I shouted from outside of her townhouse. It was almost noon and it was her off day so I knew that she up. Never would she allow her day off to bypass her by choosing to sleep in. "Eliana!"

The top lock unlatched before her door swung open. She stood in her robe, a scowl etched on her face and her hand propped on her hip. I stepped inside disregarding her 'angry' face because I knew she was faking. She was in here up to something and wanted to act like I'd woken her up from her sleep.

"You're so ghetto for bamming and yelling at my door like that. I do have neighbors sis." she closed the door behind me.

"Yeah, well you shouldn't have taken so long. What're you in here doing anyway? I know you weren't sleep."

"I was minding my business. You should've told me that you were gonna come by."

I glanced around and took notice of a pair of men's sneakers at the door. "Why because you have company?"

"That's exactly why. And because you never just show up at my door unannounced. So wassup? You need something?"

"Yeah, I wanted to talk about you and Noelle—"

"Nope. Not happening." she dismissed the topic.

"Why? It's been two weeks and y'all still aren't talking. This is weird! I can't even invite y'all out 'cause y'all don't want to be around each other."

"Put that up with her. I didn't have a problem until she created one. So, you go and ask her all about that while I go back upstairs and finish what I started." she started for the stairs.

"Eliana—"

"I'm walking away from you." she sung while climbing up the stairs. "Lock the door behind you, please."

I huffed and left out, being sure to lock it like she'd asked me to. The tension between her and Noelle had started to become too much for me. Neither of them accepted any invites I sent their way because they were afraid the other would be in attendance. Therefore, I'd been forced to hang out with Giovanni more and I'd been wanting girl time.

Do not get me wrong, I love being around Giovanni, especially now that we're dating but I've been wanting my girl friends. But it was obvious Eliana didn't care because she had whatever man she was seeing while Noelle isolated herself. I knew she was lonely because we were her only friends in New York and all of her family lived in Oakland, California. It made me feel bad and I knew whatever happened between the two affected her way more than it affected Eli.

I walked down to my car that was parallel parked across the street and climbed inside. I sat there thinking of my next move. I had every mind to stop by Noelle's and check on her but she'd made it clear to me that she wanted time to herself. Therefore, I was going to respect her wishes but that left me with no one to hang out with once again since Brittney was out of town. If I had gigs booked, I wouldn't have felt so friendless.

"Hey." I answered Giovanni's Facetime to see that he was in the middle of getting a haircut.

He licked over his lips, "You busy right now?"

"Not really. Why?" I rested my head against the headrest.

"You wanna meet me down at the warehouse in about an hour?"

I smiled. "You're going to do it?"

"Yeah, why not. I'ma look good either way so it really don't even matter to be honest." he boasted.

"Yeah, whatever." I smacked my teeth. "But I'll send you the address right now. Let me know when you're on your way there."

"Alright."

Like I said I would, I sent the address over to him then placed my phone down in the cupholder. I started my engine and strapped my seatbelt on to get ready to leave. I halted all movements when I saw Eliana's front door open. She stepped over to the side and kissed whomever was with her before he stepped all the way out. He said something over his shoulder which made her laugh and give him a small push. From my distance, I couldn't truly make him out but he looked a little familiar.

I sat in my parking spot and watched him jog across the street to a car parked two spaces ahead of me. He rounded the front of the car while simultaneous glancing around at his surroundings. That was when I was able to pinpoint exactly who he was; a friend of Giovanni's. I'd met him the night of the day party Gio asked me to pick him up from. If I wasn't mistaken, it was his house that the party was thrown at.

He opened his car door, took another quick glance down the sidewalk and for some reason his eyes landed on me. He paused for a short second then slid inside of his car. It didn't take him long to pull off and when he did, I climbed from my car and made my way back to Eliana's. I knocked on it twice and unlike before she opened it fairly quickly.

"What'd you forg—Kori, you're back." she sounded surprised.

"Yeah, I hadn't left yet. I saw your little friend though." a sense of fear washed over her causing me to frown. "Gio's friend right?"

"Um yeah." her phone then started to ring. "Hello? Yeah, I know...It won't I promise...Yeah, okay. Bye."

"Him huh? Bitch I found you out." I chuckled.

She gave me a nervous laugh in return, "Yeah, you did."

"Was this supposed to be some secret? Why do you look scared that I know who your lil man is?" I sat down on her loveseat. She huffed and plopped down on the other couch obviously stressed out. "Eli, what's going on?"

"Nothing. Just forget you saw him here and don't go and repeat this back to anybody! Not even Giovanni."

My eyebrows furrowed. "You know me enough to know that I'm not going to broadcast news that's not mine. I just wanna know why you're acting like y'all are in trouble. Oh my God! Is he married, Eliana?"

"What? No!"

"He has a girlfriend? What is it because usually you'd be jumping for joy to tell me about him. Why is he different?"

"Yes. He has a girlfriend, okay. I didn't want to tell you about it because I don't need the judgment from anybody. I know it's wrong but I can't help it. He has a pull on me."

