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

by Mills, Charelle

  After he was about halfway between us and the court he stopped, yelled my name and said, “Wait for me, don't leave yet.” And before I could respond he turned, jogged back down the stairs and disappeared into hallway leading to the locker rooms. I looked around as if I expected someone or rather Tori to magically appear and have a problem with what had just happened. Not that I really cared anyway.

  A group of girls peered at us or rather me. I’m sure they were trying to figure out how I fit into the Xavier Adams equation but I ignored them and made sure Toni didn’t focus on them either. She was a little more on edge than I was and constantly looking for a reason to snap.

  “I need to get with Zay so that he can hook me up with his boy. Do you think we can go down there?” I had mentioned to Toni that Ethan and Xavier were always together so she was bound and determined to get Xavier to hook her up in fact I was pretty sure that was the sole purpose of her agreeing to come to the game with me.

  “I don't know and I don't care. We are definitely not going down their looking like two desperate groupies.” I said cutting my eyes at Toni. “Look at them swarming the floor like little bee’s.” I pointed to the floor which was quickly filling with fans, family members and what was clearly girls in search of attention from anyone who had on an official Spartan jersey.

  “Uh no boo, we are definitely not groupies but if it gets me closer to my future husband then I just might have to break the mold.” Toni laughed so randomly that it made me laugh too. I swear she was always on ready.

  “You are seriously on one girl.” I said.

  We sat there waiting for what seemed like forever and the arena was almost empty with the exception of a cleaning crew and what was left of the few family members, girlfriends and what appeared to be a group of girls that were hoping to get lucky. Some of the players finally surfaced so Toni and I stood up and made our way down the stairs towards the court but stopped about two rows above it when I finally saw Xavier. He was wearing a black Nike wind suit unzipped at the ankles so that the bottoms were dragging the floor and of course a pair of loosely laced Jordan's that I was sure were some overpriced, special edition, step on them and die a painful death Jordan’s. Typical after game gear.

  He was twirling a piece of his half twisted neatly tapered hair and talking to one of his teammates carrying an oversized duffle bag with his schools logo printed on it over his left shoulder. He looked towards the stands near where we had been sitting and immediately began looking around when he realized that we had moved. When he finally locked eyes with me he said something to his teammate and then extended a closed fist towards him. The two of them hit fist and Xavier started towards us but before he could make it to where we were waiting a short girl with weave down to her waist jumped out of one of the floor seats, called his name and stepped in front of him. Xavier looked up at me and then back to the girl who was clearly not happy with him. She attempted to hug him but he stepped back which apparently pissed her off even more.

  “Is that that Tori trick?” Toni asked.

  “I guess so.” I said, honestly I had never officially meet her before. I had only seen her in her Instagram profile picture after I tried to creep on her but couldn't because her page was private. She was short, kind of chunky and wore too much weave and make up. Complete opposite of me. She would actually be a lot prettier if she toned it down a little.

  “Let’s go down there.” Toni said with an attitude.

  “That would be a definite no. I'm not in the mood for drama tonight.” I said quickly to make sure that I didn’t give Toni any time to move.

  “You are better than me boo.” She said clearly not pleased with my decision to avoid the confrontation.

  Toni picked up her purse from the seat next to her. “Okay let’s go then.” She said. The two of us stepped out into the aisle and started up the stairs. “You better find a way for me to meet my future husband since you're making me leave.” But before we could make it anywhere I heard my name.

  “Ky hold up.” Xavier yelled.

  We both turned to see Xavier say something to the girl standing in front of him and then watched her storm away to join two other girls who had obviously been waiting on her. Xavier jogged up the stairs and caught up with us. He playfully punched Toni in the arm before he hugged and kissed me on my forehead like he always did. Well now! I’m sure this is going to catch up with you later, your girl looks a little pissed.

  Toni punched him in the back but harder than he had hit her so he yanked at her hair but not with enough force to do any real damage.

  “Chill man. I paid good money for all this.” Toni raked her fingers through her hair and then flipped it over her shoulder.

  “And left a lot of horses naked and unhappy.”

  “Shut up, with your crooked leg, half seventies fro’d self.” Toni said and then laughed at her own lame insult. “So was that your Kya wannabe?”

  “Don't worry about that, what I tell you about minding my business.” He said as the three of us made our way to the top of the arena.

  “What I'm worried about is you getting my girl hemmed up by your psycho girlfriend.”

  “You don’t have worry about that.” Xavier said and put his arm around my shoulders. “I got this.”

  “Mmhmm and I got you if you get my girl caught up in some BS.”

  “Why are you still talking to me about my business? Let me do me.”

  “Whatever man! So Zay, how much do you love me?”

  “Don't answer that.” I said and laughed.

  “Girl don't block.”

  “What do you want Toni?” Xavier asked as he held the door open so that Toni and I could go through it.

  “Tell me about Ethan?” Toni said with a little too much enthusiasm.

  “What about him?” He said even though I could tell that he knew what she was asking.

  “Does he have a girlfriend?”

