Page 10 of Grown Folks Confessions: Black Lush

“Ain’t Coach your uncle?” Midas asked. “Folks sayin’ you already have a spot on the team.”

“He is,” Bryan confirmed. “But I don’t want any special treatment, so I’ll try out like the others to see if I get a spot.”

Midas nodded. “I respect that.”

“Me too,” I lied. He already knew he would make the team, but I guess the shit sounded good. He asked us a few more questions about how we liked the school and told us he was a senior and hadn’t expected to transfer his last year, but his dad had gotten a promotion and they had to move.

Honestly, he was being so open and friendly, it had caught me off guard and I may have started liking dude right off if I hadn’t noticed Layla coming down the hall.Damn, she looks beautiful.Layla always started off the year looking bad as hell, and the Baby Phat jersey dress she had on was causing all the guys to admire her beautiful, caramel brown legs. The Air Force Ones on her feet had to be new, and she wasn’t wearing much makeup, looking beautiful and fresh as ever with her glossy lips.

As Layla neared us, she cautiously looked from me to Bryan, her face frowning when she spotted Audrea clinging to my arm.

“Hey, Layla,” I greeted, giving her a weird salute instead of hugging her like I wanted.

She laughed, saluting me back. “Hey, Ares, nice to see you. Midas, good to see you, too.”

“And what about me?” Audrea asked, giving Layla a fake smile.

“Audrea,” Layla stated.

“Layla,” Audrea addressed, rolling her eyes. “And, Bryan, welcome to our school. I’m sure as time goes on you’ll recognize the difference between the real ones, versus the fake folks who always hatin’ on you.” Audrea looked dead at Layla when she said that last part.

Bryan hesitantly glanced from Layla to her. “Nice to meet you, too, Audrea. Actually, it’s good to meet everyone since Layla is the only person I knew coming into the school.” He reached around her waist and pulled her close, placing a kiss on her cheek.

Layla looked a little uncomfortable, but it was me who was clenching my fists, seconds away from wanting to punch dude for placing his hands on my girl.

My girl?Damn. How many times did I need to remind myself that she wasn’t mine?

Midas discreetly elbowed me in the side, his eyes dropping to my fists that I readily unclenched. We all chatted a little more until the bell rang and I had to watch him hold her waist the entire way to their homeroom.

Bryan did try out and make the team later that day, so I saw dude more than I wanted. Even learned he was the guy Layla had wanted to impress when she went to Chicago for her internship.

I wanted to hate him.

Problem was, I learned that he really was a decent guy, and together with Midas, we dominated and brought home the championship that season. By the end of the school year, Bryan was one of my closest friends.

I couldn’t tell him that I’d been with his girl though. He heard our classmates speculating about me and Layla and he approached me once to ask if we’d ever messed around. At first, I wasn’t saying shit because I liked the idea of having one up on him, but that hadn’t been the whole truth.

I’d made a promise to Layla that I wouldn’t say anything about that night, and I refused to break that promise. She never even reminded me past that night not to say something, and a part of me liked that she trusted me that way to know that the night we shared was between us and us only.

Friend or not though, I was jealous Bryan got to date the girl I’d always wanted. Sure he was a better man. One of the nicest guys in the whole school actually. After one of our games, he told me and Midas that the summer he spent with Layla was one of the best summers of his life and that she’d helped him be the kind of boyfriend he always wanted to be.

Truth was, a savage like me didn’t deserve a girl like her any damn way. I was always taking a joke too far or pushing people’s buttons. Hardly anyone outside of my immediate family knew I suffered with severe ADHD that had gone undetected for years since my parents just assumed I was acting out as the younger, more spoiled child. And my motivation when it came to schoolwork was shit. By the time I got help, it got better, but not great. Getting into art and drawing helped me focus more though. And I still had to work on concentrating on even the simplest tasks that others found easy.Except with basketball, drawing, and of course, with Layla.

As much I needed to move on, especially with us only having a year left in school, I couldn’tnotfocus on her. She was my drug. My addiction. My downfall. Because when it came to Layla, the wordswhat ifbuzzed around us, choking me every time I had to be near her. Audrea was more like me, which is why we had started dating.

I was a Hood, and not one of the good ones like my brothers. I was part of the fuck-up crew. My family knew it. Midas was part of it, too, which was why we were so close. And being a fuck up and a savage was a bad combination that was bound to end in heartbreak.

Dating Audrea didn’t take my mind off Layla, but her and I did become the otheritcouple at school, to my surprise and everyone else’s. Layla had dodged a massive bullet when it came to me, and the more I got it through my hard head, the better we’d both be.

four

Grown Folks Confession #4: If I love you, I want to see you shine. If I like you, I want to see you do good, but not better than me. If I hate you, I hope you fail so hard that every time you close your eyes, you see me laughing.

LAYLA

“I’m so sorry, Layla,”my girl, Ivy, said as she hugged me. “I know senior year will be tough now that Bryan has graduated.”

“Uh, yeah. It will be,” I lied. Well, I half-lied. Bryan had become one of my closest friends, and I’d miss seeing him every day. Yet, part of me was relieved he had graduated and gone to college.

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