I chuckled a little and lifted my cup. “Maybe you right. Or maybe you just don’t feel him like I do.”
She smirked, but she didn’t argue. Instead, she took another pull from the blunt and handed it back to me. We sat in silence for a few minutes, sipping and smoking, both lost in our own heads.
Then the sound of the sliding door opening broke up the quiet. I looked up and saw Kay’Lo stepping out with the phone pressed to his ear. He was talking low, but his eyes went straightto Roc, and the way they locked eyes made me squint. It wasn’t nothing obvious, but it was just enough to make me notice. Roc tilted her head, smirking like she knew something I didn’t, and the two of them shared a quick moment before Kay’Lo finally shifted his attention to me.
He lifted his chin slightly and said, “Phone for you.”
I frowned, confused, but I reached out and took it. The smell of his cologne lingered all over it. Hello?”
“Kash.”
The sound of Pressure’s voice made my stomach flip instantly. His tone was low, smooth, and deep like he was sitting right next to me instead of on the other end of the line. I swallowed hard, closing my eyes for a second.
“Yeah?” My voice came out softer than I meant.
“I was just checkin’ on you,” he said, like it was nothing, but the weight of it pressed straight through me.
I shifted in my chair, glancing at Roc who was trying not to look like she was listening. “I don’t even know what to say,” I told him.
“You ain’t gotta say shit. I just wanted to make sure you was straight.”
My chest warmed instantly, and I bit my lip. “You play too much. You know what you doin’.”
He sighed low, and the sound had me squeezing my thighs together right in front of Toni and Kay’Lo. “What I’m doin’?” he asked, his voice dragging smooth like he wanted to push the conversation somewhere else.
“You know,” I said, shaking my head even though he couldn’t see it. “Calling me out the blue like this. Acting like everything normal.”
“Man, chill out,” he replied calmly. “You actin’ like I can’t check on you. Regardless of whatever, a nigga do care and got love for you.”
I breathed out, my eyes closing again. “You can’t just say shit like that.”
“I can say whatever the fuck I want,” he said, his voice dropping lower. “You know what it is with me.”
I smiled, even though I tried not to.
There was a pause between us, like the space between us was full but unspoken.
“You good though?” he asked finally, his tone softer but still strong.
“Yeah,” I said after a second. “I mean, I guess. I don’t even know where we stand.”
“You don’t need to,” he told me. “Just know whatever happens, my feelin’s is real. That’s all you need to worry about.”
His words hit me harder than I expected, and I felt myself clinging to them even though I didn’t want to. I didn’t respond, because I didn’t trust what might slip out if I did.
He let the silence ride for a moment before saying, “I’mma let you go, but remember what I said.”
I nodded slowly. “Alright.”
I handed the phone back to Kay’Lo, who was still standing there. He lifted it back to his ear, said a few “yeahs” and “bets,” then ended the call. He slid the phone in his pocket and looked at Roc, his eyes steady on her for a moment.
“If you need more of that, let me know,” he said, jerking his chin toward the blunt sitting on the table.
Roc nodded, and he walked away, leaving me staring after him with a hundred questions in my head.
I wanted to ask Toni what the hell that was about, because it felt like I was missing something in the way they had looked at each other. But my mind was too full of Pressure, his voice still rolling in my head like my favorite love song. Whatever Kay’Lo and Roc had going on could wait. My heart was already caughtup in another mess, and I didn’t even know where me and Pressure went from here.
I sipped my drink again, feeling the buzz slide deeper into my body. Roc leaned back, staring off with a smirk like she was thinking about something she wasn’t ready to share. I didn’t push her. My own thoughts were loud enough, and every single one of them led back to Pressure.
