Page 61 of Arris, Jayme & Dyani
“Nope. You want to just meet up at the shop?”
“Yep. I’ll head there now. Do you want a drink or something if I stop?”
“I’ll take a root beer.”
“Okay. See you soon.”
“See you soon,” she repeated.
I hung up the call, threw my car in reverse, and headed out. I stopped at a little shop and grabbed us both drinks then went straight to the nail shop. I parked near the middle of the parkinglot so I could find Jayme when she showed up and played around on my phone while I waited for her arrival.
When she got to the shop, she parked two cars over and I hopped out happily. We hugged as soon as we got close enough and I handed over her drink while we walked toward the entrance. We were greeted immediately and Jayme told them we wanted pedicures and manicures.
They sat us side by side and I waited a little while before I turned to look at Jayme and mentally prepared myself to ask for her advice.
“Jayme,” I said quietly.
“Hm?”
“Can I ask you something?” I asked. “It’s about Arris.”
She locked her phone and lifted an eyebrow.
“About Arris?” she repeated.
“Yeah.”
“Uh, okay.” She shifted in her seat to face me better. “What’s going on?”
“Okay.” I exhaled. “So, I went to see Arris today at the shop. Everything was going great. I took food to him. We were talking and laughing and it was great.”
“And then?”
“And then Darryl called.”
“Okay?”
“And I may have shushed Arris.”
“Okay?”
“He got upset and went on this little rant about how he didn’t understand how I wanted to keep things lowkey but was at his job and stuff like that and I don’t know. I just feel like it went left so damn fast I couldn’t even stop it, and by the time I was ready for my brain to work again, he pretty much kicked me out but not really.”
“Arris kicked you out?” she repeated.
“Well, he told me he was going to get ready for his next appointment, pretty much putting me out, but then he did all the usual stuff. He walked me to my car and kissed the side of my head and stuff, but I don’t know. I just can tell he’s mad at me.”
“So, what kind of advice do you need?”
“What do I do?”
“What do you want out of what you do?”
“I want Arris to not be mad at me and I don’t know.” I shrugged. “I want him to understand that I like him and you. A lot. I just know it’s going to be some dumb shit with my brother and I’m not ready to deal with that, especially when I can’t count on this whole thing working out long term,” I admitted.
“And I think that’s the problem for Arris. He’s always confident and cocky. He probably doesn’t see a future where this doesn’t work out. He jumps into everything with both feet so it’s probably hitting his pride that you aren’t sure and aren’t all in, but he’s not going to take that out on you, Dyani. He’s just going to sulk for a little bit and bounce back. You don’t have to do or say anything, and if you don’t want to tell Darryl, don’t. But it is kind of hard to have a good relationship when you’re hiding it. There’s a lot of things off the table; so how do you know if it will or won’t last for a while if you’re not trying?”
“Who said I’m not trying?”
