Tyler

Last hour came and went and soon I was at after school Football practice still distracted by what Lana had said.

You're not good for her.

I wanted to be good for her, but at the same time, I didn't want things to change. I had known Amari for far too long. It was Senior year. Soon we were going to two totally different colleges and only seeing each other on holidays. If I risked it all now, there would be no coming back from whatever mess up awaited us. I thought it'd be easier to fool around, but we went and caught feelings instead. I should've just left her alone in the first place. Maybe then she wouldn't have met Jake, that pain in the ass, and left me behind.

"Brooks! Head in the game!" Coach yelled walking onto the field.

I tied my cleats and rushed over to the other guys.

"6 laps around the field. Go!" Coach blew his whistle and we all jogged off.

"Someone seems distracted." Leo said jogging beside me.

"I'm not." I shook my head. "Where's Chase?"

"He didn't stay after." Leo said. "He had a Doctors appointment."

I nodded.

"Anyway, how are things with Naomi?" Leo asked.

"Things are fine." I shrugged. "Not serious, but they're fine."

"Mm." He hummed nodding. "And Amari?"

"What is this? An interrogation?" I stopped jogging and looked at him.

Leo chuckled and stopped jogging too.

"Dude, it's just a question." He shook his head. "I'm just curious to see which one is available."

"Neither." I said getting defensive. "You don't have a chance with either one. Why would you want one of them anyway?"

"Well, Naomi's an easy hook up and, if I'm being honest, Amari looks like a good time." He laughed. "I bet she goes crazy when she..." I cut him off with a punch to his jaw.

Leo fell back and regained himself before shoving me.

"Woah!" Collin yelled running over to us and pushing us apart before we could jump on each other.

The other guys all huddled around us while Coach barked orders that no one listened to.

"What the hell is going on?" Coach yelled from down the field, but everyone ignored him.

"You're going to regret that, Brooks." Leo spat.

"Get some manners, asshole." I shook my head. "And a brain. You don't stand a chance with either of them."

"Either of who?" Collin asked.

"Someone's a little touchy about his girlfriend." Leo laughed. "Naomi is a team player. You knew that."

"Still doesn't give you the right to disrespect her." I scoffed and shook my head preparing to walk away.

"Or were you about to cry about Amari?" Leo asked causing me to pause. "Because I heard she doesn't tolerate you anymore. I heard that you just aren't her type. I heard that she's with some dweeb now. Is that what's got you all distracted? You told her about how you've been in love with her since 3rd grade and she laughed in your face?"

"You don't know what you're talking about." I shook my head and backed away.

"Don't worry. I'll tell you all about it when I'm finished with her." Leo smirked.

"With that busted lip and swollen jaw? I doubt she'd even blow a kiss in your direction." I laughed.

"You sure about that?" Leo smirked.

"Positive. Besides, she did choose a dweeb over me." I shrugged. "But that's not the full story. You don't need to know the full story. You just need to know that she's taken and if you think you're going to touch her, I'll kill you myself." I pointed in his face.

"Brooks! Howard!" Coach yelled finally fighting through the crowd. "Get your stuff and go home. We don't tolerate fights on the field and you both know that. You're benched!"

Leo and I glared at each other one last time before walking away. I snatched up my gym bag and walked into the school building to get to the student parking. I hopped in my car and sped off.

Amari

I sat on the couch in the living room laughing at a message Jake had just sent me. He was helping his Aunt do inventory check on the dresses and he was having the best time.

I was pulled away from my phone at the sound of someone banging on the front door. I glanced up at the tv playing quiet cartoons before glancing over to the window. It was almost sundown. Again, someone banged on the front door. I glanced at the door for a second before groaning and sitting my phone on the couch. I dragged myself over to the door and waited. When there were no more knocks, I slowly unlocked the door before pulling it open praying that whoever it was had left. There stood Tyler. He was in workout clothes, but he wasn't sweaty or anything.

"What're you..." He cut me off.

"Abstemious." He blurted out walking into the house.

I closed the door behind him before turning to look at him.

"What?" I asked suppressing my laugh.

"Abstemious." He repeated. "Abstemious." He pronounced it differently.

"What is that?" I laughed.

"It doesn't matter." He shook his head. "It doesn't." He mumbled grabbing onto my face and kissing my lips.

I kissed him back holding onto his shirt before pulling away confused.

"Abstemious is the opposite of Crapulous. You ended this with Crapulous, I'm starting it over with Abstemious." He shrugged pulling me to his chest.

"We can't do this." I shook my head laughing. "I'm with Jake and you're with Naomi..." He cut me off.

"That didn't matter before." He shrugged.

"You said, numerous times, that you didn't like me. That I wasn't your type. What changed?" I asked stepping away from him.