  “Hell I don't know. I don't be into people's personal business like that.” He said purposely trying to aggravate her, “and don't you already have a lame ass man?”

  “Let me worry about all that. You just give me the goods on Ethan.” Toni said. She linked her arm around Xavier’s and snuggled up close to him.

  “Ky, get ya girl.”

  “Oh no, don't put me in this. That's between you two.”

  “Come on Zay, who's always got your back and keeps the fridge stocked with Dr. Pepper for you?”

  “No Toni. You're on an extra kinda crazy and I don't need my boy mad at me.”

  I laughed and Toni hit me in her arm.

  “Ky help me out here?” She begged.

  “Not in this.” I said.

  “Well at least tell me if he has a girlfriend Zay, you can at least do that!”

  Toni wrapped her arms around Xavier. “Please, please, pleeaassse. This is my future you're playing with.

  Xavier managed to peel Toni away from his body. “The team is having a mini dorm party tonight. You and Ky come and I'll see what I can do.

  “Done! See I knew you loved me.” Toni squealed, “And now I'll leave you two to work out the rest of the details. She pressed a button on her remote to unlock the car doors and then sat down in the driver’s seat which left me and Xavier standing alone behind her Honda Civic.

  “Thank you for coming even though you left me hanging and didn’t reply to my text.” He said, leaned back on the car and dropped his gym bag onto the ground next to him.

  “My bad, when I thought about it I knew that you were probably already getting ready for the game so I just didn’t.”

  “No love.” He said with a half-grin.

  “Doesn't seem like it was a good idea for me to be here anyway.”

  “Don't worry about that.” He knew that I was referring to the argument he had with who I assumed was Tori after the game.

  “Not my business.”

  “Everything about me is your business.” He grabbed me around the waist and pulled me toward him so
that I was positioned in between his legs and leaning into his chest.

  I held my head back so that I could look up at him. “I'm sure she would disagree with that.”

  “What did I tell you about stressing over unimportant things? I'm talking about you and me right now.”

  “You and me? We're friends right? Isn't that what we agreed?” I pulled away and stepped back.

  “You made that decision. Not me.” I could tell that he was annoyed and he was right, I did make that decision but only because I was expecting him to fight for me. You didn’t exactly disagree did you?

  “So it's all on me?” I asked irritated that he was trying to make it all my fault.

  “I'm not saying it's all on you but you gave and walked away, not me.”

  “I didn’t give up I just got tired of competing. You couldn't make a choice so I made one for you.”

  “What if I realized I was wrong and that I should have?”

  “Should have what?”

  “Made a choice.”

  “You always knew that you were wrong Zay. That's not something you had to figure out or learn.”

  “Okay you can get that.” He said being a little to agreeable for me which definitely wasn’t his style.

  “I know I can. So that's on you. You were always enough for me, I just wasn't enough for you.” I got pissed just thinking about it which made the tears begin to form and I could feel my body tense so I took another step back.

  “Chill Ky, I don't wanna argue with you.” His voice was calm and unmoved like always which pissed me off even more. “I just want it to be us again. Just you and me.”

  “We're better off like we are, I’m not doing that again.”

  “Why not?” He asked with the most serious look on his face. Are you freaking kidding me, why? Because you turn into a little man whore every time we try and I end up hating you.

  “You know why, it never works. We start off good and then you get stupid and I get hurt.”

  “Just give me a chance Ky.” He said clearly ignoring my explanation and I knew that he kept saying my name because he was trying to break me down without physically touching me.

  “I don't know if I can. We're good now and I don't wanna mess that up because this time we might not be able to fix it when things go wrong.”

  “Come on Ky, don't assume that things will go wrong, just let me try.” Stop saying my dang name like that! “That's all I ask. If it doesn't work that's on me but at least let me try.” When I didn’t say anything he grabbed my hand and pulled me close again. “Kya?” This time he kissed me and held me tight so I gave in and kissed him back even though everything in me was screaming no.

  “You’re not exactly single, so what about that?”

  “Do you think I care what anybody else thinks?” He kissed me on the neck and then my lips again. “You know me better than that.” And I did, I wanted to believe him but we had been in this exact same place too many times before and I was afraid that if it didn’t work this time that it would be the end of us and for good. I didn’t know if I was prepared for that but it looks like I didn’t have a choice.

  Xavier Lee

  I don’t know where that came from but I couldn’t help myself. Maybe it was my way of having a legit reason to get rid of Tori since I’m back with my girl sounded a hell of a lot better than I’m done using you for sex or maybe I was finally ready to admit that Kya was it for me but either way I was in it now and there was no backing out. I couldn’t do that to her again or I knew for sure that she would close the door for good. Whether I was ready to commit or not I had to figure out how to be. Either get my shit together or I was going to lose her for real and that was not an option.

  I knew that I cared about her but sometimes I wondered if I had it in me to be the kind of man she needed me to be. Most of the time it was just easier to deal with her no strings attached even though I owed her way more than that.

