Chapter 4
“For the last time, Deshae, Kevin doesn’t like the colour red!” I yell at him.
I know Deshae is my only friend, but sometimes I wish I could just ditch him. He never wants to be wrong!
We were at the mall looking for a gift for Kevin. It was a Saturday, and Summer was no longer around, so we had all day long.
After opening Summer’s gift last night, I did two things. First, I called her looking for answers to how she got such rare pictures. She asked me if I read the words at the back of the book and I told her that I did. She then explained that she had always had a crush on me, since we were around 11 years old. She’d take random pictures of me when I wasn’t looking, and those were the pictures she used in the book.
The second thing I did was decide that I was going to get Kevin a gift. Now, hear me out on this one. What he did the previous night may have been wrong, but the guy only did it because he’s never received a gift in his whole life. I felt sorry for him and the least I could do was get something for him, even if it was just a chocolate. I knew that to him it would mean the world.
The only mistake I made regarding the whole “get Kevin a gift” plan, was to bring Deshae to the mall with me. I may not speak to Kevin much, but I definitely know him better than Deshae does. He’s not the loud, rock-star type of guy, but Deshae kept on pushing me to buy Kevin a red t-shirt with some rock-star band on it.
I ended up leaving him in the shop, because clearly, he was never going to let that t-shirt go. I went to a bookstore and browsed through all their comic books. Now, that was something that Kevin loved. He was the Marvel and DC type of guy.
I picked up about five batman and spiderman comic books. On my way to pay, I bumped into someone causing all of their books to fall. I caught a glimpse of the title on one of the books: “How to make a man love you.” The owner quickly swiped the rest of the books away before I could see what they were titled.
I looked up and frowned when I saw her face. “Cassie?”
“Well, you don’t seem happy to see me,” she says.
“No, no, I just thought you’d be with Summer on her way back to Detroit.”
“I thought so too but my mom wants me to stick around for another week. She doesn’t want me to go back to Detroit this week because my father isn’t really doing well enough to look after me,” she explains.
“What do you mean? Is he sick or something?” I ask, acting concerned.
“You know what I mean Amari. He’s in court. A police officer is suspecting him for selling drugs, you know how it is in Detroit,” she shrugs.
“I’m sorry to hear that,” I say. She nods briefly and then pulls one of the comic books from my hand.
“So, you’re a Marvel and DC type of guy, huh?” she asks.
“Me? Never!” I laugh.
“I’m getting it for my roommate, it’s just a little surprise.”
“Oh, cute,” she says, placing the comic book back in my hand. She takes a step forward until we’re centimetres away from each other. I wanted to walk away, but the smell of her sweet perfume kept pulling me back.
“Well you know I wouldn’t call it cute. It’s just a gift and…”
“I’m not talking about the comic books,” she says with a smile.
“I’m talking about you.”
The both of us stared into each other’s eyes for what felt like an hour. She had this smile plastered on her face, which I didn’t quite understand.
“I’ll see you around, Amari.” She turns around and slowly walks out of the store. I watched her until she was gone. Right after she left, Deshae came in with a plastic bag from that stupid store in his hand.
“Please don’t tell me you got that t-shirt,” I beg.
“Chill man, I got it for myself. Just because you don’t know style, doesn’t mean I don’t,” he says proudly. I shook my head and went on to pay.
“Amari, is it just me, or was that girl scout leaving this store just when I entered? I thought I saw her but I’m not too sure,” he says.
“Girl scout? I didn’t see any girl scout here,” I say uncomfortably. He stares at me them bursts out laughing.
“You hit on her, didn’t you?” Deshae asks laughing.
“What? No, I’d never do that to Summer.”
“You’re lying! I saw it on that morning when they were giving out doughnuts. You were basically drooling over her.”
“Deshae, I am done having this conversation with you. I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I say looking away from him.
“I’m just saying Amari. She’s a good-looking girl, and I know she lives outside the school. So, if you ever need help slipping her in the school like I did with my girl, you know who to call,” he says winking.
Once we got back to school, Deshae and I went our separate ways. I didn’t want to think about my encounter with Cassie. I wanted to believe that everything she said was a mistake. I wanted to believe that I felt nothing for her.
“Kevin! Are you in here?” I ask walking into the room. I looked for him in the bathroom, but he wasn’t in there. I checked the sign on his bed, and it said he went swimming. Usually, Kevin spent hours in the lake, so I knew he’d only be back after lunch time.
I had to admit, as weird as they were, those signs were quite helpful. Now I knew that I could study for a good two hours because Kevin wouldn’t be around.
