Page 24 of Love me Like XO

“Shockingly yeah. Your couch was like heaven and even though you fell asleep on me I enjoyed the mini sleepover we had last night.” She beamed which was contagious, because before I knew it, I was smiling at her.

“I’m glad. And that movie you chose was ass.” I turned around to get the orange juice from the fridge.

“Well I tried. Maybe next time you’ll choose the movie.” She caught me by surprise when she said that.

“Yeah, next time I will because that movie didn’t have not a fucking purpose. As a matter of fact five minutes in I already knew how it would fucking end.”

She cackled. “So. It was a mushy-feel good movie.”

“Exactly my point. If you needed that then you should’ve read the fucking book.”

She grew quiet, which made me turn around to see why.

“What?”

“I did.”

“Did what?” Now I was confused.

“Read the book.” Then she turned around and continued to make plates for us through the fit of laughter she tried to contain.

“Stupidest shit.”

“Maybe.” She sat what I knew was my plate on the island before seconds later sitting hers down. I knew mine from hers because in the time we’d been talking she was real vocal about her hate for turkey bacon and I loved the shit. She said it tasted like salted cardboard.

When we were seated, I couldn’t help but look at her while she ate. Taree’s presence threatened to change the way I moved. Had me ready to cut all my bitches off just for a chance. That wasn’t me at all.

“What do you have planned for today?” she asked to break the silence that threatened to settle in between us.

“Probably handle some business shit for the most part. Then I got an appointment at like six. You?”

“When I leave here, I’m gonna go get myself together before I go to my grandma’s house. I gotta apologize to the old bird and help her pick out a new table.”

She must’ve seen the curiosity in my face, because immediately she began to explain.

“My sister and I fought yesterday and messed-up Sunday dinner. As a matter of fact most of that shit found its way into her wig. In the process we broke Grandma’s kitchen table.” She laughed at her own joke.

“Not Empre?—”

“Nah, that’s my ace. My sister Fiona on the other hand.” She sighed frustratedly.

“What do you mean?”

She looked at me for a moment before she began to explain. “My father was a ho back in the day, meaning neither I nor any of my other four siblings have the same mamas. For the most part that has never mattered with anybody but Fiona. As a matter of fact there hasn’t even been beef with our mamas, but Fiona’s drunk ass mama is a different story. Long story short, Fiona is the oldest and the most bitter. You’d think pops cheated on her, and not her mama. Yesterday she said some slick shit about Empress behind her back, so I decked her ass. Then it went downhill.”

She was so animated telling the story that I couldn’t help but laugh at her funny ass. I nodded after the laughter subsided. “You gonna make some time for me later on, or do I have to bully it out of you?”

She looked bashfully at me, before looking back down at her food. “But Malik I hav?—”

“The only reason you wanna keep bringing that nigga up is because you like me just as much as I like you and you’re using that as a reminder to yourself. We’ve already established that I don’t give a fuck about yo’ past.”

“What time?” She didn’t touch anything I said because she knew I was right.

“Come to the shop at like eight. We can get some dinner after my session.”

She bit into her bottom lip and nodded her head.

We finished breakfast with minimal conversation, and before I knew it I was walking her to her car low key hating that I had to let her go. I was too fucking attached to this woman, this woman that wasn’t mine yet.

---