Dedicated to viall2005 for the covers above and below! thank youu <3

Chapter Eight: "Three Degrees From Lebron James."

"YOU'RE MEANING TO tell me that you were in Aven's room and you guys did nothing?"

Mariam had asked this question three times. Each time in disbelief. I gave her the same answer of 'yes' as we walked towards our classes the following afternoon. I was in the process of fixing my scarf as we went up Edgar Hill, attempting to shield myself from the cold air potentially numbing my face as Mariam continued pestering me for an answer she wasn't going to be happy to receive.

"We just watched Glee, talked, and ate Twizzlers." Not much more to say.

"I refuse to believe that."

"That's all we did!" I assured her, moving my hand from my scarf once it was in the right placement. "We played this game with his roommates, talked more, and he dropped me off at home. He was chill about it."

"Nothing?"

"Mariam."

"Absolutely nothing?" She shook her head, looking at where Iman was standing in the distance, waiting for me outside of the South Campus building. He wore a bubble jacket similar to my own but his was a light brown and he had a red hat over his head that mirrored the purple one I was wearing. Like us, he was freezing from the cold, rubbing his hands together as we approached him.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"If a guy invites a girl over and they watch Netflix, what does that mean?" Mariam asked.

"That they're going to fuck." He said.

"Or it can mean that they literally just watched Netflix," From personal experience, I understood exactly what Mariam meant but even at that moment that I was in Aven's room, I knew what that night was about. It was simply comfortable and simply comfortable was not enough for Mariam Sada.

"On a bed." Mariam continued. "It was on a bed. That is code. That is sex."

"You're crazy," I told her.

"What are you two talking about?" Iman asked.

"Aven invited Jaime over--"

"Not really," I interjected. "His roommate just wanted me there so he could get laid which he did. Aven and I just hung out by association."

Mariam waved a hand to dismiss my words, but Iman's eyes were wide. "Wait, wait, Jaime and Aven?"

"Jaime and Aven," Mariam repeated, crossing her arms.

"There is no Jaime and Aven," I told the two of them as people moved around us, lucky to not be paying attention to this mindless conversation I was warped into.

"Wait, wait," He repeated. "You're meaning to tell me that you spent the night over at Aven's? You're fucking Aven?"

My hands went to my face in shame from his loud voice asking the question while another small part of me wished that was true. Oh, God.

But the thing with Iman was that once he asked one question, he didn't stop. Sometimes it was endearing. It must have been a trait he had at four that never went away. Other times it made me want to grab a pin and take the bubble out of his bubble jacket.

"Do you what this means? Like, if you guys are hooking up? Or are you planning on getting together? Because that would make you my sister in law by association. And, like, you're already, like, a sister to me but Aven is like my brother and-wait, no, that's really weird that would make you two siblings and that's gross. That's practically incest."

"Immanuel," Mariam's eyes narrowed behind her glasses that she had opted to wear today instead of her contacts. "You're ridiculous."

"I know." He grinned at her. "But seriously, Jaime. It'll be like incest."

"It's not incest," I said just as a few people gave me concerned looks as they walk by us. "Please, stop saying that word. I feel like you've said more times now than you ever have in your entire life. Now, I don't have time to think about whatever is going on in your minds about me and Aven, I still have midterms to think about. Not a guy."

"Well, I'll be seeing him in class," Mariam said. "Maybe I'll tell him you said hi."

"Mariam."

"Okay, I won't. I'll do it telepathically." She offered, waving bye to us as she headed over to her sociology lecture in Roger Hall.

"She's crazy."

Iman agreed, the two of us walking into the South Campus building. When we approached our lecture hall, I took note that the familiar pack of students that would gather before the class started, waiting for the previous class to leave, didn't occupy the space. Instead, I saw three people in a corner chatting amongst themselves and another sitting with their back against a wall, staring at their laptop.

Opening the door, Iman poked his head inside. He shrugged, and that let me know the previous class was still there for the allotted time. He pulled out his phone and a couple of seconds later, he grinned, "Biochem's cancelled. Emailed the class."

"No way." My excitement grew only as Iman started shuffling, doing a very happy dance that drew the conversation of the other three in the corner to an end and the person who had been staring at their laptop was now staring at my happy friend.

We were already walking out of the building, back into the cold. Iman had a little hop in his steps as he clapped his hands together. "Thank fuck, I can go home. I'm exhausted."

"You had an early morning gym session or something, right?"

