The black ink from Sage's felt tip pen drifted out on his lined paper so smoothly that he was more focused on that rather than the actual words he was writing. At this point he was just writing stuff to see how the pen made the words look.

He was supposed to be journaling, but had gotten sidetracked and was now doodling on the upper right corner of his notebook paper. He drew a little cute bubble bee, a cartoonish trash bin, and a light bulb.

As he began drawing the next doodle, a waitress came and sat his tray of fries down in front of him, causing him to look up from his paper. Mumbling a quiet "Thank you," he pulled the tray closer to him.

Sage was currently sitting in the far back corner of a small diner near his apartment complex after a few hours of job searching. None of the jobs he went to look at seemed like something he would enjoy doing, until he made it to Starbucks.

Just as he was going to ask about the hiring process, he watched a barista come from behind the counter literally bawling her eyes out. The conversation she had with her manager was so loud that the whole establishment heard it, and apparently her hours had been cut right before rent was due.

That just made Sage realize how bad capitalism was, and also made him aware that maybe a job wasn't the best thing for him to do right now. He knew that type of environment would overwhelm him, and plus, at every job he went to, the employees seemed burned out.

They spoke so exhaustively to him, as if one more minor inconvenience would set them off. Jobs required too much from employees nowadays, and the pay didn't match the amount of work asked of them. Sage didn't want to be apart of that at all.

He was so blessed that he had a bank account with almost seventy thousand dollars of free money waiting to be spent by him. He also now received a military retirement monthly deposit of $2,300, which he set up to go straight to his all-bills-included rent.

With that much money, he wouldn't have to get a job for years. Honestly, he would be surprised if he ever did get one. He lived below his means so that money should last him a long while. He felt bad for people like the barista at Starbucks. They deserved more.

Being back in the states just showed him how bad America had gotten while he was away. It seemed like everyone became ruder due to their living and working conditions, and the government was no help at all. There were so many homeless people around, it was hard to believe.

Interrupting his thoughts, his eyes roamed to the entrance of the diner when the bells jingled, only to coincidentally find Mariah walking in with her girlfriend, Solana. They were all smiles as they walked hand in hand to the front counter, assumably to order a late lunch-or early dinner.

He sat facing the door only because he liked to remain aware of his surroundings, but now he wished he had sat somewhere less visible. The two girls made him nervous, especially Solana who's eyes seemed naturally judgmental.

Although he was playfully annoyed by Mariah whenever he saw her, he couldn't act like she wasn't one of the prettiest girls he'd ever seen, along with Solana too. They complimented each other well, and were undeniably an attractive couple.

He didn't want to say the wrong things to embarrass himself around them, which was why he was unintentionally rude to Mariah. His insults that he made towards her always made her smile or laugh, so he kept at it. He hoped she knew that he was joking more often than not.

Earlier this morning he ended up in the elevator with her, but she didn't speak to him unlike the other day when he'd seen her in the hall and she made a snarky greeting to him with a smile on her face. He wondered if he had done something wrong.

He figured it was about when he'd left her apartment without saying anything yesterday, but he only left because he didn't want to intrude on her time with her girlfriend, Solana. When she blatantly disregarded his presence this morning, he wanted to apologize for leaving but immediately chickened out.

Now he was hoping the two hadn't saw him when they came in because he was afraid the interaction would be bad-assuming that Mariah was mad at him, and possibly Solana too. Even though he had never spoken a word to her, the natural expression that rested on her face always made her look upset-though he'd only saw her twice; now and yesterday.

His eyes followed them as they made it to a booth, luckily facing a way where they couldn't see him but he could still see them both. He wondered what kind of conversation they were having. What did two women who were in love even talk about on the regular?

Sage had never had a girlfriend before, and didn't know how other couples did it. Spending 24/7 with your significant other seemed boring. After the little honey moon stage, what else would there be to talk about? You already know everything about each other, so what would still be considered interesting enough to make the relationship last? Well, besides sex, Sage supposed.

He had never had sex either. His fellow soldiers back in Afghanistan used to make fun of him for not having a woman to call or one that sent him explicit pictures to 'keep him going' while in service, but he never paid any mind to it.

