Kya & Xavier: It's Always Been You (Life As We Know It Book 1) (28 page)

Xavier Lee

When the buzzer sounded for halftime
I took off towards the locker room praying that I would make it. I could feel
my stomach tighten and the swell in my throat. I had already thrown up twice
before the game and couldn’t imagine what was left inside of me to come out but
sure enough the second I reached the stall and leaned over it a flow of clear
liquid shot out of me. When I felt like my insides would follow because there
was nothing else left I stood up and joined my team. Trey, threw me a bottle of
water and I laid on the carpeted floor with my head propped up on flooded arms.

“Adams, I think you need to sit this
half out. You look terrible.” I could hear coach talking to me but I kept my
face buried in my arms.

“I’m good coach. I think that was the
last of it and I actually feel better now.”

“You better make sure because if you
hurl out there on the court we’re going to have some real problems.”

I lifted my head and held a thumb up.
Coach finished his speech which basically consisted of a lot of keep doing what
you’re doing, tighten up on defense, press the ball more and take more outside
shots before we got ushered back out into the arena. I sat in one of the chairs
with my head low propped up on my arms while the rest of the team took a few
last minute shots before the buzzer sounded to start the second half.

When the second half started, I took
the floor with my team feeling a little better. I guess whatever was in my
system that had been fighting to come out had made its final escape but I still
felt a little dehydrated. The second the ball was in my hands it all faded
away. It was like my body found the strength it needed to perform and I zoned
out and went with it. It was game time once again and I was ready, even if I
had to force it I was going to finish strong.

When the final buzzer sounded I took
a seat in one of the chairs. It was like my body finally gave out on me and I
needed a minute before I could head to the locker room. We had pulled out a win
by five so coach was happy and the fans were in rare form as usual. Saturday
games were always packed and hype. I sat up and lifted my head when I heard a
few of regular’s calling my name. “Good game Zay, way to go two, two-two, you
pulled of another win for us.” Their shoulder pats, handshakes and congrats all
ran together. I searched for Ky, she was the only touch I wanted to feel right
now and the only voice I wanted to hear but I couldn’t see her past the crowed
that was filling the floor.

“Adams lets go.” Coach yelled without
even looking back at me. He was in route to the locker room along with the rest
of the team. The cops had surrounded the refs and were escorting them off the
court while the floor began to fill with fans. I still couldn’t find Ky so I
stood and slowly made my way to the locker room. About forty-five minutes later
I emerged showered, changed and feeling better, still not one hundred percent
but I was on the mend. The second I reentered the arena I immediately found Ky,
she was sitting in one of the floor seats near the entrance with Toni standing
in front of her and when she saw me she stood up and smiled.

“You okay.” She said and wrapped her
arms around me.

“I am now.” I said and kissed her on
the forehead.

“You two are doing the most.” Toni
said and frowned “Where’s Ethan?”

I looked back over my shoulder
towards the corridor that I had just emerged from. “He was right behind me. He
must have stopped to talk to somebody.”

Toni raised her eyebrow, “A somebody
like who?” she asked. I know that she knew girls stood outside the locker room
door waiting for players hoping to get lucky and escape out the back without
judging eyes spotting them.

“Hell I don’t know.” I said defensively
not wanting to get into a twenty questions war with her.

“Mmhmm, I bet.” She said and then a
few seconds later Ethan appeared alongside Davis and Trey. He gave each of them
a pound said a few words before he joined us where he stood behind Toni and
leaned to her side and planted a kiss on her cheek.

I guess she didn’t want to spoil the
mood because she didn’t mention anything about him stopping too talk to
someone.

“Bruh, I don’t see how you’re still
standing after all that.” Ethan said looking at me.

“After all what?” Kya asked.

“Your boy damn near threw up the
entire game, before, during and after.”

“What? Did you really?” Ky spun
around to look at me with a frown, since I was standing behind her now.

“Yeah but I’m good now, I think it
was something I ate.”

“You sure.” She said with a smile and
then stepped away from me but I caught her arm and pulled her back. “Nope,
we’re a team, what’s mine is yours and what’s yours is mine.”

“That applies to everything except
germs. I draw the line there.” She said and wiggled free.

“No love. I swear.”

“I’m guessing that means you’re not
down to go eat.” Ethan said.

“Oh hell no, at least not today.”

Ethan laughed, “Straight up fast for
the next 24.”

“Bruh you have no idea. I hate
throwing up. I think I’d take a bullet better than I can take throwing up.”

“You’re such a baby.” Kya said.

“Whatever man, I just know my
limits.”

“Wimp.” She said and smiled.

“So I’m agreeing to take a bullet but
you’re calling me a wimp because I hate being sick.”

“Yup.”

“I’ll show you a wimp in about.” he
looked at his wrist to check the time, “thirty minutes.”

“And with that we’re out.” Ethan
said.

“You drove right?” I looked down at
Kya

“Yep but I don’t know if I want your
germs all up in my car.”

“Whatever man lets go.”

Ethan and Toni left trough the bottom
side of the arena while Ky and I climbed the stairs to leave from the front. I
had to admit that after climbing what seemed like a thousand stairs to reach
the top, my body was beginning to slowly shut down on me again. I was tried,
soar and dehydrated, definitely not a good combination for climbing stairs.

“You okay?” Ky could tell that I was
struggling.

“I’m good.”

“Liar.” She said and smiled before
she placed her arm around my waist.

“We won, I’m with you. I’m good.”

When we reached Kya’s Jetta she
opened the doors and got in the driver’s seat. I threw my bag in the back and
then sat in the passenger seat and leaned the seat all the way back.

