Then her friends were all spending a night, so I knew that there might not be a time where I’d have her alone to talk.
I told myself that we would deal with our little drama later. In the meantime, I was hanging back to observe. I wanted to see her interact with her girls. Study her. Learn something new.
“Okay, so, I read the rough draft of the new book, Summer,” Renny mentioned. “And I feel like…you’re making the female main character too mean.”
Sitting back, I realized that all four of Summer’s friends would test read her books. It was interesting to listen to them bounce back and forth with their thoughts. It was giving me a glimpse into their thought processes.
“And then that was kinda crazy how she broke up with that boy, knowing that she was pregnant,” Tarin added.
“Yeah, I think that was to show how Erica was afraid of accepting what she felt for him,” I spoke up. “That type of love was intimidating. So, she ran.”
All the friends looked at me with shock written all over their faces.
“You read the rough draft too?” Asha quizzed.
“I done read everything she's ever wrote, at this point. Including the four short stories she haven’t published, for whatever reason.”
“Aww,” Asha cooed. “That’s so sweet.”
“Mr. Basketball star and future tech genius, when do you have time to read like that?” Tarin wanted to know.
“He reads aloud. Every night,” Summer answered.
Yeah. When we’re in bed together, before I slide between those legs.
“And you just so happen to be right there with him, huh?” Renny sarcastically questioned.
Summer blushed, while biting the corner of her lip. Her curly hair was pulled up into a bun at the crown of her head. Wearing a simple Alo cropped top and leggings, she was undeniably fine shit. Her friends were cool too. But her? She stood out. Like the moon, amongst the stars on a clear dark night.
“Y’all gotta stop it,” Summer smirked, while absently rotating a throw pillow. “This chapter aint ready to be dissected, yet. We’ll talk about it when the time comes.” She locked eyes with me.
I slightly nodded, as something unrecognizable rumbled in my stomach.
“Ricky, it’s not that serious,” Array chattered, as she came switching into the living room, with my pops right behind her.
“I call bullshit, bae,” my pops fussed. This was in front of company, so I knew that whatever the issue wasn’t that deep. “I been texting and calling you all day about this damn winter storm. And y’all didn’t even go pick up that generator from the shop like you told me you would.”
Array dropped down onto her favorite chaise. “That’s because I honestly feel like the news was exaggerating. It’s not even that cold for all this freezing they’re claiming is gonna happen.”
Sitting back, I chuckled as I realized that Array could sometimes be childish.
Yes, we all knew about the impending freeze that was supposed to happen overnight. They were encouraging everyone to stay at home and be prepared for harsh road conditions, or power outages. Personally, I hadn’t thought twice about preparations, because that was the type of thing the adults usually handled. And with Array being a woman about her business, I naturally assumed that she had everything handled. Meanwhile, she’d been pressing on with her day, giving no regards to the predicted bad weather, just like us.
Apparently, my pops had expected her to take precautions, while he was out handling business, and she’d failed the mission. Miserably.
“You are fucking hard headed—” My pops got out, as the lights flickered.
“Oh, shit,” I grumbled.
“I know got damn well—” Array mumbled, before the power fully shut off.
“Now, I’ll be damn,” my pops vented.
Chapter 8
Summer
We really didn’t have power, while it was 19 degrees outside. Let’s not forget those wind chills that made it feel colder. Even with our home being well insulated, the sheer size and high ceilings made it harder to keep warm, in general. So, we were scrambling to find the flashlights, then the wireless phone chargers.