The mental mention of sex made his manly thoughts roam further, and he began to wonder what Mariah and her girlfriend's sex life was like. He wasn't trying to be creepy or anything, just curious. After all, they were the most attractive women he'd seen in almost a decade.

Judging by their personalities, Sage assumed that Solana would be more dominant than Mariah in bed. Mariah was definitely more touchy than her though-currently rubbing her hand that she was holding-so maybe she was actually the dominant one who took care of Solana during that 'special' time. It was hard to tell.

He tried to stop thinking about it because he begun to creep himself out, but his thoughts were already in motion. As soon as he pictured them naked, he frustratedly ran his hand down his face, attempting to stir his uncensored mind in a different direction.

The erection of his dick started to grow stronger in his sweats, making him realize that he definitely had to find a way to stop this. He honestly couldn't recall the last time he'd gotten a boner, and he didn't miss this feeling that was basically an urge he couldn't control.

His eyes drifted to an older waitress unintentionally strutting towards a table, and her jeans were heavily sagging right underneath her butt. He blew out a silent breath of relief as his hard-on almost immediately went away.

Focusing back on his fries, he picked up his phone from the table at the same time that he dipped one in ranch. Sage still didn't know what was the point in buying himself a phone. He didn't have any apps on there besides a few games and TV streaming services, and nobody texted or called him besides the 611 number from T-Mobile and 'Spam Likely' numbers.

The App Store gave him suggestions on apps to download, like Snapchat, Instagram, and Facebook; but he didn't have any accounts set up and didn't know anyone to follow either. Besides, he was 26 years old. Did people his age even have social media? It seemed to be aimed at teenagers nowadays.

Sage was snapped out of his thoughts yet again as Mariah headed his way, and he knew for sure she had realized he was there now. To his surprise, she walked right past and stopped directly behind him at the sauce stand to grab a few containers of syrup for her chicken and waffles combo.

Now he knew he had to have done something wrong. She didn't even look at him for long; just barely meeting his staring eyes for a second or two. When she walked back to her booth, he wondered if he should go and apologize for leaving without saying anything yesterday.

But why would she be mad over that? She knew that he barely spoke as it was, so she should've expected that. Then he wondered if she was ignoring him because maybe he'd made Solana uncomfortable by being there with Mariah, alone.

He hadn't meant to make either of them upset, and he definitely didn't have any plans of coming between the two. Hell, he had only known Mariah for a few days anyway, and couldn't remember ever coming off as flirtatious. He didn't even know how to flirt.

As if the universe was playing against him, he watched Solana turn her head to look directly where he was-as if Mariah had just told her that he was there. Sage became slightly overwhelmed with her harsh eyes and now felt like they were talking about him in a negative manner.

He ended up leaving the diner a few minutes later because he had quickly grown uncomfortable, and it now felt like he was required to apologize since he had obviously offended them in some way. He just had to muster up the courage to do it first.

Sage waited until around nine in the evening to finally go knock on their door, hoping that they were now home. He had spent the last couple of hours stressing over how to apologize, and what to apologize for.

As he stood there, he realized that this was stupid and was about to turn to leave, but then the door opened. When he saw that Solana was the one who opened it, he felt like he would vomit from how nervous he was.

"Hey I-I wanted to apologize for, um, being here yesterday, with Mariah, alone. I didn't mean to make you upset, or I d-I don't know. I don't want to date her though. I mean, I'm not calling her ugly but she's with you so I can't. I mean, not that it was ever a thought or anything.." He stumbled over his words, basically talking in circles.

Solana's eyebrows furrowed with confusion, but Sage took it as her becoming angrier, causing him to internally curse himself out. He figured he was only making things worse.

"Hold on." She took a step back, closing her front door before he could say anything. Not wanting to embarrass himself further, Sage turned around to go back to his apartment, wishing he could just crawl in a hole and die. He shouldn't have came to their door in the first place.

"Sage," Solana called from her door just as he'd made it to his, making him turn around with a soft, almost guilty expression on his face.