The hop in his step disappeared when he narrowed his eyes at me, "You really are hanging out with Aven."

"He just said it yesterday," I told him as we walked out of the building. "He told me actually that the reason you and him know each other well is because of Ezekiel, right?"

The mention of his brother makes Iman evidently giddy as he starts walking backwards in front of me, "Yeah, they're best friends and our families are really close back home. Our parents are super close. Our dads do everything together, so we all grew up together."

"That's cool," Iman didn't talk much about his family but whenever he did, he did it with glee. "You know, you don't really talk about your brother."

Iman shrugged and like me, holding onto the straps of his backpack as I made sure he didn't walk into any of the people along the path. "Ezekiel's cool. We're close. I just don't bring him up often because having a brother in the NBA means that a lot of people only use you to get to him. To get to his newfound life. Money. Glory. I told you about Ezekiel because you didn't care. You didn't watch basketball even though you played it."

"Just because I played it doesn't mean I was interested in watching." I pointed out. "But I get you, it makes sense."

"You barely had a clue who my brother was," Iman pointed out. "At least now you're three degrees from Lebron James, technically." The six degrees of separation, Iman liked to call it.

For me and Lebron James, it was three degrees. I knew Iman. Iman knew Ezekiel. Ezekiel knew Lebron James.

"I remember when I told Mari about my brother," He said quietly, turning around in the same direction as me. The mention of her name has me raising my eyebrows. "She was so shocked because you know her family is huge on basketball and they love the Raptors. She was so cute about it." Iman laughed at the memory; his eyes cast down on the pavement as we moved along the path.

Did he still love her? He probably did. Especially with that look on his face. There was always something different about a boy falling in love. Just the way he said her name and the way his expression changed said all he didn't have to.

"Yo Aven!" Iman yelled and my gaze tore to see the man crossing the street.

Aven wore a thick grey sweater, a black turtle-neck sticking out from underneath it. There was no duffel bag in sight today, only his backpack over his shoulders. He pulled his Airpods out of his ears as Iman ran, barreling into the man with a huge hug that had people glancing over.

As I approached them, Aven returned his friend's affection, patting his back. "I saw you this morning at practice."

"I can't get excited to see you?" Iman asked as they pulled away.

Aven's eyes slid over to me, "Hello."

"Stop it," I warned him and he laughed, the sound making me smile. And he even reached out as another sign of greeting, nudging me slightly on the shoulder. The mere feeling of his touch had me bite my lip and hope that I wouldn't think about it all day. "Aren't you in sociology? Why aren't you in class?"

Aven narrowed his eyes, "Stalking me again, Jaime?"

"No," I spluttered, and Iman even grinned at Aven's teasing. The teasing was one thing but constantly having to add my name at the end of questions had me take a deep breath as I struggled to form a sentence. "You and Mariam are in the same—I--you know what?"

I stormed off, the embarrassment crawling up my throat as I walked away from them. They followed close, the two of them cackling. "I skipped," Aven answered as they fell in step with me as I trudged up the steps towards the entrance of the University community center. "I can't pay attention anyway. I'm kinda tired."

"You know you just lost like 70 dollars." Iman pointed out.

"How?" Aven asked.

"When you don't attend a lecture and then cut it from your tuition you lose like 70 dollars."

"Where did you get that statistic?" I asked.

"I made it up. That's why I said like." Iman skipped ahead, opening the door as we entered the warm building.

We all crowded around a table by the open eatery where plenty of students filled the space with loud chatter by this time of the afternoon. I was currently eating a sandwich, Aven was scrolling through his phone and Iman took up two chairs as he typed away at his laptop. "What are you doing?" Aven asked as Iman flipped his laptop into a tablet, ringing out his pen to start drawing-or rather start colouring a map.

"I'm colouring." He said, eyebrows furrowed in concentration.

"For what class?"

"I'm taking Canadian Geography."

"Why?" I asked him. "How are you doing any type of geography or anything to do with places? Last time I was in a car with you, you took our taxi near a strange route claiming you knew the area. I thought I was being kidnapped."

"This class is easy!" He assured me. "And how are you going to trust me with directions in a province I'm not even from? If you come to BC, I can take you anywhere."

"No, wait. Your electives are random as hell," Aven said. "You're in computer science. Didn't you guys meet in biology? Why did you take it?"

Iman shrugged. "I like bio, man. Imagine having only one interest? Imagine not having this thing called variety? Imagine-"

"Oh my God," I muttered.

"We get it," Aven said, leaning back as well.

