“Hey, Tyra!” I gave my friend a hug, pulling her in and finding myself surprised by who was standing behind her.
“Look who I found,” Tyra said, stepping inside with her heavy book bag. She went past me to drop her stuff off in my room.
“Will, what are you doing here? Not that I care, obviously. Just thought you were with Janet?”
Will’s eyes looked a little puffy. If I didn’t know him as well as I did, I would have thought he was crying. Will never cried, though; not in the entire ten years of our friendship had I ever even seen a tear.
“About that.”
Oh shit, maybe he had been crying?
“We’re in a fight. I was going to text you when I was walking over here. Hope you don’t mind?”
“Of course not. Get in here.”
Will came in and greeted the group. He was looking a little down-and-out, in an oversized white T-shirt and paint-stained gym shorts, his old white Nikes covered in dirt, making them look black. He didn’t smell the greatest either, but I wasn’t gonna hold it against him. He was really feeling his relationship with Janet, so whatever happened must have shaken him.
Everyone in the group knew him and welcomed him in, Kiley pulling out the chair next to her and patting it, saying she’d saved the seat for him. I always wondered if Kiley had a thing for Will.
“Sorry to bother your studying,” Will said.
“Oh, don’t worry about it, man. We weren’t studying anyway.” Milan was quick to look Kiley’s way, smiling. “We got sidetracked with the Kiley June show over there anyway.”
“Sorry if I’m able to genuinely connect with someone and get them to open up like a delicate orchid just needing some tender love and care.”
Tyra looked to me, arching her brow. She was wearing a Wonder Woman T-shirt with her dark blue scrubs. “Is this about that sexy stud you showed me pics of?”
“Maybe…”
“You showed her pictures?” Kiley was up and running to my side in seconds. Milan laughed from the table, fully tuned into the conversation and avoiding the highlighted notes in front of him. “Let me see.”
I unlocked my phone and went to Beckham’s barebones Instagram page. “He only has these photos from like a year and a half ago, but trust me, he hasn’t changed.”
Kiley took the phone from my hand and drew in an audible breath. “How have you not introduced me to this man yet?”
“Because he’s scared you’d swallow him whole with your vagina?” Tyra said, brow still arched. We all laughed at that, Kiley handing me back my phone.
“It’s still pretty new, all right? I don’t think I’ve even shown pics to Will. I just don’t want to jinx things. It’s going really well, like… too well. I’m scared it’s all going to collapse suddenly, like a pop star’s career after she gets a terrible haircut.” The gang laughed. In my phone, I found the photo that was taken of us before the rainbow pool incident. I gave the phone back to Kiley, whose jaw dropped.
“You two are seriously so flipping cute. I’m dying here.” She was smiling from ear to ear, same as I was. “And you two text a lot?”
“Every day.” I looked around, as if I were going to share something extra scandalous. With my voice dropped, I said, “We even talk over the phone.”
Tyra gasped the loudest, although they all had surprised looks on their smiling faces. “Like… he dials your number, the phone rings, and you pick up?” she asked.
I nodded, as if it was the most alien thing in the world.
“You guys don’t even FaceTime each other?” Milan asked, pushing aside his pink highlight-covered notes.
“Nope, just call. Now can you guys please stop acting like I admitted that we use lambskin condoms and churn our own butter?”
Kiley’s chain of snorts filled the room.
“How old is he?” Kiley asked, a question that I was sure was on everyone’s mind.
“Why? Does it look like there’s a big difference?” My insecurities made my cheeks burn hot and red.
“Nothing major. I was just wondering.” Kiley, too, was blushing.