“No,” I said and chuckled. “I was born in New York. We moved here when I was in high school. My dad was in the military.”
“Makes sense. Can I get your number?”
“Yeah, of course.”
He handed me his phone, and I saved my number inside of it, then called myself. I could see him in my peripheral, staring at me, scanning my curves. When I looked up at him and handed his phone back, I said, “You’re so tall.”
“Yeah. My dad is six-eight, and all my uncles are over six feet. I didn’t have a choice.”
“Six-eight! You’re kidding.”
“Nope. I’m six-five.”
“Goodness. Well, I look forward to getting to know you, Seven.”
“Same, Iesha. Let me get in here and get what my mama needs before she start blowing me up.”
I giggled as he grabbed my hand and kissed it.
“Talk to you soon.”
I nodded and watched him walk away. He was so damn fine. When he got to the door, he turned around to look back at me and found me still staring at him. He gave me a wink and went inside as I forced my limbs to move so I could get in the car.
I stood from the computer chair and headed to my room. I hadn’t cooked a thing, so I immediately turned around and wentback to the front. “Quincy, you wanna check out Riverside Grill tonight? It’s downtown, close to Riverfront Park.”
“Yeah, sure. Let me go get dressed.”
I went back to my room and stared at my phone, wishing Seven would be blowing it up, like he normally did.Jesus.I wasn’t sure why this was so hard. He was giving me what I asked for. At first, I was asking him to grow up. Lately, I’d been asking him to leave me alone. I should’ve never let him introduce me to his family. However, when he got shot, there was no way I wasn’t going to go see about him.
I sat on my bed in utter disgust. I didn’t know if I was disgusted with him or myself. Maybe it was a little of both. I should have communicated better. He should have listened better. We both contributed to this downfall. I shouldn’t have been so excited in the beginning. I didn’t know him.Ugh!I was going to make myself sick going over the things I should and shouldn’t have done. The point was that we weren’t as compatible as I thought.
I got up to find something to wear for dinner, when my phone chimed. All that time that I was just sitting there with the damn thing in my hand, no one tried to contact me. Then as soon as I stood and walked away, I had action. It never failed.
When I picked it up and saw Seven’s name on the screen, my heart rate picked up speed. I opened the text to see what he had to say.
Hey. I’m sorry I didn’t speak to you yesterday. It’s just hard being around you and not having you as mine. You said I needed to move on and find the woman right for me because you ain’t her. I just wish you were. So I guess I’m saying that I’m gonna let go. I fumbled a good woman. I’ll never forgive myself for that. See you around.
Just like that, I was in my feelings all over again. He was giving up. He was no longer going to chase me, because I toldhim to leave me alone.I just wanted him to fucking act like he had sense!I closed my eyes, trying to subdue my tears. I was in shambles, and I didn’t even know why. I forced myself up from the bed and texted my family to see if they wanted to join us at Riverside Grill. Once they all responded in the affirmative, I went to the bathroom and cleaned my face, then got ready for dinner without responding to Seven’s text.
“You look like you lost your best friend.”
I frowned at Tas’zhane. “What?”
“I don’t know. You just have this sad aura around you. You’re normally bubblier. You okay?”
“Yeah, I’m good. I’m just tired. I had a lot of work to do. I had to design a page on the Henderson’s website.”
“Oh okay. If you say so,” she said under her breath.
She didn’t believe me. I supposed I didn’t sound all that believable. I mainly invited my family to keep Quincy company. I just wanted to lie in bed and forget about everything. The waitress came and took our drink orders. Once she left, someone said, “Iesha!”
I looked up to see Angel and Rylan. I couldn’t help but smile. They were so cute together. I stood from my seat because I knew Angel would want a hug. “Hey!” I said, trying to sound excited.
Sure enough, Angel hugged me. She held me a little longer than normal though. “You okay?” she asked in my ear.
“I will be. Thank you, Angel.”
I refused to start crying in front of everyone. I stood up straight and spoke to Rylan. He was so damn tall, even taller than Seven. “Hey, Rylan. What did y’all do with the kids?”
