Gem’s POV
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‘What just happened? What is happening? Did Caleb just confess to me?! Me, his friend, though it has only been a few weeks- wait, that makes it worse! I was not mentally prepared for this right now.’ My mind raced, going a mile a minute trying to figure out if what was happening was real. I slowly moved my hand to my arm, harshly pinching the skin, ‘Ouch! Shit, this is real.’
I continued to stare at him as he slowly inched towards me, reaching out his hand to grab mine. “I uh- know it’s kind of sudden, but I really think you’re amazing. Like your personality is unmatched and you speak your mind no matter what. You’re like a breath of fresh air for me Gem. We don’t have to mess with each other right away but it would be nice to talk about it, yeah?” I slowly started to back away as he tried lacing his fingers with my own.
“I- I-,” I stuttered tragically. ‘How the fuck am I supposed to respond to that? I'm not sure why he’s feeling this way or what gave him this idea but I hope I wasn’t leading him on or something.’ “Gem?” That was the last thing I heard him say before I quickly turned and ran. As fast as I could go before running out of breath, I made my way towards the parking lot where I knew Niro would be and looked for his white Lexus.
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Niro’s POV
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‘Where is she?’ I thought to myself, checking my watch for the time. I sat back in my seat as I took a hit from my blunt. I really don’t smoke often since it brings back a lot of bad memories, but I’m nervous. Taking another hit, I notice Gem running towards the car sort of out of breath as though she’d been running for a while. I raised an eyebrow before putting out my blunt and opening the door. I looked up at her as she started to slow down before making her way to the car, she must not have seen me from the look she gave me when she arrived.
“Hey,” she said sorta out of breath. Trying to mask her exhaustion, she smiled big and placed her hands in her back pockets. “I didn’t know you’d be waiting out here for me, I’m sorry if I kept you waiting long. “ I shook my head as I quickly looked her up and down without her noticing. I licked my lips, ‘Damn she look good. I mean- she already bad, not that she realizes that. But wow, she’s-.’ Snapping me out of my thoughts, I hear her soothing voice call my name, “Hey, you good? You be talking about me but you’re over here spacing out just as much as I do .”
I gave her a toothy grin, “Whatever man.” I grabbed her arm gently, leading her to the passenger side door and opening it for her to get in. Once she was good, I turned back around after closing the door and got in myself, letting her choose whatever music she wanted to listen to.
“Where are you taking me anyway?” She asked once we got on the road. “Out.” I see her cross her arms in my peripheral, “You better not be kidnapping me or something, I’m a lil chubby but I will kick your ass.” “Yeah, like someone who shrinks away from me any time I get close to them can kick my ass,” I scoffed. A small breath of silence followed afterward as I guess she didn’t really know what to say. ‘Maybe I said sum wrong? I’m really fucking stupid.’
When I reach a stop sign near our destination I decided to break this increasingly awkward silence. “Sorry.” “For what?” She turned her head to look at me. ‘She really trying to have a brotha whipped and don’t even realize it. I really don’t understand it, one minute she’s damn near afraid to talk to me, and then the next she’s sassy. Make it make sense.’
I cleared my throat, “I feel like I hurt your feelings and that’s not what I was trying to do. I was just trying to joke around but I can definitely take shit too far sometimes.” She quietly began humming to herself, searching for an answer that was somewhere in the lines of whatever she was humming. “You’re good. I don’t really hang with dudes like that so this is all new to me you know? Different.”
Upon finally reaching the parking lot of the park, I turned at looked at her so that she had my full attention. “Different can be good though, am I wrong? I mean, you hang out with that dude Caleb don’t you?” Hearing that, she looked as though she had seen a ghost. Her face and body went stiff and she methodically fidgeted with her fingers, it was almost as if I had spoken in another language or something. “Heh, yeah but Caleb is different. I don’t feel nervous around him, he’s a cool friend,” She said. “Anyways, what are we doing at a park?”
Ignoring the fact that she suddenly changed the subject, I got out of the car and went around to open her door. “You know I got hands right?” “And you know I don’t care right?” I responded. ‘Smart ass.’ I carefully rolled my eyes without her seeing as I opened the door to the back seat, getting out a large bag and a rolled-up blanket. “Don’t question it, just come on,” I said, shutting the door and walking towards the open field. I didn’t even bother to slow down when she told me to wait.
When we got to what I considered a decent spot, I handed the bag off to Gem, telling her to hold it with both hands because it was heavy. I then took two sides of the blanket and started to unroll it, shaking it out some before placing it on the ground in front of us and sitting on it. “We’re having a picnic,” I said after a while, taking the bag back. Her eyes seemed to light up at the mention of it, “A picnic?! I’ve always wanted to go on one.” I puzzled at that for a moment asking her about it.
“I… Well, I didn’t get out much as a kid... I wasn’t allowed. After a while, it was actually too scary for me to even leave my house…” Her voice trailed off as she began settling deep in thought. Then I remembered something, “Why were you running earlier?” “Huh?“ She said, finally snapping out her thoughts, so I repeated myself. She lowered her head as she took a juice box out of the pack I bought. “It was nothing, I didn’t even know you were watching.” “Does it matter if I was?” I shot back kind of aggressively.
