Page 8 of Devanté
“Scoot down,” Devanté said. His voice was deep. Stern. Commanding. The girls, all perfect and identical, shared looks with Gabi who gave a flick of a glance letting them know it was okay to move on my behalf. Still, they only left a sliver of space. My hips alone were too full…too much to fit into that crevice. Let’s not even talk about my thighs.
“Yo, Blake, remember when my mother let us have a wine cooler at that one cookout? This was the song that was playing, right?” He handed off the snacks to Gabi and her friends then fixed his coal-black eyes on me. Like I was the only person in the entire gym.
A smile tickled the corners of my lips and I nodded briefly. “If they playTell Me, by Groove Theory I’ll lose my shit,” he laughed. It was the song that followed You’re All I need at the cookout. It was when Devanté and I stole a second wine cooler when Mrs. Liza wasn’t watching. The memory thawed some of the chill from the moment.
“So…you two aren’t brother and sister?” Gabi asked, her voice slicing through my warm nostalgia.
“Nah. Best friends,” he said with pride. Something else danced behind his words. I couldn’t put my finger on it. It was smoky and evasive.
“Aww, that’s so cute. Was she like…bullied a lot or something?” Gabi feigned concern, pulling her finely arched brows together. The sting from years of harsh words manifested at once in my chest.
“Blake was always just cool.” He looked at me while he spoke. His eyes locked on mine refusing to let go. Whenever Devanté looked at me that way, I felt like sunshine. I wanted to bask in it forever. As quickly as the warm feeling came, it left. I quietly chastised myself for feeling so warm and tingly around my best friend. He wasn’t a guy I could have those kinds of feelings for.
I had to give myself that speech multiple times during the week. Sometimes, I had to give myself that speech multiple times a day. You couldn’t be friends with Devanté Morgan and not think he was fine. The way I felt went beyond that. It was something I could never put into words because words were too weak. So, I usually stuffed the feeling down deep somewhere until I forgot about it. But when he looked at me like that with eyes like the galaxy sky, I couldn’t keep those feelings buried for too long.
I wet my dry lips and looked down at my feet turned awkwardly on the floor of the bleachers. “We became friends in third grade and now, I can’t get rid of him,” I said.
“Why would you want to? Look at him.” Gabi ran her hand along Devanté’s arm, lingering on his taut skin and hard muscles. I shut my eyes for a brief moment, so they didn’t flash green at her. I had no claim to him. He was my friend and being my friend didn’t entitle me to his time or his body.
Lord, his body…
“Blake, sit down.” He patted the narrow space beside him and I squeezed my hips and thighs in tight. It felt like I was under a microscope. Gabi and her friends hid behind smiles but I knew they were malicious.
“I’m glad you came out, Blake. I never see you around at any of the parties. I always see Devanté though.” Her voice was a syrupy purr that set my ears on fire.
“Yeah, he’s more of an extrovert than me.” I hated that she was right. Devanté was always at parties on campus. Lately, he’d been going to more and more and I’d been feeling left behind. It wasn’t like he never invited me but partying wasn’t my thing. I wanted to focus on my classes and if I was going to keep my 4.0 then I didn’t have time to party.
“Well, how are you ever going to network from your dorm?” Gabi asked, looking around Devanté to me.
“I planned to let my hard work speak for itself.”
“Yeah right,” she scoffed. “What’s your major?”
“Marketing and advertising.” Now we were getting somewhere. The conversation was turning away from Devanté and to the real reason I dragged my ass out of my apartment.
“Really?” Gabi’s eyebrows lifted as she regarded me. In the background, a buzzer sounded and the rhythmic thump of a basketball drummed against the hardwood floor. Cheers rang out and applause peppered the air. “My dad does that kind of shit. He works for a firm in LA.” She said it so casually like Watson wasn’t the third-largest advertising firm in the country. I feigned ignorance and wrinkled my face into a curious frown.
“Really?” I said, pushing my voice up an octave.
“Yeah. You’ve never heard of Watson?” She was so snide I almost rolled my eyes out loud.
“I do remember vaguely hearing about it,” I nodded and made sure to look thoughtful.
“See, if you ever brought your ass out of the dorm, you’d know that and maybe I could put in a good word for you.” My heart thumped against my chest.
“That would be a reason to bring my ass out more,” I laughed. Gabi smiled at me but there was still poison on her lips. I didn’t trust her as far as I could throw her. She looked at her two friends and they shared a telepathic thought. I wondered if they combed and conditioned their sheep’s wool when they went home. Maybe they got their leader to do it for them.
The thought of them with fluffy white wool instead of hair was almost enough to make me snicker out loud. I didn’t though. I was on a mission. Get closer to Gabi so I could land that paid internship.
“I have an exclusively private…thingthat I was telling Devanté about. Maybe you’d be a good fit, Blake. Meet me on the quad tomorrow. We’ll talk.” That was all she said to me the rest of the game. After that, she was in Devanté’s face, grinning like the Cheshire cat.
I wanted to shield him but I couldn’t tell if it was for selfish reasons or because I could smell her bullshit a mile away. I was going to go with the fact that I could smell her bullshit. There was no other real reason.
When the game was over, everyone spilled outside carrying conversations and laughter with them. Gabi stood with her two friends waiting on Devanté but…I was waiting for him too. Music still pumped through the gym but without so many people inside, it sounded haunting.Poisonby Bel Biv Devoe rang through the air seemingly staggered, drawing the song out like an omen.
“What are you about to get into, Blake?” He asked, walking over to me. I tugged at the hem of my sweatshirt and shrugged my shoulders.
“I’ll probably go back home and work on my project. I’m almost done and if I get it out of the way I can start on the big one due at the end of the semester.”
