Kairi giggled, sending a tickle down my spine.
“Ha! Shows how much you know, nigga! I’m not at the club; I’m at The U bar and grill on Amsterdam Avenue!”
I smirked, knowing my plan worked, and slowly stood to my feet so that I could make my way.
“Really?”
“Yup!” she responded with a pop sound.
“Bitch, who you talking to? Hang up and let’s drink!”I heard her homegirl’s voice before the phone was hung up in my ear.
I chuckled and put my phone in my pocket.
I didn’t even have to tell my brother where I was about to go. He already knew. The smirk on his face and the fist bump he gave told me.
I knew I should be staying away from her—it was what she wanted, and it was the right thing to do, but that was easier said than done.
I stepped into the sports bar and searched around until my eyes finally landed on Kairi.
I just stood there for a few seconds, taking her in before I slowly approached. I grabbed a barstool and put it beside her.
It took Kairi a few seconds to look my way, and when she did, I allowed myself to get lost in her eyes. She squinted at me, showing just how fucked up she was, and then she lifted a finger to point at my face.
“Havoc, I’m here!” she squealed, and I laughed. She was all types of fucked up on that liquor.
Sparkle looked my way too and sucked her teeth. I had to laugh. She wasn’t feeling me either.
Kairi suddenly reached over and grabbed my arm, pulling me closer to her.
“Nigga, I hate me because I like you. Do you know that?!” she yelled at me.
“I know.”
She nodded and continued. “I hate how you make me feel! I feel everything when I see you and see me with you. I like me with you.”
My jaw dropped because I wasn’t expecting that.
“I-I hate how you make me look for you and how my heart races like boom, boom, boom when I see you. How I want to just lay on your skin, smell you,” she sniveled as she slurred her words.
“I hate how I smile when I see you and how you make me laugh! And I like to laugh, you know?”
She shook her head as if she was having an inward battle.
“I hate how you have me wanting to go against my family for you! I want to run away so I can have you because I hate you sooooo much!”
I sat there silently, taken aback and trying my hardest to digest everything I had heard.
She drunkenly stared at my face and then sighed heavily, closing her eyes. I could feel her pain and heaviness in her words.
Kairi’s eyes flicked open, and she stared at my face. As I stared back at her, I knew there was only one response for all that she had said.
“I like you too, Kairi, and you make me feel the same way.”
There was a sense of comfort to know that I wasn’t the only one who had these feelings or was having this battle.
I grabbed her hands and caressed the back of them with my thumb. Her skin felt silky soft as I glided across it. Our eyes locked on each other, and that same magnetic pull encased us just like that day I saw her in the club.
It was pulling me, and I was too weak to fight against it, so I leaned forward so that I could taste her lips.
