Her Rebound, His Mate

“.....I think we should start seeing other people.”   As I lay in my bed, pitched black, staring at the walls, mind on overload, tears began to fall. Realizing that I have been having an ongoing battle within myself about my lifestyle and the choices I have made thus far. How I, am a seventeen year old girl with many associates, two best friends, I love so much and have been through so much with them and they know all of my secrets. I know,  I’m not the worst person in the world and I can get alone with anyone I come in contact with but somehow I can’t manage to keep the long term relationship with the one person I thought would be my first, last and only, forever guy. I caught him with the same girl he told me he didn’t even know. The same girl I could have sworn I saw him dodging in the hallway at school. Tears still flowing, and I can’t help but wonder why me, why now? I'm a super bright, intelligent girl. I’m a senior at Jacksonville High School, point guard and captain on the girls varsity basketball team, I lift weights and run track and I have many college offers, the best mom, and younger brother, and a car most kids at school wish they had and here I am crying over him, a guy I have been dating for a year now, and had a crush on since elementary school. Jordan was everything I wanted in a boyfriend, 6’2, dreadlock wearing, dark brown eyed, starting quarterback, with golden caramel skin, glossy Colgate smile, and a black band tattoo around his left arm. As that image of him constantly run through my head, I constantly keep wandering what Hannah has, that I don’t. Why would he jeopardize everything we work so hard to build? How am I going to face him tomorrow when I go to school? How will I react when I see her, knowing she was smiling too hard, and flirting with my guy this whole time? As I wipe the tears, this day constantly keep replaying in my head. ~~~~Earlier today~~~~~~~ On my way home from basketball practice, I text Lynn and Maya, my two best friends, in a group chat, “tonight, is the night!!!!!”   Immediately, Maya text back with a  “Cat, water, and smiley emoji with the wink eye and tongue sticking out.” And on a more serious note Lynn text back, asking  “Are you sure, you making the right decision?”  “Of course, I am, I know he will be the man I marry, and have kids with.” I responded.  “Gen, fuck her and get you, I been told you to give that man some, y’all the only couple I know who has been together this long and still haven't had sex, it’s been time” Maya replied.  “I know right, plus the timing is right. I wanted this to happen before homecoming and now he’s taking me on a date tonight and told me to look my very best. We gone have one of the best dates and tonight I will be a virgin no more”, while chills run down my back at the thought of my one true love taking the last thing I have been holding back from him.  “I’m on my way over to help you get ready” Maya texted and shortly after,  Lynn replied “ME, TOO”.  As I walk into the house, my mom was sitting on the couch with her legs tucked to the side under the blanket, and she immediately did a double take at me and yelled  “Genesis, put that phone down and pay attention to where you are going, I just bought that wreath”, because I was too overjoyed in my messages when I hit the wreath that I never noticed before.  “Sorry, mom I didn’t even notice it” “It’s okay tell Jordan I said hi, because I know that's who you are texting, is he coming over later?” Excitingly, “NO, He’s taking me out on a date tonight, and he told me to look my best so I was texting the girls, which is why I didn’t notice the wreath.” “Well, what are you waiting for, go and get dress because you stink as of right now and I’m assuming practice went well, today.” “It’s was alright, I guess, but mom when Maya and Lynn show up please let them up”, I was beginning to yell while heading up the stairs to my bedroom.  Even though we are young, I knew that tonight was gone be something special, because my baby told me to look my best and I will because I wanted him to know that even though we have passionate make out sessions, and still haven’t crossed that line, tonight, I was willing to do anything for him, even losing my virginity. I continued to search through my closet for the right dress to put on as Maya come bursting through the door screaming  “Ahhhhhh!” her left arm in the air and she begun to twerk. Maya also plays ball but she doesn’t enjoy it as much as I do, she said she only play to take the trips and miss class and I agree that that's a big bonus. However, Lynn on the other hand is our team manager. She likes the game but not the physical contact in the game. I could only laugh because I knew that my crazy friend was just as excited as I was. Having someone to embrace this huge moment in my life with is a celebration, and memory I will never forget. As we continue to giggle, I heard music slowly approaching, which only meant one thing Lynn was turning this into a party. When we are together, we are the party which is why a lot of people, mainly girls, at school loved us. We were super easy to get along with and we never kept up with the drama because we only hung with each other.  As I opened the door, Lynn made her way through playing “You wake up, flawless Post up, flawless Ridin' round in it, flawless Flossin on that, flawless This diamond, flawless My diamond, flawless....” Beyoncé sure was the Queen of music but my mom is the Queen of this house and I can hear her screaming over the music “Turn it down, I can’t even relax and watch my show in peace, I can hear y'all , all the way down the stairs.” We all looked at each other and laughed. Maya turns down the music and asked “why haven’t you taken a shower yet.” I looked down, just now realizing that I was so caught on my outfit that I haven’t even made the right step towards the date. I took off running to the shower and hit my picky toe on the corner of the dresser, making me cry out in pain and the girls burst out laughing and rolling on the floor, I screamed for them to leave which only seemed to fuel their laughter even more. While I was in the shower, I got a message from Jordan, Be there at six-thirty with three kisses faces at the bottom.  “Hurry up, Gen. I still have to do your hair and makeup” Maya screamed.  “Let's not forget, we aren’t a 100% sure about the outfit, either” Lynn added.  So I cut the water off, and got out of the shower wrapped the towel around me and walked out and noticed three different outfits on the bed along with panties and bra to match each outfit. I looked at both girls and smiled and they both came in for a group hug, I didn’t even notice tears were falling from my eyes until Lynn wipe my face and in the most calm and softest voice she has “Girl, you know we got you”.  Maya not being a sentimental person, ruined the moment, “I don’t have time for this I want to know what his mouth do, so come on girl let’s get you ready”.  I laughed and did as she said. She sat me in front of my vanity and turned me away from the mirror, "You don't need to see yourself until I am done." I smiled and closed my eyes. She knows I hate makeup, foundations, and all the other stuff is a no, no. So she started with eye shadow. She used some golden orange and blue eye shadow, making it looking like a sunset, and outlined my eyes with some eyeliner, and topped me off with some lashes. "Pucker up," she said. And placed some natural nude colored lipstick on my lips, than twirled me around and asked me, "What do I think?" Even, I was lost for words because I never seen myself with any of this on. Having on makeup enhanced my mocha colored skin, making it glow, and the eyeliner made my light brown eyes, pop. I could only mouth the words thank you to her because for the first time ever, with my best friends, I was speechless. Lynn finally looked up from her phone and her hand automatically went over her mouth, because it was a first, for us all. Since, I have natural hair we decided on an up-do, hairdo. So we pinned all my hair towards the front, falling to my face, added some moisturizer, to give myself 100% curl pattern that hung down over my forehead and then pulled a few stings from the side in front of both ears for side curls and gel the back up so it could stay in place.  I made my way to the bed, where my three choices of wear was laid out: a green dress, a white blouse with blue jeans, and last a navy blue pencil skirt with a golden single strap tank top, with a white jacket that has blue and gold flowers patterns over it. I decided to go with the last outfit because the skirt, hugged my size 8 hips and stopped a little under my knees, the small tank showed a little of my stomach, and I wore a pair of Maya clear heels that had straps that came up pass the ankles. Once I was fully dressed I walked over to the mirror and took a full look at myself, and even I was surprise with my final look. I felt like a princess and I looked like an Egyptian Queen, because of the colors radiating off my skin. We came in for a group hug, and Maya felt the need to give me some pointers for tonight, while Lynn constantly rolled her eyes.