21. Salem
“You ready, pretty baby?” I asked Koi.
“Yeah,” she replied, grabbing her coat out of the coat closet. “It’s time to break these winter blues.”
“Man, I love winter. It’s the perfect time of year. Get all cuddled up and shit, watch some movies, and eat all the food and snacks in the house.”
She shook her head as I chuckled. “You never need an excuse to be a big back, Salem. So try that on someone else. Every time I turn around, you’re eating.”
“I have to get my energy up to handle that ass and put it on ya. Besides, you are right there with me.”
“Yeah, but you don’t have to work as hard as I do to keep the pounds off.”
I grabbed her before she stepped out of the door and squeezed her ass cheeks. “I don’t mind these pounds, girl.”
“That’s the problem. You love winter so that we can stay in bed and have sex all the time. That’s why we need to get out of the house,” she replied with a giggle as she pulled away from me.
We stepped into the garage and climbed inside of the car. While I waited for the garage door to open, I turned my gaze in her direction. “I mean, you know we could?—”
“Boy, if you don’t turn that car on and let’s go. We seldom have time to just go with the flow anymore, and I really want to unwind, baby.”
“A’ight. You got it.”
“Where are we going?”
“Sit ya little impatient ass back and wait.”
She sucked her teeth, crossed her arms, and sat back in her seat. I pulled out of the garage and flipped on the radio. Rod Wave’s “25” came on, and I bounced to the music. I rapped along as Koi busied herself with texting on her phone.
I caught her glancing at me a few times.
“What?”
“Do you call this music?”
“If it weren’t, I wouldn’t be listening to it.”
She shook her head.
“What do you consider music?”
“May I?” she asked, reaching for the sound system.
“Be my guest, pretty baby.”
She fiddled with the buttons for a second and synced her phone to the car’s sound system. Within seconds, Monica’s “Love All Over Me” poured from the speakers. My baby sang along with the lyrics. She seldom sang, but I wasn’t sure why, because she had a beautiful voice.
Koi reached out and stroked her hand down the side of my face as she sang with her eyes closed. I smiled and grabbed her hand. Pressing a kiss to her knuckles, I clasped our hands together and rested them on my thigh.
“That’s how you feel?”
“Mm-hmm. Watch this . . .” She launched into the chorus, hitting all the high notes perfectly.
“Got a nigga over here blushing.”
She smiled and kept singing. “I love you, Salem. You make life worth living. Every risk we’ve taken, every challenge we encountered, it was all worth it just to be loved by you,” she professed when she finished.
I pulled into the parking lot and kissed her jaw. “You need to do that shit more often, Koi. You’ve got a beautiful voice.”
“Thank you. I don’t like all the attention it brings when I sing.
I never wanted to be an artist or anything.
I would hate to have to work hard for something I enjoyed so much.
I don’t want it to become a chore. I just want to enjoy the blessing and the gift God gave me.
Where are we going? To the mall?” she asked, looking around the parking lot.
“Trust ya man, pretty baby. It’s a surprise,” I replied, hopping out of the car. I rounded the car, opened her side, and reached for her hand.
She tried guessing where we were going as we walked through the parking lot and into the mall. It wasn’t until we crossed the skywalk that she figured it out.
“You’re taking me to the arcade, Salem?” Her eyes lit up with happiness.
“Yeah. Ya li’l ass be getting nostalgic and shit talking about the stuff you did in your high school years, and how you wished you had fun like that during your college years and early twenties.
You’ve spent this last decade working your ass off, and I just wanted you to be able to capture that magic again. ”
She linked her hand with mine again and tipped up on her toes. “That is why I love you so much.”
I laughed. “I guess your ass is gonna break out singing another Monica song soon?”
“Maybe. Be good, and I just might reward you.”
“I can think of better rewards,” I whispered into her ear.
Koi pulled away, shook her head, and replied, “No, sir. We’re not even going there. Come on. Let me go whup your butt in some Ms. Pac-Man.”
“Girl, please. You ain’t even ready for these skills.”
We headed to the kiosk to purchase our game cards. Armed with it, Koi beelined for Ms. Pac-Man as someone got up from the seat. I couldn’t keep my eyes off her ass twisting in those tight, dark-blue jeans.
