Between You and Me

Chapter 32

"I can't wait till you're back at school with me, lil homie," Zee said while they were hanging out in the living room eating their dinner.

It was Zee's turn to cook and she did pretty well with making her vegan chorizo tacos and Mexican rice on the side, with homemade tortilla chips and guacamole. Zee was becoming quite the cook at trying things she could eat. She made Tristan and herself regular chorizo tacos and Tristan chomped down two before she even took a bite of one.

Tristan grunted before biting into his third taco, hunched over his plate on the coffee table because they did not want to eat in the dining room and miss the movie they all wanted to see. They both sat on the couch, plenty of space between them, while Zee sat alone on the smaller loveseat.

Classes started next week for Tristan, while she had another week before UMSL started. That meant she would be all alone in the house next week, missing Tristan.

"Just get it done, player," Zee said to him. "At least we don't have four years like sis here."

"Three more years," she said to her sister. "And I like school and learning, so I don't mind. I do wish I could be done faster so I can become a teacher like GiGi."

Tristan looked up from his food. "How are you going to be a teacher and you're so shy?"

She threw a chip at him at missed. Never was that great at sporty things, including throwing, catching, running, balls flying near her face, or aiming things toward people.

"I'm not shy when I teach."

"How do you know if you've never taught before?"

He had a point there. She had yet to stand in front of screaming kids and get them to listen to her. But if her grandmother could do it, so could she.

"Johanna is super smart, that's all she needs," Zee added.

"No, not even. Speaking up more would help."

Giving Tristan the evil eye at the moment was not enough for him to get the picture. Maybe she was not the best at talking to people or speaking her mind, but she knew she could be a great teacher because she loved learning and she loved helping others. Her grandmother would tell her about how much she loved teaching and ever since she could remember she wanted to be just like her GiGi.

Speak up more, he says. Sure thing, starting with him.

"Tristan...I haven't seen any of your girlfriends around here lately." She gave Tristan a big smile as he nearly choked on the bite of taco he had just taken. It felt good to catch him off guard. He shouldn't be sitting there looking so darn sexy and she could not do anything about it.

"Huh? What?"

Zee laughed at that. "True! What's up, is the player losing his touch?"

"I mean uh..." He did not say anything more after that. Took a long sip of water from his glass. He looked so cute all flustered, and all she wanted to do was play in his braids.

"Now look who can't speak up!" She laughed as well. Zee not knowing the reason no girls were stopping by was her was their inside joke.

But maybe if she saw that Tristan was no longer like that, it would soften her up for when she was ready to tell. If it was up to her, she would tell her now.

"Haha, Zee, he has only one girlfriend, and it's me."

Yeah, she said that in her head, but not out loud. She looked to Tristan to see if he would say anything more. Maybe he would blurt it out and be honest about them sneaking around.

"Jo is my girlfriend."

No, he did not say that, but she wanted him to.

"Let's not talk about my...dating life, or whatever. What's up with you Zee? Getting back into the game? I know you're not letting one lil shorty ruin it for you."