Page 37 of Love & Streetball

Still no answer.

“I know he isn’t that fucked up about yesterday,” I mumbled under my breath.

I sunk in deeper in my bed with the box fan blowing in my face. Normally, I’ll have it cut off to dave on the electricity bill, but it was climbing to eighty degrees and I could help mama with that bill now.

My phone rung as I was drifting off to sleep.

“You called me?” Kane answered. I could hear the wind whipping through the phone.

“Yeah… You busy?” I asked, turning to my other side.

“Just left church.”

“Oh.” I clamped my mouth shut. “My bad.”

I heard the clicking of his turn signal.

“You good. You needed something?” Kane asked.

I bit down on my bottom lip. “I was just seeing if you were mad.”

Why do I even care?

Kane snorted out a laugh. “Mad? What is there to be mad about, Slim?”

I shrugged as if Kane could see me. “I…I was just checking. What are you doing now?”

The wind started whipping again.

“In the car with my mom.”

“Invite her to dinner,” I heard his mom say. My eyes ballooned. “I’ll make sure your father is on his best behavior.”

Kane cleared his throat.

“Do you want to come over to eat dinner, Slim? I know you heard my mama,” Kane mumbled.

“Tonight?” I managed to squeak out.

Kane chuckled. “Yeah, man.”

“Oh…ok.”

“I’ll be by to get you later.,” he said.

“Ok,” I replied, and then ended the call.

Kane was at my house at 5 p.m. Mama had gone to work an hour earlier, full off the left over food I had for her from the steak house. Depending what Kane’s people had for dinner, and how kind they were, she might have another plate waiting for her when she clocked out.

I’d chose blue jeans, a nice graphic Spider-Man shirt from Wal-Mart that I’d gotten last year, and even though they didn’t match, the shoes Kane had bought me.

My edges were swooped. I never cared to do them. I did them tonight. Mama had some perfume she’d gotten from the dollar store. It smelled decent so I pumped a few sprays on my clothes.

The ride was quiet between us two except for Kane playing his rap music. The wind whipped through the car since he decided to let all four windows down.

“You nervous?” Kane asked, as we grew closer to his home. I kind of remembered the way.

“A little,” I replied honestly. “I don’t know how your dad is going to act.”