Page 45 of Off the Charts
His eyes grew big as he nodded with excitement, but his lips were tucked as if they were still zipped. I laughed at his silly behind. I could take a breather because our conversation went smoothly. Now, I had to plan for them to meet outside of the school walls.
For the rest of the night, we curled up watching a few of our favorite movies while eating sorbet straight out of the bucket. These were the moments that meant the most and I’d forever cherish them.
Don’t overthink it. Something comfortable.
I’m leaving the house in thirty minutes to get you.
& Pack a bag of your necessities only. I got everything else for you, clothes included. I wanna be selfish with you this weekend. See you in a minute
I’d readhis text twenty times mainly because of the last message. I couldn’t wait to be flipped, reversed, and tossed in the air like a fresh flapjack off the griddle. I couldn’t decide on what to wear. Placing my hands on my hips, I looked over the five outfits that were spread across my bed. Three of them required heels, so I hung them back up. The other was a cute two-piece workout set. I was hoping he wasn’t going to have us jog up any more mountains and to prevent that, I folded that up and settled on the spaghetti strapped black sundress with a slight flare that ended just above my ankles. Most important of all, it was all black, Vayce’s favorite color on me. It was perfect too because we were in the part of summer that made you want to live right to prevent going to hell.
“What I got will make you spend money. And do,” I sang along as I put on some deodorant, a step niggas seemed to always miss. “All night long.”
I slicked my hair into a low bun with dramatic edges and dabbed some oil on my pressure points before sliding my feet in a pair of cute red sandals that matched my purse. I hadn’t packed a spennanight bag since college, so I did a little twerk when I draped it on my arm.
Zion was spending the weekend with Solomon’s little sister, Inez. He was so excited to go and if it was any different, we both would’ve been staying home. When I dropped him off earlier, I made it clear to Inez that Zy was to not be around Victor. She was aware of her brother’s lifestyle and understood my standpoint. It didn’t have shit to do with being bitter buteverything to do with the respect of our child and I didn’t give a fuck who didn’t agree with it.
My phone rang with a Facetime call. I started scrambling as I answered, but when I looked down, I couldn’t see anything.
“Hello? J?”
“What am I looking at?” I quizzed, throwing two bottles of wine in my bag.
“Huh?” he lowered the phone. This man had it to his ear at first. I hollered while he sucked his teeth and adjusted the phone but even then, I could only see his nostrils. He was such a senior citizen. “Man, I’m outside.”
“I’m coming,” I giggled.
After setting the alarm, I locked up and walked out. Vayce was in his big truck tonight with the music thumping, playing the perfect song. Outside of his amazing qualities, one of the things I admired about him was that he was also a music head. I did the electric slide to the beat, leaning down to smack the concrete.
“You let my love fly freely,” I sang as I danced my way to the truck.
He hopped out, grabbed my bag, setting it on the hood, and spun me around. This wasn’t an ass throwing song, but I still bent over and threw it against him, feeling him hold onto my hips and dance against me. We both laughed, singing loud as hell. Vayce pulled me up and I wrapped my arms around his neck, placing a firm kiss against his lips.
“I’m caught up in the rapture of love,” we sang between kisses.
“When I feel the magic of you,” he finished, holding me tighter. “The feeling’s always new.”
“This my shit! What you know about that? Ayeee,” I continued dancing, making him laugh. He was dressed in a black oversized designer tee with some black jeans. His accessorieswere simple, diamond earrings, chain, with a watch. He didn’t have to do too much, making it easier to look at him all damn day. “Hiii handsome. I missed you,” I giggled, pinching his cheek.
“What’s up, baby? Look at you,” he held my hand in the air to spin me around, slapping my ass when it was toward him. “Mm. Mm. Mm,” he shook his head. “You look so fucking beautiful in black, J.”
“I like to think that it’s our color,” I winked, accepting his hand again. As always, he lifted me into my seat then jogged around and climbed effortlessly into his side. “Thank you, Vayce.”
I still had no idea what he had planned, and honestly, I didn’t care because my brain went on autopilot the second he told me he was outside. That’s how I knew my trust had grown, because I didn’t think about shit in his presence. I only had to breathe. He handled the rest.
We spent the drive singing and talking about small things. About ten minutes later, we pulled into a subdivision right outside of Edgewynne. We turned in front of a gated home and I wasn’t surprised by the elegance of it after learning about their real estate company. Vayce’s home was almost opposite of the cabin, but it was clear that it was built from the ground up. Grabbing my hand, he led me inside and I gasped. His ceilings were high as fuck so much so that I had to turn my neck to get the full view. You could tell this was his haven from the childhood pictures to the plants in the corners. Like the cabin, most of the furniture was black with hints of muted colors for the pictures. My favorite was how the crisp air smelled like eucalyptus with woody notes. His home carried a peace you couldn’t explain, you had to experience, much like him.
“This is beautiful.”
Vayce looked around like it was his first time here too. “This ain’t my shit. It’s an open house.” My head snapped in his direction making him laugh. “I’m just fucking with you. ‘Preciate it. V did most of my decorating. Don’t take your shoes off yet. I wanna show you something.”
He locked our fingers, leading me through the living room to a back door. We walked past a large, covered patio and down a set of stairs. I gasped looking over at Vayce once we reached the bottom. I stopped walking and he turned to me, smirking.
“C’mere. You ain’t seen nothing yet.”
“Vayce,” I gasped again and followed him.
Surrounding us was a pathway of candles leading to a deck that had lights and flower petals around it. There was a projector in the distance that readUnder the Stars with J. My cheeks burned from smiling. The closer I got, I saw a blanket laid out in the grass with two wine glasses, a bottle of tequila, and two bouquets of flowers, one of black roses, the other of my favorite. Magnolias. There was also a card with my name written in the middle.
