Page 60 of Love & Streetball

We shopped. Instead of Rue 21, we went inside the Nike store. That was more my speed. I had navigated to the clearance rack at first, only for Kane to spin me the fuck around and told me to get whatever I wanted. So, I did. I came out with shoes and clothes. I thought I was finished, but he took me over to another shoe store and bought me two more pairs.

“Thank you for everything, Kane,” I told him as we walked side by side toward the exit. He was carrying all the bags. Wouldn’t let me touch not one.

“Kane?”

There was that annoying squeaky voice again.

“Keep walking,” he muttered as I spun around to see that girl, Kayla, walking fast toward us. She was with a group of other girls with the designer purses draped over their bodies. If I was her, I would keep it pushing in order to not get embarrassed. Kane was now good at doing that shit. Kane grabbed me by the waist, spinning me back around.

“Kane!” she shrieked. I turned back, because at this point, Kane was my nigga and she was being delusional and tooooo disrespectful. One of her friend’s eyes widened as she attempted to pull Kayla back.

“Stop.” I told Kane. “We need to address some shit so she can get it through her thick skull.”

Kane stopped walking, but the look he gave me said he didn’t like it. “Slim⁠—”

“No.” I stepped away from his arm and turned around. Kayla had finally reached us, breathing hard like she had just run a full-court press. “What do you want?”

Her eyes traveled over me slowly, stopping at my slides before coming back to my face. “I wasn’t talking to you.”

“But I’m talking to you,” I shot back. “Matter of fact, he was walking away from you. Again.”

One of her friends covered her mouth, hiding a laugh. Kayla cut her eyes toward the girl before looking at Kane.

“You’re really going let her talk to me like that?” she asked him.

Kane’s face remained blank. “You walked up on us.”

“I just wanted to talk.”

“And I don’t,” he said plainly with a lazy shrug.

Kayla’s face tightened. “So, you really with her now?”

Kane glanced down at me. His entire expression softened as he shifted the shopping bags into one hand and pulled me against his side with the other.

“Yeah,” he answered. “I’m really with her.”

The butterflies in my stomach started doing layup drills.

Kayla looked like somebody had slapped her. “Since when?”

“Since it became official,” I replied. “Which ain’t none of your business. What you need to understand is that Kane doesn’t want you. He told you that before me, and he’s telling you again with me standing right here. Stop running behind him in public. It’s embarrassing.”

“You don’t even know him like that.”

“I know him enough to know he doesn’t like repeating himself.”

Kayla stepped closer. “Girl, you don’t know shit.”

Kane moved between us so fast I barely saw him do it.

“Aight, that’s enough,” he said, his voice low. “Slim, come on.”

I tried to look around his shoulder. “No, because she keeps⁠—”

“I know.” He looked directly at me. “But it’s your birthday, and I’m not letting her fuck it up. She ain’t worth you getting put out the mall or going to jail.”

“I’m not going to jail.”