Page 8 of Definitely Not a Thing
“You delivered itverycomedically!” she defended, still laughing, but then her expression shifted, and she blew out a deep sigh. “Okay. I’m done laughing, and ready to support you through this challenging transition.”
“You make mesosick,” I giggled. “It’s… it’s just a break up? Right? I’ll be fine.”
She nodded. “You will be fine, definitely. But… you ain’t gotta fake the funk with me – as a matter of fact, please don’t,” she amended. “You’re hurt, and that’s okay. More than, in fact. You were with Hunter for damn near three years – that nigga talkedto me about rings, it wasn’t some shallow thing. You don’t have to try to be over it in a week.”
Kae was right.
Unquestionably.
But… I was stuck, mid-pat of moisturizer, on… “he talked to you about rings?”
Immediately, Kae’s face dropped. “Shit,” she muttered under her breath. “Ames, I?—”
“It’s fine,” I interrupted, shaking my head as I finished with my face. “I mean… why should that be surprising, that far into a relationship, you know? I just… I don’t understand how that falls in line with not being sure. Like how the fuck are you not sure, but talking to—you know, whatever.Whatever.”
“Clearly he was all over the place,” Kae said, pulling her shades off. “And if it matters at all, I kinda told him that when he brought it up to me.”
“Told him what?”
“To not play in your face by giving you a ring if he wasn’t really there with it.”
I frowned. “So you knew he was iffy?”
“I didn’tknowanything… but like… neither did he, if that makes sense,” she answered. “The conversation just had a little too much…maybe,andI think, versus…I know.And it was like a year ago – before you agreed to move in. It didn’t seem abnormal to me, just maybe too soon?”
“It’s been three years.”
She shrugged. “That’s not that long these days. And we’re still young.”
“I’m thirty-four. He’s thirty-six.”
“Do you think that’s old?”
“In general? Of course not,” I said. “Buttooold I think for age to be like… an excuse to not… to be… shit, I don’t know.”
Kae frowned. “Bitch me either – we’re in the same single ass streets.”
“Yeah, and there’s no one I’d rather start a fresh hoe-phase with, but damn… I wasnotanticipating ever taking another dip in the – famously – pissy dating pool.Notthat I’m anywhere near ready for that,” I quickly added.
The idea of it made my stomach hurt, actually.
“The last thing I want to do is waste my time again,” I mused. “If I’d known… if I’d heeded the red flags, instead of justgoing with the flow… ugh.” I sighed. “There’s not a point in lingering on it, but like I said… I’m good on niggas for a little while, at least.”
“So we’re on the same page then,” Kae said. “You don’t have to be ready for anything – you just have to be real with yourself about what you’re feeling, and where you are.”
I raised an eyebrow. “An air mattress in an empty apartment in the same building as my ex, next door to a man who probably thinks I need a grippy sock vacation and is actively trying to drive me into a psychotic break?”
Kae laughed. “Day one of Amelia’s Healing Journey!”
“You’re an asshole.”
“An incredibly gorgeous, smooth one,” she crooned at the screen, making me laugh. “Love you.”
“Love you too,” I replied as we transitioned off the call.
As soon as there was silence in the apartment again… there was another loud clang.
And a grunt.
