Everything Started Here With You

It's Been Forever

"At times like this, we must find out who their enemies are. Because the enemy of my enemy is a friend."

-- Vincenzo

"Who was that girl you were with just now?"

"Are you a stalker now?"

"No. Just want to keep my man interested in me."

AJ smiled and pulled me into a hug.

"I was just coming to pick you up. You didn't have to come," he said. "Anything special you want to do today?"

"Nah. We could go watch a movie or something. What do you want to do?" I asked instead.

"...There's something I need to tell you."

Welp, I knew it was coming. One day he was bound to break up with me. I saw that coming the moment he got jealous of me holding his brother's hand. I mean, I wasn't supposed to be doing that, but I was terrified. I was going to be killed if I hadn't handed over my earrings to that thieving jerk. I would've held his hand if he was there. But, he wasn't. He had left us both so he could go get a present for us.

"If you want to break up with me, I need some sort of explanation," I said. "Do I snore loudly? Do I smell or something?"

"...No. None of the sort. I'm just...Sha'Kera, I'm not sure it's right to be dating you at this point in your life. Whether you know it or not, I turn eighteen in a couple of weeks and you're only twelve. That's literal charges on my account."

"Dang and I thought it was the real reason."

"It is the real reason. I wouldn't break up with you if my mom hadn't said that. It's true and I don't want anyone to assume we have some weird daddy relationship."

"But, we don't."

"We don't."

"And I wouldn't care if we did."

"You wouldn't."

Alexander crossed his arms like he was really angry. Come on, stupid. It won't be that easy to get rid of me. I had a plan to get you to stop listening to your mother. I waited for him to go back inside. I had a call to make and I'm sure a certain someone would be happy to know that we broke up.

"Hey, Lexi, Alex and I just broke up. Wanna do something fun?" I asked.

"Is that like supposed to be a joke?" she asked.

"...No, I'm pretty serious right now. He said it's because he turns eighteen in a couple of weeks and he doesn't want people to assume we're in a weird daddy relationship."

"Funny. Ask him for his keys. Say you need to get something out of his car. I'll be over in a couple of minutes."

"All the way from your grandparents house?"

"No, silly." She laughed. "Isabella's house is just a couple of blocks away. They don't call me a runner for nothing."

"Alright, I have to actually check and see if I left anything."

After my little talk with her, I began to think about why we really needed the keys. I looked in the window and saw that I'd left my charger inside. It's not like I really needed it though. He wasn't planning to keep me long and my battery was at 89%. Well, I guess I'll just get the keys and wait.

Less than fifteen minutes later, Lexi came running up the driveway. I questioned her outwear, wondering why she'd come dressed like that. I mean, if you were friends with hot boys, then I get it. But...she has a boyfriend and I'm sure he wouldn't want her dressing like that.