Trinity

"Eli,"I said. "What are you doing here?"

He smiled as he looked me up and down. I was in my practice clothes which consisted of shorts and usually a sports bra under my low cut tank top.

"I came to pay off the rest of your season. Work has been pretty slow, but I finally saved up enough to pay the three-fifty."

I gave him a hug as his hands found their way to my lower half. I pulled back and playfully pushed him.

"We're at school dummy,"I giggled.

"You want to go back to my place?"He asked. "My moms not there an-"

"You know your mother hates me."

Eli's mother wasn't fond of me. Eli and I have been dating since freshman year. At first, his mother was cool. As time progressed, Eli started to put more work into our relationship then anything else. His mother hated that.

He hardly ever spends time with her. He doesn't go to church with her anymore. Instead, he goes to church with me. He doesn't celebrate major holidays with her anymore. He celebrates them with my family.

Mommy and Daddy don't mind, even though I can tell they do deep down. Eli is always around. Daddy didn't like that Eli was white at first. He still doesn't, but he's come to terms with it. Mommy thinks he's too clingy, which he is but I don't really care.

"I just said she won't be home Trin,"He said with a major attitude.

I rolled my eyes as I walked into the building. He was hot on my heels. I knew he was walking behind me, because he liked that view better.

I turned my head and shot him a look. He quickly returned to walking beside me. He reached for my hand and placed it in his.

"I cannot find my phone,"I said under my breath. "I swear it was in my bad."

"Huh?"He questioned. "Babe, you have to speak up."

"I wasn't talking to you dummy,"I laughed. "I was talking to myself."

As we walked into the gym, I started to scan the room. I saw my phone sitting on the floor. I picked it up, and checked to see if everything was still on it.

Not that I had anything to hide or keep from someone. I just hated people being in my personal information.

"You lose everything,"Eli joked. "I swear you'd leave your head behind if it wasn't attached to you."

I rolled my eyes, "I should leave you behind, but you're attached to my hip."

"Oh really? That's how you're going to treat me?"He asked.

"I'm kidding,"I giggled.

He pulled away from me and started walking in front of me. I tried to catch up to him, but he turned around and pushed his hand out.

"Six feet away from me, please. Social distancing is in full effect."

"Eli this isn't the coronavirus. That happened two years ago."

"This is the My-girlfriend-is-being-mean-to-me virus. The only way to stop the spread is to social distance,"He joked.

I held my arms out to give him a hug, and I walked forwards. He pushed his arm out and placed it on my forehead. As I tried to walk towards him, he held me back by my forehead.

I hated that he was almost a foot taller than me.

"Eli stop,"I whined. "I was kidding."

"Come to my place, and I'll forgive you."

I rolled my eyes. I had so much homework to do. If I went to his place, I'd probably stay there for another two hours. When I got home, I'd have to lie to my parents and that would take an hour. Then I'd have to do my homework until 12 am. I'd get in the shower, finish my night routine. Finally, I'd go to bed at 1:30, and then I'd have to wake up three hours later.

But who could resist Eli?

"I'm not going to stay there all day Eli. I have so much homework to do,"I said in defeat.

"Forty-five minutes, tops,"He convinced me. "I promise I won't keep you long."

"Ugh,"I said as I gave in. "I have to drop Nya off, and then I'll be there."

He kissed my forehead softly, "Can't wait."

As he walked off, he gave me a slight wink. A smile spread across my face as I watched him happily dance out of the door.

It's been a few weeks since we've been together sexually. There was a slight pregnancy scare around Thanksgiving, and I decided to hold off for awhile.

If I got pregnant, I don't know what I would do with myself. Of course Eli would be there. He's there even though we don't have kids together. He comes to all of my younger siblings events. He treats them like their his own, just like I do to them.

My parents are hardly ever around, and Owen and I act like the parents. I don't really mind, because I love my siblings, but I hate acting like their parents. Tyler is two, and he thinks of me as his mother.

Pregnancy just isn't in my plans. I know Eli wouldn't mind, but I do. I mind a lot.

I looked down at my phone and saw the text from Owen.

New message from Owen
Received at 5:23 PM

Mama said we gotta cook dinner tonight. You gon be home in time or should I make this frozen pizza?

I knew this would happen. I shook my head and started to type a message.

Send to Owen
Delivered at 5:48 PM

I froze the lasagna I made last week. Just put that in the oven. If  Myles and Lila get upset tell them no iPads for the rest of the evening. I'll be home around 9ish.

He responded almost immediately with the word alright. Owen did not like having so much responsibility. He was in the eighth grade, but he had a 34 year olds responsibilities. I used to have his responsibilities, but with all of my extracurriculars, I didn't have as much time for my family. I hated that Owen felt like he was the parent.

I was suddenly falling backwards onto my ass. A hand grabbed my arm and kept me from falling all the way. My phone fell to the ground with a loud thud.

"Fuck,"I mumbled.

I don't know what hurt worse, the hit or the forceful grabbing of my arm. I knew it was meant with good intentions, but now all of my weight was being held up by my arm.

"You shouldn't text and walk,"Warren said. "I thought you would've looked up, but you proved me wrong."

He pulled me up back onto my feet. I looked down at my phone on the floor. Luckily, it wasn't cracked.

"You mean you purposely ran into me?"I asked as I bent over to pick up my phone.

He took it out of my hands. "You're so worried about this. You don't even watch to see what's in front of you."

"Lesson well learned,"I said sarcastically. "Give me my phone please. I really have to go somewhere."

He handed it to me. He no longer looked happy. He looked kind of dull, bland.

"I'm sorry about earlier today,"I apologized. "I kn-"

"It's cool, Trinity. Everybody has their flaws. My sister's just turned out to be what killed her. I don't want that for you, that's all."

I nodded slowly as I looked at the ground. I was trying my best to avoid this conversation, but I at least wanted to apologize.

"Where you going?"He asked.

"Home,"I lied. "Do you need something?"

"No, I have to drop these papers off in the front office. I was just wondering, that's all."

"Alright, well, I'll see you tomorrow right?"I asked.

"If God allows it,"He said with a smile.

His teeth were perfect. He maneuvered around me, and started walking in the opposite direction. I turned around to look at him, but he didn't look back.

He was different...and I liked different.