I studied for more than three hours and went for lunch at 15:00. After that, I went back to the room and to my surprise, Kevin was already in there. He was standing halfway across the room. Clearly, he was walking towards the gift bag to open it, again. At least this time, the gift would actually be his.
“You got another one?” he asks.
“No, it’s actually for you,” I say. He looks at me confused.
“Go ahead, open it.”
He hesitantly picks up the bag and rips open the wrapping paper, revealing the comic books I got him.
“Are you serious? Are these really mine?” he asks excitedly.
“All yours. I mean I would’ve gotten something better if I had the money right now, but my allowance only comes in after two weeks.”
“Something better?” Kevin asks with a wide smile.
“What could possibly be better than Batman comic books? These are collector’s items!” he yells. See, I was right. He is a Marvel and DC type of guy.
“I’ve got to show this to my friends!” he says excitedly with pure joy written all over his face. He runs towards the door but stops before walking out of the room.
“Thank you, Amari. You’re a good guy,” he says. I nod my head, and he rushes out.
Since the day I met Kevin a month and a few weeks ago, I had never seen him full of so much joy. It felt good knowing that I was the reason behind that joy.
I went to the library and tried to study, but I was finding it hard to concentrate. I couldn’t get Cassie off my mind. The worst part about it was that I wasn’t thinking about what she said, I was thinking about her in general. Her smile, her sweet voice, every beautiful thing about her.
Was I proud of myself for thinking that way? No! I didn’t want Cassie to constantly be on my mind like that, but I couldn’t help it. Something about her just kept on pulling me closer, and closer to her.
I went back to my room and called Summer. I called her five times before she picked up.
“Hey Summer-time,” I say. She giggles.
“That never get’s old,” she says.“How are you?”
“Tired. How about you? Are you home yet?” he asks.
“Actually, I just walked in the house. My dad’s still not home, so I won’t be getting into any trouble with him.”
“Wait, are you telling me that you left the house for a whole day without telling your dad?” I ask surprised.
“No. I’m telling you that I left the house for a whole day without telling my dad for a guy I really love. Apparently, according to a note he left me, I’m his future wife,” she giggles.
My cheeks turned red. “That note is pretty accurate,” I say.
“When can I come see you?” I ask her.
“You? Come to Detroit? How on earth are you going to do that? I don’t think your mom wants you here anymore, not after what happened with the Vipers. And I think I agree with her,” Summer says worriedly.
“Come on, the Vipers probably don’t even know where I am right now. They’re probably looking for me somewhere else. They know I’m not in Detroit anymore, so they wouldn’t come back.”
“That means nothing Amari.”
“Wrong,” I laugh.
“It means I can visit you whenever I want to, or at least whenever I can.”
“Do not come here, Amari. You can never let your guard down. What if a few of the Vipers are still around Detroit. What if they’re targeting Jamila, or even worse, waiting for you!”
“You know, I’m beginning to believe you just don’t want me to come over. Why is that Summer? Is there someone else taking my place over there?” I ask suspiciously.
“Okay, now you’re just flat out disrespecting me,” she says with attitude.
“Disrespecting you? You should be the last person to talk about disrespect seeing that you’re cheating on me!”
“Amari, have you lost your mind?” she asks amazed.“I would never cheat on you. You know that I love you.”
I suddenly felt this rage building up inside of me. The thought of Summer being with someone else infuriated me.
“Then why don’t you want me to come over, Summer? Give me a good reason for that!” I yell.
“I just want you to be safe, Amari. I don’t want you to risk your whole life for me.”
“Well I do, so just let me, okay! I’m coming over next week, and that’s final.”
I hung up and threw my phone across the room. At that moment, I didn’t see anything wrong with what I had said to Summer. But now, looking back at it, I realise that I was quite the idiot. She was only trying to protect me, even if it meant not seeing me as much as she wanted to.
I sat on the floor trying to figure how I was going to get to Detroit the next week. It was a five-hour drive, from one city to the next, so I couldn’t get a cab. I needed someone I could trust to drive me there and back, and I needed to rake up some money to pay them. The only people I knew that side were Deshae, Kevin and Cassie.
Deshae didn’t have a car, and his whole family lived in Detroit as well.
Kevin was just my roommate. I couldn’t ask for such a huge favour from someone who was just my roommate.
That left me with only one option, Cassie. Her mom had two cars, and she allowed Cassie to drive the second one anytime she wanted, to any place. Her mom was the “care-free, do whatever you want” type of parent. That’s why she was willing to pick Summer up in the middle of the night at my school.
I dialled Cassie’s number, hoping she wouldn’t try to seduce me in any way again.
“Hey Amari,” she says happily after picking up.
