Hope | ✔

Chapter 38: Clingy

"If you really liked her, you wouldn't mind her flaws."

-EthrealShadow

"Yo Fabian! You got another call coming in from... FTGF heart," Malakai shouted towards the living room of his apartment.

Fabian quickly rushed into the kitchen and grabbed his phone in a panic. He couldn't afford to miss the call.

"Hello..."

Silence

"Yes, i'm fine."

Silence

"Go to class please."

Silence

"Yes, i promise you'll see me tomorrow. I'm safe."

Silence

"Okay. Bye Jaimie-baby."

He hung up and Malakai looked over at him with raised eyebrows. "Jaimie-baby?"

"Shut your mouth," Fabian mumbled.

He sighed as he sat at the island table and scrolled through the multiple texts and calls.

Malakai looked over his shoulder. "I never knew your girl was the clingy type."

"She's not. Well... she wasn't."

"Wasn't? Don't tell me you did something to make her think you'd cheat on her. Because those are hard situations to get yourself out of. It's the worst if you really care about the girl and she cares about you."

Fabian rolled his eyes. "I don't have those problems with Jaimie."

"You don't? Man, you're lucky."

"Yeah. But instead of her being paranoid over me cheating on her, she's paranoid that i'm gonna get shot or beat up all the time."

Malakai laughed but then stopped when he realized Fabian wasn't joking. "You serious?"

"Yup."

"Why's she like that?" Malakai asked as he sat on a stool across from Fabian.

"Because... she's got- she has PTSD. Had a bad dream a couple of nights ago. Really vivid. I had to have her wash me herself to get the 'blood' off." He added air quotes around the word blood.

"Man. That's messed up. What happened to make her like that."

"I know she don't like talking about it. Never really has with me. But she just spilled a few details to me and it ain't nice. I mean, i'd be traumatized worse then she is now."

"Right, but what happened to make her like that?"

"If i tell you, you gotta promise not to bring it up again."

"Cool man. I promise."

"Yeah well. From what she's told me, she witnessed a school shooting. Was right in the middle of it actually. Her best friend got shot when one of the girls pushed her friend in front of her. Her friend died and the girl that pushed her friend got out with just a bullet graze."

"Shit, that's freakin' brutal. I actually feel sick to my stomach right now."

"Yeah man me too," Fabian said sullenly.

"I don't know how my baby does it everyday. But it's scary to see her in one of her moods. You should have seen her the other day. She beat up a freakin' grown man out of anger and then when she came to and noticed what she did, she broke down in tears, said she didn't mean it."

"Woah. Remind me not to get on her bad side. I didn't even think she was a violent person."

"Yeah. She's not violent. And that's not even the worst of it. Her emotions are like seriously elevated sometimes. I swear, we were just sitting on my bed and i was helping her with math homework and then she just burst into tears after we got through all of it. She's smart but i guess she just really wasn't feeling math that day."

Malakai chuckled a little. "I don't really think that's elevated emotions. I always want to burst into tears when i'm doing any sort of math problem. Your girl's lowkey relatable."

Fabian shook his head with a laugh. "Yeah i guess she is."

"You must really have it bad for her then if you're putting up with all of her problems."

Fabian's head snapped up and he shot the nastiest glare at his best friend. "She's different. But she ain't got problems, okay. I do have it bad for her and that ain't a problem," he growled.

Malakai's hands shot up into a mock surrender. "My bad. I didn't mean it that way. She's a sweet girl. I know that."

Fabian nodded in approval.

"What's FTGF mean?" Malakai asked out of the blue.

Fabian put his head down on the table. "Future Girlfriend," he mumbled.

Malakai gasped playfully.
"You mean you guys ain't together yet?"

"Nah man."

"What? Why?"

"My mom made a deal with my dad cause he didn't want us together at all. But she got him to agree on letting us be together when she's 18."

"Oh. Right. I forgot she was underaged."

"Yeah. I have two more months left. I'm practically counting down the days."

"So you mean you guys haven't... you know, fücked yet?"

"No!"

"Have you made out?"

"Kinda. But not since two months ago."

"What the hell? Have you been with any other girls since then."

"No!"

"Wow. Okay. You are officially whipped."

"I thought we've already established that?"

"Yes. But now, it's like official. It has its own certificate now." He paused and then looked at Fabian with a smirk. "Have you like... dry hu-"

"Don't even try finishing that sentence. I haven't done anything like that with her."

"Okay. That's actually kinda weird now that i think about it."

"What?"

"You're bestfriends with a 17 year old girl and you're 20. I've been feeling pretty left out of the picture by the way. I thought i was your bestfriend?"

"You are my bestfriend Malakai. Stop acting like a little offended kid."

Malakai huffed. "I was replaced... by a girl!"

"Yeah. Well, she's significantly cooler than you."

"What! How?"

"She's pretty. She makes really good food. She's good at Mario Kart. She has a nice ass. She's gorgeous. She's kind. And she doesn't complain when i go hang out with other friends."

Malakai looked at Fabian with a hurt expression on his face. "Fine, lets go. Imma beat you this time on Mario Kart. And i even have a nice ass too."