Chapter 5
Ali
After closing my high school yearbook, I called Mike.
Though we didn’t hang out as much as we used to, he was still my oldest friend.
High school and college was a wild time for the both of us, but when we graduated, our priorities shifted.
While I lost myself in my career, he settled down and started a family.
We both left Memphis, but he resided in Rose Valley Hills with his wife and their three kids.
A part of me wished I had the wife and children version of life that a lot of my friends had, but my career fulfilled me in a way that left me satisfied.
“Wassup, nigga?” Mike greeted before yelling for his youngest son to stop running around the pool.
I chuckled before asking, “Where the hell y’all at?”
Mike sucked his teeth. “At Toya’s sister house. You know they couldn’t wait to come over here since her complex has the indoor pool. As soon as it hit eighty degrees, they were ready to come swim.”
That made me laugh because I could already hear them harassing Mike and Toya about swimming as soon as the weather allowed.
“I ain’t gon’ hold you. I just had to tell you about who pulled up on me.”
“Who? You finally remembered where you knew the girl from yesterday from?”
“Yeah. She came back today and reminded me. It was the lil shorty from school. The one I used to watch in gym and ride the wrong bus to follow home.”
“Ohhh word? Lil Peanut Butter?”
His recollection made me laugh as I nodded my agreement. “Hell yeah. Her.”
“I’m surprised you didn’t recognize her right away as crazy as you were about her.”
“Yeah, well, the glasses threw me off. I couldn’t really see her eyes. And her hair is shorter and curly now. You know back in the day she used to have it either in that bun or flat ironed straight.”
“Yeah, yeah. I remember for sure. Damn. Not the OG putting your wife right at your door since your ass refuse to leave the house.”
Now that got a hearty laugh out of me. “Nah it ain’t even like that. You know I ain’t dating right now, and I for damn sure won’t be dating another journalist again.”
Mike sighed. “Here you go. What Tiffany did was fucked up, but everybody ain’t that scandalous.”
“Don’t matter. I vowed to never date a journalist again, and I’m standing firm on that shit. I’ma let you go though so you can enjoy the family.”
“Aight, bruh. I’ll be down to visit you before the month is out.”
“Aight, bet. Just give me a heads up.”
We said our goodbyes and disconnected the call, then I took some time to develop new characters and outline. That grumpy/sunshine idea from earlier hadn’t left my mind yet, and I was able to get an outline done for it in a couple of hours. Now . . . if I could only write.
Instead of trying to force the words, I fed Gremlin and took him for a walk, which led to me getting in my car and driving to the spring festival.
The drive was done completely on autopilot, because there was no way in hell I’d go if I was in my right mind.
I couldn’t remember the last time I’d gone to the festival or been in a crowd of people for that matter.
All it would take was for one person to recognize me and it would draw a crowd.
And if they posted my location on social media with a picture, paparazzi would swarm.
I took my privacy and peace too seriously to risk it, especially after that last almost lawsuit.
Still, here I was, sitting in my car like a damn fool.
All I had to do was get out, breathe in the fresh air, and remind myself it was okay to be around people I didn’t know.
People who didn’t have to earn my trust. But doing that felt as difficult as pulling Thor’s hammer.
Gremlin made himself comfortable in my lap, and I rubbed him absently as I stared at the merry-go-round.
That’s why my mind brought me here.
Or maybe it was my heart.
Either way, it was that damn ride . . . that damn memory . . . that damn woman.
I pulled my hat down as a group of people walked by.
My windows on the car weren’t tinted because I hardly ever drove it.
When I did go into town, I was in my pickup truck, and the tint on it made sure no one could look inside.
I wasn’t sure how much time had passed of me staring at the carousel until I saw someone stop in front of my car and look inside.
My eyes shifted slightly as I hoped it was someone who didn’t recognize me.
At the sight of Avery, I smiled. She had me doing that a lot these past two days.
More than I had in a while, at least. Her shoulders hiked as she smiled and walked to my side of the car.
I rolled the window down, waiting to feel annoyed by her presence, but that wasn’t the case.
If I wasn’t careful, she’d be the only person I didn’t mind being around.
“Hi,” she spoke cheerfully, leaning down and against the window.
