And we sat there in the quiet of her house and talked until neither one of us was watching the clock anymore.
We went from talking, to watching movies, and eventually, I fell asleep with her on my chest. It was innocent, but something about being around her tonight felt different. It was like, I saw her in a whole new light. I saw how intelligent and beautiful she was. She spoke life into a nigga instead of telling me what I’ve done wrong and why I’d never be good enough. She really got through to a nigga and nothing about our encounter was sexual.
—
When I woke up, she was still asleep. I reached for my phone on the coffee table without trying to move too much and wake her up. I shot a text to my Chef, and asked if she was free. I told her that I’d pay hefty fee for a rush and being so last minute. She agreed and I sent her Kyla’s address. Then I shot a text to my driver and asked him to grab six dozen pink roses and to come and grab me afterwards.
I laid back and enjoyed Kyla’s soft breathing while I rubbed her back as she slept. I didn’t know shit about making a woman happy, or dating. The only woman that I’ve known has been treating me like shit since I was a kid. I never got to properly date her or learn the things a man should do for a woman. All that I could do now is go off what my heart is telling me to do.
Not even 40 mins later. My driver had arrived. I eased off the sofa and went outside to grab the roses. I went back inside and placed them on her beautiful, marble kitchen table. After putting my shoes on and grabbing my things, I went to wake her up. I knew exactly what I was doing, and my nervous ass didn’t want to give her time to process anything before I was out the door. I kissed her forehead and gently shook her to wake her.
“Get up beautiful. I have to train today, so I’m about to go home, shower, brush my grill and start my day. Once you get ready for your day, get dressed into something nice for brunch. My chef will be here in the next hour to cook for you.”
“What? Xavier no you didn’t. Why would you-“
I didn’t let her finish before my ass was rushing out the door. I didn’t even wait for her to see the roses either. I kissed her head one more time and rushed off. I don’t know what it was that had me nervous like this, maybe it was the fear of rejection again. I got my ass the fuck out of dodge, quickly.
My driver dropped me off at my house and I walked up to my door still thinking about Kyla… the roses I had bought for her, and my chef that I had booked. She was probably pulling up to her door right about now. I didn’t wait for a response or to see how Kyla would feel about the roses or the Chef coming. I knew that she would eventually call and say something.
I hated rejection and if she wasn’t feeling the shit that I had done for her, then I didn’t want to be around to see her reaction. Even though I didn’t see her face when she saw the roses, I did hope that they made her day. She had been so sweet to a nigga last night, I just wanted to do some shit to make her smile today.
I unlocked my front door and pushed it open, only to find Gutta was in my living room pacing the floor.
I stopped in the doorway. Walked out, and walked right back in to make sure that I wasn’t trippin.
“Gutta, How did you even get in here and what you doing?”
“What you mean? I used my key you gave me.” his response was as if he was the muthafucka that was annoyed.
“For emergencies. Not to pace around my living room at—” I looked at my phone.
“Nine in the morning.” I told his ass, knowing that all he wanted was to talk shit about Simone’s spoiled ass. She’s been on his ass about this house buying process and she had my boy stressed the hell out on most days.
“This is an emergency.”
I looked at him closer. He had that look on his face that he only got when something was genuinely wrong. Not like street life wrong. Personal wrong. Now, I was feeling fucked up for grilling him like that.
I closed the door and dropped my keys on the counter.
“Talk to me. You know I was just fuckin’ with you. Whenever you need to be here, come on. Regardless.”
He stopped pacing and looked at me and then looked at the floor and then looked back at me.
“I saw a baby the other day,” he said. This shit was throwing me off. But I was gonna let him finish. Did he want a baby now or something?
I waited, while giving him a look that said to spit it out.
“At the grocery store, while I was with Simone.” He ran his hand over his face. “Little girl gotta be around three years old. She bumped into me in the aisle and I looked down at her and—” He stopped. He kept pacing and rubbing his hands over his head. Now, he was worrying me. The nigga needed to spit the shit out.
“And what?” I asked, now I was tired of waiting on him to spit it out.
“She looked just like me, Street.”
I stared at him. “What you mean she looked just like you.”
“I mean she had my face. My exact face on a three year old little girl.” He sat down on my couch and leaned forward with his elbows on his knees. “And then her mama walked up.”
“Who was her mama?” my nosey ass was trying to rush the process and get to the bottom of this shit now. It clearly had my boy shaken up. I don’t remember him having a relationship three or four years ago, cause he was chasing Simone then.
