tone.
He eyes me. âHold da attitude, ma. You too pretty to be actinâ all stank; feel me? All Iâm tryna do is order my meal. And all my peeps was tryna do is holla at you, yo. But you wanna be all stuck up ânâ shit. You lucky I donât smack you in ya frontz.â
I blink.
âYo, dawg, chill da eff out, for real.â Hazel Eyes elbows him in the side. âThat ainât cool, yo.â
âNah, eff dis stupid beyaatch .â
I frown. This is the first time a boy has ever called me the B word to my face. And I feel like Iâve just been sucker-punched in the gut.
Before I can say anything, Hazel Eyes checks him. Tells him he shouldnât disrespect females like that. Then pushes him out of the way. âYo, my bad,â Hazel Eyes says apologetically. âThat mofo ainât always playinâ witâ a full deck when he ainât on his meds.â
I raise a brow. Heâs staring at me with puppy dog eyes holding his heart, feigning hurt. âBut Iâm sayinâ, babe. You got me feelinâ some kinda way. Let me get dem digits so you can make it up to me.â
I roll my eyes. âYour orders will be up momentarily.â I shoo him over, making room for the next customer. Hazel Eyes keeps his stare on me, while Thick Neck walks off to harass two females sitting at a nearby table with his flirty.ways. Hazel Eyes winks at me, again, then glides the tip of his reddish tongue over his bottom lip. And for some reason this whole encounter has my insides shaking. âNext in line,â I call out. And all I can keep thinking as I take my next customerâs order, trying to keep my attention on the task at hand while slyly cutting my eye over at Hazel Eyes as he and his two disrespectful friends finally walk out with their food is, Dang, I should have given him my number. If I see him again, I will.
6
S o I got what I wanted. I did see him again. Hazel Eyes, that is. Two weeks later, but it happened. And I gave him my phone number. Right after my shift, he caught me walking through the food court toward the escalators heading down to the second level.
âYo, ma? Wait up,â he called out, jogging over toward me carrying three Macyâs shopping bags. He looked so good. I tried to keep myself from smiling as he approached me. âSo, whatâs good? Where you off to?â
âHome,â I told him.
âWord? Home already? Yo, itâs mad early, ma. And you too fine to be goinâ home alone. You want some company?â He licked his succulent lips. And I suddenly felt my knees getting weak.
My mother would have fainted on the spot if Iâd walked through the door with him in tow. âI canât have company like that.â
âOh, aâight. Itâs all good. You feel like chillinâ, though? You can come through ânâ we can chill at my spot.â
It was almost nine P.M. And as tempting as it sounded, I was hot and tired. And knew I wouldnât be able to go off to chill with him. Not unless I lied to my parents about where I was going. And that wasnât something Iâd ever done. Telling them one thing just so I could go over to some guyâs house, particularly one Iâd only met standing in my line, ordering his food.
Besides, I wasnât allowed over to any boyâs house without my parents having already spoken to his parents first. And definitely wouldnât be at this time of night. No. If I were going to be allowed over at a boyâs house it had to be during the day, with a parent or another responsible adultâone my parents deemed suitableâhome to supervise us. And weâd have to be sitting in an open area.
âI canât. I have to go home and take a shower.â
He grinned. âNah, you good, babe. You can shower at my crib. I got my own bathroom in my room.â
I blinked, shaking my head.
âYo, come on, Blaze!â Thick Neck yelled
Tabatha Vargo, Melissa Andrea