Books, Boys, and Basketball: Senior Year

WEAK

After our heated argument in front of our friends, Drew made an effort to be nicer to me and more considerate of my feelings. Wanting to be cautious, I struggle with whether to back off of him completely, shutting my emotions down to the point of telling myself there's no hope for us anymore. Or allowing myself to hope Drew and I can get past our issues. Especially since he's capable of hurting me on a level that I'm not sure I can recover from.

I took two things away from my argument with Drew though. One... I'm convinced he's in love with me, he just doesn't know HOW to love me. Two, he feels torn between me and his mom. He knows loving me means my mom, who has hurt his mom in ways I can't even comprehend, comes along with that package. His loyalty as both my boyfriend and a son are being put to the test against each other.

Oddly enough, while my relationship with Drew is uncertain, being under the same roof with Scott has given him a different impression of me. A good one. And it's helped us establish a relationship where I feel like he's my brother too.

So, for Easter, I enlist both his and Drew's help with activities for the kids at Grams' church. The church is shorthanded, and they needed volunteers.

Once Scott is on board, Patrice volunteers so she can keep him company, otherwise known as distracted. And while we're all hiding eggs all over the church, I take the liberty of introducing them to the Pastor, the first lady, and some of the deacons.

Grams smiles when she sees Drew, promptly hooks her arm through his and takes him away from me.

She's probably going to read him the riot act. Hopefully not too hard though, because he's actually making an effort. He hasn't cut Vanessa or any of his other groupies out of his life, but he's friend-zoned her like he should've done from the start.

He's still Drew. He's still selfish. He's still an asshole, and the NBA still takes precedence over everything in his life, including me, but he's slowly making me a priority again.

"I think you and I got off on the wrong foot, Sid." Scott flashes me an apologetic smile. "I misjudged you and I'm sorry."

"It's nothing," I wave him off.

Scott nods and turns serious on me. "I was mad when I found out it was your mom who broke my parents' marriage up, but I realize now you're not your mom."

"Thanks. Now if we can all work on Drew realizing this, my life would be complete."

"You have to understand the weird relationship Drew has with my mom. He's always been her protector, and the one who fights all her battles. Even when it's against our dad. He feels responsible for her and her happiness." Scott explains.

"But he can't make her happy. She has to do that herself."

"I know, but she allows him to feel responsible for her because she never got that from my dad. Now they have this weird relationship that's led to him feeling torn between feeling loyal to my mom and loving you. I'm telling you this so you can be careful with him."

"Good looking out." I nod.

For Scott to feel the need to warn me to be careful, I have to wonder why. Glancing around the room I catch Drew's frustrated gaze. He's surrounded by kids trying to get hints out of him about where we hid the eggs, and he better not tell.

"Look, you know I hate that he makes you cry sometimes," Patrice chimes in. "But you and Drew balance each other out. You're both prideful, smart, you both know how to play some ball, and you both have egos the size of Texas. You're both good people too. I just feel like he's in an impossible situation and maybe you need to be careful."