Page 1 of Trust Issues
KYLA
“I had a really nice time tonight, Kyla. I’d love to take you out again soon.” I saw him coming in for a kiss. He saw me see him coming in for a kiss. It was like it happened in slow motion.
By the time he was a breath away from my lips, I gave him a polite smile and turned my head. His lips met my chocolate cheek and I wished I had given him myotherchocolate cheek to kiss.
“Oh, wow, the cheek. We’re not going out again, are we?” He relaxed in the driver’s seat and stared at me for an answer. It was my time to shine.
The best part of my personality was my blunt honesty. I prided myself on it. I warned people about it before they decided to be my friend. It was my bullshit detector. My date was about to find that out quickly.
“No, Grant. We’re not. The bar was cool. The date wasn’t.” I paused and erected my index finger in the air. “But, if you ever get married a few years from now and then your wife comes to her senses…tell her to give me a call. I’ll represent her in the divorce.” I winked at him and saw myself out of his car.
Grant didn’t say anything else to me. He let his tires do the talking as they screeched against the street.
Bye.
I swayed up to the front door of my building and walked into the lobby after punching in my code. The concierge behind the granite desk looked at me and leaned over a bit, glancing out of the glass double doors.
With a wide smile, he said, “Ran off another one, Kyle?”
“They run themselves off,” I shrugged. “Goodnight, Mark.” My heels clicked on the shiny floor as I walked to the elevators.
Sometimes, I wished perfect men fell out of the sky because dating was absolute bullshit. It seemed like the world was full of men with small dicks and big egos. I prayed practically every night that the universe would prove me wrong but every date made me lose faith.
When I was an optimistic high-schooler, I had my life all mapped out. None of this was what I had planned. I mean I did get some things right. I went to Howard School of Law and became a lawyer, I had an all-black bichon Frise puppy named Barkley, and I lived in a beautiful upscale apartment. I knew being married to Chris Brown by the time I turned thirty wouldn’t happen but couldn’t I be married tosomebody?
Shit.
I walked into my apartment, snatched off the luscious curly wig I’d been wearing for far too long, and tossed it on the arm of the couch. Fuck that wig. I snatched off the wig cap underneath too.
Seconds after I kicked off my heels, I heard the excited shuffle of feet hurrying down the hall toward the living room. “Ooh! You’re finally home. Spill.” Naima, my best friend since college, fell onto the couch with a huge grin plastered on her face. “Uh oh, you’re not smiling so that means—”
“That means the date was trash. I didn’t even bother testing out the dick.” I fell on the couch beside her and sighed heavily, tucking my feet beneath my body.
“What the hell happened, Kyle?” Naima’s dusky brown face warped into a frown.
“Well, he took me on a surprise date.”
“Faux pas number one. You hate surprises.”
“Exactly,” I nodded. As I talked, I unpinned my long braided locs and let them fall down my back. “Then he took me to an all-night cereal bar.”
“Wait…awhat?” Naima chuckled.
“A cereal bar. It’s like a regular bar but they give you tons of cereal choices.”
“Okay well, that’s a point for him because you love cereal.”
“Who doesn’t? But yes, that was a point for him. I thought the cereal bar idea was ingenious. This is where he struck the fuck out,” I grumbled. “He wouldn’t stop talking about himself. Everything out of his mouth was all about him. I was glad I had cereal to occupy me because otherwise, I wouldn’t have gotten in a word edgewise.” Once my locs were free, I breathed a sigh of relief.
“Maybe he was nervous, Kyle.”
I stared at her with a blank expression to show her how much I thought of Grant’s nerves. “Anyway, the final nail in the coffin was the way he poured his cereal.”
“Say what?”
“You heard me. Not only did I have to sit and listen to this man go on and on about himself over four bowls of cereal but every time he poured himself a new bowl, he poured the milk in first, then the cereal. I can’t trust a man like that. Clearly, he’s a fucking psychopath.” I tossed my hand in the air and Naima laughed baring perfect white teeth.
“You’re ridiculous, Kyle.”
