Rivals // Norminah

43

"Wait, I divide what by what?" I ask confused scratching my head with my pencil. Kehlani laughs and scoots closer to me on my bed.

"Here, let me show you" She grabs the pencil out of my hand and slides the textbook closer to us. As she's about to speak, my room door opens up and Alessia walks in with Keith behind her.

"Hey, guys" She smiles. We wave at them. "I hope you don't mind that I brought Keith" I shake my head smiling.

"Of course, that's totally fine! The more the merrier" I smile at them. They take a seat on the ground near my bed and I continue looking at the textbook with Kehlani. "Okay, continue" I smile at her.

"Alright, so you want to take this here, and move it allll the way down to here first okay?" She asks me. I nod and continue staring at the book. A hair falls in front of my face and before I can move it, Kehlani shifts it behind my ear. "I got you" I chuckle.

"Thanks" She continues going on about what I have to do for the calc problem, but I glance up at Alessia who is eyeing us deeply. She raises her eyebrow and I roll my eyes and continue listening to Kehlani. After about thirty minutes of more studying, I groan and fall back on my bed. "Alright, I need a mental break!"

"How about a movie?" Keith asks. I sit up and point to him.

"Sold! To the man sitting on the ground and dating my bestie!" I slide off the bed and skip downstairs towards the living room. I plop on the couch and lean back grabbing the remote.

Kehlani comes down first and jumps on the spot next to me, scooting close and then placing her arm behind me on the couch.

"So, what are we watching?" She asks curiously. I lean the remote towards her and shrug.

"You pick" I smile. She smirks and grabs the remote from me with her free hand and begins clicking through Netflix. Alessia and Keith come down a few seconds later and Alessia glances at me before looking at Kehlani's arm. She walks over to us and smiles.

"I'll just sit right here, don't mind me" Alessia squeezes herself in between Kehlani and I and smiles when she succeeds. "Ahhh! So much better!" She smiles glancing at us. I playfully roll my eyes. This girl is crazy.

Keith slides into the spot next to Kehlani. She picks a random movie and we all begin watching silently. Alessia glances over at Keith and Kehlani before turning and looking at me.

"Don't think I haven't been paying attention" She whispers. I furrow my eyebrows.

"What are you talking about?" I whisper.

"You two sitting so close, her moving your hair behind your ear, and her having her arm around you when I came down" Alessia aggressively whispers. I roll my eyes.

"You sound delusional Les. That's not serious at all. I do those things with you and the rest of our group" I state.

"It's totally different and you know it" She argues. I roll my eyes and continue looking forward at the movie. As the movie continues I feel myself getting thirsty. "I'm going to get something to drink, anybody want anything?" I ask.

"Water please" Alessia asks. Keith lifts his finger signaling he wants some as well. I stand up and look at Kehlani. She shakes her head and continues watching the movie. I walk past them and head into the kitchen.

I walk towards the fridge and open it grabbing an open bottle of wine and the brita filter inside. I walk over to the cabinet and grab two normal glasses and place them on the counter. I walk back over and open the top cabinet for the wine glass, but it's too high up. I continue stretching for it when I feel a hand slide around the side of my waist.