8. Nourah Marcell
When I opened the door, PB was standing there with the biggest smile on his face. In one hand, he had a bag of takeout from my favorite Mexican food restaurant, and in the other hand, he was holding up a bottle of tequila.
“Come in,” I said.
He laughed as he walked past me. “Okay, so I got the food and liquor, but you never told me what’s going on, love.”
“Well…” I closed the door behind him. “Just… come in.”
I directed him over to the kitchen, and he set everything down on the counter. He looked around for a second, then shook his head and laughed.
“Yo, your apartment is tiny,” he said. “You didn’t tell me you were inviting me over to a shoebox.”
I laughed a little. “Boy, bye. I love my lil’ shoebox. Plus, I figured my man would get me a house, but…” I sighed. “That’s definitely not happening now.”
I mumbled that last part, and PB looked at me confused.
I turned away from him to open the brown paper bag. There was a brief silence before he said, “Look, I’m sorry about the shit that went down earlier with my baby mama.”
I crossed my arms. “It’s cool, boo. You didn’t ask her to come at me sideways, and besides… I can hold my own.”
“I’m sure you can.” He smirked a little, then said, “Let me get another hug, though. I can’t remember the one from earlier.”
“Damn, you thirsty,” I said playfully, then turned to face him and closed the gap between us.
This time, when he pulled me in, he got a little bit closer than he had earlier. I felt my whole body practically melt into his. It was like I felt myself relaxing for the first time today.
“You okay? You good?” he asked into my ear, his deep voice bringing me back to reality.
“Yeah,” I said. “It’s just a lot on my mind.”
We pulled away, and I went over to the cabinet to grab some shot glasses. He shook his head.
“Nah, I don’t want no shots.”
I raised my eyebrows at him. “Oh, you wanna sip-sip?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay, say less.”
I grabbed two red Solo cups instead and poured us both some tequila.
He didn’t want any chaser, so for myself, I went into the fridge and grabbed cranberry juice, mixing it in with mine.
I grabbed a paper plate and started loading it up with tortilla chips, pico de gallo, and the shrimp, chicken, and steak cheese dip I had him pick up.
The food was hot as hell, so I blew on it before I took a bite.
“Mmm.” I closed my eyes for a second. “Okay, come on. Let’s go sit down.”
We both took a seat on the couch. There was a little bit of sun coming through the window between us.
PB glanced around. “I ain’t gon’ lie. Even though yo’ shit is a shoebox, you decorated the hell out this muthafucka.”
I cut my eyes at him. “Call it a shoebox one more time, and I will cut you.”
He threw up his hands in mock surrender. “Aight… I don’t wanna be cut. My bad, love.”
We both laughed a little, and I continued to eat while he sat there watching me. He said he wasn’t hungry, so that meant it was more for me, and I was not complaining about that. I was definitely going back for seconds the second I finished this plate.
“So why am I really here?” he asked.
I blurted it out. “I told him.”
PB looked confused. His eyebrows raised. “Told who? What?”
“My boyfriend. Well, my ex-boyfriend. My almost-fiancé who never really became my fiancé.”
“You talking in circles, ma. Tell me what’s going on.”
I reached for my red Solo cup and took a sip. The liquor hit my chest hard, and I scrunched up my face, but I took another sip before I set it back down on the coffee table.
“So, you remember how we kissed when we were at the restaurant?” I asked.
“Yeah.”
“Well, my boyfriend, who I didn’t realize was still my boyfriend, popped up and proposed to me today.”
PB’s eyes got wide. “Word?”
“Yeah. But he could sense that something wasn’t right, so I confessed to him that we kissed.
And he got upset. He called me a hoe, said he didn’t wanna marry me, and then he left.
” I shook my head. “Honestly, my nerves are a little shot because I would’ve never disrespected our relationship on purpose. ”
I gave him the full rundown on everything that happened, then shook my head.
“Now I feel bad because I kissed you, but… I don’t regret the kiss. I just… I don’t know.”
He chuckled. “I don’t either. But honestly, I ain’t tryna be your rebound.”
“That’s not why I called you over. I wanted to express myself and let you know how I feel because I do like you a lot.
But I love him. Or at least I did. I mean, I still do.
It’s not something I can just get over that fast. But him disrespecting me really threw me off ’cause he’s never talked to me like that before. ”
“Yeah, but you never kissed another nigga before either.”
“Yeah, you’re right.”
“So, what do you wanna do?” he asked. “You wanna get back with him?”
I paused for a moment. “No. I don’t think so.”
“Well, that’s the question you gotta figure out. ’Cause if you wanna get back with him, you gotta have a better conversation with him in a better headspace, just to make sure y’all are on the same page moving forward.”
“Yeah, that makes sense. I think maybe one more conversation might be best. But I’m fucking stubborn. I don’t plan on calling or texting his ass first ’cause who’s a fucking hoe? Not me.”
