Chapter 3
Fall passed into winter, which turned into spring. The night air was cool against my cheeks as I sat on the porch swing with my book tucked in my hands. The romance novel had me completely absorbed in the lives of the fictional characters.
Boom. Ba Boom. Boom. Ba Boom.
The obnoxiously loud speakers interrupted the tranquil moment. My eyes peered over the circular reading glasses I wore, to see Marquise swing into the driveway and park his car. He sat in the driver’s seat while he bobbed his head to the beat of the song he was listening to.
When he cut the engine off, he emerged. Marquise was fine as hell. He’d always been fine. His aura was attractive. He was the definition of swag. He’d added three or four new tattoos since the first time I’d seen him. At seventeen years old, he had a body covered in tattoos. My favorite was the gorilla on his shoulder. The snarling image was vibrant and lifelike.
He looked over at me on the porch and contemplated speaking. Over the last several months, we’d spoken a few times in passing. We’d had a few lingering glances too. He’d never taken me up on the offer to be his friend, so I kept my distance.
“Hey, Marquise,” I called out to him.
He licked his lips and walked across the grass. “What’s up, Honey?”
“Just reading a book. What are you doing out this late?” I asked.
“Chilling. Needed some fresh air and wanted to hear my baby roar on the highway.”
“You know the neighborhood hates you and that custom sound system you put in your car.”
He smirked. “Good.”
“You’re a mess.”
He walked up the steps and claimed the seat beside me on the porch swing. He smelled of a potent strain of weed, which resulted in me scrunching up my nose.
“You stink.”
“Me? No I don’t.” He sniffed his shirt and lifted his arms to smell his pits.
“Not like a musty stink, but like you’ve rolled around in weed.”
He chuckled. “Oh. The smell of my weed is a little strong. My fault.”
“It’s fine… I guess.”
“You ever smoked weed?”
“No. I’m only sixteen. I don’t want to ruin my lungs.”
“Try it.”
“What if I have a bad reaction?”
“You won’t, but if you do, I got you.”
I raised an eyebrow. “You don’t want to be my friend, but you’d share your weed with me?”
“We not friends?”
I rolled my eyes. “Don’t play with me. You made it clear you didn’t want to be my friend. That’s why we barely speak now.”
He chuckled. “You cool folks. See if your parents will let you take a ride with me.”
“My grandmother already told me to stay away from you. If she heard me out here talking to you right now, she’d tell me to go get a switch off the bush in the backyard.”
“Oh, nah. You ever snuck out before?” he asked.
I shook my head. “My parents are usually cool with me going out. I’ve never been in any trouble or given them a reason not to trust me.”
“Type shit.” He leaned back and took the book out of my hand.
“Hey! What are you doing?”
“What’s this about?”
“At least put my bookmark inside so I don’t lose my place.” I held the rectangular black bookmark out for him to take. He slid it into the crease of the page I was on before he closed the book and admired the cover.
“What’s it about?” he asked again.
“A librarian and her gentle gangster,” I explained.
“You be reading books about gangsters and thugs?” he questioned.
I nodded and reached for the book. He kept the book out of my reach. “Yes. I like to read about unhinged men who don’t play about their women.”
“Would you date a nigga who killed people in real life?” he inquired.
“No. I only like drama in my books. I don’t want to drive myself crazy getting involved with a man who thinks he’s above the law. I may be young, but I’m definitely not dumb.”
“Type shit.”
Silence filled the air. I fiddled with my nails as I contemplated his offer.
“I don’t think I’ll smoke, but I would like to ride in your car. I hear how fast it can go. Can I?”
“If yo’ people let you.”
“Okay. Let me go ask.”
I took my book out of his hands and went inside. Mama and Daddy were cuddled up on the couch, watching a true crime documentary. Really, it was Mama watching and Daddy dozing off.
“Daddy, can I go out with a friend?” I asked softly.
Both of their attention went to me. Mama paused the movie.
“Where are you going?” she queried.
“We’re going to get blizzards from DQ.”
“Who are you going with?” Daddy interrogated.
“Marquise.”
They both frowned.
“It’s not a date or anything like that. We’re just hanging out. I promise.”
They shared a look between each other and finally gazed at me.
“Sweet Tea, I don’t know if I like the idea of you hanging out with that boy. He’s trouble.”
I shook my head. “Not with me. He even made sure I got permission. Y’all trust me?”
“Of course we do. It’s that boy we don’t trust,” Mama explained.