Iman tilted his chin in Aven's direction as the noise in the area only seemed to get louder, all three of us straining to hear each other as the conversation continued. "Did you send in all of your applications?"

Law school. "Yeah," Aven rubbed his eyes, looking as tired as Iman had been moments before. "I sent in the last one on the weekend. Now we wait."

"Back home, here you come," Iman said with a smile.

Aven returned it tiredly. "We'll see."

"It better happen," Iman muttered. "You could barely hang out with me or Ezekiel when he came home over the summer because you were so busy grinding it out for the LSAT. Imagine when you have to do the bar exam? Why does it take so much work to become a lawyer? Goddamn. You're brave."

Aven opened his mouth to speak, but I cut in, my curiosity getting the best of me. "Why do you want to be a lawyer?" Iman and Aven both exchanged looks. Okay, so there was a significant reason. "Never mind, you don't have to tell me."

"It's okay," Aven assured me softly, putting his phone down. "Um, when I was seven my dad was incarcerated. It was a wrongful conviction. He was away for three years."

My lips part in surprise. Locked up in prison for years for a crime you didn't commit? I never knew of anyone who went to prison but from my fair share of the news and dramatic TV shows, a shit ton of horrible things could happen to people in there.

"He was with a few friends at a convenience store. Iman's dad was one of them." Aven said.

"Our parents do everything together." Iman reminded me, leaning back and putting the pen down.

"Long story short, there had a robbery at a bank nearby," Aven's eyes fell to his locked phone on the table. "My dad, Iman's dad and their friends were simply at the wrong place at the wrong time when they left the store. Take an incorrect witness identification of the suspect, which is one of the leading causes of wrongful conviction, and add it with a very shitty defence lawyer and it equals me not seeing my dad for a very long time," Aven shifted and then shrugged when he said, "I mean, three years doesn't seem like a long time--"

"It's a long time," Iman interjected. "I was five and I remember what it did to everyone, Aven. Even if he was gone for a week or two days? That is still a long time."

Aven's eyes didn't move from his phone. "Did the government give him compensation?" I asked.

Aven nodded, looking up to meet my gaze but it was so obvious that Iman's words were right. If it affected everyone in the community they grew up in, I couldn't imagine what it had done to Aven and his mom. "Yeah."

"But that'll never make up from losing three years without your dad," Iman said with a sigh. "He's awesome. One of the best people out here."

Aven let out a small laugh. "Yeah, he is."

"Jaime, you've got to meet him one day," Iman continued. "The Montaque's know how to cook. Christmas time is always at their house with all of our families. It's huge. You'd love it."

Aven agreed, chuckling, probably the memories before I felt someone's foot tap against my own under the table. I almost jolt at the unexpected touch and Aven's looking directly at me as if I wasn't going to be thinking about that motion all day as well. "You got any more questions, Jaime?"

"So, you want to be a lawyer because of what happened to your dad? A criminal defence lawyer?"

Aven made a face. "I want to be a lawyer for that and various other reasons but not necessarily a criminal defence lawyer," He admitted.

"He wants to fight the system." Iman teased. "Start a revolution."

"I'm not starting a revolution. I'm not even exactly sure what kind of lawyer I want to be," He admitted, moving his eyes from Iman and focusing on me as he said, "Criminal defence? No. Not my thing. I want to practice law, but I also want to participate in helping people that have been put in situations like my dad. To have a hand in how to deal with false eyewitnesses and tampering of evidence. I want to work in a field that focuses on proper regulations, legislation, and policies for fair trials and more."

If I didn't know he wanted to be a lawyer, that would have set it for me. Although he had his moments where he mumbled, acted adorably shy and all things that would make him out to be unfit to stand in front of a crowd, what he said gave me more insights into the qualities as to why he was a captain of his volleyball team.

He was incredibly outspoken. The way he had said every sentence right there was punctuated and passionate, making me stare at him for a moment longer than I should have if Iman didn't start talking.

"Aven would be a good lawyer. He's the best decision-maker, in my opinion. One of the most moral people out here. The man can listen--I mean, he listens to me and has patience and answers my questions most of the time, you know? He's high-quality lawyer material." Iman leaned forward, shaking Aven on the shoulder. "You are going to get into the law school of your choice, bro. Everyone back home knows it."

Iman didn't say much more, going back to colouring in his map. Aven, on the other hand, zoned out. I could tell by the way he was staring down at the table, lost in thought. Without thinking, I tapped him on the foot this time and he blinked rapidly, pulling his view over to me. "Um, what about you, Jaime?"

