Bzzzzzz.
“Can you hand me that?” Lyric asked me as she pointed toward her phone, which had stopped playing music to alert her of an incoming call.
“Sure.” I removed the phone from the cup holder and laid it in her palm.
She slid her perfectly manicured nails across the screen before saying, “Hey, what’s up?”
“You made it?” The sonorous baritone consumed me, demanding my full attention.
“Good morning to you, too, Laike.”
Her brother, I concluded once she revealed the name.
“Yeah, all that,” he calmly, collectively responded.
“Yes. We’ve made it.”
“Aight. They’ll release him around nine.”
“Nine? I thought it was eight?”
“Na. I told you that so you’d be there on time. I know how you like to get your beauty rest and shit.”
“Laike, are you serious? We’re here an entire hour early. What do you expect me to do in a parking lot for an entire hour?”
“Get some sleep. Seems as if you could use some. Have you seen yourself?”
“Shut up. I had a long night.”
“That goes without saying. Get yourself together before he exit those gates. He’s already been worried about you.”
“Why?” Her brows furrowed as she frowned.
“Because that’s what big brothers do, Lyric. Just pull yourself together, love. Have that nigga to call me when he touches down. Get some rest.”
“Wait.”
“What’s up, baby girl?”
“I love you,” she rushed out.
“Always,” he responded.
My heart swelled listening to the exchange. The love was in Lyric’s eyes as she stared into her phone at her brother. They ended the call shortly after.
“He hates talking on the phone,” she shared with me. “But he also hates he couldn’t be here. I can imagine that won’t be the only call from him. I’m sure he will call me more today than he does in a month.”
It wasn’t until she mentioned it that I realized in the three weeks I’d been at her home, I’d never heard them on a call. Given our schedules didn’t always align and we were often in our respectable corners, but I’d never heard a peep from him. If I had, I would’ve remembered. That voice wasn’t easily forgotten.
“Awwwww, Baby Lyric.”
“Shut up.”
I was so accustomed to the strong-willed and fierce woman that had become my best friend from a distance that it was hard recognizing Lyric, the little sister, but since I’d gotten home from work, she’d been right in front of me. I could see that her brothers were her safe places. With them, she could peel back her layers of protection and remove the shields. In their worlds, she could be vulnerable. She could be the softest version of herself, and the thought of having someone be to her what she was for me made me utterly satisfied.
“I’m about to get some rest for this hour. Don’t wake me up until we’re leaving. As a matter of fact, don’t even wake me up then. Wake me up in Channing. I plan to sleep the entire ride there.” I got comfortable in the passenger seat, placing the black top over my entire face. The sun was brutal with its rays.
“Hard as you sleep, it’s possible.”
