Page 34 of Until the Ink Dries

I stifled a laugh as he looked at her in disbelief.

He shook his head as he took a sip of beer. “It be your own kids.”

The projector lit up as the opening credits rolled. After ensuring that Charlie wasn’t allergic to anything, I passed each of them a turkey sub. Benjamin shared their mini bags of chips and we settled into the movie.

Tonight’s movie was Shrek. Even at my big age, I loved this movie. Charlie was in giggles as I quietly recited the lines. Clearly, she had seen this more than a few times because she recited a few scenes with me.

“Remind me not to take y’all to the movies,” Benjamin said with a slight smirk.

I waved him off. “So, you aren’t enjoying our acting?”

“Yeah, Daddy,” Charlie agreed, putting her hands on her hips.

“Y’all aren’t about to double team me all night.”

I kissed my teeth. “Charlie, we can enjoy the movie without your daddy being a sour patch.”

Much to my surprise, she got up and made herself comfortable on the ground between my legs. She rested her head against my stomach and tuned back into the movie. For a moment, I just stared down at her before looking over at Benjamin. He was just as perplexed as I was.

I half expected him to tell her to move, but he didn’t. Instead, he stood and moved his things to my blanket. I snickered.

“Feeling left out?” I jested.

“Whatever, man.”

I playfully poked him, causing him to grin. While him smiling seemed to be an occasional occurrence, I loved his smile. It was beautiful, and I wished he would do it more often.

We settled back into the movie with Benjamin occasionally joining in reciting the lines. It was nice to see him let his hair down, relax, and just… be.

By the time we made it to movie number two, Charlie started yawning. Halfway through, she found her way into my lap and curled up in my arms. My heart swelled at the cuteness overload.

“I can take her,” Benny said, reaching for her.

“She’s fine. I wouldn’t dare move her. She’s such a sweet girl, Benjamin.”

“She’s a’ight.”

I playfully slapped his arm. “Don’t do my new friend like that.”

“Your new friend?”

“Oh, baby, we’re locked in at this point. I’ll come see you just to see her.”

“Who said you can come back to my house?”

I scoffed. “How rude! I shouldn’t be surprised. Shirah did say Jordan said you don’t allow women in your space.”

“See, there y’all go with that gossiping. I knew you spoke with her when Jordan asked me about you staying over. I had to tell him fifty times that it wasn’t like that.”

“It was the same thing with my parents. That was awkward.”

“I bet. I guess it’s hard to believe we could actually be just friends. I mean, you have a whole man?—”

I cut him off. “I don’t have anything. While I’m here, I’m a single woman.”

“And when you leave?”

I couldn’t answer that right away. Honestly, it depended on what I came home to. Either Ellis was going to make the necessary changes or we would be right where we were when I left.

---