When we finally decide to call it quits Rylie shows up asking a million and one questions about what happened earlier in the day. Nova tells her what happened as I'm so over the topic that I don't want to keep talking about it. After Rylie hears everything that happened down to my phone call to Mekhi and the (obviously) the video being posted online she's seething with anger.
"How can you be so nonchalant about this," she asks me.
"Nonchalant! It took me a while to calm down! She's lucky I didn't break her face," I say to her defending myself.
"I would have," she says.
"Yeah, then what good would that have done me. It doesn't look good for me or Mekhi, restraining her was the best and safest method to take her down and exit the situation," I say to her logically.
"How could you remain calm to even think about any of that," Rylie says. She has the hottest temper in our group.
"Well I am the calmest one of the three of us. Not to mention the trouble I'd be in if I fought her over something as small as stopping me from leaving. What if the cops came," I say to her calmly.
"You're right. I hadn't thought about that. You being a trained fighter is different for us regular girls who fight," she says coming to the realization of what I've been telling her.
"But believe me when I tell you that I was angry. I was thinking about breaking up with Mekhi just so I don't have to deal with the petty drama," I say to her honestly.
"Wow, I wouldn't break up with him over it though," she says.
"I'm not. I've thought long and hard about it with help from Nova. I'm not going to let these bitch trolls deter me from my happiness," I say with finality.
"Your little fight is going all around campus," she says with a sigh.
"It could be a good thing for you," Nova says with a smirk on her face.
"How so," I say to her.
"It could caution the other fan girls about trying to approach you about Mekhi," she says smugly.
"Yeah, you do have a point. If that's the case then let's hope it works out that way," I say hopefully.
"Now that's enough of that! Rylie we're all meeting at the wing place tomorrow to watch the game so bring Ryan and Roman. We're bringing the kids and Susu will be there as well so make sure to be open minded and to behave yourself," Nova says to her sternly.
"Why do I have to behave? I think I'm ok. I'll bring the boys," she says incredulously.
"You are the most closed minded when it comes to bringing new people around," I say to her.
"Yeah, well for good reason! But I'll be good tomorrow, there's more than enough drama today," she says agreeing.
"Good, now that we've got everything settled I'm ready to head home. It's been a long day," Nova says putting away her notes and books.
"I just got here though," Rylie pouts.
"We've been here like all day it feels like. And I have to go home anyway, Mom's still out of town and I have to figure out dinner for tonight," I say to Rylie putting away my belongings as well.
"Fine, I was going to meet Zain anyway," she says in a huff and puts her things back into her bag.
"It's fine. We'll see each other tomorrow anyway," Nova says standing and stretching ready to leave.
"Exactly," I say joining her.
"Whatever," Rylie says and we all head out of the café to our cars.
"See you guys later," I yell to the girls as I get in my car.
Finally in my car and on my way home I take a deep calming breath before starting the car. I flip through the radio stations and finally decide to listen to some smooth Jazz for my drive home. I run through all of the events of today and decide to let my parents know what's going on since it's trending on social media. I feel as though I handled the situation well, maybe they will have a different opinion. I've never really had this type of trouble before so I definitely need their guidance.
It only takes fifteen minutes to get home with the light traffic so I park in the driveway and head inside. I take my shoes off at the door and my school bag up to my room. Even though midterms are two weeks away and I feel like I should be studying more I'm just not up to it. I put on my slippers, grab my phone and head back downstairs to ponder what I should cook for dinner. While thinking about it, I text my parents the rundown of what went on at campus today and the twins walk in the door.
"Na-na you beat someone up at school," Jackson says excitedly as he's always down for a good fight.
"No, I didn't beat anyone up, where'd you hear that at," I respond from the kitchen.
"Not beat up exactly, but still," he says coming into the kitchen and sitting at the island.
"She was defending herself. Don't make it more than what it is Jax," Journee says following him into the kitchen sitting across from me at the breakfast table.
"Exactly," I say joining Journee in my defense.
"It's going all around our school so I know it's going around your campus," he says.
"Yeah, it is. I reported it to the security office to clear my own name. I didn't even know the girl's name, but since she commented under the video I have a name to go with my attacker. She just made it easier for them to catch her," I say.
"I guess. Do you think Mekhi has anything to do with her," he asks seriously.
"No, I don't. If she really had something going on with him she would have approached us yesterday while he was with me all day on campus. Anyway I told Mom and Dad about the situation in case it escalates any further and to get some guidance," I say to the twins.
"That's a good idea. I don't understand why girls act crazy when their crush gets a girlfriend," Journee says.
"Me either, but it's entertaining," Jackson says.
"It's unnecessary and frustrating," I say to him with a disappointed look.