"What about me?"

"What do you want to be?"

That was a good question. That was a very good question I had been asking myself for years.

Physics I loved. Biology I was interested in almost as much as physics.

And yet everyone around me seemed to know what the hell they were doing with their lives.

Except for me.

Before I could respond, Iman's groaned out loud. "I fucking hate colouring in this province. Why does Nunavut look so complicated?"

Aven chuckled. I glanced at my phone and decided it was time to leave. Any talk about the future had me more overwhelmed than I could take it and as much as I liked spending time with both of them, I didn't want to be here, on campus anymore. Surrounded by people who had more direction than I ever will.

"I'm gonna go," I said, ignoring Aven's concerned glance.

"Where you headed?" Iman asked me. "Library?"

"Volunteering. They have sessions on Wednesdays." Another chance to play fake chess with Mrs. Green. I needed that. "I'll see you guys later?"

"Yeah." Iman grinned, going back to his drawing and Aven gave me a two-fingered wave as I packed my things and made my way off this overbearing campus.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On the bus back home from volunteering at Sheppard Valley, my phone rang in my pocket as I stared out the window. The bus ride wasn't smooth. The roads of Jasper Bay had me fumbling to take out my phone with every bump or pothole the bus drove over but I managed to take out the device, answering immediately when I saw the contact ID. "Hi."

A loud bark came from the other side and I heard shuffling before my sister, Abisola, responded. "I swear I'm going to lose it."

"What's wrong?"

"Tommy has an ear infection." The name of her dog had me straighten, my eyes still on the blurring view of the town out the window of the almost empty bus.

"Is he going to be okay?"

"He's just irritated and whining but he's going to be fine," She said.

"How's Michael taking it?" I asked, referring to her husband.

"He's going crazy. I wouldn't be surprised if he's staying at work longer just because he doesn't want to deal with the dogs. Especially since Cooper kept barking like crazy in the middle of the night a few weeks ago." Cooper was their second dog. Their third dog was named Daisy.

"But you have work, and he has work."

"Yes. Remind Michael that when you see him next, would you?" Abi sarcastically drawled and I let out a laugh.

Michael and Abi had met while she was still at PA school. He saw her at a shop nearby and got her number, hitting it right off the bat. When he joined us for Christmas that year, I knew they were going to last. They were married two years later and have been living close to our home, Port Yonge, ever since with their three dogs. They were happy.

"Kiss Tommy for me." I pouted.

"I'm sure Tommy misses you as much as you miss him," Abisola said. "Also, you're reading week is coming up, right?"

"It's in November." I reminded her. "But I can't go home. There's literally no point. You and Michael aren't even going to be in the country and mom and dad are going to be visiting...dad's side of the family."

"No one likes them. I don't even think they like themselves." I shivered and I had a feeling she did too. Our father's side of the family was the worst. I'll always be surprised by how mom puts up with their annoying asses. "Did dad offer for you to come with them too?"

"He did. I declined and said I'd rather be doing everything and nothing here in JB instead."

"Smart move."

"Very." I quipped.

"What about your roommates?"

"They're all going home so I'll be alone," I sighed, putting my head back on the window as the bus turned left. "I know Iman may not head back to BC because of flights but I don't know yet."

"Don't be lonely in that house, okay? Invite other people over. Go out." My sister's voice was filled with concern that reminded me of the look Aven had given me when I left the table at the University Community Center. "And you don't have to hole yourself up in that library."

"I don't hole myself up in the library."

"Yes, you do," Abi said.

"Leave me alone," I mumbled.

"I mean it," She continued. "I know you're focused on school more than you were last year. I overheard your conversation with dad before you left." Dad had sat me down at the kitchen table and asked me what I planned on doing this year. I told him. Volunteer. Work. Get my grades up.

"Eavesdropper," I yelled into the phone, freezing when I remembered where I was. Which didn't help by the look the bus driver gave me when he glanced into the rearview mirror as he drove. "Oops."

"Dumbass," Abi laughed. "But please, don't overwork yourself. Your mental health is important. Remember that."

"I remember that," Sometimes. "That's why I am running home to watch an episode of Days of our Lives with Yasmeen before I study again."

"Oh, my god." She muttered and I heard a bark in the background. "Bye."

"Bye!" I smiled hanging up and pocketing my phone. When the bus reached the bus stop near my house, I got off of the vehicle as quick as I could and practically ran home.