“What?” Heat flashed over my face.
“I saw Brion leaving school with Breeze the other day,” Asha reiterated.
Angrily, I slid my tongue across my teeth, and nodded. “That’s real funny.”
“Wait,” Shilo spoke up. “Summer, why the hell do you seem more bothered by Brion riding with Breeze than you are when it comes to your ex?” She whispered.
My lashes fluttered. “I’m not bothered.”
They all sucked their teeth.
“Girl, who do you think you’re fooling?” Asha wanted to know. “You don’t think that we have eyes? You literally have three different hickeys on your neck, when you’ve been broken up with Harlem for weeks now.”
I frowned. “Okay. But what does that have to do with Breeze?”
“Really, Summer?” Renny cut her eyes at me. “I thought that we didn’t keep secrets from each other?”
“Huuh,” I huffed. “You bitches are too damn nosy sometimes—”
“Aye, what’s up, y’all?” Breeze spoke, as he moseyed into the room.
“Hey,” everyone responded simultaneously.
Looking over at him, I saw that he was rocking all white Dolce, down to his shoes, and was carrying a bag from Shipley’s, which was a Houston based donut franchise.
“What you got there?” I asked him.
Smiling, he sauntered up to me, and placed the bag in my lap. “You kept saying that you wanted some donuts from the one on 34th.”
I frowned in confusion. “And you just so happened to be out there, across the city?” I asked, because the Shipley’s on 34thwas the best in the city, due to it being the only location that didn’t make your donuts until you ordered them. The only problem was that it was on the other end of the north side.
“Nah. You was just saying that you wanted the donuts this morning. So, I made that trip.”
“Oh.” I looked him up and down. The gesture was sweet, for sure. However, I couldn’t bask in that, as there were more pressing issues to address, right then. “What was Brion doing in your car?” I had to ask.
All my girls snickered.
He sighed. “I was leaving practice, and she was leaving cheerleading. The girl she usually rides home with didn’t come to school that day. So, I gave her a ride.”
I sucked my teeth. “That girl has an entire family. I’m sure that somebody could’ve came scooped her up. Besides you.”
“Well, I was just looking out,” he claimed.
I rolled my eyes. “Boy, fuck you. Looking out my ass.” I was losing my cool, right there, for my friends to witness.
He shook his head. “You wanna go upstairs and talk about it?”
“Nope. I aint got shit to say to you.”
Shaking his head, he ambled over to the opposite end of the sectional and sat down.
Glaring at him, I thought about demanding that he leave the living room…but I knew that would be doing entirely too much. After all, my mama was right in the kitchen, and I didn’t need her putting two and two together.
The back of my neck was hot, as I was angry in a way that I’d never experienced before. On our worst days, Harlem could never evoke that type of emotions from me. And it was right there in that moment that I knew that this situation with Breeze was completely different.
Breeze
Summer was mad at me, and I knew that I probably should’ve gone upstairs, giving her some space. But truthfully…whenever I was at home, I now had to be in her space. Even if we was doing no more than existing.