"Do you wanna go bowling with us?" She asked him, catching him completely off guard.

"What?" Now it was his turn to furrow his eyebrows in confusion.

"Do you wanna go bowling with us?" She asked again, but slower as if he didn't understand her the first time.

"I heard you but why are you asking me that?" He frowned. He wouldn't ask anyone he was upset with to go bowling.

"Because it's Friday night and you don't look like you're busy," She gestured to his lounge outfit of a loose tee shirt and sweats, making him look down at his own clothes. Maybe he should've dressed like he cared about himself before knocking on their door.

"Um, sure.." He agreed, only because he felt inclined to.

"Okay go get dressed and knock when you're done." She told him, and then closed the door, leaving him in the hall alone.

Though he didn't know why he'd been invited out, Sage went and did as told. He wore a pair of black jeans with a white fitted tee shirt, then put a black hoodie over it. He matched the outfit with some black timberland boots, and fixed the shoelaces the way that he preferred them to be.

After spraying himself with some cologne, he stared at his reflection in the mirror to see if he was missing anything. He didn't have any flashy jewelry like Mariah and Solana, so he looked kind of plain. He made a mental note to at least go buy a watch or something.

He decided to wear a black beanie too, just to look less boring, he supposed. Sage grabbed his wallet and put it in his front pocket, and then left out of his apartment after making sure he had his phone.

Doing as Solana had asked, Sage knocked on their door, and stepped back to wait for them to open it. Maybe he should've only knocked twice instead of three times. What if they assumed he was rushing them or something??

His thoughts immediately ceased when the door opened, this time revealing Mariah and not Solana. That calmed his nerves a little bit. Solana made him so nervous and he didn't know why.

"I heard you said I was ugly?" Mariah teased, putting her hands on her hips while shifting her weight to rest on one side of her body.

"What? No I d-I didn't call you ugly. I said I d-,"

"It was a joke Sage. Geez. Come in." She chuckled, stepping to the side and doing a waving motion to gesture him in. Sage had a small frown on his face as he walked in, now embarrassed yet again.

"Why you been ignoring me ma? Did I do something wrong?" He asked her, reaching back to rub the roots of one of his dreads, causing his hoodie to rise a bit.

"No. I just thought that I was getting on your nerves too much so I wanted to give you some space. Do you overthink often? Because where did that even come from?" She stood at her kitchen counter, searching through her purse for something.

The tension left Sage's body when she said that, confirming that he hadn't actually done anything wrong. Now he felt kind of silly for assuming that he had. It was all in his head, as always.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I was just joking when I said that." He apologized, ignoring her question of if he overthought often. He did.

"Mhm. Which time?" She smartly remarked, earning a chuckle from him since she was acting like her old self again. Maybe he did say that too much.

"I don't know. Maybe the last one." He shrugged, and she amusingly rolled her eyes in response while putting lip gloss on her lips.

Sage's eyes trailed over when Solana walked in, and he realized that she and Mariah were matching. They weren't wearing the same thing, but their outfits were color coordinated.

Mariah wore a cropped white rib-knit tee, light washed bell bottom jeans, and yellow strike OG dunks. Solana, on the other hand, wore a yellow long-sleeved Gallery Department cropped hoodie, tan colored stacked sweats, and a yellow and white dunks-a little darker in color than Mariah's.

Both of their hairstyles had changed since yesterday too. Mariah had straight jet black bundles with lightly swooped baby hairs, and Solana now had blonde layered hair.

Of course they both wore diamond jewelry to compliment their looks even more, and each had a purse too. Needless to say, they looked beautiful.

"You're definitely taking pictures." Mariah told her after fixing the front of her sweats for her.

"No I'm not."

"Yes you are."

Ten minutes later the three of them made it to the parking garage, where Mariah forced her girlfriend to take pictures next to the ramp railing. Then, Solana went ahead and posted on Instagram since Mariah was going to make her do it anyway.

solanajinsui

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solanajinsui : Spin 'bout me 💛
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prettyindie : Any time and every time! 🫶🏼
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"Move Mariah, damn." Solana chuckled, pushing her hand away from her inner thigh for like the third time since they'd been in the car.

