AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Reagan popped into his mind while he was riffing on a cover of “Happy Feelings.” There was one particular woman in the audience who reminded him of her, and as the woman sang along with a smile on her face, Jace felt a surge of anger. He resented the fact that Reagan was still holding out on him. He hadn’t had sex since the night of the party, and was beginning to feel as if she was doing it on purpose. Maybe it was her way of trying to control him.
DeAnthony was nodding at him to keep going, solo, so Jace focused. The crowd loved him, and he wasn’t sure if it was because he was good or because he was young. Jace decided to choose his own adventure; he concluded that they were definitely cheering because he was good.
When he finished, he did a small bow and couldn’t stop the smile from breaking out across his face. He was proud, not sad or emotional, which had both become his default settings of late. It was actually the first time since that night that he felt almost…normal.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
“Ihavesomethingtoshow you.”
“Uh oh. Do I need to brace myself for this?” Danielle asked.
Bakari laughed. “It’s not bad. Well, it might be bad, but it’s not bad to me.” He took a deep breath. “Okay. The thing is, I wanted to share something I wrote with you. When we were talking that night about me having a passion that’s not football…I wasn’t ready to talk about it then. But you were right.”
Danielle nodded, apparently not surprised by this revelation. She looked around her living room, then back at him. “So where is it? Did you bring it?”
He nervously fingered the thin stack of paper behind his back. He’d originally planned to email the story to her, but he quickly changed his mind after imagining her forwarding it to everyone she knew and laughing about it. Then he had a brief mind to give her viewing privileges in the online cloud where he stores all of his writings, but that plan quickly went the way of the first one. While most people worried about their nudes getting hacked, he fretted about his stories going public.
It was old-school, but printing it out seemed the safest course of action. So that’s what he did. The short story rested comfortably against his muscular back. As he stared into Danielle’s eyes, he felt like he could trust her. To read it. And give it back right afterward.
She smiled and raised her eyebrows, and he was glad she was interested. He briefly debated asking her for a kiss first but decided she might take offense to it. To him, it would have been an even trade, but to her, it would have a been a trade, and she didn’t seem like the type who was into that. It was a shame, too, because those lips were calling him. Shiny and plump with a little indentation down the middle of the bottom one, like two sexy halves of the luscious whole. He had fantasized about them many times. She had no idea how attracted he was to her.
“Close your eyes and hold out your hands,” he instructed. She frowned but did as she was told. He took another breath and placed the stapled stack in her hands. “Open ‘em.”
She opened her eyes, looking adorable in a pink romper that was tantalizingly short and showed off her thighs very nicely. She wore a pink flower barrette in her hair, which she was wearing out that day. It was big and coily. “What is this?” she asked of the papers in her hand.
“It’s a short story I wrote for Lit class. You can’t tell anybody about it.”
“I won’t, I promise. Bakari!” She playfully slapped his arm with the paper. “I had no idea you were a creative.”
“Uh…yeah. I guess I am.”
She settled onto the couch. “Okay, don’t talk to me, I need to get into this.”
He sat next to her and picked up the remote control. She rolled her eyes. “Are you really gonna sit there and watch me read it?”
“I was gonna find a game on TV.”
“Boy if you don’t go find something to do.”
“What am I supposed to do?”
“I’m a quick reader, I promise. Why don’t you go hang out in my room. It’s the last door on the right.”
“Your bedroom?” he asked, unable to mask the hope in his voice.
She smiled. “Yes. You can listen to music or something.”
He smiled back. “You got ten minutes.”
As he walked down the hallway, Bakari’s heart beat just a little bit faster. It was always exciting for a boy, that first time entering a girl’s bedroom, but it was also tense. Girls don’t know it, but their bedrooms are a battlefield. If her father is in the picture at all, his mission in life is to keep boys out of that room. The boy’s hormones desensitize him to the danger of his own mission, but in the back of his mind, he knows good and well he shouldn’t be there. And that’s what makes it so exciting. Because if he makes it in there, he knows he’s won.
It’s not quite as exciting when pops isn’t around. It’s still a win, but against a much weaker opponent. When Dad is gone, Mom is almost always at work and unable to pay as much attention as is needed to keep the boy out. Definitely not as rewarding, but the boy will take a weak win over a loss every day and twice on Sunday.
“PRIVATE,” said the sign on the door, and Bakari smirked at it before swinging the door open in triumph.
It was typical as girls’ rooms go, with all the feminine trappings male invaders enjoy. The air was fresh with a hint of something fruity, a stark contrast to Bakari’s musty room, and the comforter was cream-colored and spotless, with fluffy pink and gray pillows that also bore no sign of dirt. Bakari didn’t know shit about decor, but he appreciated the cleanliness. He didn’t truck with trifling chicks. He treated them like piñatas; hit once, get the goodies, and let somebody else clean up the mess.
He didn’t see a radio on first glance, so he set about examining the room. His mind wandered a bit, back to a few nights ago when he had been so desperate for accommodations that he allowed Amanda to pull him back into her web. If only he had waited just one more day.
