Chapter 2
I did my best not to stare at Kaleo for too long. He was sitting in the chair across from me, leaning comfortably back and typing away on his phone. He had some of the clearest dark skin I’d ever seen with beautiful white teeth. He was fine as hell.
He peeked up at me. I looked off and toward the front window. Kaleo chuckled.
“So,” I turned back toward him. “How long have you worked at the shop?”
“As long as I’ve been able to sweep up hair.” He smiled. “The shop is pretty much a family heirloom. My dad and uncle opened the shop and when they decided they wanted to step back, I just sort of took over.”
I nodded at that.
“So do you like working here or is it more of an obligation?
“I love working here, but yeah, it’s a lot of obligation too.” He exhaled. “Do you plan on working this summer while Allur is working or just running around and exploring?”
“I’m not too sure yet,” I confessed. “I haven’t thought that far ahead. I didn’t think of much honestly. I just packed up and came.”
“Must be nice.” He chuckled.
“Not having a plan?”
“Having the freedom to not have a plan and be able to just get up and do whatever you want.”
“Maybe you should hire a really good manager that you trust to keep things afloat.”
“Yeah. Maybe.” Kaleo gave me a small smile.
“So, is it safe to assume your brother isn’t interested in helping out with the family business?”
“He does what he can when he can, but he’s not really dedicated to the family business the way I am to be honest. He’s too busy running around and fucking people’s girls.
” He chuckled and shook his head. “I love him,” Kaleo clarified.
“But, I wouldn’t exactly hand him the keys to the shop unsupervised. ”
“I get that. It’s probably really hard to trust someone with your entire livelihood.”
“Yeah. I’m not scared of a lot of shit, but I’m terrified of the idea of this place failing and getting shut down.”
“I can see that.”
“Yo, yo, yo!” JV walked out of the back, a hand in Allur’s and smiles on both their faces.
“Y’all ready to shut down?” Kaleo hopped to his feet and JV nodded.
“Yep. Let’s do it.”
“Alright.”
“Well, I’ll let y’all do that.” Allur tiptoed to plant a kiss to the side of JV’s head. “Maybe we’ll see you later tonight, Kaleo.”
“Maybe.” He gave her a small smile. “I’ll see how I feel.”
“Yeah, okay.” She rolled her eyes. “You need to get out more.”
“You and JV are two nosy ass peas in the pod.” Kaleo flicked Allur in the arm and she snickered.
“Whatver. I’ll see you there.”
“Maybe.” He gave Allur a look.
She waved him off.
“Come on, girl,” she said as she walked toward the door.
“It was nice meeting you guys.” I slipped out of the chair.
“Nice meeting you,” the men echoed.
Allur damn near floated out the door. Whatever she and JV had done in the back room had changed her entire disposition. I was happy for her honestly. She deserved it.
We climbed in her car together and Allur glanced at me as she merged on the street.
“So, JV and some of the guys wanted to go to Topgolf tonight. You want to go?”
“JV and some of the guys?” I repeated.
“Just two of the other barbers, his brother and Kaleo.”
“Kaleo sounded like he wasn’t sold on going.”
“And you believed him? Girl please.” Allur giggled. “That man loves to be around the foolishness. He just likes to act like he’s above it all. He’ll be there, looking like a hostage and people watching. Trust me.”
“Okay.” I nodded at that.
Allur knew him much more than I knew him so I was going to trust her judgment on this easily.
“Is that your way of saying you want to hangout with Kaleo some more?” she asked then nodded.
“I could see that being a good fit. You just came out of a long term relationship and you’re just out here for the summer and having fun.
I couldn’t tell you the last time Kaleo had a long term relationship.
I think if y’all want to just have fun, it could work out for both of you.
You could get over ole boy and Kaleo won’t get crazy and possessive or whatever. It could be cute.”
“Girl, I am not rushing to hop in bed with any other man right now.”
“I don’t blame you,” Allur shrugged, “But, I’m just saying, I could see it.”
“Let’s just see how tonight goes, alright?”
“Oh. So, you’re coming?”
“Yeah, Allur, I’m coming.”
“Good.”
She did a little dance in her seat and raised the volume of the music she was playing. I laughed but danced in my seat with her.
Kaleo or no Kaleo, tonight was still going to be a good night.
Allur and I headed back to her place, took showers, changed our clothes and headed out.
