Page 31 of Feeling Blue

Laughter carried around the men, but Blue’s eyes never left Forever’s.

“She talking about some old shit, don’t listen to her.”

Forever heard him talking, just as she felt his hand pressing her back closer to him, but she chose to turn aroundand face Dylan instead. She was visibly hurt by Blue and Forever’s interaction; it was all over her face and in her posture, which was odd all by itself since she’d just mentioned him and her sister having some sort of interaction. The smile that had been there all day was gone, and her shoulders even slumped some.

“You didn’t tell us you had a girlfriend.” She looked past Forever and at Blue.

“Dylan, don’t do this, baby girl. Me and Journey are old, and you… shid, we were just passing time, and that’s it. You knew that.”

She inhaled heavily like she’d been gut punched. “Passing time? Wow. Okay.” She nodded and walked away, but turned back around to face them. “I guess since you got your little high-class girlfriend, then you want to act brand new, or like what we had was one sided. Fuck you nigga, and I’m telling Journey.”

“Chill, Dylan,” Blue’s deep voice vibrated on Forever’s back.

“You fucking chill, Blue. Standing there trying to act too cool for me because you got yourgirlfriendwith you.”

Forever looked Dylan up and down and shook her head. She was doing way too much for a woman who was clearly talking to her sister’s man. But because she’d been on the receiving end of an unexpected heartbreak, she didn’t judge her too harshly.

“Dylan, let’s go girl. These niggas ain’t even worth the embarrassment.” Her friend grabbed her arm and pulled her behind her and away from the group.

Once they were gone, conversation resumed for everyone, except Forever. She wasn’t interested in anymore friend fun orcasual conversation. Her mood was ruined, and she was ready to go home.

I don’t know how to handle this love

“Will that be all for you, ma’am?” The lady behind the counter asked her while placing her items in the bag.

“Yes, thank you.” Forever nodded the best she could while situating her bags into her cart.

The fresh food market was packed to the max with way too many people and lively kids for it to be so early in the morning. Not even nine o’clock yet, Forever assumed everyone would still be in bed, and that she could get in and out. Had she known she’d be navigating her way through senior citizens, overwhelmed mothers with tribes of kids trekking behind them, and fake fitness gurus buying up things she was sure would go bad before they actually cooked them, she would have stayed in bed.

Forever was over Florida already. Back home in California, her favorite market was never packed, and her shopping trip was more of a luxury than a burden. She enjoyed grocery shopping. It was one of the main things she enjoyed about her weekends, now it was ruined.

She’d awaken hungrier than she’d ever been, and Blue was knocked out so hard that he could have passed for dead. Contemplating waking him up had gone back and forth in her mind while getting dressed, but she eventually decided to leave him sleep. He’d been through a lot over the past few years andneeded whatever piece of sanctity he could get. Even if it was something as simple as sleeping in late. Plus, she needed to call Marcellus back.

He’d been calling and texting her nonstop since she’d arrived in Florida, and Forever had no idea why. She hadn’t spoken to Marcellus in months, and even longer than that if she was talking about a full conversation. She’d exchanged polite pleasantries in passing whenever at family functions or accidental run-ins, but never anything more. So, to have him calling and requesting a call back so urgently kind of pissed her off.

Once she got settled in Blue’s truck with all of her things in the backseat, instead of pulling out of the parking lot, she scrolled to Marcellus’ name on her call log and just stared at it. For some reason, her stomach was jittering, and she couldn’t stop it. She went back and forth between calling him for another few minutes before throwing caution to the wind. He answered almost immediately.

“Forever,” he spoke lowly into the phone. “Why you dodging me?”

“What do you mean, why am I dodging you? What do you want with me, Marcellus? What is so urgent that you’ve had to blow up my phone for two days straight?”

“If you’ve seen me calling, then why haven’t you answered?”

“I’m busy.”

He scoffed. “Busy with that nigga.”

“Exactly.”

Feeling somewhat defensive of her relationship with Blue, she decided to go ahead and stop Marcellus before he got started.

“How’s the wife and kid?”

There was silence. Drop dead silence. It stretched for a while until Forever assumed he wasn’t going to answer.

“Tell me what you need, Marcellus.”

“I thought you were better than this, Forever. This is embarrassing.”

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