Page 28 of Just Listen
“And why is that?” Ole girl questioned.
I shrugged. “Because he don’t love me like my daddy loves my mama.”
Kema and the other girls laughed, while Jahreiah smirked.
“We don’t expect y’all to get it,” my sister commented. “You would just have to be there. My daddy set the bar high, and he has the biggest shoes to fill. So, I get exactly what Jaylah is saying.”
“In other words, Sin J is a big stepper, because she was accepting nothing less,” Kema summed up.
Jahreiah shimmied her shoulders. “Pretty much.”
“Right.” I nodded, as I crossed my legs. “And now, it’s on to the next.”
Ole girl next to me smiled. “I like your style. You don’t be playing with these niggas. I can tell.”
“And don’t. Anyway, what’s your name?”
“I’m Paisley.”
“Jaylah,” I offered.
“Here.” She handed her phone to me. “Put your IG in here. We can link and do brunch or something.”
I nodded, as I typed in my username. “I’m down.”
“Okay, cool.” She bobbed her head, after I handed her phone back. “I’ma hold you to that. Because I know that my hard-headed ass is gonna need more advice. Cause I stay giving that nigga a hard time.”
I lightly laughed. “Aint nothing wrong with it. It’s alright to be his headache sometimes.”
~~~Chapter 6~~~
I was lounging on my couch, absently scrolling through my phone. It was one of those days when I didn’t feel like doing anything. Usually, this was the time that I’d spend with Zae, but I wasn’t trying to fall back into bad habits. So, I tried my mightiest not to call him.
It had been a couple of weeks since my rendezvous with Mr. Malice. And I thought about those three days constantly. I daydreamed about it. Definitely wouldn’t have minded taking him on another spin, but he’d basically ghosted me.
After my fight with Zae, and having to get a new phone, it took a whole day before I could use that line again. I then had to go the extra mile and review my call-log online to even retrieve Malice’s number. And then, I texted. It wasn’t delivered, so I could only assume that I’d been blocked. Of course, my pride wouldn’t let me call, so I had to accept that that was a one and done situation.
I could bullshit myself and say that I didn’t care…but I did. Just a little. Malice had been a whole vibe. I liked his style. Personality. And sex. It was amazing. And I’d probably compare anybody who came along after, that experience. Because fucking him had been the most pleasurable days of my life.
Feeling a little crazy, I’d even tried looking him up on social media, and ran into a dead end. Impressively, he really didn’t have a digital footprint that was widely known. I’d even stumbled across his boy’s page, and there was no evidence ofhim, at all. I was sifting through comments and everything, hoping that something would lead me to his page. But no cigar.
Not being able to find him was actually a good thing, because that meant that he was truly a low-key nigga. Something I’d been wanting. A nigga that these hoes couldn’t claim to know. However, as luck would have it, my past had run my potential future off, leaving me pissy. I’d come to that conclusion after I noticed the length of that call from Malice. Although we hadn’t spoken directly, that call with Malice was over twenty minutes long, which means that he’d probably sat and listened to my entire argument with Zae. And then perhaps he’d decided that I had too much going on, for his taste.
Either way, I was irritated out of my mind. I’d jumped out there and had tried something new, only for it to end before it could even start. I think what bothered me the most was that I was legitimately done with Zae, and had been fully broken up with him. So, he’d interfered in something, when he really had no fucking right. I also had to question if Malice’s interest was really there, to give up so easily. I thought that a bitch was at least worth scrapping with a bitter ex a time or three. Damn.
“Yeah, she probably sleep in this muthafucka.”
Hearing a voice downstairs, when I wasn’t expecting anybody, I immediately sat up. “What the fuck?” I whispered, as I frantically glanced around, trying to remember where I’d stashed my gun.
“Diva Jay, you sleeping?”
Hearing that voice, I smiled. “Claro.”
Staring at the stairway, I watched Zae and his best friend, Claro, step onto the second floor.
Laying eyes on me, Claro immediately smiled. “What’s up, sis?”
I smirked, as I gave him a once over. Claro was a tall, light brown, thick nigga. He was literally right beside Zae when he’d first approached me, and had been our third wheel ever since.
