Page 68 of Devanté
“You are entirely too much. Thank you.” We stood to our feet and he walked around to hug me.
“No, thankyou, Blake. I’ve never seen talent like yours. I’m glad you’re working with me and not against me.” He chuckled then rubbed my back. “I hope all of this makes your day brighter.”
“Understatement of the year, sir.”
When I walked out of there, I was floating on a cloud. Fifty thousand clouds to be exact. Noa popped up from her seat and rushed over to me, squealing. “Did he tell you everything?” She asked, bouncing on her feet.
“Everything.” I grabbed her hands and squeezed them excitedly. “Let’s take off and spend the day shopping.” I needed a change in scenery and something to get my mind off Devanté’s fine ass. What better way than tearing through LA with my bestie?
“I don’t know if my boss will let me. She can be a bit of a hard-ass.” Her telling smirk made me laugh. I shoved her playfully as we filed into my office.
“Well, today she’s feeling generous. Take the day off, Noa please.” I clasped my hand under my chin and she sighed incredulously. Like I had to pull her fucking arm.
“Girl, I’m already on Rodeo in my mind. Let’s go!” We both made excited noises and shared big, wide smiles.
“Oh, and we’re day-drinking too. God knows I need it.” My eyes fell to the Ring Pop and I made sure to grab it and stuff it in my purse before we walked out. It had unintentionally become a special charm. It reminded me of simpler times but it also was a whisper of what I’d never forgotten.
I married Devanté Morgan when I was eight. Somehow, that tethered us together for the foreseeable future even when I didn’t want it to. The eight years I spent brooding over what I thought he did instead of hearing him out, I knew we were still connected. I didn’t know what the invisible string was binding us but it was strong as steel.
…
I spent the entire day treating myself to a much-needed dose of retail therapy. I treated Noa to whatever she wanted too, then we had drinks and I took my bonus money straight to the bank.
When we finally crashed at her place, the sun was going down and I had a phone full of notifications from Devin asking when I’d be home because him and his boys were hungry.
Fix your own goddamn food. Better yet, get out of my house.
At the bottom of all Devin’s annoying messages was a missed call and a text from Devanté. My heart stuttered in my chest…probably to make room for all the roses growing there. A smile blossomed on my face and Noa didn’t miss a beat.
We were sitting cross-legged on the floor of her bedroom, listening to Dru Hill when she made a clicking noise with her tongue. I yanked my eyes away from my phone and looked at her, trying my best to erase the smile.
“You’re talking to Devanté, aren’t you?” She asked, scooting closer to me.
“No. I’m not.” I forced my facial muscles into submission and did away with my grin. I showed her my phone and she rolled her eyes. “See, I wasn’t talking to him. I saw that I missed his call and text. Probably because Devin kept blowing my phone up like a lunatic.”
“Wow, that’s worse,” she said shaking her head. “That means you have heart eyes without even talking to him. All you have to do is see his name and you light up like a Christmas tree.” When Noa was tipsy, her Mexican accent leaked out a little more, swishing around her syllables and streaking them with color and depth.
“I did not light up like a Christmas tree.”
“You did. I was looking right at you.” She mocked me using her phone. “You were all, ew, Devin…Devin…Devin…ooh,Devanté. Fuck yes.”
“Whatever,” I cracked up laughing. I damn near spilled my glass of wine.
“Wanna tell me why you grabbed that Ring Pop off your desk before we left today? You looked at it like it was a ten-carat rock. I figure I’ll start there since coming right out and asking if you’re in love would probably make you glare at me.” She tipped her glass up, trying to hide her face with it. I was indeed glaring at her. She had that part right. “See, just like that.”
“Anyway, if you must know Noa…it’s a throwback to when Devanté and I were kids.”
“Damn, how long have y’all known each other?”
“Since we were eight and in the third grade,” I chuckled softly at the image in my head. Devanté was lanky and tall but he still had that larger than life swag. I was a little butterball, that’s what my mother called me. I was cute, chocolate and chubby with so much hair I looked like a dandelion when I took my ponytail out.
We were so innocent. So happy and carefree. Neither one of us knew what love was but god…it was all around us. It was infusing itself into us. Whatever we were back then.
Love was planting seeds that would take more than a decade to sew. Now that green shoots were emerging from the soil, I couldn’t stop marveling at the newness created from something so old.
“Oh wow…” Noa sounded like a little kid settling in for a bedtime story. She peered at me with wide eyes urging me to go on.
“One day, after this hater in our class bullied me about this marketing project I aced, Devanté walked me home.” I smiled fondly. “He was just as mad as I was about me getting bullied. I took a sip from my glass and shook my head. “You know that little girl told me I’d never get married? Who the hell says that in third grade?”