When we walked in, she immediately led us toward JV. It was almost scary how she seemed to just know exactly where he was.
He was sitting with three other men and two women.
He introduced me to each of them and I shook their hands even though I felt like I couldn’t even focus well enough to retain the information.
They invited me to join their game but I opted to just watch and settled in on one of the seats while everyone put their information in the computer to keep track of their points.We put in drink orders.
They men started trying out different golf clubs to use.
The women practiced their stances and swings.
They took a few bets between each other. Then, they started.
I went from watching them to my phone, back and forth.
As much as I loved Allur, I missed my girls back home too.
I mean, I was only four hours away and they planned on coming down and hanging out a few weekends when they weren’t working but damn.
It was a huge difference from the thirteen minute difference we usually were.
I took a picture of the drinks in front of me once they were delivered and shared them to my social media before plucking mine up. I took a slow sip, leaned back in my seat and opened my ebook.
Honestly, I was having a good time going from reading to listening to Allur and her friends and back. I loved people watching and being a part of a group or event without being pressured to do too much. I was glad no one had tried to force me to take part in the golfing portion of the night.
Allur, however, was much better at the golfing game than I’d thought she would be.
They were halfway done with their game when my phone started ringing and I did a double take at my screen.
I let my finger hover over the answer button. I glanced at Allur then back. Then, I pressed decline. I exhaled. I wasn’t sure why my ex was calling me or what he thought there was for us to talk about, but there was nothing.
We’d been in a dead end relationship and we both knew that.
The hard part was that neither of us had wanted to be the one to call things off.
We knew at our cores we wanted different things but we’d been together for a while and had gotten comfortable.
Starting over was scary especially when there was nothing really “wrong” with the relationship.
In the end, my ex Donald had been the one to bring the conversation up. It had been a long talk with tears exchanged on both sides but ultimately we knew that we were doing the right thing. That didn’t make it hurt less.
The second time his number popped up, I climbed to my feet, excused myself and trekked through the building to find somewhere quiet to answer the call.
He hung up before I made it outside. I told myself if he didn’t call a third time it was a sign to leave it alone and if he did call back it was practically safe to assume something was wrong. I couldn’t remember him ever calling me back to back before.
I went down the stairs in front of the building and stood off to the side. I told myself I’d only give it five minutes. He called back in three. I let it ring twice, braced myself and answered.
“Hello?”
“You the fuck are you with?”
“Excuse me?” I scoffed.
“You just posted wherever you are and there’s a nigga’s hand all in the background. How the fuck did you find a nigga and we’ve been broken up a few days?”
“I’m hanging out with my cousin, her boyfriend and their friends.None of those men are mine or even interested in me,” I argued.
I regretted it immediately. I wasn’t sure why I was telling him any information about what I had going on. We weren’t dating. Shit. We weren’t even friends. I didn’t need to be overexplaining anything I had going on in my life. He didn’t deserve to have that kind of access.
“You expect me to believe that?” Donald’s voice got louder.
“I don’t care what you believe!” I argued. “I don’t owe you an explanation at all! You broke up with me!”
“And that’s an excuse to run off and be a fucking slut?”
“A slut? Nigga, are you crazy?” My voice rose. “I can do whatver the fuck I want. I’m single.”
“Aye, are you cool?” A voice snapped my attention away from Donald and I looked up at Kaleo whose eyebrows were fiddled together. I nodded but didn’t say anything aloud. “That’s your ex?” He gestured to the phone. I nodded once. “Give me the phone.”
“Kaleo-”
My sentence died on my lips when he snatched the phone from me.
“Aye. Stop calling my motha’fuckin girl, lil nigga. She good over this way.”
He hung up and offered the phone to me.
“What the fuck, Kaleo?” I snatched my phone from his hand.
“If that man broke up with you and he’s calling to clock your moves, it’s a test. He’s trying to see how far he can push and if he still has access to you. Don’t let him have it.” He nudged his head to the entrance. “Come on.”
“You’re serious?” I asked.
“I did it. Didn’t I?” He smirked. “I mean, I think you should lock in and post something crazy to make him cry in a corner, but do what works for you, shawty.”
I paused and shifted on my feet.
“Post something like what?”
“You think he stalks your page?”
“Well he just called me because of something I posted so probably.”
“Cool.” Kaleo pulled his phone out, tapped a few things then offered it to me. “Seach yourself up.”