14. Nourah Marcell
Veronica, my sister, and I had a good ass time at the club. Even though I could tell my sister was a little uneasy, she still pushed through.
She and Ozy for sure ended up making eyes at each other all night, just like me and PB. But I wasn’t even trying to take it there with him, because whether Carl and I were on good terms or not, I still hadn’t talked to him, so until I figured out what was going on, I was still in a relationship.
We pulled up to a Waffle House we typically didn’t go to because it was closer to where Veronica had allegedly parked.
She ain’t wanna pay for valet at the strip club, so she said she parked somewhere on the street.
Her other friends had ridden together, so they didn’t know where her car was either.
After riding around looking for it and getting nowhere, we eventually gave up.
My mouth was salivating at the thought of grits, hash browns, sausage, eggs, bacon, and waffles.
Ooh, I was ready to fuck it up, but there was a big crowd outside.
At first, I was pissed because I thought they were fighting, and I was like, damn, I just want some food. But then once the crowd kind of separated a little bit, we saw the culprits.
Fucking PB and Ozy.
Everybody was surrounding them. Security was everywhere. It looked like a music video shoot.
Veronica was in the back knocked out, slobbering and snoring and then I looked over at Noree. She looked like she was out of it. She started yawning a little bit.
“Girl, let me run up here and order my food while everybody’s in Ozy Love’s face. Hopefully it stays that way so I can just order, grab the food, and go.”
She looked back and sighed.
“It’s a lot of people over there. I don’t want you walking up there by yourself, so I’ll walk with you. But if the wait is too long, can we just go? Because I am dog tired and I had a long, eventful day.”
“Oh, trust me. I know, and yeah, that’s cool.”
We got out, and of course some guys were whistling at us, trying to holla, but we ignored them and made a beeline straight forward.
The order window line wasn’t even that long. Only about three people in front of us, surprisingly.
I tapped my foot, looking at the time on my phone as the line moved along.
By the time we got to the front, the screaming got louder.
Me and Noree turned to look, and PB and Ozy Love were walking in our direction.
I smirked a little bit as PB walked up on me and stood right in front of my face, looking down into it.
I smiled wide, looking up at him.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m skipping you in the line.”
I playfully pushed his shoulder, and he laughed.
“I’m kidding, love. We already ordered food, and you know they gave us a bunch of shit for free.”
“Mmm, lucky you… but we have got to stop meeting like this. Waffle House again?”
“I know.” He tilted his head. “I love how you avoided me all night, though.”
“Boy, ain’t nobody avoided you. I was with my girls. We were turning up, having a good time. And I’m pretty sure you know that because you were watching me the whole time.”
He smirked. Then he put his hand under my chin and lifted it, and I felt my whole face get hot.
“Well, how would you know I was watching you if you wasn’t watching me?”
“I never said I wasn’t watching you. I just said that I know that you were watching me.”
The Waffle House clerk cleared her throat, and he stepped back from me.
So, I ordered my food, and once I was done, I looked over my shoulder at Noree, who ended up just ordering a grits bowl with eggs, sausage, and extra cheese.
I smiled because her and Ozy were engaged in conversation and eventually, I saw him walking off with her.
Looked like they were headed toward my car.
I turned back around to PB, who pulled out a whole knot of cash to pay for the food, but the clerk ended up telling him our food was free too. I thanked her, then we both stepped out the way so the people behind us could order.
“When are you gonna let me take you on a real date?”
“I told you already. I have a boyfriend.”
“But if you had a boyfriend, you wouldn’t be smiling up in my face right now.”
“But you’re standing right here in front of me. What else am I supposed to do? Am I supposed to be frowning?”
And then I frowned. We both busted out laughing.
“Man, you be playing too much with yo’ pretty ass.”
“No, you play too much. With your handsome egg head ass.”
He put his arm around my shoulder, and we walked off a little ways toward my car. We ended up leaning against the driver’s side while Ozy and Noree were leaning against the passenger side, talking real low.
“So, what are you doing tomorrow?”
“I have a few orders, but nothing major. So, I’ll be at my office for the first half of the day.”
“Shit, me too, for real.”
“Okay. Well, it sounds like both of us have important things to do.”
“Yeah. But not all day. So don’t even try to back out of it.”
I laughed. “Okay, cool. You got me.”
“What is it that you like to do for fun?”
“Well, I don’t really get to do much. I’m a workaholic.” I shrugged. “A cute one at that.”
“That you are,” he agreed, smiling.