“Did something happen? Did someone try to touch you?” I said angrily as I tried reaching out to her, earning a flinch in return. Snatching my hand back, I refocused my attention on some snacks I had and started laying those out instead. I took a deep breath, trying to recollect my thoughts as I waited for her to finally say something-- anything at all would’ve made me feel better for damn near yelling at her. I grabbed a bag of potato chips I had and popped one into my mouth, chewing as quietly as I could as I looked over at her.
“You know… I wasn’t always like this,” She whispered quietly. “Hmm?” “I used to be able to laugh and smile foreal. I even used to have friends and get out more, I didn’t need to be scared of anyone or anything besides spiders and large crowds,” She continued. “What happened?” I questioned, turning my body fully towards her again so she knew she had my full attention. I was unusually drawn to this girl and damn if the hold she had on me wasn’t tight as a bitch, and she doesn’t even know it. “It’s okay if you don’t want to tell me. I get it if it’s too much or sum.”
She shook her head and opened the container of grapes I had taken out, popping one into her mouth. “My mom left… and my dad got violent.” After that, she grew quiet and the world around her seemed to have stopped. I sighed, letting go of a breath I didn’t know I had been holding. “I stopped going by my real name and opted to have people call me Gem for short because it brought up memories of whenever my dad would yell at me. Makes things easier, ya know?” I raised an eyebrow at that one.”Your name isn’t Gem? Damn, and here I thought you were pretty cool,” I laughed crossing my arms, earning a light punch from her. “Shut up! My real name is Gemma.”
“Gemma, huh? I think imma stick with calling you GG, cool? Cool,” I smiled. “I told you to stop calling me that dummy,” she exclaimed, punching me again before her phone rang.
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Gem’s POV
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“I told you to stop calling me that dummy!” After saying that, I felt a buzz in my pocket before my phone started ringing. I took it out, reading the caller ID: ‘Josie <3.’ I frowned, ‘I never call her when she’s out doing God knows what with Murphy, why is she calling me right now? I love my best friend to death but this better be important.’
“I gotta take this, I’ll be back,” I said, getting up and walking away. I could feel Niro’s eyes following me with each move I made. Hitting the green button, I placed the phone up to my ear, “Bestie?” “GEM! Are you okay? What are y'all doing right now? He hasn’t done anything to you has he,” she yelled through the phone causing me to instantly pull it away from me. “Breathe J, I’m fine. He took me on a picnic,” I sighed. “A picnic? Cute,” she said. I could hear the sarcasm in her voice; I know she hated him, but I really wanted her to at least try to tolerate him. She knows how I am around men, so I appreciate her worries… I just wish she could be a little more open to everything. After all, Murphy is a dick to me but she never says anything about that.
“Anyways, what are you doing?” “OH, THAT’S WHAT I MEANT TO TELL YOU! The police called, they brought someone into custody today. They want you to come and check him out,” she said as I heard mild shuffling in the background followed by a low groan.
“Josie, I love you very much. But, you couldn’t have texted me this,” I laughed. Another low groan came from the speaker followed by more shuffling before she responded, “Ummm… Well I wasn’t sure if you were really doing anything. I saw Caleb earlier though and he seemed really pissed about some-” “Well if that’s it I gotta go J.” I know I was being kind of an ass, but I really didn’t wanna talk right now, especially when I’m pretty sure Murphy is right next to her. I definitely didn’t want to talk about Caleb.
“Gemm! This is serious, we need to figure out what’s wrong with him,” she whined. “But do we have to figure it out right now? I’m on a date J.” I could tell she was rolling her eyes at this point, “But it’s Niro of all people, are you really going to put him before your friend? Plus, can you really call it a date with someone like him?” Okay, now I am starting to get angry. “What’s your problem with him? You don’t even know him,” I said, trying not to raise my voice.
“I know that he’s trouble, he has a bad rep G. I heard he’s never had a real girlfriend because he’d rather fuck and dump everything he sees. I also heard that he’s like some hotshot lieutenant of the Soul Rider Gang and-” I cut her off before she had a chance to say anything. “Reputations are just rumors. He’s a good person, you would know that if you took the time to listen to me when I talked about him instead of always changing the subject to Murphy’s bitch ass,” I yelled.
“What is your deal? You saying you trust him more than me or something?” “ No, but when you’re off doing any and everything with Murphy, he’s been a good relief.” She scoffed, “Girl boo. You sound jealous that I’m getting dick so that’s why you decided to fuck with the most wishy-washy dude in our class.” “Nobody is jealous of Murphy. And why are you being like that, you know what? Forget it. You have fun with whatever it is you’re doing, and imma go enjoy my date.” With that, I hung up the phone and walked back towards Niro.
‘I can’t believe that just happened, me and Josie almost never fight so I’m just annoyed but I can’t show Niro that. Especially when I feel like we’re finally getting somewhere,’ I thought.
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TO BE CONTINUED...
Of course, I had to create some drama between the friends, can't say yall didn't see it coming-- we know Josie doesn't like that dude. But anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and thanks for reading as always!
See ya in the next one <3!!
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