What happened to the Kaya I used to know?
That girl has grown into a bewitching woman.
This was… unexpected.
I take a deep breath and steel myself as I walk over to her. She’s standing in the kitchen, arms crossed, looking out into the crowd with a sort of distant melancholy. I can tell she doesn’t particularly want to be here until a man standing next to her leans in and makes some sort of remark that makes her laugh. I can’t really explain why the entire exchange irks the fuck out of me, but it does.
“Hey, Freshman, it’s been a while,” I say with my back to the stranger and my focus completely on her.
She looks up at me with those same deep brown eyes that I remember from our childhood days together and nods slowly before responding. “It has been a very long time,” she offers with a slight smirk. “Imagine my surprise when I heard that you finally agreed to be in my brother’s wedding.”
Damn, shots fired.
Okay, then.
The awkward tension between us is palpable and I try to come up with a carefully crafted response, but the words seem to catch in my throat. All I find myself doing is staring in complete awe of her beauty and her sexy confidence, unable to take my eyes off the woman in front of me.
“Nothing to say?”
She leans one of her hips against the counter’s edge, waiting for me to say something.
“I’m just glad I was able to make it.”
Kaya is not impressed with my response. In fact, her expression transforms into one of disdain and contempt. Her eyes bore into me with such a measure of disappointment that it leaves me speechless.
“Oh, let me remember my manners,” she says as she tugs at the stranger’s arm to include him in our conversation. “Brick, this is Tre. Tre, this is Brick.”
“Nice to meet you, man,” Tre smiles and extends his hand. “I’m a huge fan.”
I pause for a moment because all of my old protective feelings about Kaya are flooding my system, but then I remember myself and raise my hand to shake his as well.
“Nice to meet a fan,” I say with a hint of sarcasm, because I can’t help myself.
I catch Kaya rolling her eyes at me because she picked up on every bit of my sarcastic tone.
“Is there some sort of problem with your eyeballs, Kaya?”
“I can’t help but notice that you’re as arrogant as you ever were.”
“It should be comforting to know that I haven’t changed.” I smile, loving how much I irritate the little spitfire.
I’ve always drawn some sort of odd satisfaction of getting under Kaya’s skin when we were younger, but now there’s some sick part of me that is getting turned on as I ruffle her feathers.
“Excuse for a moment,” she says to the both of us. “Dena is signaling me over for something.”
“It’s so dope that someone from the neighborhood is in the NFL,” the guy says to me, but I’m not flattered, I’m annoyed.
“Who exactly are you?” I ask him, cutting directly to the chase.
“I’m sorry, what?”
“Who are you to the family? Are you here as Kaya’s guest?”
It’s obvious he’s taken aback by the brusque way I’m asking him questions.
“No, I work with Kyle.”
Every muscle in my body relaxes.
