Naomi...

"Have a nice day ma'am," I smiled at the elderly woman.

"You too sweetheart," she said before returning inside her home.

The second her front door closed, my smile dropped.

My father and Brodrick had planned this door-to-door campaign to encourage people in this particular neighborhood to register and vote. It wasn't supposed to be about getting them to vote for my dad, but that didn't mean a little hint here and there couldn't be made. I agreed with the whole thing, feeling like it was a good way to interact with the people. What I did not agree with was my dad's whole family coming along for the event. He was the one running, not me. But apparently having his family around would be a good look. I kept my disapproval to myself and agreed to go. Now I was here talking to people and feeling absolutely drained. Registering 20 new voters didn't seem like a hard task, but it most certainly was. Luckily I was close.

"Nineteen down, one more to go," I said to myself as I left the women's yard.

"How'd it go?" Noelle asked.

"It was ok," I simply answered and started to walk down the sidewalk.

I walked right past Brodrick without a word. After what happened at the Gala, I had no plans to talk to him again unless it was about Dad's campaign.

He and my sister walked behind me, having a random conversation while I searched for houses that didn't already have one of my father's volunteers there. I was completely unaware of their conversation topic until I heard a certain name.

"This Kyle dude just runs me the wrong way," Brodrick said, "I don't trust him."

I rolled my eyes. Of course, he thinks that. He's getting competition and he's not happy about that.

"What do you expect, he is a Young after all," Noelle said.

Her response took me off guard. Didn't she like him?

"Right?" Brodrick said, glad for the backup, "Didn't you see the way he talked about being a basketball player? Like he was Jordan or something. He's still a rookie on that team!"

"That was probably a lucky shot," my sister said and they both laughed, "He's probably complete trash."

"Right?! And he probably has all these girls falling for him, thinking that he's actually good," Brodrick laughed again.

That last statement was geared to me, I was sure. Did he think bad-mouthing Kyle would better his chances?

I stopped abruptly and turned around, facing my sister. That man still was not getting my attention.

"Why are you talking about Kyle like that?" I asked.

"Uh, 'cause it's true," she chuckled.

"Weren't you the one clinging to his arm all night at the gala?" My brows raised in question.

"Poor, sweet innocent Naomi," she began walking up to me and resting her hand on my shoulder. "A girl can not like a guy and still have a little fun," she smirked before walking past me.

"I'm sure he does the same thing," Broderick added.

He was trying to get my attention, but that didn't work. When I didn't respond he walked past me to meet up with my sister.

I turned again and continued walking behind them. That was so unfair of them to say, especially my sister. How could you throw yourself at someone and not even like them?

Plus they didn't even really know him. He was nothing like his father or the rest of that family, our conversation that night confirmed it.

We talked for what felt like hours that night about almost everything under the sun. He told me about how he grew up with his mother and grandmother, then later his stepdad. That's probably why he was not like the Youngs, he was probably barely around them. He talked about how he started playing basketball pretty young and how much he loved it. He even talked at length about his friends when one of them randomly called during our conversation.

We talked about the most random of things with so much ease that it scared me. When you've thought so lowly of yourself and someone finally notices you and vibes with you, it can be scary.

I stood in place and took a deep breath. I did not want to get so caught up in Kyle that I lose myself and miss red flags. What if Brodrick was right, and he was out here just sleeping with a ton of girls? I mean, he did sleep with my sister after a night of just meeting her. Or at least that's what I think happened.

I shook my head, trying to get rid of the thoughts. The guy hadn't even asked me out yet. He hadn't even asked for my number, which was concerning. But I had no time to stress. I was just going to go about my life and see how it goes.

When I resumed walking, I felt my cell phone vibrate in the back pocket of my jeans. Was it him? Did he somehow get my number? Was it Celeste? What did this girl want now? What if Celeste gave him my number?! Is that a good or bad thing?

I pushed aside my intruding thoughts and pulled my phone out. It was an unknown number.

Oh god, what if it is him?!

I took a deep breath and answered.

"Hello?"

"Is this Naomi Washington? Aka Nanabliss on Wordspace?" Said a woman on the other line.

"Uh, yes," I said nervously. Who was this person and why were they asking about my Wordspace username? How did they even get my real name?

"This is Iris Flores from Wright Publishing. We're a new publishing company that aspires to display the writing talents of women of color and you are one of our first hopefuls."

"W-what?" I stuttered, unsure of what was happening. Why was a publishing company calling me? I mean, there could only be one reason, but that couldn't be it, right?

"Our company reached out to Wordspace in search of writers and the website recommended you," she said.

That's when it hit me. As my popularity grew on the sight, the people running it asked for my information so that they could give it to interested parties who wanted to officially publish my books or turn them into a movie or something. I gave the information, not thinking anything would come from it. I mean, there weren't girls like me, with stories like mine getting picked up from the site.

"The CEO and I have read a few chapters in the book and would like to offer you a publishing deal!" Miss Flores said, "You would be our very first author!"

My eyes widened and I froze in place. This was happening. This was really happening.

"What do you say, Miss Washington, want to publish a book with us?"

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Kyle...

I bounced the ball on the concrete floor of the barely used basketball court at Anthony's house.

Was he sure Aaron played? Because there was no way he played for his school and didn't practice at home. Unless he was extremely gifted or practiced somewhere else, which I doubt.

I passed the ball from hand to hand, then between my legs. I did it over and over until I could feel my arms and wrists getting tired. This was a practice tip my dad showed me on one of our Saturday hangouts. He said that it would help me have better control of the ball. From that day on I've been doing it almost every day.

