Page 6 of Shooting his Shot

"Avani?" I called her name, and that was when tear after tear escaped her eyes, scaring the hell out of me. "What the hell?"

Without saying anything else, I pulled her into my arms, and she cried into my chest. Out of habit, I rubbed my hand up and down her back while I had the other one holding her head in my chest.

"Shhh. Don't cry. Don't cry. Tell me what's wrong. I know we are not friends and are practically strangers, but you can't cry in front of me like that. It's gonna make me sad."

She laughed with a snort, causing me to smile. "You can let me go now. I'm okay."

I didn't want to let Avani go. She felt too damn good in my arms. It was a feeling I could get used to. I shook my head at the thought and pulled away from her slightly.

"Thank you for that," she expressed, clearing her throat and slowly wiping her eyes.

"It's no problem. Now I have a question for you. If I'm being too forward, you don't have to answer, but I want to know what happened to you twenty years ago. You just vanished that day when we were all chilling at the park. It was the last day my siblings and I saw you."

Avani looked away from me and sighed deeply. "I was sent to a group home. My mother called the cops to pick me up. I found out that she called the police, letting them know she couldn'ttake care of me anymore. Then, two weeks ago, I got a call saying she died in her sleep. It turns out the rumors were true. She did have cancer, but she held on for a long ass time. She was already sick, but the cancer came too."

I shook my head, saddened by the news. "Aww, damn, I'm sorry to hear that."

She shrugged. "It is what it is. She gave me up without a care in the world and told me her daughter died when she was ten years old."

My eyes widened. "Oh fuck."

"It's all good. I don't know why I'm telling you this. You are just a stranger to me."

I grabbed her hands in mine. "No, I'm a childhood friend."

She sneered. "You were no friend of mine. A damn bully, you mean."

I laughed. "Well, call me that then. Your childhood bully.”

“Whatever. It is good to see you. I see you’re doing well for yourself.”

I nodded. “Yeah, I told you I would be a beast on the court when I grew up.”

“Yeah, you did. I can remember telling you that you suck at basketball. You were ready to beat my ass.”

We shared a laugh.

“We always fought.”

She cackled. “Yeah, we did. Gosh, I missed the old days.”

“Same here,” I replied.

It felt good talking to Avani as if we were old friends. I didn’t stay too much longer since I was tired as hell. Avani left when I did, and I made sure I got her number, too. She didn’t want to give it to me at first, but I told her it was for old friends catching up. That part was true. Another reason was that I wanted to get to know her all over again. I knew her while we were inelementary school, but now I wanted to know the woman she’d become.

I sat in my kitchen,drinking iced coffee and thinking about Akari. Boy, had he changed from a boy to a grown sexy-ass man. He looked so different, and from the way he acted, he was different. He was light-skinned with a rectangular face, heart-shaped lips, a long, bulbous nose, and small, brown eyes. The man was a muscular, tattoo-covered, tall tree. He still kept his hair cut short. I wanted to run my fingers through the full beard he had on his face. I knew I always saw him on TV, but seeing Akari in the flesh was too different. How embarrassing it was of me to cry in front of him like that.

It was a good thing to get it off of my chest. I hated crying since I wasn't a weak woman, but sometimes it was okay to cry. I got out everything I was feeling. It was the way he held me, too,that made me cry harder. Gosh, it felt so good being wrapped in his arms. That caught me off guard, too, as to how well we fit together. Although Akai was tall as hell, and I was short, if he wanted to kiss me, he'd have to pick me up. Wait, what? Where the hell did that thought come from? Hell no! He wouldn't be kissing me ever in life. I needed to stop thinking about that man.

I was heading back to my old house to start cleaning up. It looked so bad in there and needed a lot of work done. Still, I had time on my hands to get it done.

I came across a letter my mother wrote me a long time ago. As much as I wanted to read it now, I wouldn't. I didn't want to get emotional again, so I'd leave that to read for a later date. I still didn't know how to feel regarding my birth mother's death. Since I wanted no parts of it, I didn't know what they did with the body. I just made the arrangements and went on about my business. That was all I could have given her since she didn't give me anything for most of my life.

To lose a parent, I thought I'd be down about it, but all I felt was anger. She didn't even care about me when I came back to see her. That was cold of her to say that her daughter died at the age of ten years old. She didn't think about me or how I'd feel. That's what crushed me.

My adoptive mother had been there for me, but she wasn't my real mother. My adopted sister had been there for me, but she wasn't my real sister. Still, I wouldn't trade either of them for anything in the world. I was placed in their life for a reason, and I must admit, I was happy to be in their life. I didn't often see my adopted parents, but I'd visit them or call every blue moon. Whenever I needed them, they were a phone call away. That was what I was grateful for as well.

I wasupstairs in my old bedroom and couldn't help the tears that rushed to my eyes.

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