Shards Of Being: Ch. 5

JOSEPH

“You’re an idiot for that move, bro,” I let Carlos know as I continued to lead the team to victory in the latest console game. The latest update for the game had come out this weekend and everyone had been trying out the new character except for me. I chose to play with the characters I could easily beat other players with. I didn’t follow the herd. At least not anymore.

Carlos flipped me off briefly, shifting in his seat beside me on his sofa, to make way for Kiana Givins, his latest conquest. He met her during one of his package drops, since he worked for the post office. According to him, as soon as he saw her, he just knew he had to get to know her. Which was unusual for a guy like him. Carlos wasn’t the type to pay too much attention to women unless he was looking to get them into bed.

Now having met her myself, I could definitely see why he was into her. She was cute, had beautiful blue eyes, exotic looking, smoked weed and she was also a gamer. Not to mention she also worked and went to school. She had the beauty and the brains to match. Carlos was crazy about her.

Unfortunately for him, Kiana didn’t seem to convey the same feelings. Or at least, that’s what I’ve noticed. Her eyes seemed to wander to everyone else but Carlos. Women made no sense to me.

“Bro, what the fuck was that?! I almost had him! Where is the rest of our team?” he asked as Kiana relaxed beside him and he pulled her legs over his lap. Had Carlos not been so focused on battling two other players, he would’ve seen how Kiana’s bare and perfectly pedicured feet had attempted to stroke my thigh.

I stood up then, throwing my controller onto the table just as I finished slaughtering my opponent. Carlos raised an eyebrow at me, while Kiana pretended she hadn’t crossed the line two minutes ago. The look in her eyes clued me into her game and I wanted no part in it. Carlos was my best friend and if she thought for a second I would betray him for her, she had another thing coming.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” I wasn’t sure how to answer that question. Normally, I would’ve told him if a girl were crossing a line with me or any of the other guys in our crew, but he seemed to be really into this one.

Fuck.

“I’m gonna roll up real quick. I’ll be back,” I informed him and he shrugged, returning his attention to the game in front of him. Kiana’s gaze followed me all the way out of the living room, even while her body straddled his lap and she leaned in to kiss him. Was I reading this wrong? Was she more into him than I thought? Not that it mattered. I just didn't want this to become a bigger deal than it was.

Maybe I should ask another girl since I had no idea what the fuck was going on. I hesitated as I started typing a text to Sophia. She’d been radio silent since Houston. I hadn't thought anything of it until I saw her again at the high school while picking up Ulysses. That's when I saw the bruising on her neck and a few cuts on her face. She didn't try to hide her wounds. She wore them like a second coat for all the world to see. There was something unbelievably sad about that. I wanted to reach out to her, but I wasn't sure how to go about it. Or maybe, it mirrored so much of my own sadness, I wasn't certain any words of comfort would be enough to remove some of the pain she was carrying with her.

I plopped down onto Carlos’ bed and lit up a joint I had in my pocket as I kept typing up my message. Before I could hit send, the bedroom door opened and Kiana’s head popped in.

“Are you hungry?” she asked in her usual raspy voice, and I raised an eyebrow as she let herself in and closed the door behind her.

“Uh..no. I’m good.”

“Carlos went across the street to get us some pizza and more beer,” Kiana added, making her way towards me as I took a few hits and blew smoke away.

“Look, I don’t think-” her finger on my lips interrupted me, her hand on my thigh made me drop my phone to the floor. It’d been a while since I got any and I didn't want that streak to be interrupted by someone who was toying around with my best friend.

“You don’t have to think. Just enjoy,” Kiana whispered into my ear, flashing a grin in my direction as she began to unzip my pants. My phone began to ring from the floor, like a signal from the universe telling me to regain control and think with my head and not my dick right now.

I smirked when I picked up my phone and pushed Kiana aside. As soon as I saw who it was that had decided to call me, I zipped up my pants and headed out of the door as I held the phone up to my ear, a grin spreading, my pulse racing in relief.

“Hey, Sophia.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sophia decided to meet me at her favorite spot in the city, the three story McDonald’s building on Fourty-Second Street in Times Square. It overlooked some of the tourists’ favorite hangouts and places to eat and theaters to watch the latest blockbuster movies in. Once we grabbed our orders, we headed up to the top floor, where there were less people and a better place to talk despite the tunes they were playing.

She sat across from me, hugging her scarf closely to her chest as she opened up her box of chicken nuggets and drowned her fries in ketchup. She was a ketchup fiend apparently. I found it to be extremely excessive, but still quite adorable.

“So, you’ve been MIA for a minute. You okay?” I asked, out of concern. And also because I was growing fond of our conversations. I liked how it was so easy to talk to her. It didn't matter that she was slightly younger. She spoke as if she were twice her age and the wisdom behind her words inspired me to want to read more.