“As long as you trust me, you should be able to believe I wouldn’t do anything out of my norm. My future is too bright to let anybody ruin my life, you know?”
Reluctantly, Mama sighed. “Keep your phone on. Don’t stay out too late either.”
The grin on my face was bright as I hugged them both. “Yay! Thank you! Do y’all want me to bring you back something?”
“No. It’s okay. Just come back home in one piece.”
“Okay, Daddy.”
I waved goodbye as I grabbed my fanny pack and headed out the door.
“We have to go to DQ before we head back home,” I explained to Marquise when I locked the front door.
“Huh?”
“I couldn’t tell my parents we were going on a joyride, but I’m also not a liar, so we have to stop and get blizzards before they close.”
He shook his head. “A’ight.”
Marquise led me across the grass to his car. He didn’t open the door for me, but I didn’t care. Why would he when we weren’t together, right?
The car was almost spotless except for the half drunken water and container where he kept his weed.
“You aren’t afraid of getting caught with that?”
“No.”
“Hmm.”
The engine roared to life. The rumble caught me off guard. Marquise glanced at me with a smirk.
“It sounds a lot scarier than what it is.”
“Okay.”
He pulled out of the driveway while I said a prayer to God to keep us safe on the road.
He held his phone out for me. “Put the address to the DQ in the GPS.”
“Thank you.”
He shrugged. “Whatever.”
I placed the phone in the holder. Once we were on the main street, he turned on a playlist. The bass nearly shook my heart out of my chest.
“How do you listen to your music so loud?”
“Huh?”
I reached over to the volume knob and turned it down. I repeated the question, which made him chuckle.
“Easy.”
I rolled my eyes at him. “You’re so annoying.”
“Nah.”
He merged onto the highway and let his engine yell into the night traffic. It was crazy to watch him weave through traffic to get to his exit. When we pulled up to the DQ parking lot, we went over to the drive-through. I ordered a blizzard with cookies and cream while he ordered one with M&M’s and cookie dough. He paid for them both and pulled into a parking spot.
“Was the ride worth the hype?” he asked as he unbuckled his seat belt and grabbed a joint from the container in the center console.
“I’m not sure. The music was so loud, the bass made me feel like my organs shifted. Not only that, but you are a very fast driver.”
“I went the speed limit the whole time.”
“Really?”
“Yup.”
He lit the joint and put it between his lips. He inhaled, held the smoke, and slowly released it. He repeated the actions several times before he finally touched his blizzard. He held the joint out for me.
“Wanna try?”
“Um… if I tweak out, are you going to make sure I’m good before you take me home? I don’t want my folks to lose trust in me.”
“I got you.”
His eyes were low as he licked his lips. I was surprised he never had ashy lips, because he licked them a lot. If I did anything other than apply some ChapStick, I’d look like Dave Chapelle as Tyrone Biggums.
“When you put it to your lips, inhale like you’re sucking through a straw but slower. Hold it and release.”
I took a deep breath before I followed his instructions. The hot smoke entered my mouth and infiltrated my body. My lungs burned, which made me exhale rapidly. The smoke swam around me as I repeated the actions twice more.
“Oh… Oh dear…” I passed the joint back to him.
“You good?” he questioned.
“I… I’m not sure,” I admitted.
It may have been my imagination, but my body felt... That was the complete sentence. My body felt. All the things. The rise and fall of my chest. The flow of my blood through my veins. The beating of my heart.
“What do you feel?”
“Everything.”
His boisterous laugh hugged my heart, which made me roll my window down to feel the cool air of the night. I needed something to release the rising heat in my core.
“Don’t start tweaking. Long as you stay calm, you should have a good high.”
“Do most people get this high off a couple of puffs?” I inquired.
“No, but it’s not uncommon either. Would you do it again?”
“Not anytime soon. Maybe after I’ve graduated high school and want to dabble again in college.”
He nodded. “Fa sho. What do you want to study?”
“Honestly, I just want to become a world-renowned chef. Food is my love language. Have you ever watched Soul Food ?”
“Nah, what’s that?”
“It’s a movie about a family who comes together every Sunday for dinner. When the matriarch dies, the family loses touch, and drama happens. Anyway, they finally get over their differences and rejoin each other for the love of Sunday dinners. Food heals the soul, and I want to bring soul food to different cultures around the world.”
“Type shit. You be helping cook the dinners your granny brings over?”