I looked up at him. “You never did tell me what’s so complicated about your situation.”
He looked away for a moment and put his hands in his pockets.
“My baby mama lives with me.”
“Oh, HELLLLL no.”
He chuckled a little. “Yeah. I was expecting that response.”
“Well, are y’all fucking?”
He didn’t say anything.
“Oh. So, you are sleeping with her, but trying to take me on a date? And knowing that I have a man?” I put my hand on my hip. “Seems like you need to be putting your interest in her, no?”
“No. I’m not interested in her in that way.” He shook his head. “Honestly, after that night at Waffle House when I had to leave to go make sure her and my daughter was straight, I moved her in because I wanted them to be safe and under my roof. That’s it. That’s all.”
“No. That’s not it. And that’s not all.” I crossed my arms. “If you’re sleeping with her, clearly there’s something there. Why don’t you try to be a family with her?”
“It only happened once and we were never on that type of time. We’ve always had a situationship. Just fucking around here and there. So that family shit is out the window. Because if and when I do plan to settle down, it won’t be with her.”
“Damn.” I raised my eyebrows. “That’s a little harsh, don’t you think?”
“No. I’m real as fuck.”
“Well, I appreciate you for being real. But about this little date…”
“Nah. It’s not a little date. It’s a big date.” He shook his head.
“Ain’t shit little over here. We do big shit all day, mama.”
“Well, excuse me, Mr. Biggs.” I laughed. “I’ll think about it.”
“Eventually, you’ll get hungry. Why don’t you let me feed you?”
“Are you always this persistent?”
“Yeah. Always, love.”
My phone buzzed in my hand with a text saying my food was ready.
The two of us headed back over to that window, him walking beside me the whole way, keeping himself between me and the crowd, making sure I was good. I grabbed our food, the condiments, all of that, then we headed back over to the car, and he pulled me in for a hug.
I went to get in, and he grabbed my arm. I turned around with my eyebrows raised.
“What’s up?”
“So, what are we eating tomorrow?”
“Boy…” I laughed. “I said I’ll think about it. Don’t get ahead of yourself.”
“Italian?”
“Mmm…There’s this little Italian spot by my office. If I decide to go, we can try that.”
He proceeded to rub his hands together playfully, and I shook my head, smiling.
Ozy and I started walking back toward Nourah’s car with the paparazzi still snapping, flashes going off in my face so bad I had to put my hand up.
“Aye.” Ozy turned around and put his hand out. “I’m with my friend. I don’t want my picture taken right now, bruh.”
And just like that, they stopped, apologized, lowered their cameras, and started scattering.
“Oh, I’m your friend now?” I looked up at him. “And why did you even come to Waffle House and not order anything? Y’all were just parking lot pimping?”
He laughed. “We already ordered. The food’s in the black truck.” He tilted his head. “But what’s up with you?”
“What do you mean?”
“You ran off, turned the job down, then called Opal and told her you wanted it after all.” He shrugged, watching me. “What changed?”
I stopped walking.
“Listen. I’m not trying to get too much into my business, but I lost my job. And I really need something for me and my—” I caught myself. “I mean, I need something stable for myself.”
He nodded.
I can’t believe you almost slipped up and told him. Bitch, it’s the liquor… But maybe that was for a reason. Maybe you should just… say it.
No… not right now. Not in front of all these people. There’s too much going on right now.
“Cool. I understand.”
A few moments of silence passed, then he smiled, looking down at me.
“You know you’re pretty as hell, right?”
“You told me that before, then you fucked me and stopped talking to me.” I folded my arms. “So, I don’t know if I really wanna hear that compliment from you right now.”
“That’s not what happened.”
His whole face changed, and for a second, he just looked at me before speaking again.
“I was in a deep depression, and I’m really just now being able to climb out of that shit, for real. I would’ve never did you like that.”
“But you did.”
He gave me a look.
“Fine.” I threw my hand up. “I’ll drop it. We ain’t gotta talk about it no more.”
I went to get in the car, and he stopped me.
“Yes?”
“That’s all the conversation I get after all this time?”
“Ozy.” I turned all the way around. “What do you want me to say? I just said I wanted to drop it, but since you so badly wanna talk about it…” I looked away from him for a second.
“I really thought you liked me. Like, genuinely liked me. I thought we had something, and that we were moving in the direction of trying to work shit out. I know you said you had that PR bullshit relationship with Ginger and the contract was about to expire, so when we slept together…” I swallowed hard.
“I don’t know. I thought it meant something. ”
He just stared down at me, but I kept going.