Page 77 of Trust Issues
“Girl, shut up,” Cadence said. She walked into the bedroom with a roll of tape in her hand, shaking her head. Her full curls swayed left and right.
“I know you’re not tellingmeto shut up,” I frowned. For the past week, all I heard from Cadence was how much she was going to miss Naima when she left.
“Mind your business,” Cadence quipped with a knowing smile.
“Uh huh. Mindmybusiness. I wonder if you’ve told Naima how much you’re going to cry when she leaves or how depressed you’re going to be when you can’t see her anymore.” Cadence’s brown eyes grew wide as she aimed daggers at me.
Good thing looks couldn’t really kill.
Sheesh.
Naima blinked a few times in disbelief as she looked at Cadence. “Why haven’t I heard any of this?” Cadence shrugged her slender shoulders in return and glanced at the floor.
“Naima, you have so much on your plate already with the move and making sure everything transitions smoothly with your blog. I didn’t want to be a bigger burden.” I decided it was time for me to take a break from helping Naima get her last minute packing done so I could be front and center for the heartfelt drama about to go down.
“A bigger burden?” Naima squinted her eyes against Cadence’s words like they were foreign to her. “Okay, look,” she sighed, pushing tendrils of curly hair from her forehead. “Cadence, I know I haven’t voiced this to you just yet but…” I watched her throat dip like it always did before she said something heartfelt and sincere. I tucked my feet under my body and let my eyes ping pong between my two closest friends.
“I love you. The way you feel could never be a burden to me. If anything it’s a reason for me to reconsider some things.” My eyebrows flew up to my hairline and I looked at Cadence to see what she was going to say.
Where were my Starbursts when I needed them?
“Love?Me?” Cadence pressed her palm to her chest and her eyes glittered with tears. Fuck. They were going to make me cry and I wasn’t a punk ass bitch.
“Yes.You. A million times.” Naima walked over to Cadence and wiped her tears then they embraced for a while. “We’ll work something out because I can’t be without you. Not all the way on the other side of the country,” Naima said, shaking her head vehemently.
“I’ll come with you,” Cadence declared, straightening her slumped shoulders. I was floored. I gawked at Cadence then at Naima.
“Are you sure? You have a whole job and life. I’m not trying to take that away from you,” Naima said.
“Let me come with you. At least to get you settled. I’ll make my final decision while we spend time in LA. I have time I can take off from work.”
“She does,” I nodded, looking at Naima.
“Fuck. I forgot your nosey ass was still in here, Kyle,” Naima grumbled, rubbing her forehead.
“What?” I squeaked, shrugging my shoulders. “Girl, that was so good I felt like I was watching a TV show. I love you two together.” I was absolutely swooning.
“You’re a mess but if it weren’t for you I wouldn’t have met Cadence so I can’t be too mad at you.” Naima sat on the bed and tossed her arms around me in a hug. “Also, I’m glad you’re happy too. You can front all you want but I see the love on your face when you’re around Max.” She aimed her pointer finger at me and wiggled it.
“Yeah, everyone can see that shit,” Cadence sighed.
“Love? There goes that word again.” I rolled my eyes and crossed my legs.
“Why are you acting so tough? You are in love with Max. Admit it. When he comes around you light up. You spend every free second you have with him and I swear to god it’s like you two are raising Barks as your child.” I couldn’t really argue with Naima there. I wanted to but my brain couldn’t find a logical counterpoint.
“He’s okay, I guess,” I shrugged.
“He fucked you so good you forgot to wear your wig to work,” Cadence reminded me. “Then you actually told him he was right for suggesting that you stop wearing it. You’ve been cooking your ass off for him daily and he’s all you talk about.”
“She’s right. He’s turned you from grumpy, Kyle with trust issues into pleasant Kyle who’s like Mary Poppins’ tethered doppelganger.”
“Fuck you, Naima,” I laughed. “I don’t know…maybe I do care about him.” I thought about how being around Max made me feel and my hands started to tingle. I wanted to nibble on my fingers but it wasn’t because of Max. It was because of my uncertainty. I could feel the war going on inside of me. I was fighting my true feelings and I knew it. Both of my friends knew it too.
“Care? You love him. Say it with me, Kyle.” Naima tried to prompt me to repeat after her but it was hard. The last time I admitted I loved someone it turned out horribly.
“I can’t. You know what happened the last time I got this deep into someone. What if Max breaks my heart?” The thought was terrifying. It not only meant I’d have to deal with my boyfriend hurting me. It would mean I’d have to deal with my best friend hurting me too because as much shit as I gave Max, I did consider him my best friend.
“I know, Kyle but I don’t think Max would do that to you. I can usually read people pretty well and he doesn’t seem like he has ill intentions.”
