Page 21 of Isn't She Lucky
“It was implied.”
She takes a deep breath and places the popcorn bowl back on the table. “Ah, man.”
I read another text from Kasim:
All you have to do is agree to this, and one million is yours. Please take my proposal under serious consideration.
“He’s still texting you?” Diedra asks.
“Yes,” I answer her while replying to him:
Giada:Why don’t you get someone else to do it? I’m sure you have plenty of PRETTY women to choose from.
Kasim:What is that supposed to mean?
Giada:It means exactly what I said.
Kasim:I don’t want anyone else. I know you, G.
Giada:Correction…you ‘knew’ me. And I’m not ‘G’ to you anymore. Just because we had dinner last night doesn’t mean a thing. That was for charity. Nothing more, nothing less.
I place my phone on the table and massage my temples.
Diedra says, “Listen—I get it. He did some messed up stuff, but y’all were kids. Maybe he said what he said to get his mother off his case about you. Whatever it was, he’s surely a different person now. He’s a grown man, and—”
“Oh, so because he’s an adult, he doesn’t see me as thepoorgirl anymore.”
“Well, you certainly won’t be poor after he drops that fat milli in your lap.” She throws her head back, her laughter filling my living room as she sinks into the sofa cushions. “The way I see it is, he owes you that much! Nothing fixes a broken heart like aonefollowed by a crapload of zeroes.”
I pinch a smile to hide my true feelings. I feel like crying. When my phone buzzes again, I pick it up and read yet another message from him.
Kasim:Here’s what I know…what I remember. We, you and I, made a promise to each other when we were 12 to always have each other’s back.
Giada:Yeah…how’d that work out?
Kasim:You say that like it’s my fault.
It is your fault!
Oh, how I want to climb through this phone and wrap my hands around this man’s thick, muscular neck.
“Giada, breathe,” Diedra says.
“I am breathing,” I grunt out.
“It doesn’t look like it.”
“I’m fine, Diedra. See.” I plaster a smile on my face, one of which I know she knows is fake. She’s been rocking with me since high school. This girl knows my thoughts before I can get them out.
Kasim:I need your help. I don’t trust anyone else to do this for me. Only you.
After a long sigh, I look at Diedra and say, “He says he doesn’t trust anyone else to do it. Like, how do you trust someone you haven’t seen in fourteen years? I could be a drug dealer for all he knows.”
Diedra cackles. “You? A drug dealer?”
She falls back, laughing harder than she was before.
I take one of my pillows and sling it at her. “You get on my nerves.”
