Page 65 of Save Room for Us

“Okay, well we will start with him then. That’s your assignment, listen to some Chris Brown and then report back what to add.”

“Aight.” He grinned, taking my hand into his free one as he dipped through the streets.

“Again, thank you, Asif, for sending me to pamper myself. I haven’t felt this pretty in a long time,” I spoke truthfully.

Who knew getting my nails done, waxing, and some new things would have me feeling like this?

“I think you perfect, baby, but I want you to think you perfect too. I want you to feel the way a nigga feels whenever I see you walk into a room.”

“How do you feel?”

“Overwhelmed in a good ass way. Stuck in sense.”

“Stuck?”

He nodded. “Can’t stop looking at you and that’s been from the beginning.”

“Really? I never noticed.” I frowned.

“You was too fucking busy tryingnotto look at a nigga that’s why.” He adjusted his seatbelt then said, “May sound crazy but whenever I went to a family function I could feel if you were there or not.”

“Asif,” I laughed, “now you got superpowers?”

He shrugged playfully then said, “Nah, I don’t, but that’s some real shit. If I had a good feeling in the pit of my stomach, you was there. If I didn’t, you weren’t.” He glanced away from the road briefly and we made eye contact that caused me to simper unintentionally.

“Hmm, well how does it feel to have me to yourself right now?”

“Amazing.” He shook his head, wearing a serious expression.

The more we were around each other, the more I began to develop feelings for him and didn’t wanna be friends like I’d initially claimed.

We rode for a little while and it was nice, just listening to music or joking with him. It reminded me of all the good parts of being in a relationship and that it wasn’t just stress, fear, and insecurity. Having a man could be fun. He could be your best friend, and someone you looked forward to seeing instead of finding any reason to be apart.

We ended up at the St. Thomas residence which I found to be odd. I was hoping his idea of a romantic date didn’t include kicking it with his brothers and their wives. While I enjoyed them and their get togethers, that wasn’t a date to me. However, I would trust the process because Asif didn’t give me the impression that he wasthattone deaf to romance.

Parking in the middle of the roundabout, he reached into the backseat and handed me a huge bouquet of red and white roses.

“I know them others you got was on some cheap shit,” he said before exiting.

I inhaled the flowers, agreeing that it was a stark difference between the flowers Asif gave and the ones from Grady.

The door opened and Asif draped his jacket he’d grabbed from the backseat over my shoulders before closing the door and leading me to the back of the house, via the side entrance.

When the backyard came into view I saw it was beautifully set up with a rose petal pathway, fairy lights hanging above a table draped with a white tablecloth, with some light music playing.

I’d never had a man do something like this for me and I didn’t know how to react. Everything Asif did was with intention and it showed. He didn’t just throw money at me like most rich men did, and the one time he did it was also intentional because he saw I wasn’t feeling myself like I should be.

“This is beautiful, Asif.” I admired everything about the magical, fairytale looking backyard. I’d been back here hundreds of times and it was completely transformed right now.

“Glad you like it.” He pushed my chair in before I set the roses down on the grass beside me. “You told me you had fairy lights in ya room and liked magical shit, so I did my best.” He sat across from me. “You aight?” He paused when he saw my expression.

“I’m fine. I wasn’t going to admit this to you but I’ve never been… pursued like this. I thought shit like this only happened in books.”

“The books gotta get the shit from somewhere, love. Art imitates life.” He took my hand in his. “To be honest, I’ve never done shit like this before. But you special to a nigga and you deserve it. As fucked up as it may sound, I’m happy to be the first nigga to give you something like this.”

Standing, I leaned over to kiss him because I couldn’t hold off. Three kisses sounded off and then I was back in my seat as a young woman approached with a packed bar cart.

“Hi, I’m Alena, and I will be your bartender for the night. Anything you want, I can make. Let’s start with you.” She gestured to me.

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