I placed the ball under my arm when my wrists begged for a break. I headed over to the bench, wrapped the towel around my neck, and chugged down a bottle of Gatorade. I saw my phone sitting silently on the bench, and I was tempted to do the thing I had been wanting to do all day.

Slide into Naomi's DMs.

Our talk at the Gala was amazing. So amazing that I was so caught up that I forgot to ask her for her number. It only hit me when I jumped into the bed when I got back to the house and our night started replaying in my head.

There wasn't any specific thing about our conversation that made it special. We just talked, like normal people. Talked about normal everyday things. It was a down-to-earth conversation that I was not expecting. In this environment, among the high society, I guess it was kind of special.

After a mini freakout about my incompetent memory, I quickly headed to Instagram and did some digging. I typed in her name but couldn't find it. I easily found her sister who, not surprisingly, had a ton of followers. She followed about two hundred people, and her sister had to be one of them, right? Wrong! I looked at every profile and not one of them was her. I did however find Celeste. It took some digging into the people she followed to find Naomi. Her account, "themidnightwriter", had no link to her except the one selfie she saw as her very first photo.

Was I horrified at the lengths I was going to find this girl? Absolutely! Paxon would be ashamed. But she slipped out of my fingers once, I did not want that to happen again.

But what was I even gonna say? Do I even mention that I forgot to ask for her number? What if she noticed I didn't ask and was pissed?

"Hey!" I was pulled out of my mental panic.

I turned to see Anthony in a sweatsuit standing a few feet away. Was I so caught up with Naomi that I didn't see when he came out?

"Hey," I said back.

"Mind if I join you for a game?" he pointed to the ball in my hands.

His question caught me off guard. I was expecting a "getting to know you" talk, not a request to play. I have nothing against those talks, the few we've had so far allowed me to get to know him a bit better. But it would be nice to do something fun.

"You can play?" I asked.

"A little. It's been a while though."

"Well, let's see what you got old man," I grinned getting up from the bench and throwing the towel on it.

He chuckled. "Oh, so you're a smack talker, ok."

He dramatically pulled off his sweatshirt and threw it to the side. "Let's go!"

Oh, this was going to be fun.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Thirty minutes later, Anthony lay sprawled out on the ground, and I couldn't hold back my laughter.

"It's not polite to laugh at your injured father," he said.

"I mean, if it's funny..." I said and began laughing again.

He slowly rolled over to his stomach and somehow was able to get into a sitting position.

"Man, you ok?" I asked once I got control of my giggles.

"I'll be fine," he waved me off, "It'll take a week or two, but I'll be fine."

"Maybe next time we play a less intense game," I suggested.

"Agreed."

"But I have to give you some props, you have some skill," I said, taking a seat opposite him on the ground.

"Of course I do!" he said, "Where did you think you got it from? And don't say your mother. You know that woman does not have a single drop of athleticism in her body."

"I should defend her honor right now, but it's true," I said then laughed.

"I've never met a girl so clumsy in my life."

"Right? I've seen her trip over air!"

I watched as he laughed at my joke. It was scary how much his laugh sounded just like mine. His eyes widened as a memory came to mind.

"You know that scar on your mother's arm right?"

"Yeah," I said, remembering asking her about it when I was a kid.

"Did she ever tell you where she got it?"

"She said she fell when running track during PE."

"That was a lie."

"What?!" My eyes grew "Don't tell me she was being mad clumsy?"

"The race didn't even start yet, she was literally standing still."

"Oh my god," I raised my hands.

"One minute she was standing, the next she was on the ground, holding her arm."

I covered my face in embarrassment. No wonder she didn't tell me the real story.

"Don't tell her I told you that," he said.

"Oh, I'm definitely telling her."

I wasn't sure how I was going to do that, she didn't even know I was here with him. But it was fun to play along.

"Oh god, she's gonna kill me."

"Oh she will," I laughed, knowing it won't be for what he thinks.

Someone cleared their throats and we looked up to see Aaron standing there. As always, he did not look happy to see me here, but Anthony didn't seem to notice.

"Hey," he said slowly lifting himself off the ground. "What to join us for another round?"

"Now you know you can't handle another game," I joked and Anthony chuckled, but his son didn't seem to care.

"I can't, I'm going out with friends to the beach party," he said.

"Oh," Anthony said disappointed, then perked up again. "Why don't you bring Kyle with you?"

Please no. I do not want to be around more people like him and his friends.

"I don't think he'll fit in there, Dad," he said. And though he was right, something about the way he said it did not sit right with me.

"Come on Aaron, it'll be fun."

"It's ok, he doesn't need to drag me along with him," I said, hoping to get out of it myself.

"See Dad, he doesn't want to go."

Anthony turned to me, "Kyle, you don't need to say that." He then turned to his son, "Aaron come on, be nice. Your brother is new here, show him around."

He was trying to force a relationship between me and Aaron. Both he and his wife were. But we obviously did not mesh well, and he did not like me.

The two shared an intense gaze, I felt like I was intruding. Aaron tried to hold his own, but I eventually saw his face relax in defeat.

"Fine," he answered quickly turning around and heading off the court, "I'll be in the living room waiting."

Anthony turned to me, showing a victorious smile on his face. He didn't notice that he was the only one happy about this situation. 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Hello guys! Sorry for slowing down with the updates. I've been really busy, but I'm trying to get back on track. I can't promise regular updates as I'm starting a new job soon, but I'll try. As always don't forget to let me know what you think in the comments!

Until next time!