“So be serious,” she said. “You want me? Show me…Be consistent…Be honest, and don’t try to cage me. I’m too free for that.”
“You ain’t gotta say all that,” he sucked his teeth. “You don’t know what you just got yourself into, though.”
“Mmm…I think I do.”
The line stayed quiet after that, just the sound of her breathing matching his, both of them letting the weight of the world fall to the side for a minute.
The sun started to rise, casting that early blue glow through the window. Malik didn’t move. He didn’t want to, not while she was still on the phone…not while he felt this light.
“You still there?” she whispered.
“Yea.”
“Good,” she murmured. “Don’t go yet.”
“I won’t,” he promised. “I’m here.”
Aku jumped up, confused and in a foggy daze.
She could hear footsteps. When she went to sleep, no one was there besides her and she didn’t have any knowledge of Noodle coming back. Who the hell was walking around this early? She was in the guest bedroom that she had long since claimed as her own, posted up like a squatter and no one was brave enough to tell her to leave.
Her lashes blinked slowly, her heart doing double time until her gaze dropped to her phone screen.
The faint glow showed Malik’s name still sitting at the top. A soft smile crept across her lips. Four hours and sixteen minutes. They had talked all night.
His light snores crackled through the speaker, almost enough to make her forget she thought somebody was about to murder her—until voices followed.
“Shit,” she whispered, ending the call. Her thumb hovered over the emergency dial, but before she could even finish scrolling, her door flew open.
“Honey, I’m home!” Noodle’s syrupy voice lit up the room.
Aku damn near dropped her phone. “Bitch! Why the hell you ain’t tell me you was coming home today?!”
“I told you I’d be back in two weeks. It’s been two weeks,” Noodle said like that wasn’t a whole vague-ass statement. She didn’t wait for an invite before climbing into the bed like old times.
Aku clutched her chest, trying to slow her heartbeat. “You got me thinkin’ I was about to die in this hoe alone. I was finna call 911.”
“Girl shut up. And guess what?”
“You better not be pregnant.” Aku sat up straighter, ready to fight. “I swear, if you break the pregnancy pact we made, I will slap the prenatal vitamins out your hand.”
“First, I didn’t agree.” Noodle cackled. “Second, No, but Ahvi might be.”
Before Aku could let the betrayal settle, she was already calling Ahvi to cuss her out. But the phone didn’t even get through one full ring before Ahvi stepped through the door with her pretty brown skin and her signature slick back.
“You pregnant hoe?” Aku barked.
“What?!” Ahvi’s mouth dropped. She threw a glare at Noodle, who was now in a full fit of laughter. “Don’t listen to that red hoe.”
Aku smacked Noodle with a pillow. “Had my pressure up. I was in here still half-sleep thinking about Malik’s lips and now I’m wide awake tryna figure out who betrayed the sisterhood.”
Ahvi shook her head and leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed. She wasn’t used to being affectionate with friends or casually laying in their beds like Noodle and Aku. “Excuse the hell outta me. I came to see my favorite girl.” she cheesed.
“You gotta get with the program, Ahvi. Come lay down and catch these cuddles.” Aku patted the spot between them.
“No thank you,” Ahvi wrinkled her nose, laughing under her breath.
“Where my favorite cousin at, anyway?” Aku asked, flipping the covers off like she was about to get up and cause trouble. “I ain’t seen Little Lunar since forever. I need to touch his face and make sure I’m still his fave.”
