Chapter 2 #4
That shit came out before I could stop it, and her smile disappeared.
I hadn’t meant to take it there, but I damn sure wasn’t taking it back either.
Lace reached up and pushed her hair behind her ear, and my eyes went straight to her left hand.
I’d noticed that bare finger yesterday and minded my fucking business.
Seeing it again after standing there talking to her the way we used to had me wanting to know what happened with her and that nigga more than I wanted to admit.
She lowered her hand when she realized what I was looking at. I brought my eyes back to her face, and just like that, all that laughing and easy shit between us was over. She knew exactly what I wanted to ask. “You good?”
Her smile was completely gone. She rubbed her thumb over the spot where that ring used to sit. “Yeah.”
I damn near asked what happened, but that shit wasn’t my business. She left Bellhaven and built a whole life that ain’t have shit to do with me, and whatever happened between her and that nigga belonged to that life. I grabbed my keys off the counter instead. “Aight. See you tomorrow.”
I got the fuck out of there before curiosity got the best of me.
It was colder outside than it had been earlier, and Main Street was already starting to clear out even though it wasn’t seven yet.
Businesses were closing one after another, same as they always did.
Lace used to hate that shit. According to her, Bellhaven shut down before anybody even had a chance to do anything.
I got in my truck and headed home. Tanya had the hardware store open for another hour, so I ain’t have to worry about going back over there.
By the time I pulled into my driveway, I instantly got annoyed.
Anthony’s car was parked crooked like it always was after I told his ass not to block my Range Rover.
He had his own apartment across town, but with how much that nigga stayed at my house, I ain’t know why the fuck he bothered paying rent.
Music was playing before I even got the door shut behind me.
Keyana was at the kitchen island with her laptop open and a notebook beside it.
Her backpack and jacket were thrown across another stool even though the coat hooks were right there on the fucking wall.
Anthony was stretched out in my living room playing 2K with his feet on my coffee table and a blunt between his fingers.
“Feet,” I reminded his ass and he moved them without taking his eyes off the TV. “And why yo’ ass ain’t got a fuckin’ window open?”
“It’s cold outside.”
“Nigga, I don’t give a fuck.”
Keyana looked up from her laptop. “I told him you was gon’ say somethin’.”
Anthony glanced toward the kitchen. “Nobody asked yo’ big head ass.”
“You the one smokin’ up the house!”
“My house,” I corrected as I dropped my keys in the bowl by the door. I walked past Anthony, took the blunt straight out his hand, and hit it on my way to the kitchen. I blew the smoke out, lifted the lid off the pot, and looked at the broccoli cheddar soup she had going.
Keyana looked over immediately. “Don’t start.”
I stirred it once and put the lid back. “Where the garlic bread?”
She pointed toward the oven without looking away from her screen. “And I set a timer, so leave it alone.”
I took another pull from the blunt and slid the kitchen window open, letting some smoke out as fresh air came in. I blew the rest toward the window and looked back at the pot. “Who taught you how to cook?”
“You.”
Anthony laughed from the living room. “That ain’t the flex you think it is.”
I turned around and looked at his ass. “Shut the fuck up and come get this wack ass blunt. Smokin’ dust, lil’ nigga.”
He finally put the controller down and came into the kitchen to take it from me. “But you hit this wack ass blunt though.”
“Fuck out my face.” Anthony laughed and headed toward the back door with his blunt. I opened the refrigerator, grabbed a bottle of water, and barely got the top twisted off before Keyana closed her laptop.
“So?” She cleared her throat.
I looked at her. “So what?”
She gave me that same look she’d been giving me since she was young whenever she thought I was being difficult on purpose. “You know what. Can I go see her?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“’Cause she been back one damn day, and both y’all already been blowin’ my phone up tryna get to that diner.”
Anthony stuck his head back through the door with smoke following his ass inside from the porch. “I wanna see her, nigga. It’s been a grip. That was big sis.”
The oven timer went off, and Keyana slid off the stool. She grabbed an oven mitt, opened the oven, and pulled the garlic bread out before looking back at me. “Did she ask about us?”
I looked at her. “Yeah. She asked ’bout both of y’all.”
Keyana’s whole face lit up. “For real?”
“Yeah, but I don’t wanna keep talkin’ ’bout her.” I grabbed some plates out the cabinet while Anthony eventually came back inside and went right back to his game. Keyana must’ve heard enough in my voice to know to leave that shit alone, because she went back to what she was doing.
I fixed my bowl and tried to leave it alone too, but the whole situation was already getting on my fucking nerves.
Lace had been back one day, and somehow her ass had been in my face, in my head, or coming out somebody’s mouth damn near the whole fucking day.
I still had another week and some change of seeing her every day. I needed to get my head right.