Page 41 of All She Ever Wanted Was a Real One
“All I wanted was a bite, I swear,” she pleaded.
Before I could reach for my plate, Oak appeared out of nowhere like fuckin’ Batman and spun me around so that his sister could escape. Instead of letting me go, he started tickling me in all the right places until I almost peed on myself from my incessant laughing.
“Please, no. Stop, pleaseeeeee,” I begged.
“It’s too late!”
He reeled me in closer, shoving me up against the counter, tickling my side with one hand while the other slipped between my thighs. I gasped as happy tear ducts formed in the corners of my eyes, and my voice turned raspy from all the screaming. I didn’t know whether to laugh or moan. But I knew one thing: That nigga was bold as fuck.
“Okay, Oak! You win! You fucking win! I’m sorry!” I surrendered. Because if he kept touching me like that, it was going to start a flood in my flannel shorts.
He obliged and stopped touching me. We all fell into hysterical laughter that damn near brought us to our knees. The cabin was alive with giggles and side curling, eye-watering laughter. We were reliving our childhood, and at that moment, anything in my life that was off or not going the way I had wanted it to didn’t matter. I, Alexis Rosewood, was a kid again, if only for the moment.
A week had flownby since our time at my family’s cabin, celebrating my parents’ wedding anniversary. I didn’t expect to be filled with so much love and nostalgia up there, but seeing my parents still happy and able to make each other smile after forty years of being joined at the hip had my insides glowing like sunshine. I was proud to be a product of strong Black love and to have come from the loins of two of the most incredible role models I could’ve ever asked for.
I’d been invited to the seventh birthday party for the son of one of my childhood friends, and I still hadn’t bought a single gift. But all of that was about to change. I was in my truck, driving to the nearest mall to grab something special. After a few hours of shopping around, I marched out of the mall witha Minecraft Labyrinth board game for my boy’s son and a small crescent moon charm for Lex to add to the Pandora bracelet she never seemed to take off. When I saw it, I was instantly reminded of the night at the cabin. It was something I didn’t intend on forgetting and hoped she wouldn’t either. Don’t ask me why I bought that sentimental shit, especially when I was tired of her fine, flip-flopping ass.
We hadn’t spoken since the cabin.Go figure.I had a feeling she was doing her best to ghost me again.She seemed to have a pattern of doing that shit every time I knocked the bottom out of her pussy, so I wasn’t trippin’.
I didn’t know when I’d give it to her, if ever. I wasn’t even thinking about her when I initially stepped into the mall, but after passing by the window and seeing the charm in the display case, I couldn’t get Lex’s face out of my head. Growing up, I thought Cupid reserved his arrows only for saps. But I’d obviously been struck, because even though I knew I was playing the role of boyfriend number two, I didn’t intend to share her forever. There wasn’t enough room in her heart for a real nigga and a bitch nigga to coincide. And when I played, I played for keeps.
Just as I approached my truck, I heard someone call out my name from a few feet away. “Oak? Oakland Gray, is that you?”
The voice was soft and familiar, but I still wasn’t immediately able to place it until I fully turned around to see Yasmine Jefferies, my ex from freshman year in college, standing there. We were so young when we dated, and it was only for about eight months or so, but we didn’t end on bad terms. A wide smile spread across her face, revealing the dimple in her left cheek, as she lifted her hand to wave at me. I smiled back, still temporarily taken aback by seeing her again after so long. She inched my way while carrying a couple of shopping bags in her hand and a leather handbag in the other.
“I thought that was you. Wow, how long has it been? Ten, eleven years?” she asked, swiping her hair behind her right ear.
“Twelve,” I answered. “How you been, Yas?” I quizzed, giving her a onceover.
Even with all the years that had flown by since we’d dated, she still looked good. At least good enough to carry on a conversation with without getting annoyed. She’d gone from a slender build to a few curves in all the right places but still had an athletic frame. She’d traded in the long, flowy ponytail she always wore for a blunt cut bob with a few blonde highlights streaked through it. It made her look more like a corporate mogul than the track star I once called my girl. And I couldn’t help but notice her left ring finger was bare, unlike Lex’s.
“I’ve been good, busy with work.”
“What are you doing in the Chi? If my memory serves me right, you said you’d never leave Ohio.”
She flashed a lopsided grin, showing off a row of her straight white teeth. “I had to follow the money, so I moved here for law school after college. It’s been my home away from home ever since.”
“That’s wassup.”
“What about you? How’s life been? You still look great by the way.”
I smirked. “Thanks. You do too. But life’s been cool. I joined the Navy once I left school. Now I’m back home ready to start the next chapter.”
“With someone . . . or?” She let her question trail off, prompting me to fill in the blank as she glanced down at my left hand.
Another ghost of a smile lifted one side of my mouth. “Nah, just me. I’m having a house built.”
Her clean, arched brows raised, and I noticed her hazel eyes light up. “Wow. Congratulations!”
“What about you?”
Yasmine’s narrow shoulders rose and fell as she licked her pillowy lips. “Still out here single as a dollar bill,” she confessed begrudgingly.
“Word?”
“Trust me, there’s nothing out here. All the men my age are either swimming in baby mama drama or have one foot in the penitentiary.”
“Damn.”
