Page 90 of Obsessive Love

“Umm, no,” I said, shaking my head. “I’m not.”

“Yes, you are,” she laughed. “Anyway, I’m heading home. I just wanted to come and tell you goodbye.”

“Bye, Xoey,” I said, walking away from her to start packing up my things.

“Oh,” she snapped, and I looked up. “I know you’re beefing hard with Pyrite, but be nice to him tonight.”

“Tell his girlfriend to be nice to him,” I replied, and she smiled. “Xoey, what are you smiling for?”

“Because you’re jealous,” she shrugged.

“I’m not jealous,” I said, shaking my head. I was, but I wasn’t going to admit that to her.

“Don’t lie to me or yourself; it's unhealthy,” Xoey said, shaking her head. “Anyway, be nice to him; we just found out Hood’s mama isn’t probably going to make it through the night.”

“What?” I stopped what I was doing and looked at her. “What do you mean?”

“She has cancer, we’ve known for a while. It’s one of the reasons Pyrite closed the arena for the week. He wanted to give Hood time with her and not have him stressed over the teams.”

“I didn’t know,” I said, shaking my head. “Pyrite never mentioned anything about her dying.”

“Did you ask?”

“No,” I replied. “Shit, that’s not something you ask. What was I supposed to say? ‘Hey, Pyrite, are any of your friend's parents dying?”

“No, I mean, did you ever ask him what he was going through?” Xoey clarified. “He checks in with you all the time, but do you ever return the energy, or do you just assume that because he occasionally does a few unconventional things, he’s just living his best life?”

“A few unconventional things? Really, Xoey?”

“Just answer the question,” she said, then kissed her teeth. “Do you ever check in on him? Do you ask him what he needs? Or do you assume he’s alright?”

“I-” I stopped talking and ran my tongue over my teeth. I didn’t ask Pyrite shit about his personal life; I never thought to because he was so open about everything.

“Exactly,” she said, shaking her head. “You weren’t checking in on him, even though he was ensuring you were good.” She pointed at me and smirked. “You need to do better on checking in on your man.”

“He’s not my man,” I said, rolling my eyes. “He has a girlfriend, remember?”

“Yeah, you,” she laughed, and my mouth dropped in surprise.

“You were talking about me?”

“Ugh, duh,” Xoey said and rolled her eyes. “I literally said I don’t fuck on my friends’ niggas. Who else did you think I was talking about?”

“You call me your bestie!”

“Well, you are, but that’s beside the point,” she said, waving me off. “I was talking about you when I said Pyrite had a woman. That crazy nigga has never brought anyone else around but you.”

I stared at Xoey for a moment, confused by the way this conversation was going. I knew talking to her would stress me out because every time she opened her mouth, I ended up either confused or with a headache, and this one was no different. Ipinched my nose. “Xoey, you make the most hydrated part of my ass itch,” I sighed.

“What?” she laughed.

“You heard what I said,” I sighed. I rubbed under my eye and shook my head. “I wish he would’ve kept me locked in the basement by myself. Now that I think about it, I wasn’t even that stressed.”

“We met while you were locked in the basement.”

“Take me back to the day before we met,” I sighed. “Just for a little.”

“Nah,” Xoey said, shaking her head. She approached, hugged, and kissed my cheek before letting me go. “I make your life more interesting.” She patted my cheek. “Be nice to Pyrite; he was close to Ms. Arlene. I’ll call you later to check on him.”

---