Waverly started ignoring me again. I didn't know what happened in those few seconds I went to claim the car, but she wouldn't reply to my texts or meet my eye while we had breakfast.

To be honest, breakfast felt more like a business meeting. Mom and Waverly's mom, who's name was Alicia, were still brainstorming ideas for the wedding. For the first time since the planning started Waverly was a hundred percent interested. At least she pretended to be to avoid me even though we were sitting right across from each other.

With them huddled together on one side of the rectangular table talking about color schemes and flowers, Brad and I were left out.

Brad hadn't made another attempt to bond since that dinner where I accused him of taking advantage of my mom. And he didn't try then, either, just ate his omelette in silence.

If Waverly could go through extreme measures to ignore me, maybe I could make a small effort to get my mom off my back. I glanced at Brad trying to think of something to say to him. Lots of things crossed my mind, all of them only would've gotten me in more trouble.

"Shontell?"

We all looked up. I instantly recognized Vanessa Lawrence and next to her was her older looking clone, her mom, Kristen.

Vanessa was light skinned with naturally red hair that people at school still claimed was fake.

When Mom first told me about being Vanessa's date to her cousin's wedding I didn't put a face to the name. The only thing I was focused on was getting my phone back so I could talk to Waverly. Now that Vanessa was in front of me I realized I knew her.

Vanessa and I never did anything. She did have something going on with Dev, though. It didn't end pretty and I was hated by association.

Having me as her wedding date must not have been her idea. It dawned on me that we might've had the same overbearing type of mother.

"Kristen!" My mom stood, greeting her with a hug before introducing everyone. "You remember Brad and Stephen. And this is Alicia and her daughter Waverly, they've been helping me with the wedding."

"Oh, a mother daughter duo. How cute," Kristen said in a way that could've been genuine but also condescending. "Hope we're not interrupting anything too important. Nessa and I were just picking up her dress for the wedding and while we were there we found a tie for Stephen that matched the dress perfectly. Then we popped in her to grab something to eat, saw you were here too, and well, here we are!"

My eyes darted to Waverly. She was violently wiping the lenses of her glass with the bottom of her shirt. I'm surprised they didn't pop out.

One step forward, two steps back. It kept happening with us. Every time things felt like they clicked into place something came along to break it back apart.

Maybe it was a sign. Waverly could do better than me. A lot better. All I did was cause trouble for her. Maybe all these obstacles were the universe telling me to leave her alone.

It was time for me to start listening.

• • •

Green Light lived up to its name. The neon green sign above the entrance covered the sidewalk in green light.

After breakfast I went to Devon's house to distract myself. What really happened was me spilling everything that went on between me and Waverly that past month. His solution: Green Light.

It was a Thursday so the place wasn't as packed as it'd be on the weekend. Still, a line curved around the side. A line that, Craig, the security guard, let me bypass.

Some Ariana Grande song blasted over the speakers, the green, purple and blue lights moving around the dance floor to the beat.

I went up to the second floor where Dev told me to meet him. Less than a minute inside and I regretted coming out. My head wasn't there yet. All I could think about was Waverly and trying to figure out why everything went wrong with her.

The music wasn't as loud up there so I heard Dev's loud mouth before I saw him. He was at a claw machine acting like he won the Super Bowl and not a stuffed panda. The girl he handed the bear too was happy, throwing her arms around him and kissing his cheek.

"Steph!" He shouted when he saw me. "This is Sabrina."

"Oh, I know Stephen," she said, flicking her blue braids over her shoulder.

Dev's eyes widened. "You two..."

"God no!" Sabrina frowned. "But my bestie, Audri, had some things to say about him."

"She still mad about getting stuck in the tree?"

Sabrina leveled me with a glare. "What do you think?"

Dev forced a laugh. "Sab, baby, give us a minute."

"Okay, me and Lil Dev will be waiting for you on the dance floor." She backed away, making the panda wave before turning into the crowd.

Dev narrowed his eyes at me. "Is there any girl here you haven't pissed off?"

"When you invited me here I thought you were going to help get my mind off girls."

"Right, yeah. Come on."

He led me to a sitting area in the back where some guys from school were gathered around on couches and bean bag chairs.

