Lela exhaled a groan of surrender as she dropped her body in the plastic black chair. It had been two weeks since Trevor put his sumptuous body on an embargo. Lela didn't take kindly to ultimatums, so when Trevor explained to her that she wouldn't be able to ride his joystick if she didn't tell Alyssa they were a couple she let things between them cool off. Lela focused more on her classes instead of going to Trevor's house to Netflix and chill. 

He wanted to play games so she became the Great Wall of China, icing him out. Outwit, she didn't add his number in the new iPhone 6 he bought her. Outplay, she wore those painted-on t-shirt dresses that gripped her irresistible voluptuous curves making it difficult for him to tear his eyes and hands off her. Outlast, she was going strong for days not thinking about the warmth of his bed or the scorch of his body. Well, that was until last night. Last night, when he dropped by her townhouse unannounced.

Harmony, Alyssa, and Safiya went to cheer on Samuel, Wes, and the rest of the Texas University football team as they battled the Baylor bears at Helms Stadium. Lela didn't really like football. As blasphemous as it was for a Texas-born and raised girl to admit and utter she just favored basketball more. So, when Professor Steward assigned a Theme portrait for her Life Drawing class she took advantage of the empty house. With Maxwell lowly playing in the background, she drug the freshly sharpen pencil across the blank canvas.

Two knocks at the door broke Lela from her creative flow.

"Who is it?" Lela yelled as she meandered to the door in her neon multicolored bralette and white cotton shorts.

"Just open the door." The familiar voice ordered.

"Don't tell me what to do!" Lela shouted back as she stood on her tippy toes peeking out the peephole. She groaned loudly seeing Trevor standing on her porch. She lowered back to her bare feet, "Go back to the stadium."

"I'm not going anywhere." Trevor twisted the doorknob hoping she unlocked it anyways. "You've been avoiding me for a month."

Lela leaned against the wall, "It's been thirteen days, liar."

"Well, it feels like forever." He tapped his finger on the door. "Please, just let me in...I take it back."

The lock clicked and the door opened.

"What do you want?" Lela asked as the hallway light poured over her.

Trevor stepped out of the darkness with lust-filled eyes, "You."

Lela's full lips softened under his as he gripped the back of her thighs and eased them around his waist.

She pulled away from his kiss latching her arms around his neck, "I thought I was cut off."

"I quit." Trevor breathed as the hot desire drained from his baby blue optics leaving defeat in its wake. "You win." He buried his head in the valley of her supple breast.

"Stop." Lela dropped her arms away from his neck and pressed them against his sturdy shoulders, pushing him away. "Put me down."

"What?" His head shot up. "Why?"

"Because..." Lela tried to push away from him again but he firmly held her to his hard body. "I don't want failure sex."

Trevor released his hold on her smooth flesh lowering her back on solid ground, "Failure sex?" He combed his hand through his tousled blonde tresses.

Lela pushed her bralette strap back onto her shoulder. She leaned against the wall as the wanton fire of temptation fizzled out. "I'll talk to Alyssa tomorrow." A frown plastered its way on her face. This wasn't how she planned things. She didn't want to fall in...she didn't want to say love...but it was something strong wreaking havoc on her heart and jumbling her emotions. Whatever it was she didn't want to want him, her friend's ex-boyfriend but she did. Now, she had to be a woman and tell Alyssa.

A wicked smile crossed Trevor's voice, "Told ya...I fulfill every task that comes my way." He winked.

*****

So, Tuesday afternoon Lela kept true to her words. After giving her last campus tours to eager freshman and their parents with twenty-one questions she sought out Alyssa. There was only one place the workaholic, perfectionist would be at three forty-one. Amadeus Reeves Library was the largest library on campus with its modern architecture and limitless glass windows. Lela hustle through the buzz of the first floor pulsing with students waiting for a spot in the computer lab or seeking the help of one of the seven librarians. She galloped up the stairs bypassing the cramped elevator. As her foot hit the top step of the fourth floor she gasped a deep breath of scentless oxygen. Lela sought out the last table on the last row by the window. Alyssa wasn't there but every trace of her was. Books scattered open, a laptop, a notebook, and a rainbow of highlighters covered the table like a tablecloth.

"What are you doing in the library?" Alyssa inquired walking back to her table with a microbiology book in hand. "On the top floor no less. I thought the quiet creeped you out." She slid the brown linen-textured book on the table as she sat down.

Lela untied the shoelace of her orange Converse, "I didn't say it creeped me out." She corrected retying the shoelace. "I said it was eerie like those scenes in horror movies...when the girl calls hello in an empty house."

Alyssa flipped open the book, the hardcover thudding against the oak table. "What do you want?" She stopped scrolling her finger down the page that read Table of Contents.

"Why...why do you assume I want something?"

"For starters, you're stuttering and..." Alyssa snapped her fingers. "You not giving me eye contact." She leaned over and sought out Lela's eyes.

Lela looked away from the window turning toward Alyssa studying her face. The black and purple bruises faded to a rich pink and the stitches now gone left behind a line that resembled something a child made with an Etch-A-Sketch.

"You remember freshman year?" Lela asked as Alyssa plainly stared at her. "You were the first person I met while checking in the dorms."

Alyssa folded her arms settled her back against the chair, "Let's stop the trip down memory lane. What did you do?"

Lela swallowed the heavy lump in her throat. "I didn't mean to hurt you." She looked away from Alyssa's cold, stern gaze and onto the blazing sun and academic buildings out the window. "Since Independence Day I've been.... hooking up with Trey."

"Trey." Alyssa unfolded her arms sitting straight up. "As in Trevor. My Trevor."

Lela quickly turned back to Alyssa, "He's not your Trevor." Lela's eyes narrowed as a possessive chord played through her body. "He's mine."

"He was mine first!" Alyssa seethed leaning across the table. "What the hell is going on? First Safiya! Now you! You bitches honor no code!" Her voice raised higher than the librarian would have allowed.

"I'm not your bitch, bitch." A stint burned the palm of Lela's hand as she slapped it against the table. "Why do you even care?" Lela rose to her feet. "You said he was dull and childish."

"Well..." Alyssa grabbed her books in her arms and threw her lime green backpack strap over her shoulder. "You know what they say...birds of a feather."

"Lyssa!" Lela shouted as Alyssa rushed off quicker than a Trekkie at the opening day of the new Star Wars.

Alyssa stopped halfway through the aisle of C and D. She slowly swiveled back around like the new Mustang on display at the neighborhood Chevrolet dealership.

"What?" Alyssa asked with an eye roll.

Lela twisted her mouth biting the inside of her cheek before saying a word, "I'm sorry."

Alyssa huffed rearranging the books that weighed her arms down. "Good for you." She backed up. "And Lee, don't expect me at home tonight. You can tell Har and Fiya why."

DO you think Alyssa's reaction to Lela hooking up with Trevor is justified?