I looked at my phone confused, and then put it back to my ear. I had never given Cassie my number, so how did she know I was the one calling?
“Uhm, hey Cas…Cassie,” I stutter, making myself look like a fool. “I need a favour.”
“Sure! What do you need?” she asks.
“Okay so, if I remember correctly, you said you’d be sticking around for another week. Meaning you’ll only be leaving the week after that, right?” I confirm.
“Just get to the point, Amari,” she yawns.
“I need you to take your mom’s car and drive yourself to Detroit. The reason being that, I need a lift. I’ll do anything, Cassie. I’ll even pay for the gas and…”
“Woaw Amari, slow down, okay,” she interrupts.
“You don’t need to do any of that. I’ll give you a lift, simply because I know you’re going to see my homegirl, Summer. Nothing would make her happier than seeing you. So, if it’ll make Summer happy, I’m in.”
I sighed in relief, because I wasn’t necessarily willing to do anything, as I claimed.
“I’ll see you next week then.” I hung up and sat on the cold tile for another hour.
I didn’t know if what I had just done was the right thing to do. A five-hour drive alone with Cassie would be risking cheating on Summer, because clearly, Cassie had it for me, and I wasn’t too good at resisting her either.
But I felt that I had to do it. To prove to Summer that I loved her just as much as she loved me. She probably knew that already, but I wanted her to see it for herself.
A week went by and it was time for me to leave school and go to Detroit. I’d only be gone for one day, because I didn’t want teachers suspecting that I had left the school grounds.
Again, I made the mistake of telling Deshae that I’d be driving to Detroit with Cassie. He obviously knew that Cassie had it for me, and he kept on encouraging me to go for her and leave Summer. Deshae wasn’t really what I would call a good friend, but beggars can’t be choosers.
I stood outside the school waiting for Cassie. We had agreed to meet up at 5am while it was still dark, but she was already thirty minutes late.
Waiting just made me more anxious. What could she be doing that would make her so late? What if she was practicing what to say to me to get me to leave Summer, and date her? What if she was purposely making me wait, knowing I’d get nervous allowing her to have control over me?
The sun was beginning to creep in when Cassie finally arrived. I was no longer anxious, I was angry. I loaded my bags into the boot and joined her in the front.
“Took you long enough. Where have you been?” I ask, slamming the door. She starts the engine and speeds down the road.
“My make up took longer than expected,” she responds.
“Whose fault is that? I thought we had agreed on 5am, Cassie!”
“Slow down Mari,” she says calmly, running her hands through my hair. I froze in my seat, unable to say another word. If I could, I’d yell at her and tell her that only Summer gets to call me Mari.
“You’ve got quite a temper, huh? It’s all good, it’s kind of attractive,” she adds with a smile.
She had a way of saying things that I couldn’t respond to. She knew how to make me feel uncomfortable, just to gain control over me.
I turned my head and looked out of the window. Not even a minute had passed, and I was already beginning to regret my decision. I should’ve listened to Summer. I plugged in my earphones and slowly drifted off to sleep.
“Mari, wake up,” I hear Cassie whisper. I slowly opened my eyes and realised we were at a gas station. She placed a bag of warm takeaways on my lap and then started the engine again.
“What is this?” I ask her.
“Duh, it’s food dummy. Eat up,” she says with a smile. Hell no, it’s probably poisoned.
“No thanks. I had a big breakfast,” I lie. All I had was yoghurt and muesli.
“Well, a big man like you needs to eat. Come on, just have it,” she insists.
“Okay, you know what Cassie, we need to talk,” I say placing the takeaways on the floor of the backseat.
“Fine,” she says. She pulls over and parks on the side of the road.
“Why are you stopping?” I ask.
“We need to talk, right? Is it wrong if I want to look at you while we talk?”
“Yes, it is because I’m dating your so-called friend, Cassie.”
“You think I don’t know that already, Amari?” she asks, rolling her eyes.
“You don’t act like you do! I’m not yours Cassie, and I never will be.”
“Yet, here you are going on a five-hour trip with me, alone, in my car,” she chuckles. I looked at her in disgust.
“I know you want to be more than just friends, Amari.” She leans in closer, kissing my neck. Did I stop her? No! My body didn’t allow me to. I was in complete shock. It was like I was glued to my seat.
“You do, don’t you?” she asks looking into my eyes. Her lips were only inches away from mine. She was running her hands through my hair and down my neck.
“What about Summer?” I ask in a whisper.
“Would she really ever find out?” she asks leaning in even closer.
Cassie lips were almost touching mine, and I was running out of time to decide on what to do. I finally came to a conclusion.
Cassie was right. Would Summer really ever find out?
I held her waist and pulled her body towards me…