15. Noree Marcell #2
I sat back in my chair and just stared at her for a moment.
“So if I hadn’t been honest with you about sleeping with my baby mama one time in the past year and some change, would that have made a difference? Would this be a real date?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe.”
“How’s that? I thought you said you had a man.”
“I did.” She caught herself. “I mean, I do.”
I leaned forward a little bit on my elbows.
“What happened? Trouble in paradise with that nigga?”
She paused for a moment, twisting her fork around in her pasta.
“We’re in a weird space right now. I overheard something on a butt dial that I wasn’t too happy about.
I called and texted him a million times, but I couldn’t get him on the phone, so…
I blocked him.” She shook her head. “I don’t really know what to make of it right now.
And I don’t wanna say we’re broken up, but shit is weird. You know?”
I nodded.
“Yeah, I get what you’re saying. But you really gotta go with what you feel, for real. You feel like he’s stepping out on you or something?”
“Actually, I really don’t wanna talk about that right now.” She sat up straighter. “Why don’t you tell me something that I don’t know?”
“Oh, we doing this again?”
“Yeah. Actually, we are.” She smiled. “I’ll go first if you need me to, since you’re clearly scared.”
I laughed. “I’m never scared, shawty.”
She smirked. “Mmm. Okay.”
She took a bite of her food.
“Okay. So I still sleep with my lights on. And I’m not talking about a night-light either.”
I chuckled. “Wait. So you sleep with your room light on?”
She nodded and smiled. “Yeah. Or my bathroom light. I don’t care what anybody says, but a pile of clothes in the middle of the night sitting on top of a chair should not look like a person. Or a hoodie or a bag hanging from the door should not look like somebody running towards me. Like, fuck no.”
I couldn’t help but let out a hearty laugh.
“Damn. I know your light bill is high.”
“I’m working on it. Don’t worry about all of that.”
We shared a laugh together.
“Okay. Your turn.”
“I don’t really have any secrets or nothing like that.”
She sucked her teeth. “We all have something we’re hiding. But it doesn’t necessarily have to be a secret. It’s just something I wanna know about you as my friend that I’m getting to know.”
I smirked.
“Aight. I have a fear of flying.”
She looked at me confused as she kept eating.
“Wait. How is that possible with you being security for your brother? I’m pretty sure you’ve been flying all around the country, different cities, probably every night?”
“Yeah, that shit is tough.” I shook my head. “There’s a video my brother took of me damn near in tears. I hate it so bad. I get it, the shit gets you from point A to point B a lot quicker, but a nigga would deadass rather drive than fly.”
“Aww. You’re such a big baby.” She was grinning. “That’s cute, though.”
I took a bite of my pasta.
“Ooh, can I taste it? Mine is good, but yours looks bomb.”
I nodded. “Yeah, that’s cool.”
I scooped up a few noodles, some broccoli, and chicken and held my fork out for her. She leaned forward and took a bite.
“Mmm!” She covered her mouth. “Oh yeah, I’ma definitely get that one next time.”
A silence fell over us. Nothing awkward. We just stared at each other.
“I wanna ask you something.”
“Sure.” She wiped her mouth with a napkin. “What’s up?”
“What’s your schedule like?”
“Mmm.” She looked up, thinking. “Being that I work for myself, I kinda make my own schedule. But I won’t lie.
I make sure I don’t overwork myself. I try, at the latest, to leave my shop by like six-thirty.
Sometimes it works out, sometimes I’m there a little bit later, but for the most part, I be getting the hell on. ”
“Okay.”
She laughed. “Because if I stay in there all night, I will literally work all night and never get any sleep. And I don’t wanna end up being one of those people that hates what they do.
Right now, I’m in the happy stages of a new blossoming business, and I love it.
So to keep my sanity, six, six-thirty is my cutoff time. ”
“Cool.” I set my fork down. “So what if I asked you to be my date? You know, as a friend. For the event I’m being honored at.”
Her mouth dropped.
“Aww, really? PB, I would love to. Just send me over the details.”
I was already pecking away at my phone. A few short moments later, hers dinged, and she picked it up and looked it over.
“Okay. Yeah, this works.” She was scrolling. “What should I wear? Ooh, can we match?”
I laughed. “Yeah, shawty. We can match.”
Then, surprisingly, my phone dinged, and I saw a message from Pais.
It was a picture of her in the mirror.
Naked.
I almost dropped the damn phone.
“Everything good?” Nourah asked.
“Yeah. My bad.”
I quickly texted Pais back and let her know not to send shit like that to my phone. Because what if I was with a client?
PAIS: lol my bad I just thought my man would like a sexy pic from his woman
ME: smh we’re not together you trippin’
PAIS: whatever
I put my phone down and looked up to see Nourah with her phone out.
She snapped a pic of me.
“Got it. This is going to be your contact picture.”
I chuckled. “Damn, love. You could’ve let me pose first.”
She giggled. “Okay, let me see your best pose.”
I threw up both middle fingers.
“You look like a badass kid.”
She snapped the picture, then said, “Let’s take one together.”
She got up from the booth and walked around to my side. I slid over, she slid in, and I put my arm around her shoulder.
She must’ve snapped a million pictures. And honestly, we looked good together in all of them.
Then I went to kiss her on the cheek for one of the pics, and she turned her head to say something.
Next thing I knew, we kissed.
She leaned back a little, both of us confused about it.
I should’ve left that shit alone.
But I didn’t.
I leaned in and kissed her again.
Her eyes fluttered as I kissed her again. And again. Until the kiss deepened.
Shit, it was nice. And I slid my tongue inside, not expecting us to be making out right here in the middle of the restaurant, but the moment felt right.
Somebody cleared their throat.
We both pulled away breathless and looked to our right.
The waitress was standing there holding up a pitcher of water. She smiled awkwardly.
“Uh… are you two thirsty?”
We both looked at each other and busted out laughing.