"You are soooo fake." She rolled her eyes with a smile, moving her hand to rest on Solana's thigh.

Solana was in the driver's seat of her cherry red Lamborghini Urus truck, Mariah was in the passenger, and Sage sat in the backseat near the left window-and hadn't said a word since they'd been in the car.

He was still trying to figure out why the invited him to join them in the first place, but hadn't asked because that would just be weird. He assumed everything that he did would be weird.

"Do you have any friends Sage? You can invite them out if you want." Mariah told him, turning around in her seat a bit.

"I don't." He answered, not removing his eyes from the window. Solana drove so fast, he was surprised she hadn't been pulled over yet.

"Why not? You just moved here or something?" She asked, and he nodded in response.

"From where?" Solana asked from the front seat, which made him finally tear his eyes away from his surroundings. They were nosy.

"Afghanistan." He said, and when both of their faces frown up in confusion, he added, "I just left the military."

"You gotta tell us more than that.." Mariah gestured for him to continue, interested in the stranger she'd befriended.

Sage looked out of the window again as they passed the city skyline, wondering what he should say. He didn't want to go too much into detail because that was unnecessary, but decided to tell them a little bit about himself just to make conversation.

"I was there for nine and a half years-I left Chicago and went to Japan for training first, then was stationed in Afghanistan."

"How old are you now?" Solana wondered aloud, pulling into the parking lot of the Bowling Alley.

"26."

"You been in the military since you was 17? You crazy, ain't it?" Mariah furrowed her eyebrows at him, and he chuckled, shrugging his shoulders.

When they got out of the car, Sage told them a little bit more about his life in the military. He explained that he went because he wanted to get closer to his dad, and only stayed after he died because he had nowhere else to go. He also revealed that this was his first time being back, and that they were the first ones to befriend him.

They conversed a little more about how he was adjusting to life while exploring the Bowling Alley together, and Sage was actually having fun. He was glad he was enjoying himself because if he had paid one hundred dollars for all-activity passes only for it to be boring, he would've been upset.

Sage had ended up paying for all three of them, just as a token of his appreciation for inviting him out. He thought the bowling alley would just be a place to bowl-you know, with only bowling lanes-but it had much more than that. There were arcade games, laser tag, a virtual reality system, a bar and food area, and even a jungle gym park for kids.

The trio had tired themselves out at all of the different activity areas, and were now waiting on the dinner they'd ordered at the attached restaurant while sipping on frozen margaritas.

"Not having TikTok is crazy." Solana shook her head in fake disappointment, placing her thick straw to her glossed lips.

She wasn't as stuck-up or as mean as he thought she was. She was actually very nice, and even ordered his meal for him because the loud environment had given him a headache and he didn't feel like talking loud enough for the waitress to hear.

"I don't know what that is." Sage chuckled, watching her fingers tap on his phone screen. She and Mariah were currently making him a few social media accounts even though he said he didn't need it.

"Even crazier." Mariah agreed with her girlfriend, posting Sage's new instagram handle on her story as a promotion so that nobody thought anything of it.

"Really? Zero pics?" Solana looked over at him with a frown. She was about to post a picture of him on his story, but he didn't have any pictures in his gallery. All he did was shrug in response.

"Take a pic of me." Mariah pressed the camera icon on his phone, and Solana turned it a bit to get both of them in the frame.

Mariah stuck her tongue out to lick Solana's cheek, and then did the duck lips while Solana smiled. They filled his camera roll up with more selfies, and all he did was stare, of course. They were very pretty.

"That one is cute." Solana sent some of the pictures to her number from his phone, then added both her and Mariah's number in his contacts-the only two numbers there.

Sage chuckled after realizing they were now taking pictures of him, and didn't bother to pose. They smiled on the other side of the camera, obviously having fun on his phone.

"You look good Sage. Say cheese." Solana fixed the lighting on the screen, and he did as told, trying to hide the fact that her compliment made him blush.

I miss Von so much. It's so sad that he died that night. :/