"Noelle." He spoke.
That was my first time hearing my name off his lips, and I may have lost my cool for the first time in my life.
"Now that I say it, you're more of a Noelle than a Nikki" he gave a goofy grin.
She looked so damn good, It's as if she knew we was gon' run into each other. "Hey" I spoke as she sat in the last available chair in between me and Javier, still avoiding my eyes. I turned my head to look at her as she scooted her chair closer to the table, a drink in her hand. "Hey" she replied, not looking at me still. I stared at her for a few more seconds, a small smile on my face as my tongue pressed against my cheek.
See now, the old, younger me, would have played tit for tat with her and flirted with another girl right in front of her. I would have felt like she was tryna' play games with me. The grown Keith could understand her hurt. I understand why she don't wanna be bothered with me, why she ain't keen on speaking to me at the moment, but I was willing to do just about anything to get her to talk to me one way or another.
"You look nice" I added, leaning my head down to her on the right of me. She slightly turned her head to look at me for a second, then turned it back straight to look at her sister who was sitting across from her, "Thank you" she replied dryly. "Keith, you have facial hair, I never thought I'd see the day" Emani, Noelle and Aria's friend from high school joked. Her and I always had a love/hate, sister/brother relationship. She always found a way to insult me in some way, shape or form. If she wasn't a girl, I woulda' been laid her ass out by now, but with love.
"You do too" I replied, getting a chuckle from Noelle, "Don't y'all start this shit tonight" she chimed in, nudging me in my left rib gently. I laughed, "Emani knows I fuck with her, or else I wouldn't treat her how I treat you" I nudged my little sister back with a smile. "Yeah yeah, you hit below the belt sometimes. Like the day you told me I had an Adams Apple" she reminisced, causing Javier to almost spit his drink out laughing and everyone at the table joined in laughter. "That's cause you told me that my freckles look like somebody threw shit at my face through a screen door" I replied, making everyone laugh again, even Aria.
"You two have been going at it for over a decade, I remember one day Mani called me bawling her eyes out cause you told Geoffrey Stilinsky that she had a crush on him and he wouldn't leave her alone for a week" Alonna laughed through her whole explanation, assuming she was remembering the crying that Emani did in 9th grade.
"That nigga sound like he stank just by hearing his name" Javier Laughed. "He smelled like pennies and musk, don't even get me started" Emani replied. Aria burst out into a fit of giggles, clutching her stomach in pain as I watched her, a smile on my face at the sound of her laugh. It's been so long since I heard her laugh, she had a nigga feeling like he had butterflies for a minute.
When she noticed that I was looking at her, she smiled, looking back at me for a second, then gently took her small, soft hand, and pushed my head to make me stop looking at her, a smile on her face the whole time. Progress. Her hand lingered for a few seconds as my head instinctively melted in her hand at the sensation. She dropped her hand, landing it on my lap and mine quickly followed.
I ran my hand down her forearm, listening intently as everyone else talked, my hand lacing with hers, fingers interlocked. I glanced at her as she kept her eyes on Noelle as she talked, resting her chin in her right hand, elbow propped up on the table. I was content with just being able to sit next to her if I'm being honest. Nothing could compare to being in the same vicinity as her, you could spot her angelic aura from miles away. ————————————
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