Forbidden Fruit (Urban)

fourteen

Sai

Finals were over and Kaiden was calling me to let me know how it went. "Yuh a nigga did good! And that's thanks to shawty over there sitting next to ya', and I know you got me on speakerphone so she can listen. By the way thank y'all for all that, I actually felt kinda smart today."

It was understandable that he knew Ada was sitting next to me, I mean we were inseparable. "Boy, hush," she spoke into the bottom of the phone.

"It's one more week of this bitch then we out! We gotta throw some type of party or some shit. Imma call y'all later, aight?" I said goodbye and he hung up the call.

"How you think you do?" I asked her. I knew we both did well because we always had this intelligence that was just natural. When we were younger we never had to study and we still didn't need to, but did it anyways. It was a mixture of it being hereditary and just paying attention and taking good notes. "How you think?"

Bree came out of my bedroom with a blanket wrapped around her. She looked as if she just woke up. "Girl it's bout one in the afternoon. What kinda night you had?" I asked. Last night she crashed here because her dorm was too far to go home and it was well past midnight.

Though we just met Bree not too long ago, the already established group of friends welcomed her and she fit right in. While Kaiden and I always fought and argued playfully, she and Shawn would always keep the peace. Neisha acted like everyone's mother and A was a mixture of everything.

"Not too much on me, I love sleep." She sat at the bar in the kitchen and did something on her phone. "Oh yeah and Neisha want us to meat her at Benihana's." That was a good choice for lunch, but since it was all the way down there near Buckhead, I had to get some gas first. "I'm finna get some gas before we head out, Bree take yo funky ass a shower." She rolled her eyes and made her way to the bathroom.

I got in the car and drove to a nearby gas station. I put the pump inside and it filled with gas. Neisha called me as soon as I got in the car about to leave. "Hey Nene," I started. Without even saying hey she cut to the chase. "It's something I gotta tell only you. I ain't tell you before cuz everybody had tests or whatever, I didn't wanna mess up y'all flow." I'm sure it wasn't going to be that serious so I wondered why she even hesitated to tell me in the first place.

"I ain't gon be mad at'cha, I promise." She blew out a breath of relief and told me whatever she needed to say. Neisha explained that Elijah had stopped by and wanted to see me. I was a little pissed off at her in the beginning, but I knew her intentions weren't bad. "I'm going to explain everything to y'all when we get to the restaurant. I'm ready to talk," I said referring to the whole predicament I was in with Elijah.

Since I was officially done with school work I could finally focus on myself. Everything in me missed him so much, I couldn't even open my camera roll. It was filled with pictures of us on every date we ever went on: the cooking class, the movies, sky zone, and a whole bunch of other places. Everything he bought me was in a cardboard box in A's room because I didn't wanna be reminded of anything we had. I didn't know where we stood, so I prepared for the worst: ending things for good.

After ending the call and driving home, I decided I would call him tomorrow to meet up somewhere. "We can leave soon I just gotta put something on." I jogged to my closet and opened the sliding doors and chose something simple- a fitted backless black dress that was sleeveless, and some sage Yeezy slides. I put on some extra lotion on my legs to make sure I wasn't ashy or anything. Not wanting to bring a purse, I grabbed my Coach wristlet that was the same color as my shoes. I swept my box braids to a side part and added some gold hoops in my ears. Since everyone was ready we all climbed in the car.

"Chop it up real good!" Bree screamed to the chef. He grinned and went on with cooking the food right in front of us. Fire rose from the steel as he added some type of sauce to the traditional dish. He divided the food into four so all of us could take some. After putting it on each plate he drizzled a different sauce from earlier on the rice, beef, shrimp, and greens. It smelled great. He bowed and went back inside the kitchen, leaving us to eat.

"I feel so fancy. I ain't used to this." Bree spoke again. I told her I've never been here before and neither has A, but Neish knew this place all to well. "Shawn took me here on our first date, I couldn't stop coming ever since." I took a forkful of everything into my mouth and savored every bite. "Since Bree been kicking it with us for a while, she needs a nickname."

I was Sai Baby or Sai-Sai, Neisha was Nene or Neish, Ada was A, Kaiden was Kai, Shawn was Shawnie, but what name would Bree be given? "She can't be BreeBree because I'm Sai-Sai." They nodded in agreement.

"Yeah cuz that don't work, especially since Eli gave you that nickname."

The mention of his name made so many emotions flow through me. Mostly confusion, because whatever he must've done couldn't have been that bad, right? Noticing the effect this had on me, Neisha rubbed my back. "Ready to talk?" I nodded and began telling them the events of that night.

"And he talmbout some I need time.... for what? I was so pissed because I felt like I proved myself as committed to building on us, and he just gon say he needs some time and not tell me why. Then I called Neisha to come and get me because at that point I had some choice words for him." A pushed her plate to the side and asked, "Okay, so why you ain't just tell us?" I explained how upset I was that day, and how ride or die my friends were. They heard anything then it was over for him. I'd be going to his funeral before I could even get the chance to talk to him. Even Bree nodded in agreement, she knew how crazy everyone was.

"But back to Bree," I put more food in my mouth, not wanting to speak of the previous subject. I would talk to Elijah very soon, the question was when. Everyone went back to eating, only speaking when they thought of a name. "Maybe y'all should just call me Bree. A's idea was cool and all, but who really wanna be called potato sack?" She pursed her lips and defended the name.

"When you came out this morning with that blanket, you looked like a damn 'tater. It's okay, you not always gonna be called potato sack."

I chimed in. "Yeah you can be tater tot, baked potato..." Neisha added on to the list, "Curly fry, steak fry, mash-tato, the possibilities are endless. The bottom line is that you look like a potato."

Bree flipped her curly bundles over her shoulder. "If I gotta be a potato, Imma be a bad one." That's one thing I loved about her, she oozed confidence. The chef came out and made some more food in our faces as we all recorded for the snap. It was different food this time and it tasted even better. We used the time to learn more about Bree and her background

"You already know I'm from Caliiiii." She went on about her home in Fresno and living with her dad. Bree's mother left them when she was very young, so she doesn't remember a lot about her. Growing up her dad played both rolls for her and she was very thankful to have him in her life.

"Of course he didn't know nothin' bout no girl stuff or how to do my hair. But he tried." When she entered high school her daddy got a girlfriend and they got hitched three years later. She wasn't too fond of his wife, but she made him happy so she didn't fight it too much.

When she finished with her childhood memories, I suggested we go out for donuts. "What donut shop open at three in the afternoon?" I reminded her about what Krispy Kreme was.

I peeped Neisha whisper something into everyone's ear except for mine. As I was about to ask her what was being said, the check came out. Before I could say anything, Bree's index finger flew to the bridge of her button nose. Everyone at the table followed suit except for me, as I was dumbfounded. "Last one foots the bill." I facepalmed myself.

"Shawn dropped me off so I'm riding back with y'all." I told her it was okay and Bree and A followed her to the car. I tossed them the keys so they could have air conditioning. I payed $115 with a little tip on the side. Receiving my receipt, I headed outside.

Without looking I ran into what felt like a wall. This was all too familiar.

Eli stared down at me, and I watched as my friends sped off down the road.