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“So you’re tellingme you’ve never seenanyof them?” Tristan pressed, in full disbelief of my lack of knowledge on a whole host of classic Black movies. Between age and very-fucked-up experience, they’d just never been on my radar. Most of my movie trivia knowledge came from vast pop-culture lists I’d needed to study for conversation purposes, not actual viewing experience.
“Asking a third time won’t change the answer, sir,” I told him over the phone, as I pressed the label to the candle I’d finally named – a name he hadn’t yet seen. I wasn’t sure howTristanwas going to react to theNeighborhood Hottiescent, but Dacia, Jules, and Anika all loved it, so I was pretty confident it would be a hit.
“Tell me you’re willing to let me change your life,” he said, making my eyebrows shoot up.
“Huh?”
“We’ve gotta institute a weekly movie date or something, I can’t have you out with me in theHeightsnot catching the references and shit.”
“Oh,” I laughed. “Yeah, I’d be into that,” I told him, grabbing the backing sheets from the pile of labels I’d just finished applying. I’d been a candle-making machine the last few days, and almost had the minimum stock for the shop ready.
“You sure? You’re not one of those people who don’t like movies at all, are you?”
Hm.
I… actually had no idea.
But for the purposes of this conversation, I assured him that I was not, knowing that even if I discovered Ihatedmovies, I would enjoy the time spent withhim.
… and his mouth.
… and his dick.
“When do you wanna start?” I asked, already plotting how little attention I would be giving the TV at all. “I know you have Kiara tonight, and then the party is tomorrow, but… the day after that?”
He chuckled. “Damn, you’re excited about this, huh?”
“Very.”
“Yeah, the day after should be fine,” he agreed. “Your place or mine?”
“Well… considering the fact that I don’t have a TV…”
“Oh shit, that’s right,” he groaned. “I keep meaning to fix that.”
“It’s not a thing tofix,” I laughed. “You’re not fucking up my minimalist aesthetic so you can watch… whatever niggas watch while they’re laid up at their woman’s house.”
“So you’re claiming me now? That’s whassup.”
“When was I not claiming you?”
“Kiara saidyousaid,“I’m not your daddy’s girlfriend”.”
I cringed. “Well, at the time I wasn’t. We hadn’t talked things out yet.”
“Only because you wouldn’t talk to me.”
“And when Ididtalk to you, you were still trying to blame your fuck up on everything but yourself, so I can’t imagine the conversation would’ve been productive if it happened any sooner.”
Tristan let out a heavy sigh. “That’s a pretty fair point I guess. She also told me you intervened with some motherfuckers who were harassing her? Why didn’t you tell me that?”
“Your daughter was afraid you’d do something to land yourself in jail. And frankly, I was too,” I admitted. “But really, I was trying to figure out the right way to approach it, then the ringleader wound up getting arrested for something else.Includingbreaking into the shop.”
“I’ll see him when he gets out. But in the meantime… thank you for being on Kiara’s team, even though me and you were beefing.”
“You don’t have to thank me for that,” I told him, staring at the pile of recycling that stood between me and a pristine workshop going into the weekend. “I wasn’t about to stand by while they harassed her.”
“But you could’ve. So be ready to hear about it from Von too, tomorrow. She doesn’t play about her baby girl, so that got you alotof points with her.”
