Chapter 26

Esined

I was in my room, preparing for bed and my dad knocked on my door.

"Yes?"

He came in with the letters from my mama in his hands. "Here,"

"What are these?" I pretended like I hadn't read them already.

"Letters to you from your mama... She didn't tell one lie," he said.

For once his voice wasn't so rough. It was more gentle then I could ever remember.

"I'm sorry," he handed them to me and left the room.

I put the letters under my pillow and sighed. I got into bed and went to sleep.

morning

When I woke, I realized that I woke up late. I quickly got ready for school, not wanting to get a tardy. I rushed and left, forgetting to say goodbye to Uncle Don.

I was walking and I noticed a car driving by me slowly. I knew it was August's car.

He rolled down the window, revealing his smile. "Want a ride?"

I smiled. "Yeah,"

He pulled over to the side. He got out and came over to me. He opened the door and I got in. He closed it then went to get back in on the drivers side.

"Thank you. Where's Viola?" I put on my seatbelt.

"She got a ride," he put his on and began to drive. "You hungry?"

"Not really. Thanks for asking,"

The music that he had on in the background played lowly.

It was quiet for a minute before August spoke, breaking the silence.

"Can I be honest wit you?"

"Of course," I said.

"I'm nervous fa Saturday,"

"Me too. Haven't you been on a date before?"

"Yeah, but it wasn't like a date date. Like I ain't really plan fa it like I am wit this one. Do you like carnivals?"

"I've never been to one," I mumbled.

It was embarrassing to be a teenager that hasn't explored much. I didn't know what it was like to have friends or a guy that showed interest in me. I was never prepared to go on dates or hang out with friends. Whatever happens on this date would be my first experience for it all. My first date and my first time going to a carnival.

"What's wrong?"

"It's embarrassing. I'm sixteen, I should have been to a carnival before,"

"It's not embarrassin'," he chuckled. "You just ain't been ta a carnival befo'. There's a first time fa everything. At least you steppin' out ya shell and tryin' new things,"

I felt a little better since he said that.

"What do people do on dates?"

"You was serious when you said you neva been on a date, huh?"

"Yeah,"

"When people go on dates, it's mainly ta spend time togetha and get ta know each otha before they start datin'. As in boyfriend and girlfriend,"

"I know what dating is," I unintentionally gave him a stale look. I meant to say that in my head and in no way did I mean to be rude. I quickly covered my mouth. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say that,"

He started laughin'. "It was funny. You ain't gotta apologize,"

I tried to laugh it off with him, but I felt bad.

"I honestly didn't mean to be rude," I mumbled.

"It's okay, Esined," he chuckled, making a left.

"It was rude, August. I shouldn't have said that,"

He pulled up to a red light, slowing down before stopping. He looked at me. "Why you apologizin' so much, love?"

I put my head down. "I feel like you're mad at me,"

"Hey hey. Look at me,"

I looked up at him.

"I'm not mad at you, love. I'm not upset or nothin'. We good," he smiled before focusing back on the road.

I sighed, messing with my fingers.

The light turned green and he pulled off. I stayed quiet for the rest of the ride. He drove up to the school and to his parking spot. When he had fully parked and turned off the car, he removed his seatbelt. I removed mine and began to get out of the car.

August grabbed my wrist and I jumped. He quickly let go, noticing my reaction. "Esined wait,"

I counted to three before taking a deep breath and sitting back down. I closed the door and looked down. "Yes?"

"I gotchu somethin'," he said, reaching back into the backseat. He handed me a bag and I looked at him, frowning. "Open it,"

I moved took the small box out of the bag and opened it. There was a hat, scarf, and gloves set in there. "Oh, August," I looked at him. I leaned over and hugged him tightly.

He hugged me back, smiling wide.

I pulled away after a moment. I looked at the set, smiling. "Thank you, so much. You didn't have to. That was really nice of you,"

If he didn't know my family wasn't the wealthiest, he definitely knew now.

