[𝐋𝐎𝐍𝐃𝐎𝐍]

"𝐈'𝐌 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐘 𝐓𝐎 𝐆𝐄𝐓 𝐌𝐘 𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐃𝐈𝐎 𝐎𝐍, 𝐌𝐀𝐍."

"That's the spirit," I high-fived Paris.

Paris was wearing one of those spandex shorts that hugged her butt just right.

"I like your shorts."

"Thank you." She stopped walking in front of me to swing her derrière from side to side slowly. "Oh my god, is it shaking?"

It was not. "Yeah."

"Awesome." She jumped up, took my hand, and looked around at the gym equipment. I'd joined the gym the Havens went to early in the year when I first arrived. Sometimes I went with Ezra and Diane. Paris was the only one who never used her gym membership.

Paris was active, though. She did sports like volleyball, winter track, and cheerleading, and tried basketball, too.

We were at the gym to get ready for the spring track season. Paris's a sprinter and I'm a distance runner.

The first thing Paris did in the gym was elliptical trainer while I was working on the rowing machine.

"You good over here?" I checked with her for about the fifth time in forty minutes.

"Yup."

"Okay."

After our gym time, we headed home to take our showers. When I got out of the shower I found Paris in her room playing with Cosmo.

I changed into lounging around clothes and went into my closet to grab the brown monogram duffle bag with the LVs all over.

My Valentine's Day gifts from Paris was her if you know what I mean, and two tickets to see the Bulls play the Warriors in Chicago.

While at the gym, Paris insisted that I'd take Sean instead of her since she "didn't need to miss any more school," and I accepted that.

Paris eventually came in, cradling her "son" in her arms.

"I have a duffle bag just like this," she remarked.

"I bet you do."

"Mine is better, though. The LV's are different colors . . . . It's vintage."

"So it's used."

"No, it's not used."

"Louis Vuitton doesn't make bags like that anymore."

"Well, of course, Louis Vuitton doesn't make bags anymore, he's dead."

I rolled my eyes but couldn't keep from smiling.

"You know what I mean."

"It's a hand-me-down. Mom used to carry this around back in the 2000s but now it's mine— Oh wait, so yeah, it is used. But not by a stranger."

Paris made herself comfortable on my bed next to me.

"Oh, you're packing for Chicago," she acknowledged.

"Yeah." Cosmo escaped from her arms and began roaming around my room. I got up and moved him away from one of the sneakers he started licking.

"Don't chew his shoes," Paris chided then looked at me. "He so lucky I don't give dogs pow-pows."

I smiled. "Oh my god, I haven't heard that in a long time."

"What, pow-pow?"

"Yeah, my mom used to say it."

"Same with my mom."

"I mean, my mom never used to hit me, just threaten it. Both my parents never hit me. My mom tried to once but I started crying and she felt bad. What about your parents?"

"My dad never hit me, just yelled whenever I would say something slick or stupid. And well, my mom was my first best friend, I never really started acting out until Brooklyn came."

"You were jealous of Brooke?"

"No, I'm the one who begged my mom and dad for a sister or brother. The first time my mom gave me a little spanking was when Brooke was probably a week old and I wanted to hold her. But since I was three, I had to lay back on a sofa and I didn't like that, so one day when my mom wasn't looking, I picked her up. Her head was dangling and everything but she was good, I wasn't about to drop her. Anyways, my mom saw, she took Brooke from me and gave me a little spanking. I didn't talk to her for the rest of the day, and she felt bad and apologized. I was good after that because she promised that I would have all the time in the world to play with my little sister."

"That's sweet, the ending part, I mean."

😭