“I’ve been eating my feelings away. So no, not that great. But, I didn’t ask you to come here to talk about me. I came to help you find a girlfriend,” she explained and her words almost made me choke on my Big Mac.

“Excuse me? Help me find a what? I don’t want--” I tried to speak, but there was a piece of meat stuck in my damn throat.

“Tell me, what kind of girls do you like? Tall? Short? Skinny? Thick?” She was smirking. And I was blushing. Mainly because she knew exactly what kind of girls caught my attention and she was teasing me.

“Long hair? Shoulder length? Pixie cuts?”

“I don’t need your help finding a girlfriend. I told you I’m not looking for one,” I reminded her, as I washed down another bite of the Big Mac with my cup of Sprite.

“Are you a good kisser?” She continued her interrogation and her latest question sent my mind racing towards the girl on the beach who had kissed me while I was blindfolded. I thought about her alot, but the weed usually took care of that snippet of time in my thoughts fairly quickly.

“That depends. What would make someone a good kisser?” I countered, placing my elbows onto the table as I sipped at my soda.

“Well, first and foremost, if you don’t know where to put your hands or tongue, I’d say you have a problem,” Sophia’s words came out in a tone that could only be described as filthy. But a good kind of filthy. The kind that was going to make it very hard for me to move from this seat very soon if I didn’t change the subject.

“Are you offering to be my teacher?” I baited her, and held back a smile as she laughed.

“Absolutely not. You can’t handle this kind of heat.”

“You’re eighteen,” I reminded her again and she rolled her eyes, dipping another chicken nugget into her sweet and sour sauce before popping it into her mouth.

“My age does not inhibit me from experiencing passion.”

“And you’ve experienced alot of that, have you?” I played along, wondering how much she was willing to tell me about herself tonight. Sophia got off on being evasive from the looks of it. Keeping people in the dark was her way of staying in control and it was just the tip of the iceberg. I had a feeling she had several more labyrinths picked out for me to get lost in. I couldn’t wait to see her face when I made it to the finish line.

“You could say that. Now back to your kissing problem--”

“I don’t have a kissing problem,” I corrected, reaching to brush a crumb off the corner of her mouth with my thumb. Her eyes met mine instantly, confusion filling her dark brown gaze as she cleared her throat. I licked my lips and leaned back against my chair.

“Fine. Then where do your hands go, Joseph?” she was baiting me this time, stringing me along. She wanted me to fall into her trap. Had I been any other brain dead guy who only thought with his dick, I would’ve fallen for it. But I liked this game and she looked like she needed to play it for some reason. I was more than happy to indulge her. If this was her way to cope with whatever she was going through, I wanted to help.

“You know that place on your body where it makes you females go crazy?” I watched her nod, looking at me carefully, waiting for me to continue, “I leave that for last.” I finished and she sighed in defeat when I began to laugh. I just couldn’t hold it in anymore.

“You’re an asshole.”

“Hey, you started this.”

“This is what I get for trying to be nice,” she scoffed and rolled her eyes as she continued to eat her food.

“So be nice and talk to me. What happened back in Houston?” I used the opportunity to figure out why she was so intent on avoiding the conversation. If we were going to be friends, we needed to be honest with each other.

“I’d rather talk about you and Kiana Givins,” Sophia changed the subject and I stared at her, wondering how she knew about Kiana. She smiled then, relaxing into her chair in victory.

“I overheard her younger sister talking about you and Kiana in the girls bathroom at school with her friends. Sounds like Kiana wants to jump your bones and wants to dump Carlos as soon as possible.”

Fuck. How did this get so out of control? If Carlos finds out about this, he’ll do something really stupid. He didn’t handle rejection well.

“She tried to make a move on me today,” I confessed and sighed in frustration, wondering how the hell I was supposed to handle this.

“You stopped her,” she concluded and I nodded. She seemed relieved by my answer and looked straight at me as she sipped on her drink.

“I wasn’t planning on doing anything with her. But if you hadn’t called at the moment, she would’ve definitely--”

“Touched you in that place on your body that makes you guys go crazy?” she teased and I was tempted to flip her off, but I respected her too much for that. I responded to her with a laugh instead.

“Who’s the asshole now?”

“I have my moments. You will learn to adore me for it,” Sophia warned with a wink, as she stood up from her chair to throw out some napkins. I had no doubt in my mind there was alot more about her I had yet to understand, and even more to adore. The problem was I felt too comfortable around her. This was all new to me and I had no idea what was supposed to come next. All I could do now was enjoy every minute she handed to me and hoped we both stayed on this train ride long enough to see what the final destination would be.