"It was no problem. Couldn't let you go cold," he said. "Try it on,"

I took the hat out and looked at it. "What does LV stand for?"

He chuckled. "Louis Vuitton,"

"Oh, duh. It's on the bag," I mumbled before laughing. I put the hat on and it was so warm. I put on the gloves then the scarf.

The gloves were leather with a furry cuff. The scarf had the initials LV all over it. I thought it was really pretty, but it seemed expensive.

"You look cute in it," he smiled. "Burgundy is definitely your color,"

I smiled. "Thank you,"

"No problem,"

"You think we should go in now?"

"Probably,"

We got out of the car. It wasn't that cold, so I put my hat, scarf, and gloves back into the bag.

August and I went through security then to our lockers.

Keenon came to my locker. "Hey,"

"Hi," I said.

"What's going on with us? Are you mad at me?"

"I'm not mad at you,"

"I wouldn't know that. You ain't talk to me in a few days. You been blowin' me off every time I try to talk to you,"

"I'm sorry,"

August came over, looking at Keenon before completely dismissing his presence. "You ready, love?"

"Yeah," I tucked a piece of hair behind my ear and looked down, not wanting to see Keenon's face.

"Next time, just let a brotha know you ain't feeling him so he don't try so hard," he said before walking away.

I frowned, feeling bad.

"I thought there wasn't nothin' goin' on wit y'all," August said.

"It wasn't anything serious," I looked up at him and he was staring right down at me.

"You lookin' fa anything serious?"

"What do you mean?"

"Are you lookin' fa a boyfriend?"

"I mean... I-I'm kind of focused on school, but if it happens, it happens," I didn't want to say yes and then he'd say he wasn't looking for a girlfriend. "Are you looking for a girlfriend?"

"Hmm... I'm kinda focused on school, but if it happens, it happens," he mocked my voice and began to laugh.

I laughed with him.

"I'm joking, but I don't know," he shrugged as we walked side by side. "I know I'm interested in someone," he looked straight forward.

"Who?" I stared at his jawline.

He licked his lips before chuckling. "I thought I made it pretty obvious that I want you," he looked at me, staring into my eyes.

I stared at his face, becoming lost and caught up in my own words as his repeated in my head.

I want you.

I was mesmerized by his brown eyes and jawline. His lips were slightly parted and moist. I wanted to kiss him.

"I-um. Y-" I stopped talking, realizing that I sound like a fool.

My face was hot and my hands were moist.

"You good?"

"Huh?"

"Esined," he chuckled. His lips continued to move, but I didn't hear a word.

"You are so cute," I covered my mouth right after I let that slip out.

Get it together, Esined.

"Thank you," he said.

"Pretend I didn't say that," I mumbled.

"Why?"

"It's embarrassing,"

"Stop it. It's cute," he opened the door for me and I walked in.

"Thank you,"

"No problem," he walked in after me.

We took our seats next to each other and the bell rang.

I could barely focus in class. I just wanted to stare at August and admire his looks.

"Ms. Evans," Mr. Johnson said, coming to stand beside me. His figure blocked me from staring at August. "I'm afraid that you're paying more attention to Mr. Alsina's face than you are to your own work," he said quietly, but a few people heard him.

August chuckled.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Johnson. I'll focus on my work,"

"Thank you," he said before returning to his desk.

"Girl, I wouldn't be able to focus if somebody like that was next to me either. You see how fine he is?" I heard a girl say. A few girls began to laugh.

I looked at her.

"Girl, she givin' you dat death glare," another girl laughed.

I had no clue of how my facial expression looked right now, but I bet it looked pretty mean from their reactions.

"Is that your man? I'm sorry," she said genuinely.

"Not yet," I heard August say quietly.

I smiled to myself before glancing at him.

"It seems that I haven't made a partner list for this hour," Mr. Johnson announced. "This class is in luck. You get to pick your own partners. You have one minute to find a partner. Once you have found your partner, both of you will come up to me with your names on a paper then receive the topic of your essay,"

August looked at me. "Partnas?"

