Shut Up & Listen

4. and i wonder if u know...

She mumbled under her breath putting her pants back on and sliding her feet into Cole's house shoes. Cole shook his head, dressing himself. "I'm not even hungry." He heard her say in the midst of her rambling.

"You don't gotta eat, you can stay here and i'll be right back."

"If I go out there, Colin I'm leaving. And I'm not finna stay in here by myself. So you choose."

"Why you doing all'at? Somebody thought of you and you doing all this?"

She huffed out an airy, irritated chuckle.

"I'm going home." She said, digging around in the pocket of her pants where she found a pill she put there earlier. Dropping in past her tongue, she faced her boyfriend, "Wasn't it you begging me to give you another chance?" She asked matter of factly, getting no response. She picked up the green mountain dew bottle from the night stand, still hearing nothing from Cole.

"Nigga." She mumbled, kicking off Cole's house shoes replacing them with the tennis shoes she came in with. She tied the strings and grabbed her purse and jacket. "And yo ass don't even give a damn if I leave."

"Because why are you even leaving?"

"I'm tryna spend time with you but the only thing on your mind is what mr.lightskins is doing out there. So i'll leave so you and that nigga can have y'all li'l space."

Cole rolled his eyes.

"So you ain't tryna stop me from leaving?" She shook her head, pushing Cole over to grab her phone from underneath the pillow. "Bye."

"Bye." He mumbled, still not moving. Moments later, Lonnie reappeared at Cole's door.

"I don't like her for you." Lonnie judged, met with Cole's raised eyebrows. "Y'all don't match. Wrong vibes."

"You just saying that shit 'cause you want me."

"Hell nah, i mean hell yeah but hell naw. I'm a big fan of Jemaika, but it don't seem like she a big fan of you." The twenty-five year old offered his observations.

"We have fun together."

"Oh yeah?"

Cole nodded.

"So you like 'er." Cole nodded. "Do you love her?"

Cole shrugged. "I think she love me."

"You saying that like it's rare or some shit. Like you gotta settle because she the only one who love you. She not the only one that love you. IF she even do."

"Okay?"

"I been hearing about you." Lonnie started, changing the subject, "You okay?"

He shrugged.

"You want me to leave too?" Lonnie asked, noticing Cole wasn't into the conversation.

Cole was quiet. He didn't respond. But, he was observing Lonnie's body language. His eyes which were low and darker around the bottoms than usual. His freckles popped more against his washed out, pale skin. His hair was grown out longer than his usual clean fade and tidy line up. He seemed as if he were half there. "Where you been at?" Cole asked.

Lonnie scratched the top of his head and leaned against the wall facing the bed where Cole was sitting up, resting his back on the headboard. The younger man continued to watch his body language as he stood there before him.

"You wrote that letter like you was tryna check out or some shit then you end up in the hospital. Now you here asking me if i'm okay."

"I am okay. Just worried about you."