𝐥𝐢𝐩 𝐛𝐚𝐥𝐦// 𝐱𝐱𝐱

orange

She groaned and laughed."I should keep my mouth shut sometimes. Yeah you can come through." Her cheeks turned a light shade of red as my face lit up."Bet send me the address." She smiled and nodded."Ok" she smiled before hanging

•destiny•

I let out a sigh and leaned back after I sent Jahseh my address. I kinda feel sorry for Jasmine, since she still lives with her parents. I moved out a couple months ago, as soon as I had turned 18 I got my own apartment. My parents were very stressful, always on my ass. I had no type of freedom, so I got away as soon as I could.

I changed out of my pajamas. I had no idea I was wearing pajamas at 2:00 in the afternoon. I changed into some black ripped jeans and a thrasher shirt. I put on my old black high top Vans. I made sure I had some money in my purse for wherever Jahseh was taking me. I looked at my hair and decided to leave it the way it was- down and curly.

I sat on my bed and grabbed my earplugs and phone from my nightstand. By the time I got down I heard a knock at my door.

I walked to the front door and opened. Jahseh stood looking over me and I smiled up at him and gave him a hug. He hugged me back and I invited him in. "Hey." I said. He looked around. "This your joint. It's nice."

I nodded, "Well you know-" I flipped my hair and he chuckled. "I got me a cocky one." I shook my head and ignored his comment.

"So where you taking me." He shrugged, "Wherever you wanna go."

I rolled my eyes, "Nigga I thought you had all this shit planned out."

"Well let's go get something to eat and then we can figure out where we wanna go."

I nodded and made sure I had my key to lock my door. We walked out of the apartment complex and to his car. I got in the passenger side and he started the car. "Where you wanna eat?" I thought for a moment after he asked.

"Uhh, Popeyes." He laughed and shook his head, "Black folks"

I eyed him. "Boy shut up and drive." He put his hands up in surrender and pulled out of the parking lot.

"So how old are you?" He asked ,keeping his eyes on the road. "Just turned 18 a few months ago. Ya bitch is grown now." I said laughing.

"Being gown really ain't all that, I turn 19 in two months." He said. I held a frown on my face. "Why you say that?"

He shrugged, "I mean it's a lot involved. Maybe I'll tell you everything if you stick around."

I rolled my eyes. "IF? You ditching me before we know each other a whole month."

He laughed and stopped at a red light. He looked over at me and licked his lips, "I ain't ditching you shorty, I'm just saying, as soon as I turned 18 a lot of things went downhill but life's been much better lately. It's kinda personal." He looked away and eased his foot back on the gas as the light turned green.

"Ok well, another conversation starter. Are you from Florida?"

He nodded, "Born and raised. But I been all across the country so my accent can change from time to time. You from here?"

"Yeah. My family moved to California a while ago and I stayed there for a year and moved back when I turned 18,and this is where I met Jasmine. I didn't really have any friends in California. I kept to myself mostly because I didn't want to put myself in their crowds."

He smiled, "Good thing you did. I heard about how ghetto they act up there. I been to California once, to lame ass Disney Land on a school field trip."

I nodded. "California kinda weak anyway." He said. "Hot as hell all the time, and niggas act like they all that just cus they from Cali. It's sad."

I nodded again. "Why you all quiet for?" He asked, his accent got a bit thicker, and I could really tell he was from here. Maybe it got like that when he was concerned. It really did change from time to time. "Nothing, I'm just hungry is all." As if on cue my stomach grumbled and he pulled into the Popeyes parking lot.

I smiled

Yay food

We hopped out the car and I immediately walked to the doors while Jahseh lagged behind. "C'mon nigga. I'm hungry."

He chuckled and started to drag his feet. I crossed my arms and looked at him. He sped up and laughed. "Ain't shit funny you long necked ass." He put a hand over his heart as if he was offended. "Ouch, that kinda hurt."

He opened the door for me and I walked in and thanked him. Inside it was pretty vacant, with only an old man and his wife sitting in a booth. We ordered our food and decided to sit at a booth in the back of the sitting area. Near a window.

He sat our buzzer thing- to signal when our food was ready- on the table. He looked at me and stared, a small smile set on his face.

I waved my hand in front of him. "Hello. Earth to Jahseh." He snapped back to reality when I called him by his government.

"What I tell you about that." He said and smirked. He leaned back and gripped his phone in his right hand.

"I ain't never met a girl, pretty as you." He mumbled. I don't think that was intended for me to hear. It's like the more he talked the more I recognized his voice. He reminded me of someone but I couldn't think of who. I blushed at his comment and looked away.

I shrugged. I went in my purse and applied some lip balm and watched him. He stared at me and I never broke eye contact. I put my lip balm back in my purse.

He blinked and I laughed. "You lost." He rolled his eyes. "I ain't know we was having a contest."

Before I could respond, the buzzer buzzed. I started to get up. "Nah I got it." He got up and left and a minute later he came back with a large tray with our food. He sat it down and I danced a little in my seat. I grabbed my food off the tray.

We sat and ate and talked. His vibe he gave off gave me butterflies and both sides of my brain tried to decide if I was beginning to have a crush. When we got done we got up and got in his car.

As I sat down I immediately got tired, and all I wanted to do was sleep. "You still wanna go somewhere?" He asked. I shook my head no and leaned against the window. My hand sat between us. All of a sudden I felt his hand cover mine. I looked down at them and smiled a little. I flipped my hand over and intertwined our fingers.

I saw a smile appear on his face as he drove.

I went in my purse and got back out my orange lip balm and reapplied it, another small smile creeping on my face.

I guess I did have a crush after all.