Page 44 of After Midnight
I cut my eyes at him. "Chill. You're not exactly a choirboy yourself. You didn't get the nameBoogie'cause you like to dance."
He cracked up. "Fuck you, Remy."
I laughed sitting back. "For real, frat. I need your advice. Besides Dri…you know me better than anyone."
His face got serious again and he exhaled with a nod. "Alright, I got you, bruh. Let's quarterback this shit. First off—you trying to date her seriously?”
I looked over to the window, sun high in the sky. City bustling below. "I mean…shit I don't know." I shrugged. "I can't stop thinking about her though," I admitted.
“Alright,” he nodded. “So what happened after she told you?”
I exhaled slowly. “I was shocked. Told her she didn't look like one. That she looked…clean.” I groaned at the memory of it. "I think I hurt her feelings."
Boogie winced. "I'm sure you didn't mean to hurt her. You were just taken aback. Any man would be."
Silence stretched for a second.
Boogie leaned forward again, voice calmer now. “Aight. Let’s take all the extra shit out of it.” He pointed at me. “You're a widowed father.” He pointed to his desk. “You built a legit, successful business. You have a son watching everything you do.”
My jaw tightened slightly. “I know that.”
“And she—” he paused, choosing his words a little more carefully this time, “—lives a lifestyle that doesn't exactly align with yours.”
I nodded slowly. “Yeah.”
His eyes hardened. "Just throwing it out there...but how do you know she's not just using you as a come up."
I froze. I hadn't thought about it like that. She didn't seem like she was using me. Especially since she didn't immediately reach out after she found out I owned the restaurant. She seemed impressed—sure—but not on any gold-digger shit.
I shook my head. "I don't think that’s it. She didn’t even reach out until she saw my IG page, and I named a dessert after her."
"You named a dessert after her?" Boogie echoed, giving me a pointed look.
I just shrugged in response.
He shook his head. "Yeah…you on one," he sighed, locking eyes with me. "Aight. So now the real question is what you actually want from her then?”
I rubbed my hands together again. “I don’t know yet.”
“That’s not good enough,” he said plainly.
I looked up. “Why not?”
“Because she knows exactly what she's doing,” he replied. “And if you go into that situation confused, you're the one that’s gonna get hurt.”
I sat back, feeling the weight of that truth.
“I ain’t saying don’t deal with her. She's probably a cool chick. Your discernment is good, bruh,” he added. “I’m saying figure out your intention before you go any further.”
I nodded slowly. “That makes sense.”
He leaned back in his chair again, grabbing his fork. “But I will say this,” he added casually.
“What?”
He took a bite of his salad, chewed, then pointed at me with the fork. “If this woman got you naming desserts after her, leaving your restaurant in the middle of the dayandpulling up to my office like this…” he smirked. “You already in deeper than you think, my boy.”
I let out a breath, shaking my head. “Yeah…I guess I am,” I admitted.