"I don't know." He sighed. "Amari, I can't watch you be with him or anyone else. I don't want to. I said it earlier and I'll say it again, I want you."

"Well, you can't have me." I shook my head. "You can't hurt my feelings and pop up to mend them when your life gets boring or I do something you don't like. That's not how a relationship works, Tyler."

"I know." He groaned covering his face with his hands. "I know, but I didn't want to risk anything. Now, I don't care. I'm a gambler now!"

"Oh, stop being dramatic." I rolled my eyes. "Anyway, I was thinking about what you said earlier. Jake is a better candidate for a relationship than you are."

"I know." Tyler shrugged. "Don't remind me."

"But, I think we can still be friends." I breathed out. "You know, once I'm over this crush."

"No. Let's be friends now!" Tyler shook his head. "I don't care about that crush. I just want you back."

"Tyler..." I said warningly and he cut me off.

"I won't try anything, I promise." He said. "But I have to tell you all about my life now. You've missed so much."

And so we sat on the couch watching cartoons and talking all night long. Tyler gave me his full undivided attention all night and I felt really special. I inhaled his scent every chance I got and whenever our hands would brush against one another, I begged God for a stronger resistance. It took all of my strength to not jump all over him at the first, second, or third chance I got. When the night eventually winded down and ran out of things to talk about, we headed up to my room where I finally started my homework and helped Tyler with his. It was just like old times and I hadn't noticed how much I missed him.

Tyler

I stared at Amari as she sat at her vanity doing her math homework. She was gorgeous. I listened to her humming a song as one of her hands played in her hair and the other tapped a pencil against the vanity. I missed her. I know that we're back on track, but I still felt like she was being distant. Like, if I reached out and touched her she'd leave me again. I didn't want her to leave me again. I couldn't handle it anymore.

"Do you think I could spend the night or is it too soon for that?" I asked staring at the back of her head.

Amari looked at me through the vanity and shrugged.

"I mean, you can, but you don't have any clothes." She said. "And I doubt you'll want to be here when Jake gets here."

"Jake's coming over?" I asked.

"Yeah." She nodded. "My parents are doing a 24 hour shift. He's coming over for a while, but his Aunt won't let him stay the night."

I nodded my head.

"That's fine." I shrugged. "Are you two going to be in here?"

Amari bit her lip and looked away.

"Full disclosure?" She asked. "Like, we're best friends again, right? I can talk to you like how I used to? Or is this something you don't want to hear about?"

"What's up? I'll listen to anything you say." I said sitting up.

"Jake won't... you know." She said turning in her chair to face me. "Like, I've tried because I was mad at you and I thought that if we did it, he'd want to make things official and I'll be over you, but he just won't touch me."

They haven't had sex?

"Don't get me wrong, I'm all for him waiting. I only wanted to do it because of you, but the more I think about it, the stranger it seems. Why would he turn me down? It's not like he knew my intentions." Amari sighed. "Am I not attractive enough? Does he not like me like that? He barely kisses me!"

The last time she's been sexually active was with me.

"I really don't know. Maybe he's nervous or a hardcore Christian." I shrugged. "I'm not really his friend so I can't help you there."

Amari sighed and turned back to her homework. I bit back my smile before rolling out of Amari's bed.

"I'm gonna go get some water or something." I said running out of her room and downstairs.

When I reached the bottom step, there was a knock at the door. I smirked already knowing who it was. I walked over to the door and pulled it open to see Jake standing there with a smile that immediately dropped once he saw me.

"Hello." I smiled at him.

"Hey..." He said cautiously. "Where's Amari?"

"Upstairs." I said letting him into the house and closing the door.

"You two are here alone?" Jake asked glancing at the stairs.

"Yeah." I shrugged. "No worries, Amari's just doing her homework." I shook my head. "You thought it would just be you two? You thought y'all were about to do some stuff, huh?"

"No." Jake laughed.

"Why not? You two have done it before, right?" I asked pretending to be clueless.

"If you must know, no." Jake shook his head. "I want to wait and make it special for Amari."

"Or you're a virgin." I said amused.

"What's wrong with that?" He laughed.

"You're how old?" I asked.

"18." He said moving a dress bag I didn't know he had to his other hand.

"And you've never had sex? Good luck with that." I shook my head.

"Not all guys are in a rush." Jake smiled at me. "I'm gonna go upstairs now. See you later."

"Yeah, sure." I laughed as he left.

I know Amari. I know that pretty soon she'll get tired of waiting and grow bored with the relationship. I know that Amari is just as much of a sex addict as I am and that Jake won't know what to do with her. When that happens, I'll be right there waiting for her. Open arms. I was back in the running and Jake was falling behind.

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Do you guys want a Jake pov?

I think that would be fun.

Next Chapter will be one, but if y'all don't want it, I'll make it Amari's pov.