Elijah
I passed the blunt over to Bree and leaned back.
"If it's bothering you that much then do sumn 'bout it. If not, shut the hell up."
She took a long drag and breathed deeply. After blowing the smoke out she inhaled it back through her nose. This was something we did pretty often, but I never got tired of seeing her do all them damn tricks with the smoke.
"I ain't yo' maid, Eli. It's cool though, cause if I say I won't come back until it's clean in here, you gon' start cleaning."
She was right. Bree was cool to be around and whatever I could do to keep her company, I would do. She could take my mind off things whenever I needed it. Sometimes it felt like she was the only person I had left.
She tried passing the blunt back but I shook my head and laid back down. "Man whatever."
The room returned to silence, other than soft R&B playing through her speaker. She had her playlist hooked up to it. I liked some of the songs but for the most part I wasn't listening.
My attention was on her.
She wore one of my crewnecks and it fit her body loosely. Underneath she had on some tights. Her natural hair was in a puff on the top of her head. A curl had fell out of place but she tucked it back in. I licked my lips.
She didn't have to be doing anything, yet everything she did was sexy.
"Where yo' head at?" She asked.
To be honest, I didn't know. These past couple weeks felt like I been going through the motions. I was just doing. Tia and I were trying to fix our relationship, but that would take a lot longer. I ruined her friendship with Sai and was a disappointment. Everybody moved on with their lives and ducked off. We aren't as close as we used to be, and that hurts.
When I'm with Bree I can kind of make sense of things. The weed sets me up and she does the rest.
"I'm tired of playing, Brielle." She put the blunt out and stood, stepping over random things to sit next to me. "This is why we need to clean up," she chuckled. Bree leaned up against me and I wrapped my arms around her.
"You know where my head at. Why I gotta say this every time?"
She sighed and looked up at me. Her attention went back to her phone and she chose another song. "We been over this."
"Man, me and her have been apart for months. Let it go. And y'all don't even talk anymore. Why we can't be happy?"
The truth was, I liked Bree.
I had seen her as a friend for the longest. Sai and I were over for real, and it was starting to become real. Bree tried to help me get back together with Sai but I gave up. That ship had sailed long ago. We would probably never get back to how we used to be, or even talk at all. But I can't sit up here and waste my time chasing someone who wants nothing to do with me. I loved Sai, but those feelings were gone.
So I tried to make something happen with Carmen. We talked for a little but we just didn't click like that. Ion know, maybe we just better off fucking. Whole time I was talking to Bree, asking for advice. Then I kept asking her to come over. We would talk and chill.
And yeah, I shot my shot. You get around someone for so long you start to feel like yeen want them to leave.
Bree just ignored me at first. Later on she finally realized that I was serious. And when I asked her what was holding her back, it was Sai. Their relationship was basically nonexistent, and I ain't get why it bothered her so much.
"That's my friend still. If Shawn tried to fuck with Sai wouldn't you feel some type of way? Yeah, okay." She tapped my nose.
"Nawl, it's different cause Shawn actually my nigga. You don't fuck with her no mo'." No hard feelings at all but I'm done dwelling on it. And clearly she is too, seeing that she moved on. "And didn't you say she already with someone else. If she moved on why we can't?"
I don't know the specifics of that but I ain't wanna know. That's not my business no more. "If it's something else bothering you, then just say it," I said cutting to the chase. Ain't no beating around the bush no more. Especially since I'm high off whatever the fuck she put in this blunt.
"It ain't nothing, Eli. I just wanna be sure you ready to do this. I'm not a rebound, period." I nodded. I get where she coming from, though. It would be easy to just move on to Bree to make me forget about Sai. But I didn't need Bree to distract me from Sai when she was the main attraction.
"Yeah I feel you." I pulled her in closer and got comfortable. All her thick hair was in my face but I didn't mind. Her presence was comforting. "But nothing ever happens when you being scary. Cause guess what?"
"What?"
"Pussies are lame."
"You lame."
"That ain't what yo' momma said last night. Them back-shots was sumn else."
Bree started laughing and pushed me away. "Aight pothead. I ain't coming over here with no weed no mo'. You've had enough." She clicked on the tv and started flipping through things to watch.
"I might be high but I know what the hell I want. And it's you." I looked down at Bree. She rolled her eyes and tried to go over to the other seats. I pulled her back down and tickled her sides, making her out of breath with laughter. I wrapped my arms around her and whispered in her ear. "It's you." I turned her chin towards me. Her eyes, a deep chocolate, said it all.
She wanted me, too.
I brought her lips to mine.
I locked up my place and crossed the parking lot to my car. Tia needed me to come in and handle bookings, so I had to drive to the shop. Bree didn't have nothing else to do so she wanted to come with me.
Of course I had no problem with it. I was running a little late, though. I sped through cars on the highway, thinking it would get me there faster. I flicked the blinker on and crossed three lanes to get to the exit, which I almost missed. "Yeah you definitely tryna kill us. Remind me why I got in the car with you?"
I rolled my eyes. I was a safe driver, to me. "You here cause you like being wimme. Just admit it."
She made a disgusted face. "Nope, I wanna see Tia. And I might get a tat." I slammed the breaks down and looked over to her. "You ain't getting shit, Bree. Nice try." Cars zoomed past and honked their horns.
"Bro come on for we get hit!" Bree looked behind us and seen more cars coming our way. I laughed at how scared she looked and hit the gas. "I wanna know how the state of Georgia thought it was okay to give you a license." She leaned her head in the window and rested a hand on her forehead.
When we got to the shop, I took my seat at the circular receptionist desk. There was a whole bunch of people sitting in the waiting area. Some people was there for consults, others was actually finna get inked up.
Tia came in from the supply room with needles, tattoo guns, and gloves. She set them down on a table and walked over to my seat. "Yo ass was 'posed to be here an hour and a half ago... what the fuck? You see all these people??"
I looked around as two more people walked in the shop. "I had them take numbers already. Start calling them up here and all that. Give Bree something to do. I ain't tryna talk to her right now." I frowned. "Did she do somethin'?"
"Nawl, nigga. It's money to be made and I'm busy." She turned on her heels, grabbed the supplies, and went to another artist's room.
Tia was always leaving me to do some desk work. To be honest, I don't get paid enough. "Number 47." While the customer walked up to the counter, I opened a spreadsheet on the computer to type out what they wanted. "What can I do for you today?"
They didn't reply, and it was a whole bunch of other people waiting. I looked up annoyed.
"Sai?"
It looked nothing like her but I knew it was her. Her skin was still smooth and dark, but she looked upset. Frown lines covered her forehead. Sai stared back at me for a moment then turned to leave out of the store. "Man, wait." I tried reaching out for her but she was already pushing through the glass doors.
I got up from the office chair and let myself out of the circle. A lady sitting in the waiting room eyed me. I bucked at her.
"Sai. Wait a second." She was finna get in the car when she stopped and turned around. I looked her up and down.
This wasn't the person I knew. The aura was different. This Sai looked suffocated, dead, hurt. "You good?" I walked closer.
Her eyes weren't the same. In these short months apart she had become a different person. She nervously toyed with a necklace hanging from her neck. Something was off; she had a bruise.
I lifted her chin to see it better. She flinched and stepped back, returning to the car. "You just couldn't help yourself, could you?" She mumbled real low. I ran my hands across my face and watched her back out of the lot.