He laughed. “I’m sure you’re not.”
“Oh, you’re sure I’m not? You should be confident that I’m not.”
I put my plate down and reached for my red Solo cup. He was now taking sips of his as well, his eyes on me and a smirk on his face.
“Yeah… I’m sure.”
“Good.” I laughed.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
I looked confused. “Hold on. I wasn’t expecting anybody, but I did order some packages, so it could be a delivery. Let me check real quick.”
I got up and walked past him, heading to the front door. I looked through the peephole, and my mouth fell open almost immediately.
“What happened?” PB asked.
“Speak of the fucking devil. What is this nigga doing back here?”
“You gonna open the door?”
“Nope.”
I walked back over to the couch and sat back down, trying to get comfortable, but then, all of a sudden, I heard a key go into the lock. The door opened, and I jumped right back up. I tripped over my own feet as I ran back toward the door.
“I know you didn’t just walk up into my apartment like that,” I said.
Carl looked at me. “That’s what I have a key for.”
“Yeah, but you broke things off with me earlier, so why the hell would you just be walking in here? That key is only for emergencies, and this doesn’t look like an emergency.”
He looked past me into the living room and saw PB. They made eye contact, and Carl laughed.
“So, this must be the guy, huh?”
I was trying to de-escalate the situation. “That’s not important. I am clearly in the middle of having company, and I don’t wanna be disrespectful to him.”
“I was mad. What did you expect?” he said.
“Okay, and I was mad too, but did I call you a hoe? Matter of fact, did I call you out of your name at all? ’Cause I could’ve called you a bitch.”
He shook his head and laughed. “You know what? It was a mistake coming here.”
“No, why did you show up?”
“I’m not about to have this conversation in front of your company.”
PB stood up. “It’s cool. I can leave.”
“No, you don’t have to leave,” I said. “He’s going to leave.”
“No, it’s okay, love. I’ll go.” He tried to walk past Carl, but Carl ended up sizing him up.
“You got a problem, nigga?” PB asked.
“Actually, I do have a problem,” Carl said. “Why are you here with my woman? She’s taken.”
PB chuckled. “That’s not what I heard.”
Carl’s eyes got wide. He looked back and forth between the two of us.
“You know what? You need to get the hell out. Don’t you ever come back to her apartment again, brotha.”
PB smirked. “I’ll leave, but I can’t guarantee I won’t be back.”
I was still trying to de-escalate. I placed myself between the two of them in the doorway, but before I knew it, Carl hauled off and punched PB in the face.
The punch landed in PB’s mouth and pushed him back against the door. I started yelling for them to stop.
“What are y’all doing? Don’t do that! Please, Carl, just go!”
PB shoved me out of the way, and the two of them went at it. They knocked into my shoe rack by the door, sending all my shoes flying all over the place. They bumped against the wall, and somehow, somebody’s elbow went straight through it, putting a hole in my wall immediately. That pissed me off.
“Oh, y’all not about to do this in my house, messing up my shit!”
They bumped into the door again. They were just fighting back and forth.
At first, Carl actually had the upper hand.
He was winning. But then PB managed to lift Carl’s legs up off the ground, slamming him on his back.
Boom! Punches were raining down, left and right, right and left, into Carl’s face.
His lip split open immediately and started bleeding.
Finally, I was able to shove them apart.
Everybody was breathing hard as Carl got up from the floor. He stumbled and could barely stand up. His hand touched his lip. He saw the blood and chuckled. I could see the blood on his teeth.
PB was breathing hard too. His shirt was a little ripped, and his collar was stretched out and wrinkled up around his neck.
“I’m out of here,” Carl said breathlessly. “You… can… have her.”
“Don’t do that,” I said. “Don’t say that as if I’m just a piece of meat or something.
I did nothing wrong in all of this. And now I’m getting pissed off that I was even sitting here venting to him about you.
I was telling him how I felt like we needed to have another conversation once we both got out of our feelings.
But you know what? Fuck a conversation. Fuck you.
Get the fuck out, Carl. I don’t ever wanna see yo ass again.
I’ll come drop off the rest of your shit or whatever you left around the house.
I’ll put it on your fucking doorstep, nigga.
Whatever you got of mine that I left over there, you can throw that shit in the trash. I don’t want anything from you!”
He laughed. “Neither do I. And fuck you too.”
He left, and I slammed the door behind him. PB was holding his knuckles
“Oh my God, let me get you some ice,” I said. I ran into the kitchen and grabbed the first thing I saw, a container of frozen ice cream.
He slowly walked in and leaned up against the counter, and I put it to his hand.
“I am so sorry,” I said. “I completely forgot he had a key. I should’ve just opened the door and told him to come back another time or something.”
“It’s cool,” he said. “That nigga hits like a bitch, though.”
We both started laughing.
This day had officially drained my ass, but honestly, I was glad he was here.