He keeps laughing. “Wah yuh get in English and Maths?” he asks, eyes glancing over at me with a challenge in them.
“Grade 1 in English,” I say, holding my chin high, “and… Grade 2 in Maths.”
He nods. “Ohh,” he says, lips curled in a smile like he’s impressed anyway.
“Yeah,” I say, then I shift in my seat a little. “What was your favorite food growing up?”
He smiles like the answer embarrasses him before he even says it. “You a go find this funny, but mi did love brown stew chicken with dumpling and all dem ting deh.”
I laugh. “Watch the pescatarian,” I tease. “But for real, that nice.”
“Yea,” he replies with a small grin. His voice gets quieter, like he’s reflecting on more than just food.
“So, why you become a pescatarian?” I ask, watching him from the side as he drives.
“Just did wah start eat healthy,” he shrugs, like it’s not that deep. “But mi neva wah turn full vegetarian. Mi cya just a’ eat greens alone, mi need mi swim-around.”
I smile and nod. “Ohh, so it’s just for health mek you change your diet,” I murmur mostly to myself.
“How long now?” I ask.
“Since mi reach nineteen,” he replies.
I nod again, imagining a younger Nickoi making that change. “Okay… mi probably follow you,” I joke, even though I know I’d miss oxtail too much.
He laughs. “No, you affi eat red meat fi the baby,” he says, and I smile.
“Oh yeah. True.”
There’s a beat of silence. Then he glances at me again, something shifting in his eyes. “Mi have a question fi yuh,” he says as we turn into our yard. I brace myself.
“Who a di first man you ever sleep with?” he asks, catching me completely off guard.
I blink, caught between shock and discomfort. But I answer anyway, because I promised honesty. “Malik,” I say quietly.
He just nods. “Okay.”
Just that. No extra questions, no weird follow-up. Just… okay. Then he changes the subject. “Mi wah yuh get dressed by seven, preferably in white… mi wah carry yuh out pan a date,” he says, and suddenly all the heaviness in my chest lifts.
I smile genuinely this time. “Okay,” I nod, heart already flipping.
He steps out the car and open my door before I can say anything else, and as I glance out the window, I spot her. Sash. My cousin. Standing outside, waiting.
“Yeah and see yuh cousin deh,” Nickoi adds, already spotting her before I do.
He looks at me, the smallest grin tugging at the corners of his lips. “We can continue the question thing tonight,” he says, voice low and teasing before he heads inside.
I step out and walk over to her, already irritated. “Hi, Nickoi,” she greets him casually like she doesn’t do the absolute most every chance she gets. He nods, polite but disinterested.
“Why you always have something fi say to Nickoi?” I ask her, voice calm but cutting.
She laughs, the kind of laugh that’s too loud, too fake. “No sah… a weh yuh a think?”
She has that guilty look on her face though, like she knows what I mean. Like she knows.
I glare at her. “Just stop weh yuh a do.”
She doesn’t reply. She just keeps laughing like it’s all a joke.
