She rolled her eyes but covered her blushing face.
He turned back toward the stripper pole in the corner, tilting his head. “So you really be using that?”
Meadow’s cheeks warmed. “Don’t worry about what I do with my pole.”
“Oh, I’m worried,” he said, cleaning up a stack of folded clothes. “Poles like that don’t sit in nobody’s room for decoration.”
“Maybe it does.”
“No, it don’t.”
She grabbed a pillow and threw it at him. He dodged it and smirked.
“Show me something then,” he teased lightly, voice playful but respectful. “If you really like that.”
Meadow shook her head hard. “Absolutely not.”
“Why not?”
“Because I’m sad.”
He nodded. “Fair.”
“And you’re a stranger.”
“Fair again.”
She looked at him. “Why you playing with me right now?”
Meadow needed to understand why Zaire was doing what he was doing and why he seemed so invested in her. It had to be a game.
“Because you holding too much,” he spoke softly, “and sometimes laughter hits lighter than tears.”
Her smile faltered, but didn’t disappear.
Zaire finished setting her space right — the room suddenly felt softer, calmer, like it belonged to her again. He walked back toward her and sat on the floor, his back against the bed, head tilted toward the slanted ceiling.
“You good now?” he asked gently.
“No,” she whispered, “but I don’t feel as…crushed now.”
Zaire nodded. “Good.”
They sat in silence for a few seconds, the music filling the empty spaces they didn’t know how to fill on their own.
Then Meadow turned her head toward him. “What made you come looking for me anyway? You didn’t even know where I went.”
Zaire exhaled through his nose. “Ain’t that what looking is?”
“Shut up, smart ass.”
“That and, pain got a sound even when it’s quiet.” He didn’t look at her when he spoke again. “And I know how to move toward pain, grew up around it.”
Meadow searched his face. “What does that mean?”
Zaire hesitated - just for a second. His jaw flexed… his eyes softened.
Then he said something he didn’t plan to say. It slid out of him like he’d been holding it too long. “You know what the 19th hole is?”
