Page 58 of Lily In The Valley
I leaned forward, exhaled deeply, my eyes fixed on the screen. “Let me see that, Nessa.”
She blinked. “What?”
“Give me the phone.”
“Kelly’s right. You don’t ask.” Reluctantly, she handed it to me, pulling back slightly like she already felt the heat radiating off my skin. I tilted the phone toward me and spoke, calm but cutting.
“Kelly.”
She looked up, blinking, shocked to see me on the phone. “Oh hey. Why do you have Nessa’s phone?”
“How much you had to drink?”
“I don’t know. I’m getting my fill before my days are all charting and rounds again.” She smiled at something the guy next her said. “Oh, this is my friend, Khalil,” she added, gesturing to the phone.
I laughed darkly, biting my lip. “Kelly, quit playing with me.”
Her smile wavered just a bit. “Khalil, don’t start. I don’t have the energy.”
“I ain’t starting nothing. But I’ll finish it if you keep acting like I’m just some name in your phone.”
Lynn cut in fast. “Don’t worry about Kelly. We’re about to leave anyway.”
“Drop her off at her place.”
“Yeah,” Lynn said, already shifting in her seat. “We’re leaving now.”
“Cool,” I said, my jaw tight. “I’ll meet y’all there.”
Kelly rolled her eyes and leaned back in her chair, clearly drunk and detached.
“Whatever.”
The call ended. I handed Vanessa back her phone and left without saying a word.
“Khalil,” Xavier hollered behind me.
“I’m good,” I shouted back, opening the front door and slamming it shut. Because I wasn’t. Because she wasn’t, even though she was pretending to be.
I drove back to Kelly’s house, bypassing all the speed laws. I turned the corner just as Lynn’s black Lexus crept onto the street ahead of me. We both pulled into the driveway at the same time.
Kelly was in the passenger seat; head tilted back, like the sun was too much. Her sunglasses were pushed high on her nose. I could see the outline of her closed eyes, like she was trying to hold onto whatever silence she’d found in the ride back home. She didn’t move at first.
Then she opened the car door.
There was a wobble to her step. Barely there, but I saw it. She caught herself, adjusted, and when she saw me, her body didn’t flinch. Her mouth smiled. Soft. Detached. Lynn peeked around the center console, giving me that friend-smile that meant,Don’t start nothing.
“Appreciate it,” I said, my voice hollow.
Lynn nodded, waved, and pulled off, her taillights fading down the block. I walked beside Kelly to the door. Her steps were slow, each one like a quiet confession she wouldn’t say out loud. When we reached the door, she stopped.
“You can’t just show up like this,” she said, her words slurred but still sharp.
“When you don’t answer my calls, yeah I can.”
Her mouth tightened. “Last I checked, this is my house.”
“You wasn’t saying that when you let me cover every bill in this motherfucka.”