“Gimme that card,” she demanded, wiggling her fingers.
I laughed and inserted the card into the slot for her. “You need to give up that coat. I don’t want to hear no excuses about why I kicked ya ass.”
“Boy, please. I’m about to shut this arcade down and set a new high score. You’re not gon’ come close to it.”
“We’ll see,” I replied, taking her coat from her.
She settled in, got an intense look on her face, and set about playing.
I loved seeing her that way. She was so relaxed and focused, but she was having so much fun.
I loved this girl, and there wasn’t a single thing that I wouldn’t do for her.
I simply wanted her to enjoy herself. If that meant we had to behave like kids or teens again, then it was worth it to me.
Aside from her happiness, the thing that mattered most to me was being able to go out in public with my woman and claim her as my own.
I enjoyed this type of time with her. I wanted to take her out in public and enjoy a date night for a long time before she agreed.
It’s amazing the things that we take for granted.
Don’t get me wrong. I loved being at home with her and watching movies, cooking, eating, or just chilling.
Absolutely loved making love to her or hard down breaking her back.
But being out and about with her like this, seeing her face lit up, the laughter in her voice, and the happiness she exuded was priceless.
“Look at ya ass. All serious with your tongue stuck out like you’re trying to get those skills back. When was the last time you played?”
“Uh-uh. I see what you’re doing, Salem. You’re trying to distract me with small talk, and I’m not going for it.”
“My bad. My bad. Let me let you be great,” I teased with my hands in the air.
“Yeah! You’d better recognize.”
I watched her play for quite a while and checked out her score. “Okay, 95,000. Not bad.”
“Not bad? You’re a hater.”
“Mm . . . let’s see. When was the last time you played?” I asked, handing her my coat and hers to hold.
“When I was sixteen.”
I turned my lips down, sat down, and got busy.
Koi sat in complete silence as I collected dots and avoided the ghosts.
When I finished, I stood and stretched my back.
I settled in and went off. I could detect other people gathering around us, but I was in a zone and tuned everything out except for the game in front of me and my goal to crush pretty baby’s score.
“How long has it been since you played?” she asked, looking at my score of 265,000.
“It’s been a while,” I replied as I stood and let someone else take my place. We headed to play air hockey.
“What’s a while, Salem?”
I chuckled. “A while.”
“Don’t let me find out you’ve been in your man cave playing Ms. Pac-Man.”
We played air hockey, where she kicked my ass; shooting zombies that she won; shooting basketball, where the score was close, but I won; and then Call of Duty.
“We need two more players,” she stated, looking around.
Two little boys around the ages of twelve joined us and teamed up against Koi and me. When we walked away, handing those two little boys the win, she declared, “I’m hungry after all that work.”
“Or more like after they handed us our asses, we’re ready to head out of here with our heads hung low in shame,” I stated.
“Who? I’m walking out of here with my head held high. At thirty, I think I did pretty good holding my own against them little shysters.”
“Damn, why you clowning on them kids like that, bae?” I asked, walking out of the arcade.
“Because I’d seen their little asses when you were playing Ms. Pac-Man. They were walking around there playing people for money. Acting like they were new to the games. They’re nothing but a bunch of twelve-year-old hustlers.”
I laughed at her outrage as we headed back to the car. I unlocked the door, but before she got in, she turned to me and looped her arms around my neck.
“Thanks for this, baby. I had fun.”
“Any time, sweetheart. You know you can have the world if it’s mine to give. And if it ain’t, I’ll steal that shit and give it to you.”
She tipped up and kissed me deeply and thoroughly.
“Since you’ll give me anything, when was the last time you played Ms. Pac-Man?”
I chuckled.
“Salem.”
“Okay, okay, baby. A couple of nights ago.”
“Salem!”
“Well, it has been a while. Before that, I played it four times a day every day.”
“Now tell me how you’re about to make up for cheating?”
“I didn’t cheat.”
When she glared at me, I conceded. “Okay, baby. I tricked you. I had an unfair advantage. We’re going to the Rooftop for dinner and desserts.”
“That’s more like it.” She grinned, dropping into the car.