Page 10 of Verse Two
“You be doin’ that shit, huh?” I asked.
She burst out laughing at that, and her face turned bright red.
“It’s not my question, so I plead the fifth!” she said between laughs, and that shit had me cracking up too.
“Yeah, I bet.”
I took the phone from her and asked another lighthearted question, and we went on like that for a while, just vibing, drinking, and getting to know each other again.
I appreciated that we could still laugh together like we did as youngins and that she hadn’t changed in any of the ways that mattered. She was still bright, bubbly, and selfless. Her family was still everything to her, and she still rode for the people closest to her. She was still perfect . . . for me.
When it was my turn to ask a question again, I decided to get rid of the phone and ask the questions I really wanted answers to.
“You believe all that puppy love shit you was talkin’ earlier? You really think what we had wasn’t real?”
I watched as her gaze faltered, and all the nervousness that had disappeared throughout the course of the evening resurfaced on her face. After inhaling deeply, she released it then took a long sip from her glass.
“N-next question,” she said softly. Although we had been sipping all night, that was the first question she actually drank to. I knew the answer to my question, but I wanted her ass to admit it. She wasn’t about to give me that, though, and it pissed me off.
“Scary ass.”
She kissed her teeth and set her glass on the table again.
“I’m not scary, Brick.”
“You are, though. You in here actin’ all shy and shit like you don’t know me, Dy. Like,Idon’t knowyou. Your homegirl kept it realer on that thirty-second phone call than you have in the hours we’ve been together. She said you used to talk about me, and you wanna reduce our connection to fuckin’ puppy love. If you’re not scary, prove it and be real wit’ me. Answer the damn question.”
Folding her arms aggressively, she turned her body toward mine. “Okay. I’ll answer your question if you answer mine.”
I chuckled. “Shoot.”
“LaShontae Brooks. Did y’all ever get together?”
I observed her silently for a moment, wondering where the hell that question came from. I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised. Tae was always trying to turn my head away from Dylan and toward her. There were never any secrets about how much LaShontae hated Dy when we were coming up. LaShontae was cute, but Dy was gorgeous. And she had the heart to match it. LaShontae wanted me in middle school, but I could never see past Dylan Ivie.
I felt like my answer would shift the vibe we had going, but I couldn’t call her scary for avoiding my question if I was just going to do the same thing.
After a minute, I just came out and said the words I knew she didn’t want to hear. “Yeah. Senior year. The shit we had lasted for a while, but she was never you.”
That wasn’t a lie. LaShontae and I did hook up for the first time during our senior year, and our off-and-on relationship lasted a while. I just wasn’t trying to admit that thatwhilelasted up until a few months ago. Dy would for sure dip on me if she knew that.
I half expected her to ask how longa whilewas, but instead, she just said, “Hmph.” Then, she sighed and said, “No, I don’t think what we had was fake or childish.”
I moved her bottle out of her reach and smirked. “I know. When was the last time you thought about me before today?”
Her eyes widened. “You can’t do that. It’s my turn.”
I shook my head. “Nah, it ain’t. When’s the last time you thought about me?”
“Yesterday,” she admitted, rolling her eyes hard. With a now hardened expression, she returned her attention to that damn cup.
That was another thing about Dy that hadn’t changed. She was easy to open up to because she was trustworthy and always had your best interests at heart. She had a habit of keeping her own feelings on lock, though. And just like when we were younger, she liked to pout when she was forced to open up.
Her response was enough to make me forget about her little attitude.
“Word?” I asked, raising a brow. She paused a moment but eventually looked over at me. When our eyes met again, hers immediately softened, and she smiled a little.
“Yep. I take the train to Maria’s office building because it’s not that close to home, and of course, traffic is crazy. Anyway, I had to go by there yesterday, and I saw this man on the train. He didn’t really look like you, but he had your dimple. It shook me up to the point where I got off three stops early and walked the rest of the way to shake it off.”
