Perception of Trust

N I N E T E E N.

So far everyone was here except for Brianne, Ashley, and Quincy who still hadn't responded to my text from earlier, but I was still having a blast.

Turns out everyone was bomb at roller skating except for me and Sierra. The DJ was playing bangers and I was stuck watching Amina and Jay dance in the rink with Tyrese cause I could skate in reverse and do all the swervy shit they could.

"Nicki... I'm gonna have to join them!" Sierra said, putting her skates back on with excitement.

"Woahhhh, you wanna kill yourself? You don't know how to skate!" I remind her, speaking over the music.

"I only said that so you wouldn't feel lonely, but I can't hold it in any longer! Sorry!!" She revealed rolling away.

I shook my head and sat there, watching Sierra join the rest of them.

The problem was problems that I did not know how to skate. The problem was that I only knew how to skate straight and couldn't skate any faster that 20mph. But I found it kind of funny that I had been busting my ass most of the night trying to learn the tricks Tyrese and Jay were teaching me and the rest of the girls. I didn't want Sierra to feel bad for leaving me so I started dancing behind the rink fence and singing with them.

After three songs I got tired and decided to get myself a cup cake and some cookies before going back on the rink. Not too long after I saw Brianne and Ashley stroll in looking super lost. My initial reaction was to ignore the both of them because I had a flashback of everything Amina told me, so I looked away and acted like I was watching the people on the rink for a minute.

Then guilt started to set in.

I didn't want to be phony with my friends, nor did I feel like needing with them. I understood that Amina was not messing with Brianne and Ashley at the moment, but it was not going to last forever. There was definatley going to be tension tonight between them, but I felt like it was my responsibility to help them work it out.

I sent a text in our group chat to let them know where i was sitting and they came up to me. Per usual, I got up and welcomed them with hugs.

"What took y'all so long?" I ask.

They both looked at each other and gave a slight smirk that they probably assumed I didn't catch.

"There was an accident and it caused some traffic." Ashley said while taking her bag off.

"Yeah, it was like three cars has hit each other and they blocked off the road and made us take a detour." Brianne added.

"Oh dang, that's crazy..." I reply. "Did anyone die?"

"I don't think so, we didnt see any bodies or ambulances." Brianne states, I shake my head.

"I'm happy you guys are safe though." I smile and they smile back.

"You going back into the rink?" Ashley asks me and I nod. "Cool, we'll just wait for you to hop back in."

"No you're not, I just go out here a second ago and I need, at least, a fifteen minute break. So y'all better go grab your skates and stop stallin'" I snap and they both laugh before going to grab their shoes.

After peeping the both of them lie to my face, I had changed my mind about acting like nothing happened. I was going to be cordial with Brianne and Ashley, but that would be until they stopped acting funny.

As I was eating I noticed that Ashley went to over to Tyrese to say hi. I wasn't jealous but I was REAL suspicious about their sudden friendship. It was making me think harder about Tyrese and who he really was.

I sat down and watched them skate for a minute. It was obvious that Amina was avoiding Ashley and Brianne cause everytime Brianne and Ashley came by, Amina would skate away
. Then I realized that Quincy still wasn't here and hadn't replied to my text still. Not gonna lie I was kinda hurt. I enjoyed hanging out with him at his cousin's party and really wanted to experience that again. After a few more minutes of sitting there thinking about it, I decided to get up and go back in the rink.

I went to throw my trash away and then began to put my skates back on. I wobbled into the rink and started skating and falling like I had been doing before. Jay, Tyrese and Ashley just kept laughing at me so I stepped back out the rink.

I wasn't skating anymore for the rest of the night.

"Why would you come to the rink if you don't know how to skate." I heard someone laugh.

I ignored them.

Then someone sat too close next to me.

I turn to look.

"I'm talking to you and I know you heard me." Quincy laughs, looking at me.

Without realizing it, I hugged him, to my surprise he hugged me back.

"You probably thought I wasn't coming, huh?" He asks

"Yes, I did. You took a whole hour to get here and never replied to my text, you weirdo."

He simply laughed and said "so my plan worked then. I hit you with that grand entrance."

I rolled my eyes and took my skates off.

"You're really going to sit out ?" He asks

"Umm, you didn't see me glide on the rink like I'm a hockey puck?" I reply

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean you should give up. You've gotta fight, girl!"

"I've been fighting for the past hour, done broke my ass and hips trying to fight. Please... allow me this L." I laugh.

He stays silent and I take my skates off completely.

"Alright. I'll let you take a little break. Ten minutes. Once it's been ten, we're going in and I'm gonna teach you how to run throat rink." He said like some kind of athletic coach.

"Yeah, whatever."

I sat there and watched him go get his skates before coming to sit back down next to me. Then he asked me to show him who my friends were so he could introduce himself later.

*** Thanks for reading.

01. 09. 21 (happy new year)
U P D A T E—
I have really big and serious announcment to make next week about Perception of Trust. Sorry in advance y'all, and thank you so much for every last bit of support you've given me as an author and my first book ❤.