“Wassup?”
“What’re you doing here?”
I shrugged because I honestly didn’t know. Clearly it wasn’t to eat or play any games since all I was doing was sitting in my car. Then, I decided to be honest. My head motioned toward where the Ferris wheel and merry-go-round were as I said, “Thinking ’bout you.”
A light giggle escaped her as she looked toward the merry-go-round. “Same. You wanna ride?”
Before I could say no, Avery was opening my door and leaning across me to unbuckle my seat belt. She smelled so damn good, all thoughts left my brain. All rebuttals did too. All I could do was stare as she looked at me sweetly.
“Come on,” she urged, taking my hand and using it to tug me out of the car.
“I can’t,” I finally managed to say. Not letting go of her hand, I leaned against the car and pulled her against me. I saw when she pulled in a deep breath. I heard the subtle gasp. I didn’t care about none of that shit.
“Well . . .” She swallowed hard. “At l-least you came out. T-that’s a start,” she reasoned, avoiding my eyes, but that didn’t stop me from cupping her cheek and forcing her to look into my eyes.
“Why didn’t you just leave me alone?” I grumbled, looking at her juicy lips. “I was fine until you showed up at my door. Now I can’t get you out of my mind.”
Avery chuckled as she ran her slender hand down my chest. “Seems fair. I haven’t been able to get you out of my heart since high school.”
I wished I could say my hands had a mind of their own, but as I gripped her waist and tilted her chin, I was fully aware of what I was doing. And when her lips parted and eyes closed, that was all the confirmation I needed that she wanted this just as much as I did.
I claimed her lips, inhaling the breathy gasp she released in the process.
She trembled in my arms before holding me close and clinging to me by gripping my shirt, as if the kiss was both her weakness and her strength.
I’d never felt passion or tenderness having my mouth, my lips, on a woman’s—until Avery.
For the first time in my life, I experienced the kind of intimacy love stories were built on.
“Whoa,” she whispered, hands resting against my chest.
“I hope that was worth the wait.”
“Most definitely worth the wait, and far better than in my old dreams.” Her head shook as she took a step back. “But we can’t . . . I can’t . . . I want you to trust me. If things get physical between us, I don’t want you to question my intentions.”
That’s right.
The interview.
A long, hard exhale escaped me as she took another step back.
“I really want this interview, Ali,” she almost whispered.
“More than you want me?”
“If I felt like you would actually let me have you, the answer to that would be no, but seeing as I know how you feel about people in my industry, I doubt if you’d ever take something between us seriously.”
I couldn’t deny that. Quite frankly, I was surprised I even kissed her. I guess that was over a decade of desire that needed to come out. There was no doubt in my mind it would’ve led to more if she hadn’t pushed me away.
“You’re right. I said I’d never date a journalist again.”
Her jaw clenched as she looked away while nodding. “So . . . just professional. But that was the best kiss I’ve ever had, and it’s even more special because it came from you.”
Before I could prepare, Avery took my hand into hers and kissed my cheek. I stood there as she walked away, willing my heart to not try and go after her.
We couldn’t date.
We wouldn’t date.
So there was no point in even letting things get physical.
But damn if I didn’t want them to.
One Week Later
I couldn’t believe I was disappointed by the fact that Avery hadn’t shown up in a whole week. It was time to accept the fact that she’d given up and gone back home. While a part of me was glad she’d stopped trying to get an interview, the other part of me missed her.
Was it the kiss?
Did I come on too strong, too fast?
That couldn’t have been the case, because she said she wanted to keep things professional.
The more time passed, the curiouser I got about what was keeping her away.
As I tried to figure out what I wanted for dinner, the sound of tires on gravel made me smile. Even without me looking outside, I knew it was her. Like always, Gremlin started barking at the door. I made my way to it, and at the sight of her, my smile widened.
“Where have you been?” were the first words out of my mouth.
“I wanted to give you a break,” Avery admitted with a small smirk.
“I thought I’d run you away.”
She laughed. “Nah. I don’t scare too easily.”
“Good. You hungry?” I asked, surprisingly open to the idea of company.
“Starving.”
“You’re just in time then . . .”