pier."

"You really like him huh?" I nodded and smiled when Angelo asked me that question.

"Do you not like him?" I sat down on the bed next to my brother.

"I just wanna make sure you really like him. They don't get better after you start dating. I don't want him hurting you." My brother and I were never super vulnerable with each other because we knew what was up. We're twins. It's almost like a psychic connection. We call it "twintuition." It's like we always know how the other one is feeling.

"I know. Thank you for always protecting me." I hugged him and he kissed me on my forehead.

"Now come on. He's downstairs waiting on your slow ass." He laughed and I slapped him in the back of the head. I grabbed my phone, keys and wallet, then headed downstairs.

The same thing always happens. I walk down the stairs, get to the bottom and he stares at me while I blush. In order to avoid staring too long, I walk over to my daddy and hug him.

"Bye Daddy."

"Bye baby. Don't be out too late, okay." I nodded at him and looked over to my right. Jayvin was standing there with his hand out. I grabbed it and he pulled me close. He bent down and kissed me on my forehead then lead me to the door. When he noticed I had my wallet, he grabbed it.

"What did I tell you about bringing this with you when you with me?" We both laughed. He took out my license and then tossed my wallet to Angelo. I let go of Jayvin's hand and ran over to my brother, kissed him on the cheek and wiped my lipgloss from his face.

"Don't worry about me please." I said to him. He nodded. I turned around and waived to my dad before walking out of the door.

When we got to Jayvin's escalade, he does the same thing every time we go somewhere. He picks me up and puts me in the passenger seat. When he got in and started the car, he reached for my hand and I put it in his.

"You ready?" He asked me. I smiled and nodded like a little kid on Christmas.

We stopped for ice cream at Sno Bunny, a popular dessert place in town. Then, we went straight to the pier. He took me at sunset and it was beautiful. A layer of orange and pink spread across the sky and there were other couples walking too.

"Take your sandals off, baby. You don't wanna fuck em up it's hella sand out here." He got out and walked to the trunk taking out a backpack. Then, he walked over to my door helping me out of the car.

"Jayvin, what's in the bag?" I asked.

"Why you ask so many questions? Can you just let me be romantic?" He chuckled. He walked me to an open spot in the sand and pulled a cover out of his backpack. After that, snacks. When he was finally done putting everything down he stood up and looked a little winded.

"Not very impressive for a top five basketball star." I laughed.

"Akikiki." Did this nigga just mock me? "Come sit down with me." He opened up my all time favorite chips, Hot Cheeto Puffs, and fed me one.

After eating a few snacks, Jayvin lied down on the cover and pulled me over to him. I laid my head on his shoulder and he wrapped his arm around me. His abnormal quietness worried me, I knew there was something wrong with him, I just had to figure out what it was.