Page 44 of When Love Becomes A Need
Autumn’s mouth turned upside down. “She’s just a sneaky hoe who did my brother dirty. He loved her and she didn’t love him back like she should. But forget her; you’re the first girl my brother has been interested in since then. I knew something was up at the shop. I saw how you two were looking at each other.”
“Autumn, you’re reading too much into this.”
She smacked her lips. “You two can keep acting like I’m crazy, but I know something is going on with you two.” I gave her a toothless grin, still not spilling anything.
“You over here asking me questions, but why are you all dressed up?”
“I have a date,” she said proudly.
“With who?”
“This guy Logan I’ve been talking to.”
“Are you excited?”
Autumn shrugged. “Yeah, I guess. I just hope it goes well. I don’t have the best luck with guys.”
“And yet you’re still a hopeless romantic.”
“It’s better than giving up on it. I know there’s someone out there for me. I just have to find him.”
I ignored the shade she threw at me. “Well, hopefully he’s the one.”
“Yeah, let’s hope. Ahmad told me not to fall too quick, but I can’t lie and say Logan isn’t already getting to me. We’ve Facetimed a few times and we text all day. I really like him.”
“Then go for it.”
“How can you be so anti-love and relationships but push me to go for it?”
“Just because it’s not for me doesn’t mean I don’t want other people to find it.” She slowly nodded.
“Well, I should head out to meet him. Wish me luck.”
I flashed her a smile. “Good luck.”
I turned and headed to my office. Autumn was different, in a good way. The way she didn’t give up on love or let one bad relationship stopher from finding love was something I admired. It made me think of my mom and her words played over in my head.
She had been through a huge heartbreak with my dad, but she was able to find love again and was happy. On the other hand, I saw what she went through and closed myself off to the whole concept. Not bothering even to try it out.
I sighed when Ahmad came to mind. His coming over here threw me off, but I was happy to see him. I also know that this wasn’t his thing either, so I was thrown off at the same time. Maybe that was saying something. Maybe we both needed to let go of the hurt we were holding onto.
____
I sat in my car in Ahmad’s driveway, staring at his house. I had been here for about five minutes debating if I should go in or turn around and leave.
As soon as I pulled up to the house, I noticed the lawn. It was getting late and the sun was setting but I could see how well-groomed it was. Ahmad’s house was a nice size on the outside as well. I wasn’t sure why one person needed this much space.
After going back and forth, I finally got out of the car. Grabbing my purse, I put the strap across my chest and followed the sidewalk from the driveway to the house.
I hit the doorbell. While waiting for the door to open, I nervously rocked on the balls of my feet. I had thrown on a jean romper after I showered. My hair was down in curls, of course. My curl pattern was the shit and I had no problem embracing it.
The door finally opened, and Ahmad stood in front of me, shirtless in some basketball shorts. I stared at his bare chest. The night we spent together I didn’t really pay attention to his tattoos since my mind was on other things, but now that I was looking, I was impressed. Unlike his arms which were full of color, his chest was just dark ink and shading. On one side were two names, his sister’s and another, I assume his mom's. He had roses surrounding a heart with the names placed in two scrolls on the inside of the heart.
On the other side of his chest was a lion with what I’m guessing is his birthdate over it in Roman numerals, leading me to assume he was a Leo. Both tattoos were connected by shading and designs, making them look like one piece.
My eyes traveled down to his perfectly cut abdominal muscles, then to the top of the v-cut on his waist. Just as I was about to move my eyes lower, he spoke.
“Nice, huh?” he finally asked, looking down at his chest.