"I'm sorry sissy. You restrained her pretty quick," he says trying to placate me.
"Yeah, I did. She didn't even know what was happening," I say to him.
"How could she? I bet no one thought sissy could or would defend herself," Journee says.
"Yeah, Mekhi was shocked when I told him that I was a 2nd degree black belt," I say.
"That's because you don't look tough," Jackson says.
"Alright enough of this. What do you guys want to eat for dinner," I ask the twins changing the subject.
"I don't know, but I don't want anything too heavy," Journee says.
"Yeah, me either. Maybe something quick like a sub or sliders," Jackson says thinking out loud.
"How about meatball subs? We haven't had those in a while," I say watching for their reactions.
"Yeah, let's have that for dinner with fries," Jackson says happily.
"Sounds good to me," Journee agrees.
"Okay, well I guess you guys should do your homework and I'll get started on dinner," I say to them going to the fridge to take out the ingredients I will need.
"Call me if you need any help," Journee offers.
"Will do," I say shooing them out of the kitchen.
I follow them out of the kitchen to get the Bluetooth speaker from my room and play some music while I work. I cut up potatoes for fresh hand cut fries and make meatballs using sausage and beef. I cook the meatballs in the oven and use store bought tomato sauce (that I add seasonings to) to cover the meatballs. I clean my work area and dishes while the meatballs are cooking and place my hand cut fries in the new air fryer we recently acquired. When I'm finished cleaning and just waiting on the fries to finish and the meatballs are keeping warm a call interrupts the music I'm playing.
Ring!
Ringg!!
Ringgg!!!
I look at the screen and see that it's Mekhi.
"Hello," I say with a smile on my face.
"Baby," he says with that deep velvet voice causing me to blush as it sends shivers down my spine.
"Yes," I nearly whisper as my heart is racing.
"I miss you," he says with a sigh.
"I miss you too," I say back to him because if he were here I wouldn't be going through this trouble.
"I'm sorry you had to go through that ordeal without me being there to protect you. Although I can
clearly see that you handled that situation by yourself you would not have had to do that if I were there," he says at once and I know he's seen the video.
"It's alright, I handled the situation and you can't take responsibility for someone else's actions," I say to him. 'I warned you that you were breaking hearts being so public with your affection for me.'
"You did tell me I was causing trouble yesterday and I didn't take into consideration how fast it could escalate from people staring at you to actually harassing you. I'll take care of it though, don't worry," he says smoothly as though he could read my mind.
"Now that you've seen that I can handle myself you don't have to worry so much. I appreciate the apology," I say to him taking a batch of fries out of the air fryer and placing a fresh batch in.
"Yeah, you can take care of yourself, but I don't want to see you in any situations that I may directly or indirectly be the cause of. Check your social media page," he says.
"Sure," I say as I wash and dry my hands, place the batch of fries in the warm oven with the meatballs, and finally have a seat at the island. I open my social media account to see that there's a relationship confirmation and friend request waiting from Mekhi whose page I couldn't find before.
"Do you see it," he asks a little impatient.
"Yeah, you sent me a friend request and relationship confirmation," I say to him as I accept both and click on his page to see that his profile picture is of us walking through the school parking lot with me hugging his arm and him smiling at me.
"Okay, how do you feel about this," he asks.
"It's okay with me. There's confirmation from you about our relationship so it should slow down anyone else looking to confront me," I say as I scroll down his page and see that he's posted all of the pictures that were taken of us. He even made a post about having no relationship romantic or friendly with Camille Sanders. My heart is filling to the brim as I see this as his way of doing damage control.
"Cool. I just want to make sure this decision to announce our status on social media was okay with you," he says considerately.
"Thank you for considering my feelings," I say to him falling for him a little bit more.
"You're more than welcome," he says smiling I can tell by the tone of his voice.
"Did you reactivate your page for me," I ask as I'm still scrolling down his page and his posts are over a year old.
"Yes," he says confidently.
"Thank you," I say not knowing what else to say because my emotions are all over the place.
"You are more than welcome, again. This is my mess as well so I figured I'd take care of you as well as cleaning up the rumor. I told you before that you're the only girl for me," he says very smoothly.
"I really miss you now," I admit to him because I want nothing more than to see him.
"Yeah, I really miss you too baby. I have to get ready to go so I'll talk to you later," he says.
"Okay, I'll talk to you later," I say.
"Bye baby," he says ending the call.
I go back to my social media page and read all the likes and comments I got from the selfie I posted this morning. As I read the comments I see Mekhi's appear at the end reading: The most beautiful girl I know. Seeing that I reply to him with a kissy lip emoji and heart. I turn my music back on in time for the second and last batch of fries to be done