I dipped the spoon in the blizzard and ate a generous helping of the frozen treat. “Yeah. I am in the kitchen with her all the time. Her recipes are unmatched. One day, she’s going to teach me the Special Roux recipe.”
“I’m gon’ need a bowl of the gumbo you make, fa sho. I ain’t had a good gumbo in Houston. Last good batch I had was from a hole in the wall spot in Louisiana.”
“You travel a lot?” I asked.
He shrugged. “A little. When I got a job, I’m traveling to most cities in the south. Texas really has enough business for me, but now and then, I’ll catch a flight.”
“At seventeen?”
“I been on my own since I was twelve. I never had parents who gave a fuck about me.”
“I’m so sorry to hear that.”
His words tugged at my heartstrings. I wanted to hug him, but it didn’t feel appropriate.
I didn’t know what made me do it, but I reached out and held his hand. My blizzard was long forgotten as I folded his fingers around mine.
It must have been the drugs, because I’d never felt so in tune with my body—not to mention the call of my private parts to his.
Marquise rested his head against the back of the seat and lulled his head to turn in my direction. Our eyes met, and the seat of my panties got soaked.
We were too young.
I was too young.
His hand reached up and cupped my face. His thumb brushed against my bottom lip. It was happening. I was going to have my first kiss.
“Can I kiss you?” he asked.
His voice had dropped several octaves as he leaned close to me. The smell of the cookie dough ice cream brushed against my nose. I gulped.
“Y-yeah.”
“You sure? Would you let me kiss you without the influence of weed?” he asked.
I frowned. “I don’t know.”
He smiled. “A’ight. I’m not gon’ kiss you until you can consent with a sober mind.”
My heart fluttered. “Really?”
“I might be a lot of things, but a grooming ass weirdo ain’t one of them. I ain’t get you high to take advantage of you, so I can wait until you sober.”
My heart ached.
Relief washed over me.
Marquise couldn’t have been the man Granny warned me about all those months ago. The man in the driver’s seat was gentle, kind, and genuine. Even under the influence, he was soft with me and made me feel comfortable. Certainly, when I was ready to give him all of me, he’d treat me with respect. Right?
I cupped his face in my hands and pulled him to me. With tightly pressed eyes, I puckered my lips and waited for his to meet mine.
Soft, juicy lips kissed me gently.
I rubbed my hands against his soft skin before I kissed him again.
When his tongue slid across my bottom lip, I pulled away. I looked into his hazy brown orbs and melted in my seat.
“I think I better get home.”
He tucked his bottom lip between his teeth and nodded. “Fa sho.”
A few moments later, we threw away our trash, and we were back on the road.
It was silent for what felt like centuries before he finally spoke to me.
“Am I your type now?” The amusement in his tone made me roll my eyes.
“No.”
Yes .
* * *
“You did what ?” Jenifer squealed in shock.
“Please, Jen… I don’t want to repeat myself.” I sighed as I picked at my hangnail.
“Girl, please. You can’t just drop a bomb like that and expect me to remain calm about it!”
“Imagine how I felt. I was so scared he was going to talk me into going all the way. It was something about him asking for consent that just sent me over the edge.” I kicked my feet and grinned.
“So, like, are y’all talking now? Do you want him to be your boyfriend? Does he even go to school?” Jenifer’s questions calmed my nerves.
“I don’t know. I think I want him to be my boyfriend, but we both made it clear a while back we were too different to even entertain the idea.”
“Girl, from the stories you just shared with me, I don’t know if you can go based on first day words anymore. Y’all obviously have something brewing between y’all. But you also have like two more years of high school and college to think about. Are you sure you want to date? Most high school relationships don’t last.”
“They do in my romance novels.” I pouted.
I wanted to enjoy the thrill of kissing a boy, but Jenifer’s questions forced me to think about the consequences of my actions.
“I don’t want to freak you out, girl, but you should definitely be careful. Don’t get too attached without knowing what he wants. Set boundaries if you have to. We’ve seen women crash out behind men who never put a title to things. Remember when Karla and Trent’s drama went viral around school? We called her dumb as hell for giving her heart to a man who was fucking college girls in his brother’s dorm.”
“I hear you, Jen. I’ll be careful.”
My mood had turned sour, and all I wanted to do was go home and escape to the fictional romance world. I hated how conflicted my feelings had become after one conversation.
This is why Granny Janie told your fast ass to leave that boy alone.
My stomach churned at the thought of breaking my promise to Granny. She had to understand, though… right?