"Look who's off of lock down!" Marc said, announcing my arrival. The beads at the end of his braids matched his blue shirt.

It should've been easy to slip back into the routine, but I couldn't keep up. Apparently, I missed out on a lot while I was stuck in the house. They were laughing at jokes I didn't understand and talking about parties I didn't go to.

I felt like more of an outsider than I ever did.

"Man, when Dev said you were coming out he didn't say you'd be all emo and shit," Alfie said, kicking my foot to get my attention. "What's up with you?"

I looked up from my phone where I was scrolling through the messages with Waverly. "Nothing."

"Nah, you ain't gotta lie to us, Steph," Marc said. "Latoya already told us how you left her in your room to chase after some other girl."

Alfie looked at me like I was crazy. "Who would you leave Latoya Moore for?"

They looked at me expectantly. Aside from Devon none of them knew about Waverly and I preferred it that way. I wanted to keep her to myself.

"No one," I said, hoping they bought it. "Latoya was just making excuses."

Marc and Alfie exchanged a doubtful glance.

"You expect us to believe that?" Marc asked.

I shrugged, committing to the lie. "It's the truth-" My phone was snatched from my hands.

T tossed it to Alfie before I had time to react. Where the fuck did Toliver even come from?

"Please tell me your phone was hacked or stolen or something," Alfie pleaded, shaking his head as he scrolled through the messages. "A reading date? Y'all were talking about books at one in the morning?"

I tried to grab my phone from him but he passed it to Marc. That was why I didn't tell them about Waverly. They didn't understand anything but sex. That was all they saw when they looked at a girl. And, sure, I was like that, but not with Waverly.

With Waverly I could sit with her and talk or read. Just existing in the same room as her was enough.

"You sound soft as fuck, Steph." Marc laughed. For a second I thought I spoke my thoughts out loud. "Do I need to sound like this to get with Latoya? Talking about books in the middle of the night?"

"First you need to learn to read above a third grade level." I made another pass at my phone, but it ended up in Toliver's hands.

"What type of name is Waverly?"

"Your name is Toliver!" I started to get annoyed.

"Watch your mouth. Toliver was my granddaddy's name. You know what? Just for that..." He trailed off, tapping at my phone screen. Then he held it up to show me it was ringing. "Let's see what's up with this girl."

Before I started panicking I remembered Waverly wasn't talking to me and would probably ignore it. Which was exactly what she did, sending the call to voicemail. What I wasn't expecting was the follow up text.

"She told your ass to stop calling her." Toliver guffawed, bending over and grabbing his stomach from laughing so hard. Alfie and Marc joined in.

Dev snatched the phone from him and handed it to me. "I'm not gonna let y'all clown my boy, okay? The reason she's not answering her phone is because if they dated his mom would fire her mom off the wedding job. It's kinda like Romeo and Juliet."

Dev was proud about his comparison. I wanted to sock him in the face. He talked too much. Our friends looked at me like I was a stranger.

"Romeo and Juliet?" Alfie repeated. "I guess it's true-lock up really changes people."

"Ha ha." I rolled my eyes. "Devon doesn't know what he's talking about. I was just trying to soften her up. Speak her language. She's a challenge, but I'm close to cracking her."

"Okay, that sounds more like the Stephen Davis I know and look up to," Marc laughed.

"Alright, for a minute there I thought you were getting soft on us." Alfie commented. "Now that we know the real Stephen is still with us I think we should head downstairs and find some cuties for the after party."

"No one wants to kick it in your dusty ass basement," T groaned as we all started down stairs.

"My pops just got it cleaned," Alfie argued. "Got new couches and a flat screen. Hooked it up real nice."

While they went back and forth about Alfie's basement I pulled Devon aside. "Next time keep the stuff I tell you between us."

"I don't know what you're embarrassed for," he said. "What's wrong with having just got one girl?"

"That's not me."

"Says who?"

It was a fair question, but one I didn't want to get into. Waverly deserved someone who could fully commit to her. I knew myself and I was not that guy. Still, it was a nice thought.

A thought was all it'd ever be.

//

I'm not really feeling this chapter (it's mostly filler), but I wanted to get something up for you!

Also, just a tip: Everyone is Black unless stated otherwise!

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