Stumbling Steps

02| how to fall first face

BLAKELY:

My hairs went down my shoulders so I always tied them in a ponytail, bun or a braid whenever I came to school.
Sometimes I opted for two braids. This kept my hairs in place but right now I could bet that I resembled some scary witch.

My black hairs were everywhere. Going through school was stressful enough for me but more stressful for the hairs. Through the day they kept escaping the hair tie and at the end of the day every girl looked like that they came from a WWE fight. Every normal girl, like me who had no time to put hair spray in the morning.

Sitting in the bleachers while waiting for Kev to finish his practice I tied my hairs in a bun now. Maybe it'll stay in place till I reach home. I was not even interested in what was happening in the court. I only wanted to go home.

From my past experiences of watching his basketball practice, there was only one word to express my feelings. It was boring to watch and this time it was no different.

Kev jogged up to the bleacher I was sitting on completely covered in sweat. It was between autumn and spring meaning it was not much warm but he was still drenched in sweat and sweat drenched Kev was not a sight to see or the person to be near at, at all.

"How come you guys don't faint? Especially when you make that huddle. The sweat smell is puking,"

"You mean the fragrance of handsome men? The amazing smell of hard work?" Kev's lips were curled into a side smirk. He was still wearing his team jersey which was plain white with black on its edges. On the back was his surname and his number. 22

"Whatever boosts your ego," I pinched my nose as he sat beside me. I do not like amazing smell of hard work at all. "You are not going to change? More importantly since I missed my ride back home, aren't you going to drop me home?"

"Should I ditch you and leave you here?" I smacked my fist against his chest and he fell backwards holding his chest in pain. I was strong but not that much. "It hurts alot,"

"I am glad. I'll be waiting by your car," I stood up and picked my bag from the ground. I had barely taken a step when I felt Kevin's hand encircled around my wrist and I halted in my steps.

His eyes dropped towards my shoes and I looked down to see my shoelaces. They were untied, again. Can I not just glue them in place?

"You are going to fall someday Ly, real hard," Kevin's lips were curled upwards into a smile as his hands worked on my shoelaces. I stayed silent. Sometimes, it was better to accept your flaws and not reply with a sarcastic remark.

I was not good with my shoelaces, ever. I may tie them somehow but they will always come loose soon after. In childhood, it was my father's duty to secure them and I always watched him with awe. It was a very small thing but I had been always the one to care about little things. I always thought that it was my father's talent to tie shoelaces like that, that amazingly. And somehow when I grew up Kev looked out for me whenever I had my laces untied and we were together. Dad and Kev weren't always around and I had fallen face first into the ground. It was horrible.

"Now you won't fall," Kev mumbled more to himself than to me and stood up to his height. He was a whole good six feet -a inch short from six- and I was so thankful that I didn't remain 5 4'. The four inches that miraculously added into my height made me tall enough to not look short.

"Thankyou," I gave him a smile and skipped down the bleachers without even waiting for his reply. I know he will just shrug and shake his head.

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