Page 65 of Standing In The Sun
She shrugged. “I don’t know, you the professional.”
Lunar cut his eyes at her before nudging her towards the medium-sized booth. “Get yo’ smart mouth ass in there.”
Ahvi laughed as goosebumps rose on her skin. It was cold in the room, but she knew it wasn’t the chill, it was his hands on her that caused them. Lunar didn’t give her butterflies - that was too subtle, too easy. He gave her fireflies. Fireflies meant heat, danger, and the urge to flee. They reminded her of summer nights. Glowing and harmless, yet wild enough to make you scream and run as they got close. You’d dodge fireflies in panic, but let a butterfly land softly on your hand without a second thought. Yea, he gave her fireflies.
Thinking about fireflies gave her the perfect topic for her little verse. Ahvi had no idea what a bar count was, so Lunar didn’t give her directions on that. He just let her do her own thing.
“Yo…Yo…” Ahvi said, bobbing her head like she was in a cypher in the 90s.
Lunar cracked up.
She couldn’t hear his laughter but could see him through the glass looking like he was having some kind of medical emergency.
“I’m ‘bout to get out cause you tryna clown me,” Ahvi poked out her lip.
Lunar pressed the intercom button. “My bad. You sound so good it got tears in my eyes.” He cut the feed long enough to crack up again. He laughed so hard, tears dripped from his eyes.
She crossed her arms, glaring at him with a mug on her face. “Yea, let me get out cause I don’t have time.”
“You mad for real?” Lunar held his stomach. “Like you dead ass mad that you in there saying some damn, yo yo yo like it’s 1985? Ask yourself when’s the last time you heard somebody start they song like that? Better yet, you ain’t never heard no song start like that.”
“Yes I have!”
“By who? Some old ass rapper your daddy grew up on?” He twisted his lips, calling her out on her bullshit.
No matter how much she wanted to keep her mad face, it split open with a loud laugh. “Nigga, not too much on my old man…he had a little taste.”
“Okay, spit something like you learned from your daddy’s old ass,” he smiled.
Ahvi rolled her eyes. “Drop that shit!”
They both cracked up again. Ahvi was so damn corny. Hood, no-nonsense, but there was something soft in her. She was innocent in a way she didn’t even notice.
Lunar knew if she wasn’t so busy avoiding asking for help, her life would’ve been lighter. She could’ve really stepped into that feminine energy she thought she didn’t have.
But he’d argue she was themostfeminine girl he’d ever met.
She was a mother in every sense. Skin soft like she prayed over lotion. She cared how she moved through the world. She could cook your favorite restaurant under the table and made the kind of meals that healed shit you didn’t even know was broken.
And her pussy? Warm, wet, held his finger like she took her time choosing who got access. That was femininity too—discernment.
But the real test came when life got heavy.
When the world beat her man down to nothing. That’s when the queen showed up. Soft forhimbut a fuckin’ beast forthem.
That’s what true femininity looked like.
Not just grace, but grit.
He’d seen it in the women who raised him.
And now, he wanted it for himself.
Because he knew—he deserved that kind of love.
“You gonna keep staring at me or play the damn beat?” Ahvi rested her hands on her hips, watching him watch her. Her skin crawled under his gaze even with the glass between them.
He nodded after taking one last glance at her.
