Big Basketball Love

Chapter 5

𝙰𝚛𝚖𝚎𝚕𝚘'𝚜 𝙿𝙾𝚅

       Raea seems so... Shy. I know she lying about the Instagram post but I won't say anything about it right now. She looked good in the photo though. I shrug to myself and I open up my phone. I open Snapchat and I see that Trey sent me "Celo" story. I watch and see it's a video of Raea driving and it's captioned "Dang, shawty can sing". I shake my head in annoyance, why is this nigga pressing her?

      "Hey! I'm Pamela and I'll be serving y'all today. What drinks can I get you?" the server speaks as she walks up to my table. I look at Raea then her friends gesturing for them to go first. They say their food and drink order. I chuckle. They already know what they want. "I want an... all-star breakfast with an... orange juice, " I say slowly as I look at the menu. She writes them all on separate tickets.

       "You can put ours on the same ticket, " I announce, pointing between me and Raea. If I continue with nice gestures, I will definitely be able to get what I came for (if you know what I mean).

𝚁𝚊𝚎𝚊'𝚜 𝙿𝙾𝚅

     I look at Armelo like he grew two heads. I don't allow men to buy anything for me. My father taught me differently. "No ma'am I would like my food on a separate ticket, " I say before she walks away. Armelo looks at me in shock. I don't knowwho he thinks I am but I'm not the type to let someone pay for my food. Especially if they aren't my date.

   I text the girls and I group chat.

I laugh to myself and put my phone down looking up at them. They both start laughing, which triggers my laughing. I love how they make light of situations when I'm feeling anxious about them. "So what are you doing after this?" Armelo asks putting his arm around me. I look at his hand on my shoulder and I look at him. "I'm taking Marcel home then I'm going to work, " I respond. He thinks he slick, I'm not going anywhere with him alone.

He rolls his eyes and goes to the table with the guys. I watch him leave and I scoot over to the middle. I'm too thick to be sitting on the inside anyways.

𝙼𝚊𝚛𝚌𝚎𝚕'𝚜 𝙿𝙾𝚅

      I look up from my phone and I see Armelo walking towards us. He looks irritated. I laugh to myself. This nigga actually kind of annoying. He mean-mugs me and sits adjacent to my seat. " Raea acts like she doesn't want me, " he states with an annoyed tone. I look at him with a sour facial expression. She probably senses that he only wants to get in her pants. She seems smart enough to know that.

     " Maybe she knows you only tryna fuck, " I respond with a smirk. I want to irritate this nigga. He snaps his head to my direction. " Nigga you don't know shit 'bout what I got going on!" he exclaims. I burst out laughing. I'm a guy myself, I know when someone trying too hard. Especially when they trying to get pussy. " Stop trying so hard and then maybe I won't know what's going on, " I say nonchalantly. One thing he not gon do is rile me up. I shrug grabbing my phone and drink as I stand.

      I walk over to the girl's table. " Let me sit here, please Raea Rae, " I ask with a big goofy smile on my face. She shakes her head and stands up letting me sit on the inside. I slyly watch her thighs juggle when she stands. She really thi- let me stop! As I sit the waitress brings our food and drinks. Raea lets her know that Armelo moved and I repeat my order back to her.

       As I follow Raea to her car she says ", I think Armelo thinks I'm dumb or sum." I look at her waiting for her to elaborate, even though I already knew what she was getting at. " For a second I thought he actually wanted me until he tried to pay for my food and make plans after Waffle House. But I'm smarter than I look, " she nonchalantly shares. I nod understanding.

    If you really think about it, anyone with common sense could tell when someone is trying to get something out of you. My grandmomma always tells me " a woman knows more than she leads on". As we get in the car I grab the aux before she can. She rolls her eyes and buckles up before starting the car. I put my address on the GPS for her.

Once we get to my house I turn to Raea. " Don't let that nigga get in your head, be smart, " I say grabbing my things. " I didn't like you at first but you alright, " she announces boldly. I burst out laughing. I snatch her phone putting my number in it. " I guess you're my friend now, " I say getting out and closing the door before she can protest. I see her put her middle finger up as I get to my door to unlock it. She sits in front of the house. Why is she still waiting? Once I get inside she pulls off. Oh, Waited until I got inside safely.

     I go to my room and I see a text from an unknown number

I responded once I realized it was Raea. She bout funny as hell. I get settled in and I decide to shower.

Once I'm out I decide to finish unpacking my stuff. I have to do this alone... Ima FaceTime Raea. I don't care if she is tired of me. I want her to trust me and get to know me so we can be better friends. I want real friends at this school.

I click her number and I press FaceTime. It rings three times before she answers. If it would have rung one more time I was gone hang up." Yes Marcel, " she says lowly. Almost like she was asleep. She sound like a baby. "Can you watch me unpack? I'm here alone. And we can get to know each other more!" I plead propping my phone up. "Yeah but if I fall asleep, It's your fault, " she complies turning a light on. I smile largely.

    As I unpack my first box and it's the first pair of shoes my mom got me for basketball. I stare at them. Longer than I thought I did. "Why you looking like that ?" Raea asks intuitively. I snap my head to the camera. "My bad, these are the first shoes my mom bought me for basketball. I wanted them so bad but she said she couldn't get them for me. But on my first ever basketball game she gave them to me in the car and told me "as long as you stay humble, your future will remain clear". So I've always kept them with me," I respond putting my shoes on my dresser.

      "Your mom sounds so nice, " she expresses. I nod agreeing with her. My mom is honestly my world. She taught me everything I know. She never sugar-coated anything with me. She works so hard for me and my baby sister. Even after the bad divorce with my dad, she stayed true to her kids. Even though she made me take out the trash 25/8.
I laugh to myself and I continue unpacking.

Once I get done with the last box I look at the time on my phone. "Dang, it's really been 2 hours?" I ask shocked at how long we've been on the phone. She laughs and nods. I've enjoyed talking with her. I see why she was so bland when we first met. If I had to always mentor new kids i'd be tired of it too.

I hang up after she falls back asleep. I really think we're going to be good friends. Hopefully, Armelo doesn't get in the way of our friendship.

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