Farrah grinned. “They know I’m safe.”
“That ain’t what I asked.”
“You mean do they know I’m with you? No, they do not know I’m with who I shouldn’t be with.”
It was my turn to smile. “Who that?”
She side-eyed me. “Don’t do too much.”
“I’m just trying to figure out if I’m the person you shouldn’t be with.”
She paused, tilted that head, spilling curls everywhere and looked at me. “You ain’t bad,” she said solemnly before smiling again. “You just annoying.”
“Cool,” I said. “I’ll take annoying.”
“You already did,” she muttered, and I decided not to ask what she meant. “Wait ‘til I tell my professor about this place.”
“You do anything that ain’t about school?”
“I cook,” she said. “Like, for real. Not just pasta and sauce. I can season my ass off.”
“That wagon? Ain’t that much seasoning in the world.”
“Mekhi!” she protested, but she grinned.
“What’s your best dish?”
“Shrimp and grits, if I got the good Irish butter and quality seafood,” she said. “Oxtails when I got patience. My MiMi taught me that.”
My mouth watered. “I cook, too,” I reminded her.
She snorted. “Top Ramen don’t count.”
“You forgot that mandolin already?” I asked. “I do short ribs. And I make a lemon garlic thing with salmon that make people lick they plates. ‘Cause a nigga classy.”
“Classy,” she echoed, teasing. “You putting it on china too?”
“Yeah, I got real plates. Don’t play with me,” I said, pretending to be offended.
“I know you got plates, moneybags,” she amended. “You got plates and a whole set of forks and?—”
“And silver spoons to stick in my kids’ mouths,” I interrupted.
We reached an interactive kiosk that invited you to match profiles to suspects, using tiny tidbits of detail to build a composite. Farrah cracked her knuckles. I leaned my shoulder against the pillar and watched her fingers move fast but careful.
“You be playing games?” I asked.
“Like video games? Not really.”
“Board games?”
“Dominoes,” she said without hesitation. “I’ll slam on yo’ ass.”
I laughed. “You better watch your mouth before you have to eat them words.”
“You from a domino house?” she asked, eyes still on the screen.
“I’m from a house where you learned the math in your head fast. I’on slam, Little Thug. I count precisely.”
