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“You normally be gone after the speeches.”
“That was when Rah was here to disappear with.”
The words came out before I thought about them.
“Damn, you’re right. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. Really, it’s okay.”
Someone I knew came over and pulled me into conversation. Lloyd stayed beside me, adding to the conversation when it made sense. Having conversations with him came easy. We had more in common than we thought. That was probably what caught Shameek’s attention. I felt his eyes before I found him. He was standing across the ballroom talking to one of Pop’s longtime friends. His attention wasn’t fully on the conversation, though. It was on me. This time I stared right back. His eyebrow raised slightly, which made me turn away.
Ten minutes later, Lloyd had me laughing about one of the members trying to quietly change the wording in a contract after everybody had agreed to the terms.
“Kyenna,” Shameek said.
“Yes?” I turned to him.
“Pops is looking for you.”
“For what?” I frowned.
“He didn’t say. He’s over by the auction tables.”
“Excuse me,” I said to Lloyd.
“Of course.”
I headed towards the other side of the room and found Pops exactly where Shameek said he would be. He was bidding on some ridiculous golf package he would never use.
“You looking for me?” I asked.
“Nah.” He looked at me, confused.
“Shameek said you needed me.”
“I ain’t seen that nigga since he left the table.”
I slowly turned my head, and Shameek was nowhere in sight. Instead of taking my ass back to Lloyd, I found Jaharee on the dance floor and spent the next few songs with her just dancing and laughing. Then Lloyd popped back up and asked me to dance. It wasn’t a slow song or anything romantic. Just old-school R&B that had half the room moving. I took his hand, and we danced just like everyone else was doing. Then his hand briefly settled at my waist as someone squeezed behind us. It threw my attention off, and instantly my eyes hit Shameek standing in a doorway, staring. Not once did I see him with Nikki besides at the table. His expression made my smile fade, but I kept dancing. If he had something to say, then his grown ass needed to say it. He never had a problem any other time with his words. By the end of the song, I excused myself to go to the bathroom. I didn’t make it there.
“Kyenna.”
“Not now, Meek.” I kept walking.
“Come here before I make the shit look worse than it needs to.” He pulled me towards a side hallway.
“What is wrong with you?” I asked, once we were far enough from the ballroom.
He opened the door to one of the small conference rooms used earlier for foundation staff and motioned me inside.
“I’m not going in there.”
“Kyenna.”
“Shameek,” I said, crossing my arms.
“Get in the room.”
I stood there staring at him, and I could tell he was getting annoyed with my stubbornness.