"It's your life not mine." I held my hands up. "You live the way you choose and I have no say so in that. You just be careful. That's a dangerous game."

"That's what makes it so fun. And look at him! The man is fucking fine as hell."

"I get that. I just want you to make sure you're aware of everything and you're safe. These type of games can get way out of hand."

"She wouldn't hurt a fly." she referred to the girlfriend.

"Maybe he hasn't cheated before or hasn't been found out. And how would you know? You've met her?"

"Yes. She's the assistant editor at the station."

"You work with her!? Dios mío, Eli! You really need to be careful. I wish you the best of luck with this situation sweetie because whew." I threw my hands out. "I'ma let the universe have this."

"Yeah, you do that and make sure this isn't passed on to anybody else or I will kill you. Now I'm going to take a shower so can you leave forreal this time?"

"Bitch I don't wanna be here anyway. I just wanted to let you know you weren't slick but I guess you are." I stood from the sofa.

"Whatever. Love you."

"Love you too."

"I'm not sure if he's going to do the full costume or if he's going to tweak it a bit like I am. But I do know that we're going to win best costume at the Halloween party." I spoke with one of my designer friends, Leon as we waited on Giovanni's arrival.

Halloween was three weeks away and I had already begun the process of getting my costume prepared. It was one of the holidays that I always took serious — Christmas being the other — so I was already in the spirit. Giovanni didn't too much care for the holiday. All he was worried about was what he was going to do for his twenty fifth birthday which was the week before Halloween on the 25th. I was trying to keep his mind off of it so that I could plan something out for him but it was hard. Until I suggested that he dress up this year.

Though he didn't care for the holiday, he went into full brainstorm mode to find something for us. After a few days he came up with idea of Spectrum for me and Blade for himself, both being Marvel characters. I was down with it so now we were going to get the designs sketched out then made perfectly for us.

"Your second guest is here." Leon's assistant escorted Giovanni inside of the room.

Upon seeing him, a grin grew on my face. He was already handsome but with a fresh haircut he was elite. He spoke to Leon before taking a seat beside me and leaning over for a kiss. I gave him one and made it quick to avoid making Leon uncomfortable. Over the past two week of us dating, Giovanni had made it a habit to get out of hand when we were out in public as if we were in our own privacy. Sometimes I didn't mind it and other times I felt that it was inappropriate.

"What have y'all done so far?"

"Nothing really. I was just telling him that I wanted to tweak my costume a little bit. The original is cute and all but it needs a little more pizzazz."

Gio nodded. "Yeah, I'm making some changes to mine too. I want it more like the comic than the movie."

"Okay." Leon picked up a pencil. "Whichever one of y'all describe it to me so I can have a visual."

Giovanni went first. He'd imagined every single detail of his costume to the point he wanted every crease to matter. I thought it was hilarious because before he didn't care to dress up at all, and now he was fully engaged. I followed suit and described my vision. I wasn't too knowledgable about Spectrum's character, but from the research I'd conducted over the last couple of days I knew that I wanted to make her even more badass.

Soon after, Leon led us out into the main area of the warehouse to pick the fabric of our choice. Since I opted for the all white bodysuit rather than the blue and black one, I made sure to pick one of thick material. I would hate for it to turn out see through once it was on my person. The process of design and fabric choosing took about an hour and a half but we left quite satisfied with what we had so far. But the real moment of satisfaction would be when the final product is revealed.

We said our farewell to Leon before heading toward the exit of the warehouse. Giovanni trailed behind me to have a conversation with his coach over the phone. As of lately, there had been talk of him being traded since his contract comes to an end soon. He wasn't telling me much about it but he didn't seem to be worried at all. Maybe the words of his coach kept him assured that he would remain in New York.

I pushed the door open and stepped out into the soft wind that the fall was blessing us with. New York could get pretty humid so I was thankful for the fall breeze we were getting.

"That's fine with me. I mean I'll have to run it by Maria and see what she says but I'm down for the count." he grinned as I held the door open for him. "Yeah, I got you Coach. I'll let you know what she says....Alright, have a great day man."

"You're all thirty two." I chuckled once he hung up.

"Because I'm happy to see you." he grabbed my waist and pulled me to him for a kiss.

"You saw me like two hours ago." I said in between his kisses.

"Over the phone. But now you're right here in front of me and you look so beautiful."

"Mm thank you." I ran my hand over his hair. "And this hair cut has you looking mighty fine."

"Yeah?"

I nodded. "Yes. You headed somewhere?"

"Yeah. Me and the guys are going down to the bar to watch Florida State versus Miami."

"Y'all can't watch it at your place?" I pouted.

"We want a different setting. It always at either my place or Pete's Why you pouting?"

"Because I have no friends."

He burst into laughter. "You do have friends, Korin. Call up Noelle and Eliana and see what they're doing."

"They're fighting right now so they don't wanna hang out with me, and Brittney is away working. You're my only hope."

