CHAPTER SIX
NOLA
By six-thirty Friday evening, Nola had changed clothes four times and Mani had cursed at two bras.
This was not unusual.
What was unusual was the fact that Nola had somewhere to be with Kai that wasn’t an emergency, a motel, a diner interrogation, or the front seat of his truck while they argued over her brother.
He had texted at noon.
I GOT AN UPDATE. DINNER?
Nola had stared at it for thirty seconds before replying.
DINNER OR “DINNER”?
His answer came immediately.
FOOD FIRST.
Cocky ass.
She told herself she was going because of Dre.
Then she spent forty-five minutes trying on tops.
Mani sat on the edge of Nola’s bed in a long black T-shirt and biker shorts, watching her hold up a copper-colored crop top in the mirror.
“That’s the one.”
“I know.”
“Then why you still staring?”
“Because the bra is doing something disrespectful in the back.”
Nola turned sideways, then backward, twisting until she could see herself in the mirror.
Mani got up.
“Lemme see.”
Nola lifted her hair.
Mani studied the situation with the seriousness of a surgeon.
“Nope.”
“Damn.”
“It got your back looking like the bra brought company.”
Nola laughed. “See? This why I call you. Anybody else would’ve lied.”
“I’m your friend, not your enemy. Put the nude one on.”
Nola changed bras.
The crop top sat better immediately.
“There,” Mani said. “Now turn around.”
Nola did.
“Cute.”
“Jeans?”
“Dark ones.”
Nola pulled them on, hopped twice to get them over her hips, then paused.
“Don’t say shit.”
Mani was already laughing.
“I didn’t say nothing.”
“Your face did.”
“Because you just did a two-step to get dressed.”
“These jeans need encouragement.”
“They need prayer.”
Nola zipped them and looked at herself.
Her stomach showed between the jeans and the crop top. Not a little sliver either. Enough to make Mani shake her head.
“I still don’t know how you do that.”
“Do what?”
“Just have your whole belly out like it pay rent.”
“It do pay rent. It’s attached to me.”
“You know what I mean.”
Nola turned toward her friend.
Mani was big too. Always had been. She wore tight jeans, fitted dresses, shorts, bodycon, all of it. But crop tops were where she drew the line.
Nola had stopped trying to make that mean more than it did.
“You don’t like crop tops on you,” she said. “That’s fine.”
“I look crazy in them.”
“You look like you got on a crop top.”
“Same thing.”
Nola laughed.
Mani smiled, then caught herself when the smile widened. Her hand went over her mouth automatically.
Nola noticed because she always noticed.
She didn’t mention it.
Instead she reached for her shimmer lotion.
Mani groaned. “Oh Lord.”
“What?”
“You putting on the hoe glitter.”
“It’s body shimmer.”
“It’s hoe glitter.”
“And yet you ask to borrow it every summer.”
“For my legs. You put that shit directly on your titties.”
“Because they deserve ambiance.”
Mani laughed behind her hand.
Nola rubbed lotion across her collarbone and chest, letting the tiny gold flecks catch under the bedroom light.
“Tell me this ain’t cute.”
“It’s cute.”
“Exactly.”
“Kai gonna be staring.”
Nola capped the bottle. “Kai stares anyway.”
“You like him.”
“I like annoying him.”
“Same thing at our age.”
Nola threw a makeup sponge at her.
Mani ducked.
Her phone buzzed on the bed.
Terrence.
The smile disappeared from her face before she answered.
“Yeah?”
Nola pretended to look for earrings.
“I’m at Nola’s... Because she going out... I don’t know what time... Terrence, I said I don’t know.”
Pause.
“I ate.”
Another pause.
Mani’s mouth tightened.
“Why does it matter what I ate?”
Nola stopped pretending not to listen.
“No, I didn’t get fast food... Okay... Okay.”
She hung up.
Nola looked at her in the mirror.
“What the fuck was that?”
“Nothing.”
“Don’t use Kai’s favorite lie on me.”
Mani sighed. “He asked if I ate fast food.”
“Why?”
“Because I told him I wanted to start eating better.”
“You told him or he told you?”
“Nola.”
“I’m asking.”
Mani sat back down.
“I gained thirty-five pounds.”
Nola turned around fully.
“Okay.”
“That’s all you got?”
“Were you expecting a parade?”
“I’m serious.”
“So am I. You gained weight. If you don’t like how you feel, change whatever you want to change. But why Terrence calling to audit your dinner?”
“He’s trying to help.”
Nola made a face.
“Don’t.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“Your face did.”
“That’s my face.”
“It’s judgmental.”
“Because I got sense.”
Mani rolled her eyes.
A knock sounded downstairs.
Nola checked her phone.
Kai was eight minutes early.
Of course.
“He’s here.”
Mani got up. “Lemme see him.”
“You’ve seen pictures.”
“I wanna inspect the beard patch in person.”
Nola almost fell over laughing.
They went downstairs together.
Kai stood just inside the doorway after Nola let him in, black button-down, dark jeans, watch, beard brushed like it hadn’t been discussed disrespectfully all week.
His eyes went to Nola.
Stopped.
Stayed.
Mani saw it and looked at Nola with the exact expression of a friend receiving excellent gossip in real time.
Kai’s gaze moved over the crop top, the bare strip of stomach, the shimmer across her chest, then finally back to her face.
“You done?” Nola asked.
“No.”
Mani made a noise.
Kai looked at her.
Nola introduced them.
“Mani, this is Kai. Kai, Mani.”
“Nice to meet you,” Mani said.
“You too.”
Mani tilted her head. “Turn a little.”
Kai frowned. “Why?”
Nola knew immediately.
“Mani.”
“I just wanna see something.”
Kai looked between them. “What?”
Nola put a hand over her face.
Mani said, “Nothing. Have fun.”
Kai’s eyes narrowed.
“What she know?”
“Nothing.”
“There go that word again.”
Nola grabbed her purse.
Outside, Kai reached for her lower back as she stepped off the porch.
His palm landed directly on bare skin.
He left it there.
Nola looked up at him.
“You always gotta touch me?”
“Apparently.”
“Interesting.”
His thumb moved once across the smooth skin above her jeans.
“You put lotion on your back too?”
“Yes. I’m moisturized. What kind of question is that?”
“Just asking.”
“You like it.”
“Yeah.”
No embarrassment. No game.
Just yes.
Nola smiled as they reached the truck.
Then Kai opened the passenger door and glanced at her chest again when the porch light hit the shimmer.
“What is that?”
“Body glitter.”
“Why?”
“Because I wanted my titties to beam in the light.”
Kai stared.
Nola waited.
He finally said, “Did you say something after titties?”
She laughed so loud Mani opened the front curtain to see what happened.
Kai looked up at the window.
Mani gave Nola two thumbs up.
Nola climbed into the truck.
“You know she can see you?”
“I know.”
“You care?”
“Not even a little.”
Kai shut her door.
Nola watched him walk around the hood.
For a man with a weight limit, he had spent an impressive amount of time touching and staring at a body that supposedly didn’t qualify.
She intended to enjoy every second of his confusion.