Page 25 of When I Thug You Like That

“I figured the least I could do was not look as tired as I actually am.”

“And you aced the look, boo. Somebody need to be taking you home tonight,” she said, further gassing my head up while pulling me into a hug.

“And that somebody would be you. Remember, I’m spending the night.”

“Party pooper.” She stuck her tongue out at me.

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever. And you look good too,” I complimented.

“Oh, this old thing?” She spun around in her two-piece matching skirt set. The shirt was strategically tied so that her stomach was out, and her titties were playing peek-a-boo.

“Very kid-free.”

“That’s the look I’m going for. We taking your car?”

“I don’t care which car we taking so long as I’m not behind the wheel of it.” I handed her my keys and made my way to the passenger side like the princess I was.

“Alright, boo, we all gassed up?” she asked, checking my fuel indicator.

“Tank never thirsty, T. Why?”

“Just wanna make sure we got enough gas to get to Brooklyn.”

The way she almost whispered the word Brooklyn made me turn my head in her direction.

“Now, why would you not give up the location when you mentioned this place, Taina?”

“Not important. What is important is that we’re gonna have us a time once we get there. Put this address into the GPS.”

I typed in the address she rattled off into my GPS system and hit directions. As soon as it routed with an arrival time of an hour and ten minutes, my head whipped back in her direction.

“I know you fuckin’ lyin’ to me. An hour and ten minutes, Taina?”

“Whatttt? It’s you actin’ like an hour in the car wit’ your best bitch is the worst thing ever.”

“No, it’s my best bitch tryna be sneaky when I know she done mapped this whole plan out, including lookin’ up the spot we going to. Now, we going on a whole excursion.”

Pulling off from the curb, she shook her head. “I can’t wait to buy you a drink, so you can loosen up. Matta fact, I’ma buy you two as soon as we get in there.”

I sucked my teeth and settled deeper into the passenger seat. I wasn’t mad, more annoyed than anything. “This wine better taste like the best thing that ever touched my lips, or I’ma be pissed.”

“I told you my coworker said it was good.”

“Don’t tell me nothing else about your coworker. Something in my spirit tells me she just be hyping shit up.”

Taina giggled. “You don’t even know the girl.”

“Ion care.” I shrugged. “That’s how I feel.”

“Girl, I said I was having a kid-free night, now you in here pouting like one. Let me put some music on.”

Selecting her phone from the Bluetooth list of devices, she connected it and requested that Siri put on her best friend playlist. When the intro to Kelly Price’s Friend of Mine came through, I bust out laughing.

“Bitch! I told you to take this song out of this playlist. Don’t nothing in this song give best friend.”

She began reciting the words, and I shook my head before singing right along with her. I loved whatever was wrong with Taina.

Somewhere between us arguing who would take the lead and who would do background vocals, debating what songs actually qualified as best friend anthems, and me reminding her heavy foot ass that she was carrying precious cargo, we arrived to our destination.