  As I approached my jeep I could see that Ethan was standing beside it talking to someone but it was dark and I was too far to tell who it was. When I finally got close enough and realized it was Tori I felt a wave of heat run through my body. Damn will she let it go?

  “You ready bruh.” I said without even acknowledging her.

  “Yeah let’s roll.” He said.” Tori just watched but she didn’t say a word.

  We got in and I pulled off not really caring about the way that I had just dismissed her. I was irritated that she wouldn’t just fall off for a minute and she definitely didn’t know me very well if she thought that pressing the issue was going to work in her favor. All she was doing was making it easier for me to walk away without giving it a second thought.

  “Dude, what the hell is going on with you two?” Ethan asked but he wasn’t looking at me. He was digging through his bag looking for something.

  “Man you know how that goes. She thinks it’s more than it really is.” I said nonchalantly.

  “Bruh, you need to handle that, she was talking all kinds of crazy.”

  “I ‘m not messing with her like that anymore.” I said. Now I really pissed about it. Whatever feelings I had were officially gone. I hated complications and I hated people that brought them into my life even more.

  “I feel ya, just watch yourself man. She’s on one. I hope you wrapped it up with that one.”

  “No doubt, Always bruh.” That was one thing that I didn’t play around with. My life was too important for that kind of slip up.

  “So are they coming tonight?”

  “Yeah, far as I know.”

  “She’s cute, I can work with that.” Ethan said and then sent a text to someone.

  “What about Shaunie?” I thought about the conversation that he had with her earlier in the café about the two of them hooking up at the party. It would work out better for me if he ditched her because wherever Shaunie was, Chelle was and I didn’t need anything screwing up my night. Ky was already on the fence with me and getting caught up with someone as bold as Michelle definitely wasn’t a good look.

  “Damn, I forgot about that. I should be able to work around it. I’ve just gotta stay low key.”

  I laughed, “Good luck with that but whatever you do leave me out of it.”

  I knew I still had to deal with my own problems but for now I was more focused on Kya so this Tori situation would have to wait.

  Chapter 4

  Kya Renee

  “So that looked real intense.” Toni said as we pulled up into the parking lot of Xavier's dorm. She found a spot near the front and turned the car off.

  “Yeah kinda.”

  “Come on Ky, spill. You got in the car looking like the world was about to end.”

  “Same old thing. You already know.”

  “So he's beefing with old girl and that means he's trying to get at you again.”

  “Something like that.”

  “And?” Toni gave me a look that said spill or die.

  “And what?” I fired back.

  “Okay I'll leave it alone. Just be careful Ky. Zay is your kryptonite.”

  “It's not like that Tee, I just…” I couldn't find the words to finish so Toni jumped in for me.

  “I know girl, just be careful.”

  “I will.” I leaned over and hugged her.

  “Okay enough of this sad crap, let go get turnt!”

  I laughed which made Toni laugh.

  When we entered the dorm lobby I could tell right away that the team was over the loss that they had just suffered through. The music was so loud that I could hear it in the parking lot and the halls were flooded with students including the basketball team. Girls were half dressed, smiling, grinding, clinging to anything or anyone with muscles and a team logo printed on them. I half expected to see Xavier right in the middle of it but he was nowhere to be found.

  Zay lived in what was considered the athletic dorms which housed the football and basketball players. They were the money makers of the school and it was clear from t
heir set up and privilege. Basketball and football ticket sales along with alumni contributions financed a big part of the school so the male athletes pretty much did whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted while living like kings. I tried to image a party like this happening at our dorm and it made me laugh. The campus police, dean and city cops would have been there before the first song finished playing to shut it down.

  Toni and I took the elevator to the third floor and walked towards the end of the hall where Xavier's room was. Their dorms were much nicer than the ones that we lived in and the crowd was definitely different. The four bedroom clusters called quads that housed a living room, kitchen with marble counters and hardwood floors were ten times nicer than our plain white walls, maple furniture and carpeted floors. These were brand new and had the appearance of metro downtown apartments rather than college dorms.

  Almost every room we passed had the doors propped open and you could see counters full of beer and alcohol. Couples stumbled in and out of rooms along with groups of friends who were clearly too intoxicated to be unsupervised. The smell of weed hung in the air and grew stronger the closer we got to the end of the hall near Xavier’s dorm but I immediately knew which room it was coming from when we passed by a the smoke filled room two doors away from his.

  “Sup Chaz, is Zay in there?” I asked when we stepped into Xavier's dorm room. They had four bedrooms but Zay and Chaz had gotten lucky when a set of twins decided to choose another school two weeks after the semester began so it was just the two of them. They were pretty close and I liked the fact that it was just Chaz hanging around when I was there.

  “Sup Kya, yeah he's in there.” He looked at Toni, “Kya’s friend.” Chaz was a 6ft 200 pound linebacker that had a major crush on Toni even though she never gave him the time of day but that didn’t stop him from trying. Chaz was from Hawaii with deep olive skin and shiny black shoulder length hair that was currently hanging freely around his chubby face. I liked Chaz he was funny in a lame kind of way.