"Sure,"

He wrote both of our names on a paper and we went up to Mr. Johnson.

Mr. Johnson looked up at us. "Your topic is love. You both will come to an agreement on what your definition of love is. How love can be shown, give examples. Where does love come from. If anyone can love. How to love. And lastly, if you believe in love. This essay should be at least five pages and it will be presented in front of the class. I encourage you both not to just only work on this in class. Perhaps use outside time if possible," he explained.

"When is this essay due?" I asked.

"In two weeks. If there's a need for an extension, let me know. Everyone has a different date for their assignment,"

"You got a rubric?" August asked.

He handed us both a sheet of paper that explained everything he just told us.

"This should be fun," August said as we walked back to our seats.

"And easy. Very easy,"

"You think so?"

"Yeah,"

"Why is that?"

I shrugged. "Maybe it won't be easy. I just feel like I have a nice head start on what my idea of love is,"

He made me rethink on why I thought this essay would be easy.

"And what's ya idea of love?" he smiled at me.

"Oh, I don't know," I said playfully, but I honestly didn't know how to word my idea of love. "You'll just have to wait for my answer until we start this essay,"

I just saw love as something my mama and Uncle Don showed me. Erica too, that is before she passed.

He nodded, twisting his pencil in his fingers. "Fair enough,"

I began to write in my notebook, coming up with ideas for our essay. I noticed that I ended up writing a lot. I wrote so much that the bell rung and I remained in my seat, caught up in my writing.

"Esined, class ova," August said.

I looked up and put my things away. "So, I came up with a start and ideas for this essay," I said as we left class together.

"Is dat right? Share it wit me,"

I began to summarize up the thoughts that I wrote down for him, but I felt like he wasn't listening, so I stopped talking. I felt like he wasn't listening because every time I'd look up to make sure I still had his attention, he'd just be staring at me.

"Why you stop talkin'?" he asked.

"Because I felt like you weren't listening,"

"I was listenin'. Keep goin',"

I continued talking and he interrupted me.

"You have really nice hair,"

I sighed. "Thank you. I'm done talking now,"

"What? C'mon, I'm listenin', love. You got my attention,"

"No I don't. You're just staring at me and pointing out things about me," I frowned. "I'm trying to share my ideas with you and you aren't paying attention,"

"In all fairness, you expect me ta pay attention when a beautiful girl like you just right next ta me? I be listenin', then I start payin' too much attention ta the smallest details on you and zone out,"

I tried to remain bothered, but I couldn't and ended up smiling. "August, stop," I blushed, looking away from him.

"I'm just bein' honest," he chuckled. "Can you really blame me fa bein' honest?"

"I guess not," I said as we came to a stop in front of my class.

"I'll be hea when you come out," he said. "Try not ta miss me too much," he joked.

I laughed a little. "I won't," I joked.

He put his hand over his chest. "Dat hit deep," he chuckled. "I'll see you,"

I smiled and went into class as he walked off.

I could barely focus in class because I couldn't stop thinking about August. I found myself daydreaming of what it'd be like to be with him and everything. Might I add that my daydream was lovely, that was until Chantelle walked up to me, ruining it.

-Hey y'all hey.

How are y'all feeling today?

I'm feeling alright.

I just hope y'all enjoyed this update. If y'all haven't noticed, every few chapters I ask how y'all feel about the story.

How do y'all feel about this story? Y'all can say a simple like/love it, maybe even hate it, to a long comment on how you feel about it.

But if you say you hate it, then I'd be curious to know why you're 26 chapters deep into a book you hate. Lmao.

How was Halloween for y'all?

If you dressed up, what were you?

Did y'all see August and his nieces costumes? So cute lol.

Y'all have really good music taste btw.

I don't think I have anymore questions or anything else weird/random to say. Lol.

Hmm. Date is in the next chapter. Meaning, I'll be skipping a few days and it will be a Saturday.

Anyway, excuse typos if any. Im so careless of pre-reading now-a-days.

Comments and votes are appreciated.

Much love, Shia. Xoxo.