Page 7 of Honey's Special Roux

He smirked. “Good.”

“You’re a mess.”

He walked up the steps and claimed the seat beside me on the porch swing. He smelled of a potent strain of weed, which resulted in me scrunching up my nose.

“You stink.”

“Me? No I don’t.” He sniffed his shirt and lifted his arms to smell his pits.

“Not like a musty stink, but like you’ve rolled around in weed.”

He chuckled. “Oh. The smell of my weed is a little strong. My fault.”

“It’s fine… I guess.”

“You ever smoked weed?”

“No. I’m only sixteen. I don’t want to ruin my lungs.”

“Try it.”

“What if I have a bad reaction?”

“You won’t, but if you do, I got you.”

I raised an eyebrow. “You don’t want to be my friend, but you’d share your weed with me?”

“We not friends?”

I rolled my eyes. “Don’t play with me. You made it clear you didn’t want to be my friend. That’s why we barely speak now.”

He chuckled. “You cool folks. See if your parents will let you take a ride with me.”

“My grandmother already told me to stay away from you. If she heard me out here talking to you right now, she’d tell me to go get a switch off the bush in the backyard.”

“Oh, nah. You ever snuck out before?” he asked.

I shook my head. “My parents are usually cool with me going out. I’ve never been in any trouble or given them a reason not to trust me.”

“Type shit.” He leaned back and took the book out of my hand.

“Hey! What are you doing?”

“What’s this about?”

“At least put my bookmark inside so I don’t lose my place.” I held the rectangular black bookmark out for him to take. He slid it into the crease of the page I was on before he closed the book and admired the cover.

“What’s it about?” he asked again.

“A librarian and her gentle gangster,” I explained.

“You be reading books about gangsters and thugs?” he questioned.

I nodded and reached for the book. He kept the book out of my reach. “Yes. I like to read about unhinged men who don’t play about their women.”

“Would you date a nigga who killed people in real life?” he inquired.

“No. I only like drama in my books. I don’t want to drive myself crazy getting involved with a man who thinks he’s above the law. I may be young, but I’m definitely not dumb.”

---