"I'm sorry babygirl. They're already there waiting on me, and didn't you say you were tired of me yesterday? I swore that's what you told me."

"Yeah, that was until I realized you were the only person that cares enough to hang with me all the time. But I see things have changed." I stepped back.

He gave me a hug while laughing. "Why you so damn dramatic? At one point you loved being alone."

"I still do sometimes but right now I need social interaction. It's okay though. I'll just go home and rewatch Euphoria." I started to push him off of me but he wouldn't let me go. "Can you release me please."

"Nah because you're being a drama queen for no reason. The game won't even last that long. It'll be over by seven thirty, eight o'clock. That's only four hours."

"Death."

"Aight, you wanna come? That way I'm still hanging with the guys and you're not losing your social interaction? It's the best solution I got for you."

"Yeah, that'll work." I smiled. "I'll follow you."

"What have I signed up for, Lord!?" he projected his question toward the sky while walking over to his car.

"The best thang since buttered bread." I replied.

"Yeah, okay. You just make sure you keep up because I do the dash babygirl." he climbed inside of his car.

, I stood at the hood of Korin's car waiting for her to get out. She felt the need to apply mascara and lip gloss like we weren't going to be simply watching a football game. She'd obviously gone all day without it but now she wanted to put it on to sit in a bar. I tapped on the hood of the car and she blew the horn at me — her way of telling me not to rush her. It made me groan.

"Oh my God, yo! Come on. I'm not trying to miss the kick off."

A few seconds later she climbed out with furrowed 'brows, slamming the door shut. I'd agitated her. I pushed myself off of her car and headed toward the entrance of the bar. I grabbed onto the door and held it open for her to enter first.

"I don't have to be here if you don't really want me here. You obviously have an attitude about—"

"Korin please go inside." I sighed. She opened her mouth to speak but I beat her to it. "I don't have an attitude but I will if you make me miss the kick off."

She stepped inside of the noisy bar and I followed right behind her. From her body language I could tell that she was upset so I stopped and turned her around. She peered up at me and I gave her a look. She nodded her head, I gave her one back in return then headed for the table. I knew that the guys were most likely at our usual table so I placed my hand on her lower back and guided her to it. As expected, Pete and Chazmon sat at the table with two baskets of wings, a basket of fries and a pitcher of beer. Exactly what I liked to see.

"Gio!" Chad shouted. "What's good dawg?"

"Nothing much." I gave him dap and repeated the gesture with Pete. "Wassup bro?"

"Shit. I see you got company." his eyes fell upon Korin.

"I don't know if y'all remember or not but this is Korin. Korin this is Chazmon and Pete. My guys."

"Hey, nice to see you guys again." she offered a smile and small wave.

"It's our pleasure. Now tell me why you hanging out with this lil knucklehead. He don't get on your nerves?" asked Chad.

She softly chuckled while taking a seat in the chair beside him. "I think I'm the annoying one."

"I feel you. I think these niggas annoying but really it's just me. And I'm proud to be the annoying one." he shrugged.

I shook my head at him and took the empty seat between Korin and Pete. I gripped the seat of Korin's chair and slid it a bit closer to me. Chazmon squinted at me then looked over at Korin before a smirk played upon his face.

"Yeah?" he smiled.

"All net homie."

"That's what I'm talking about, Gio!" he reached out for dap. I reached out and gave it to him. "I'm proud of you."

"What did I miss?" Pete's eyes switched between Chad and I.

"Answer our phone calls and you'd be up to speed, playboy. Don't worry about what we got going on."

"Fuck outta here. You don't be calling me bout shit, Chad."

Chazmon gasped. "How dare you? I call to check and see if you're okay, I call for an ear if I'm not okay. I'm never just calling to call bitch."

"Well damn. I'm sorry, bro." Pete reached across the table and touched his arm.

"Nah don't touch me. My feelings hurt dawg."

Korin leaned over into me and whispered, "Is he serious or?"

"He's dead serious. He's like the dad of the group, the counselor if you will. And he's a lil sensitive but in a good way."

"Kick off time!" one of the bartenders shouted, causing everyone's eyes to advert to one of the televisions.

Florida State, the team that I was rooting for was getting the ball first. I watched as the kicker sent the ball flying down the field directly toward the player near the end-zone. He caught the ball then tossed it over to a player that had been lying in the end-zone. The boy went running down the field at a speed that I was not expecting. He stiffed and weaved his way through his opponents but was eventually stopped at the thirty yard line.

"First play, baby." I shook Pete's shoulder causing him to shrug me off. He was a Miami fan.

From there on out, the game grew intense. Everyone knew that the three major florida teams; Seminoles, Gators and the Hurricanes, were all rivals. Therefore, when they were playing one another the atmosphere was intense on both the playing field and amongst the fans at home watching. By time third quarter rolled around, there had been a few scuffles and screaming matches between the drunk men. Tension was so thick on the field that I was no longer seated. I stood with my arms crossed anxiously waiting on the next play.

"We gotta get an interception bro." I murmured just as the ball was hiked.