Into the Starry Night

Twenty-Four

It wasn't five minutes after Timini left that Kenny walked in.

She was dressed in blue jeans and a black corset top and held her curly dark hair back with a silk scarf. Even though she looked like she came here in a rush she still had on mascara and lip gloss.

“Omo,” she said as she dropped the garment bag and both our handbags she was carrying on the empty chair. “Babes, are you ok? You look like you just fought with Mohammed Ali and barely made it out with your life.”

Hearing her make fun of me made me realize that I hadn't seen my best friend in over a month and I missed her terribly.

Without thinking I closed the space between us and wrapped her in a very tight hug.

Her sweet floral perfume was so comforting and familiar that I didn't know when tears began to fall from my eyes.

“Ha, this one is serious oh,” she returned the hug and stroked my back. “It's ok, I'm here now, I'm sorry it took so long.”

I didn't know how long I stayed there sobbing on Kenny's shoulder but after a while, the tears stopped rushing out.

“Here,” Kenny guided me back to the bed and resumed Timini's spot. “Talk to me. Tell me everything that happened.”

I cleaned my eyes and started filling her in on what happened from the beginning of yesterday till now.

“Wow,” Kenny only blinked as I finished telling her everything. “You said you broke up with him here? Wait, is this Timini you're talking about the fair guy I just passed on my way up? No wonder he looked like he just found out he had cancer. You know I almost stopped to give him the change in my bag to try to cheer him up, thank God I didn't.”

“Am I a horrible person?” I asked as my eyes refilled.

“No, but you should really consider selling your life story to one company so they will turn it into one of those telenovelas you watch all the time, because what?” she let out a cackle. “What do you mean you kissed your ex-boyfriend then hours later ended up almost killed by your current boyfriend? This is too good to be true, are you sure you're not making this shit up?”

“One of these days I swear I will use both of my hands and send you to your creator in hellfire,” I told her in the most serious tone I could muster.

She laughed at my threat. “Oya I'm sorry my love. To answer your question, you're not a bad person, the problem is you've just been hung up on one guy for the past seven years and now that he's back you've been acting a little crazy because you're confused and surprised that you still have feelings for him.”

“I do not still have feelings for him,” I scoffed. “That's ridiculous and totally untrue.”

“You liked the kiss, yes or yes?”

“What? No,” I spluttered. “It was just a normal, bland kiss and I certainly will not be doing it again.”

Kenny leveled an unimpressed look at me. “You know this will probably go over better if you stop lying to yourself and accept the reality of things.”

“I wish it was just as easy as that,” I whispered, toying with my fingers. “Just snap my fingers and accept that everything isn't what it used to be and there's nothing I can do about that. Why hadn't I thought of that before?”

Kenny's eyes softened as she realized what she had said. “Amara, I didn't mean . . .”

“Yeah, I know you didn't,” I sniffed. “Anyway, what did you bring? Is there food anywhere there? I'm starving.”