Page 34 of The Need to Know

Rhythm and blues.

What a take.

I had a dilemma.

I loved The Godfather trilogy. I had a reason to call, or text, Ezekiel Monday evening, yet I found myself hesitating.

War flashbacks from my time with Corey came to mind, and I was ready to pull the plug. But then, the memory of laughing, of enjoying myself with Ezekiel, and being carefree came to me and I loosened up.

On a whim, I decided to send him a simple text letting him know I enjoyed the movies.

Me

Watched the first Godfather and oh. My. God.

Ezekiel

Shit is fire ain’t it? Keep going

Me

Already watched Part II and III as well

Ezekiel

We getting a Coppola?

Me

Scorsese is as clingy as they come, but it’s tempting

For a second, three ellipses bubbled over on his side of the convo, until they stopped completely. In another minute, my screen lit up with the sound and image of him calling me directly.

My stomach filled with uncertainty and anxiety as my hand shook and my grasp on my phone wasn’t the strongest. Why did I feel like a teenager about to finally stay up talking to her crush? It was ridiculous how nervous I suddenly felt at the idea of talking on the phone with him.

I took a deep breath and let it out before accepting the call and sinking back into my sofa. “Hey.”

“Hi,” he said, a slight chuckle in his voice. “Nice of you to finally be up to speed.”

I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, yeah.”

“So you watched them all back-to-back?”

Clearly I had no life, because in total, I’d spent two days dedicated to the nine-hour saga. With no regrets. “Yeah, I was off and had the time. Everything kind of just pulls you in.”

“Based on the reputation, definitely,” Ezekiel agreed. “What you gettin’ into tonight?”

“Honestly? I’m still recovering from all that.”

He hummed into my ear. The sound of him, his voice and the musical noise he just let out, had me still. Ezekiel had a nice voice. Deep, sexy, and just for me it felt like in that moment.

“We should link up,” he suggested, taking me by surprise.

“Tonight?” It was going on six, and the explosive echo of fireworks outside had me wanting to stay right where I was. When I was a kid, seeing fireworks was kind of cool. Now, the racket annoyed me, making me loathe the Fourth of July and all of July really.

“We don’t gotta do it tonight. You stay in Belmont, right?”

“Yeah.”