“What happened to I’m good?” she said
and laughed.

“I am, just tired.”

She pulled into the parking lot of my
dorm and we both got out. I grabbed my bag and hers before the two of us made
our way to the front entrance towards the elevator. The second we got near the
door I could hear loud voices inside and I immediately got pissed. I wasn’t in
the mood for a bunch of noise and people in my room. Ky sensed my irritation
because she placed her hand on my back when I reached for the door handle. As
soon as we stepped inside I felt a surge of fire run through my veins, there
were four guys that I didn’t know and no Chaz sitting on my sofa and floor.
There were beer bottles all over the place and empty pizza boxes.

“Where’s Chaz?” I asked as soon as we
stepped inside. Ky had a worried look on her face, she knew me well enough to
know that I was fuming and this wasn’t about to go well.

“I don’t know he wasn’t here when we
got here.”

“Get the fuck out.” I said calmly but
stern.

All four of them simultaneously turned
around to look at me as if they all had the same thought at exactly the same
time.

“My bad bruh.” One of them said and
then eyed Kya first and then me. “You trynna get your creep on, I can respect
that. We’ll be out in a minute, this games almost done.”

Did this dumb ass just dismiss me
I pulled my lanyard out of my pocket and handed it to Ky so
that she could unlock my bedroom door, which she took without question and
moved toward it. I dropped our bags on the floor and made my way to the TV,
shut it off and then crossed my arms over my chest.

“You obviously didn’t hear me so let
me be more clear, Get….the fuck…. out.”

“Chill bruh it's not that serious.” I
glared at him hoping that this idiot was stupid enough to try me. Tonight was
not the night. I didn't say a word knowing that my expression should have been
enough for anyone with half a brain to understand that I meant business. He
starred back as if trying to decide whether or not he wanted to try me. The
other three began collecting the trash that they had conveniently left all over
the living room after throwing out a few vague meaningless apologies for
invading my space while they talked amongst themselves electing to steer clear
of me.

The idiot on the other hand elected
to take a different approach. “I’ll be the bigger man and let you and your little
sideline handle something’s, she looks like she’s...”
 
Without a second thought my fist found his
face. Right at the corner of his jaw causing his body to turn sideways from the
surprise impact. I was pretty sure that he had not expected me to hit him,
he'll I didn't expect to hit him but something about the look on his face when
he was referring to Ky just struck a nerve with me.

He quickly recovered and came at me
swinging with force and he landed a blow right into the side of my head that
immediately caused my temple to throb. I grabbed him and threw him to the floor
and began swinging on him. I had his shirt balled up in my fist around his
collar with my knee in his chest holding him in place. I just kept swinging not
really conscious of the damage that I was doing until I heard Kya calling my
name which I' almost certain that she had done several times before I
eventually heard her.

I backed away and he scrambled to get
to his feet daring to look back at me and before he pulled the door open he
threw out an idle threat. “You got that but watch yourself.”

“What happened?” Ky whispered clearly
shaken by what she had just witnessed. It wasn’t like she hadn’t seen my fight
before, she had plenty of times but something about this one had made her
uneasy.
 
I could tell that she was
afraid, not for herself because she knew that I had her but afraid for me. She
took his words seriously even if I hadn't. I could hold my own and didn't scare
easily so I wrote it off without so much of a second thought.

“Nothing.” I stepped towards her and
when my body made contact with hers I could feel the tension and I pulled her
into me.

“Don’t say it was nothing, what
happened? You wouldn’t have been fighting if it was nothing and you heard him.
He’s not going to forget about this.”

“Let me worry about that?”

“So you want me to just pretend that
none of this happened?”

“Didn't I just say let me worry about
that.” I kissed her on the forehead and then locked the main door. “Come on.” I
stepped behind her and guided her towards my bedroom with my hands on her
waist. I could tell that she wasn't over it but she also wasn't going to press
the issue. At least not right now.

After brushing my teeth and feeling
like I was going to puke again I settled on Gatorade and water while Ky ate a
frozen pizza that probably belonged to Chaz and we
translation Ky
picked a movie on Netflix for us to watch.

“You know you're killing me right?
You know every line and every scene by heart so why are we watching this
again?” I asked but I already knew the answer. Her favorite movies were always
in the lineup Love and basketball, Brown Sugar, Best Man and newly added Best
Man Holiday. Not to exclude Love Jones and Just Right pending the mood. I
really didn't get how she could watch each one a million times and it would
mean just as much as it did the very first time she had ever seen them. I guess
that's a girl thing because Leigh was the same way.

“It’s a classic, do you even need to
ask.”

“You’re killing me Ky.”

“Sucks for you.” She said and smiled
before she tossed the jeans that she had just removed onto the floor next to
her bag, pulled a pair of lime green boxers out of it and then stepped into
them.

“I'm the one that's sick shouldn't I
get a vote on what we watch?”

“You said and quote ‘I'm good’ so therefore
you lost your right to play the sick card. You can do what you want but I'm
watching Brown Sugar. I just suffered through two hours of basketball so Sport
Center is a no go.”

“So you
suffered
watching me play? I see how it is.”

She laughed “I wouldn’t exactly say
suffered but my quota for basketball has been filled for the night.”

“I see how it is.”

------

I woke up to the sound of Kya’s phone
vibrating on my desk. It would vibrate for a minute, stop and immediately start
back so I figured something was wrong. I gently pulled my body away from hers,
climbed over her and picked up her phone but the second I did mine started
flashing with no sound since it was on silent. I checked Ky’s phone and she had
5 missed calls from Toni. I picked up my phone off my desk.