Page 17 of Just Listen
“No. It’s just an observation.”
“I hear you.”
“But there’s one spot that’s flawed.”
I glimpsed at her. “And what’s that?”
“You aint too careful in the streets, if you fucking with me and don’t know me from a hole in the wall. What if I have bad intentions?”
I smiled. “What if I do too? Who’s at the bigger disadvantage here? Me or you?”
She shook her head. “I aint gone answer that.”
“Exactly.”
“This is fun,” she sporadically acknowledged. “But it’s ‘bout time that I go back to my reality.”
“So, you ready to leave me?” I gazed at her, as I pulled up to a light.
She tucked her lips into her mouth. “Why do you have to put it like that?”
“Because that’s what it is. My wife is tryna run off. Is there a nigga at home, madder than a muthafucka? Tell me. Let me know what’s up.”
She sighed. “How do you know that it’s not work?”
“So, you telling me that you got a nine to five, Big Baby? Is that how you manage to run it up at the Galleria?”
“Why it gotta be a nine to five?”
I licked my lips. “How old are you?”
“Twenty-one.”
“Right. And what kinda job would a twenty-one-year-old have to purchase designer on a regular?”
She rolled her eyes. “The hell if I know.”
Shaking my head, I smiled. “Do you even have a job?”
“Something like that.”
“Whatever that means.”
“It means that I don’t feel like breaking down the details tonight.”
“So, you don’t have plans on me getting to know you?”
She stared at me, while I gripped the steering wheel. “You got a girlfriend?”
I frowned. “That was random.”
“It really wasn’t.”
“How wasn’t it?”
“Because I just wanted to point out how a lot hasn’t been discussed in the past two days. It’s been fun, but it’s surfacelevel. And I noticed that your phoneneverrings. And with you being…in the streets…that tells me that you probably got a hot line, but keeps that ringer off. That’s a red flag. But I aint tripping, because I’m just living in the moment. And the only way I’ll let you get any closer…is when I have no more questions.”
“Okay.” I nodded. “So, tell me this. If you so apprehensive, then why did you go so far with me?”
