8. Amina Sinclair
Amina Sinclair
Gemini and I were in Mobile, Alabama now.
I’ve never been to Alabama before, so the moment we arrived, I quickly put the book down that I was reading, and took in my surroundings, really seeing how things were different over here.
Being on the move like this, going in and out of different cities, and states, made me realize that so far, nothing was really like London.
London had its own tempo of things. Its own energy and feel.
I haven’t found that yet. Because I could be such a geek, and a fiend for new information, if I wasn’t reading, I would be journaling, creating a list of the new cities that we would visit, and I would jot down information about the city, writing on the things that I’d noticed.
It was just a way for me to revert back to it. Nothing heavier than that.
As I was looking out of the window, Gemini’s phone started ringing.
The phone was resting right in the cupholder, so naturally, I turned my head to look.
I hated that I looked because my eyes landed on the contact.
The name was Raven. I had no idea who Raven was, and truthfully, I hated that I looked.
I wasn’t this gullible woman that didn’t believe that Gemini wasn’t out here doing his thing with other women.
Hell, he was a single man. To add onto that, he was fine as hell, a body that belonged on a cover of a fitness magazine, college educated, charming as well, and he had a great career.
Women were going to go after him. Let’s also add onto the fact that he didn’t have any children, which meant that he didn’t come with any baggage.
Women like a man without the extra baggage.
To so many single women, Gemini was like the winning lottery ticket.
I watched Gemini, wanting to see what his next move was going to be.
He picked the phone up, silenced the call, and then placed the phone in his lap.
Almost instantly, his phone began to ring again.
This time, I didn’t look to see who it was calling.
I’m sure it was Raven calling his phone again though.
Did it make me crazy or delusional that I might have felt some kind of way that another woman was calling him?
Another woman that I’m sure he has dealings with, which is why he felt the need to continue to ignore the call in the first place.
He ended up answering the call. He drove with his left hand, and with his right, he accepted the call. My heart dropped to my stomach when he answered the phone for her, putting it to his ear.
“What’s up?” he answered.
Because of the way he answered, he kind of eased me a little bit.
Maybe it was just a female friend that was calling him.
He didn’t smile. He didn’t call her a cute pet name.
He was casual with the way he answered. Like how a man would greet one of his home boys, or his cousins.
Call me crazy though, but I wished he would have placed the call on speaker, so that I could hear what Raven was saying.
I would pay top dollar to hear what she was saying to Gemini on the other side of the call.
“Nah. I’m not in town. I been on the road for a few days now,” he said. I wanted to crawl into this damn seat and just disappear.
See, this is why I had no business kissing this man.
Knowing that I was the kind of person that would quickly start liking someone, I have no idea why I didn’t think to ask if he was dealing with other people before we kissed.
We talked about everything else, but not if he was seeing people back home.
Granted, I knew that Gemini was single. He said it.
He could have been dealing with other women though.
That’s the part that I didn’t know about.
“Yeah. I’m on the road right now. I’ll hit you another time,” he said. I don’t even think he waited for her to respond because he quickly hung up and tossed the phone into the cupholder.
He never turned his head to look at me. I was biting down on my bottom lip, fighting the urge to ask him something.
Sitting in this seat, it felt like I was fighting for my life.
Fighting so many things. The urge. Curiosity.
All of that. I knew that Gemini didn’t belong to me.
I knew that I didn’t belong to him. He was a single man.
With that, it was in his rights to answer the phone if another woman called him.
I just didn’t like it though. I’ll be honest about that.
“Can I ask you something without making things awkward between us?” I just went ahead and said what was on my mind.
Looking at the navigation, we had about 40 minutes to get to our destination, and if I sat here for 40 minutes, not saying what was on my mind, I was going to drive myself crazy.
“What’s up? Ask me anything,” he said.
I turned in my seat, so that I could face him. Before I just jumped right out and asked, I wanted to think about how I should ask him. I didn’t want it to come off like I was trying to check him or anything.
“Be honest, do you have anything serious going on with anybody back home in Miami? Well, even if it’s not in Miami. Just any woman in general. I know you said that you’re single, but what about women that you talk to, or date whenever you get off the road? Do you have that?” I wanted to know.
I don’t know why I thought that he would suck his teeth and become agitated with my question.
We’ve been on the road since nine this morning.
Gemini had done a couple of pickups and drop offs.
It didn’t hit me until now that my timing might have been off, but he handled the question well.
He didn’t sigh, suck his teeth, none of those things.
“When I get off the road, yeah, I have a few women that I might pull up on. It’s nothing serious though, so to answer your question, no I don’t have anything serious going on with anyone back home in Miami.
Not in any other city as well. I’m a single man.
I don’t belong to anyone. I kissed you twice.
I didn’t cross anyone by kissing you. I didn’t cheat on anyone.
I can do what I want,” he said, and I nodded my head to that.
I felt so stupid right now. I hated that I didn’t ask him that beforehand. Granted, I already knew that Gemini was a good catch, and I knew that other women were more than likely trying to get with him, but it didn’t make me feel good hearing about it.
I didn’t want to get in my feelings. I didn’t want this to come off as if I was angry at him or annoyed that he was talking to other women, so I decided to drop it. I didn’t say anything else in response to what he’d just said. I simply nodded, opened my book, so that I could tend to that.
“Nah. Don’t just end it like that. You asked me that for a reason. What’s up?” he wanted to know. Sighing, I kept the book open, but I didn’t look at him.
“Nothing. I wished that I would have asked you that earlier,” I said.
“If you would have asked me that earlier, what would that have changed? Amina, we would have still kissed. You acting like I just sat here and came clean about having a girl at home. I don’t.
I said that I deal with a few women from time to time whenever I touch down in Miami.
That’s only the case right now because I’m single.
When I’m in a relationship, I’m faithful, and I don’t entertain other women,” he said.
I nodded, but I didn’t say anything. I didn’t because I was going to come off too passionate and as if I was upset with him for dealing with other people, so I wanted to keep everything to myself.
“I made you feel some kind of way for saying that? You mad at me? Tell me what’s going through your mind right now,” he pressed, wanting to get to the root of the issue.
Even though I was trying to be nonchalant and pretend that there wasn’t an issue…
there was. Not with him though. Not with anything that he did.
This was my issue. My feelings. I don’t know if I was starting to like this man, but yeah, it didn’t make me feel good knowing that he had other women back in Miami waiting for him.
“I’m not mad at you. You didn’t do anything for me to be mad at you.
I think being on this truck with you, kind of removed me from reality for a little bit.
I’m so focused on what’s in front of me.
Solely worrying about the things that happen between me and you on this truck, that I never took the chance to think about that life is happening outside of this truck.
I didn’t think about the fact that there could be other women,” I shared, and once I got to the end, my voice cracked, and I felt so damn stupid.
This is why I didn’t want to talk about it. I was a very emotional person, and I knew that if we continued to talk about it, that I would more than likely cry. Gemini heard the crack in my voice, which caused him to turn his head, and quickly look over at me.
He looked at me for a few seconds and then turned his attention back on the road.