Page 6 of So This Is Love

“They’re ready for you upstairs whenever you’re good,” Xavier says to Sonny.

“Okay just give me a second.”

“I have to get back to my table, but it was good to see you,” I say.

I’m not necessarily in a hurry to get back to my “date”, but more so to give myself some space to process this crazy encounter.

“Are you still here in the city?”

I shake my head. “No, I'm out in Rosewood now.”

Rosewood is a city north of Chicago. Historically Black, but for years it was neglected, lacking the necessary resources that help a community thrive. With the help of new businesses and community improvements, Rosewood has grown to be a thriving city. When I graduated from college I had no desire to go back home and with an amazing job offer it was a no brainer for me to stay.

“Let me take you out sometime.”

My eyes go wide at Sonny’s forward statement.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” I reply, shaking my head. “I have a lot going on and I’m not really looking for anything right now.”

If he’s shocked by me turning him down he doesn’t show it. Behind him Xavier tries but fails to hide a laugh behind a cough.

“My bad,” Xavier says with another forced cough. “There was something in my throat.”

Sonny shoots a look his way before he offers, “How about we exchange Instagrams then? And I can give you my number in case you want to reach out, things on IG can get lost sometimes.”

It takes a minute for my brain to understand what he’s saying, the shock of running into him again taking over, but when I realize he’s serious I dig into my purse to grab my phone. I unlock it and hand it to him with Instagram open. Sonny quickly types in his handle, presses the follow button, then navigates to my contacts and adds his number. His hand brushes mine when he hands my phone back to me, sending a jolt of warmth through my body again.

I need to get away from this man.

“I really do have to go, but it was good to see you.” I offer him a smile over my shoulder as I leave.

What the actual fuck.

My steps lead me away from Sonny and back to the bar but my heart is pounding double time. It was a simple conversation yet my entire body is tingling almost as if all of my limbs fell asleep and are taking their sweet time waking back up. Jason accepts my excuse to cut the date short without much push back, not even questioning why I was gone for who knows how long.

I decide to call for a rideshare instead of taking the train home like I usually would. When I am in the car I text Zara to let her know I’m on my way home, and rather than putting my phone away I find myself in my contacts list. I scroll through the list passing ‘S’ where I expect a new contact to be and instead at the very bottom of the list I see a new contact with a singular sun emoji. I can’t stop the small smile from coming to my face, or the flutter that’s erupted in my stomach.

3

Sonny

My mama would forsure be chewing my ass out right now for how I’m staring at Laila as she walks away. She’d say I’m acting like I don’t have any home training, but I don’t care. I can’t take my eyes off of her.

Laila.

The sway of her hips as she walks away from me. The bounce of her long curly hair that falls down her back. The way the fabric of the short dress she’s wearing hugs her ass and shows off her legs.

There’s been more occasions than I would like to admit, where I woke up with a woman and couldn’t, for the life of me, remember her name. But this girl. Her name and her face were so deeply etched into my brain that even all these years later I couldn’t forget.

“You aight man?” Xavier asks with a serious look on his face. He places the back of his hand on my forehead as if to check my temperature. “You must be sick or something, cause I haven’t seen you get curved like that since high school.”

At that I scowl and swat his hand away as he erupts into laughter at my expense.

“Nah but forreal who is she?”

“No one” I respond dismissively.

He shoots me a side eye that lets me know he doesn’t believe me, but I ignore it making my way out of the hallway.

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