Page 46 of A Little Kissing Between Friends

“Jucee! C’mon, man!”

Maybe it wasn’t that serious, but why did it feel like she wasn’t interested in taking things slowly? I was tryna preserve what we had and slowly introduce something new, and she wanted to just throw all of that away on a whim! Frowning, I clutched my chicken wing in my hand and sighed loudly. Jucee sucked her teeth in response.

“Seriously, Cyndi? Kill all of the dramatics. If you’re not interested, you can straight up say no. All the extra shit is so rude and unnecessary.” Her over-the-top display of displeasure made me sit up straight and look at her. She was trying to mask it with annoyance, but there was slight hitch in her voice that tugged at my heart.

“Wait. Are you being serious right now?”

She narrowed her eyes into slits. “You know that I am or you wouldn’t be acting an ass.”

Dropping the chicken, I opened a moist towelette and wiped off my fingers. She had it all wrong.

“I’m sorry. For real. I just...” I shrugged. “I don’t know, man. You caught me off guard and I...” A heavy sigh pushed from my lips. “It’s obvious you’re not just playing and that shit threw me because...”

“Because what, Cyndi?”

My bottom lip curled up. “Aye! First off, stop calling me fucking Cyndi. It’s Poppa from you or nothing else.”

“When you act like Poppa, I’ll call you Poppa. Right now, you’re giving me big Cyndi Thomas aka Cyn Tha Starr energy.”

She’d leaned forward, her hand curled into a fist on the table top, genuine fire blazing in her eyes. I didn’t want to be turned on by the way she was tryna charge me up, but I’d be lying if I said my pussy didn’t throb a lil bit. My lips quirked up of their own accord.

“Don’t do me like that.” I could admit that it was silly, but when she called me anything other than Poppa, it pissed me off. Like full on grated on my nerves. I didn’t even get that mad when my mama called me my full government. You know what? Fuck it. If she wanted to go there, we could go there. I sat forward, ready to throw caution into the wind, when I heard someone call my name. Confused, I looked around until my gaze landed on Jackie.

“Are you shitting me?” I heard Jucee mumble under her breath, letting me know that I wasn’t imagining things. Jackie was actually here at POST and headed right for us.

When she reached our table, she launched herself at my side, wrapping her arms around me and aiming a kiss for my lips. It had caught me off guard and all I could do was let it happen, my stomach sinking with each second that it lasted. Pulling away, I patted her back and shot a glance over at Jucee to gauge her reaction.

Following the path of my attention, Jackie turned her head and finally acknowledged Jucee.

“Oh, Jucee!” she gasped. “I didn’t know you would be here!”

My eyebrows furrowed as Jucee’s shot up.

“I could say the same about you,” Jucee responded, folding her arms on top of the table and leaning forward as if she was preparing to watch a good show.

“Uh, what are you doing here, Jackie?”

Instead of immediately answering my question, she grabbed a chair from a nearby table and situated it right next to me first.

“I asked you yesterday if we could get together today and you said yes. You don’t remember?”

Jucee’s eyes flew to me and I slapped a hand against my forehead.

“Shit,” I muttered when I realized what Jackie was talking about. I’d forgotten all about that. Likely because I hadn’t meant it when I’d answered.

“Yeah, I did. But how did you know I’d be here?”

Jackie laughed and looped an arm through mine, hugging up on me.

“I didn’t. I’m meeting a friend on the skylawn for yoga and I saw you on my way to the stairs.”

Relief flooded me. I thought she’d been on some stalker shit, but luckily it was just a coincidence. Her being here wasn’t ideal, but it was like a wake-up call. It was unexpected, but maybe this was a good thing. Jackie’s presence kept me from saying and doing something that I didn’t need to be doing.

Jackie leaned into me and nuzzled my neck. It tickled, so I jerked away and immediately looked up at Jucee. I don’t know why I felt compelled to look her way. I’d been with women in front of her before; she was always chill about it. But this time just felt different. It felt wrong on several levels and my daddy’s voice echoed in my brain when he described the look on Jucee’s face from the day before. I could try and explain it away, but even if it didn’t make sense, it still felt wrong. And that wasn’t the only thing.

The blood wasn’t exactly bad between her and Jackie, but the vibe was off in a way I couldn’t describe. Little shit like having my neck kissed on felt performative. I had to wonder if Jackie’s display was for my benefit or Jucee’s. And if it was for Jucee, then I had to wonder why Jackie felt like she needed to put on a show for her. Those thoughts took me down a rabbit hole that I just didn’t have the wherewithal to travel, so I reeled it in and focused on my friend.

I watched Jucee press her lips together before she turned away. She only did that when she had things to say but figured it was best if she kept those things to herself. Usually I was in on it, sharing a look with her as she failed to keep the judgment off of her face. This time, I was the subject—or I was entertaining the subject, as Jackie was practically in my lap. Either way, I didn’t like it.