I bumped her out of the way after drying my hands. “I live here. You don’t, and I don’t remember inviting you either.”
She scoffed. “Wow. Someone’s in a bad mood today. What’s wrong? What happened?”
I shook my head. “Nothing. You’re just always invading my space.”
She shrugged, taking down a plate for herself. “I’m your little sister. It’s my birthright to invade your space.” Instead of responding, I piled on the food I wanted and walked back to the living room. I was just getting comfortable when she plopped down beside me, immediately disturbing my peace. “What we watching?”
I gave her a death glare. “I know you see this game on the screen.”
“It’s almost halftime. We can watch something else until it comes back on.”
I shook my head. “No, we can’t.” Leaning back, I took a bite out of one of my wings and remembered I had a task for her. “Aye, can you add Instagram to my phone?”
I ignored the bemused expression she gave me. My sister was very good at reading me, and I was sure she could figure out why without my telling her. “Oh, wow. My brother on social media? I’m scared.”
“Just need to check something out,” I replied nonchalantly.
“Something or someone?” She wiggled her eyebrows for emphasis. “Besides, I came over here to find out about your date since you won’t answer my calls or reply to my texts.”
I sighed, knowing this was coming. I hadn’t responded to her inquiries for a reason. “I mean, the date was great.”
I felt her staring at me. “Great? Why you don’t sound more excited about it?”
“Put the app on my phone and set it up, then I’ll tell you.”
She huffed but held her hand out for my phone. I smiled before passing it off to her. “It was great because I was really feeling Free, and I could tell she was interested in me too, but I don’t know. We haven’t talked since that night, because I feel like she’s emotionally unavailable, and I don’t want to waste my time trying to deepen something that’ll only ever be surface level.”
“How did you come to the conclusion that she’s emotionally unavailable?”
I stopped eating while I thought about her question. It was the way her body tensed, or she wouldn’t allow herself to fully entertain the questions I asked her, even though I knew she wanted to. Then, when I asked her about opening herself up to potentially having her longing fulfilled, she said she didn’t think so. I understood we weren’t on the same page, which was okay.
I filled my sister in, and she paused what she was doing to gawk at me. “Um, are you dumb, stupid, or slow?” She shook her head. “I swear, you better call Mama and thank her right now for not making you an only child or giving you a brother, because you might be single all your life without me.”
I didn’t understand what she was going on about. I personally didn’t feel as if I did anything wrong. “What I do?”
“You did exactly what she was afraid of. She’s not emotionally unavailable for real, because she wouldn’t have went on that date with you. She was interested, and when she expressed her worries, you were supposed to assure her that you’re not them other niggas, not seem like you’re just another average Joe.”
I digested her words at the same time I swallowed my food. I guess my sister had a point. “How was I supposed to know that, Tana? You know I’m new to this.”
She chuckled halfheartedly. “I know, brother, but it was all the more reason for you to apply pressure. This was the first girl to make you feel something. You need to press in, not push away.”
I licked the sauce off my fingers, then set my plate down. “You think I blew my chances with her? It’s been three days.”
I glanced at her when she didn’t respond to find her buried in my phone. She was tapping around, completely focused, before she blurted out, “Gahdamn, you better hope not. My sister-in-law is sexy as hell, and niggas is thirsty as fuck in her comments.”
Hearing her admiration had me snatching my phone out of her hand with the quickness. I looked down at the screen to see she’d found Free’s Instagram page. My eyes browsed over her bio before sliding down to the photos and reels on her page. I clicked on the first photo and saw the comments my sister was referring to. Niggas were damn near salivating at the mouth. And I couldn’t lie; reading that shit pissed me off. I growled with a frown.
Turning to Katana, I said, “Tell me what to do.”
She patted my shoulder with a grin. “Don’t worry. Your baby sister is here to save the day.”
When I walked out on my front porch, the last thing I expected to see was Ketai in my driveway. He had a bouquet of sunflowers and lilies in his hand while he paced back and forth, mumbling to himself. I eyed him suspiciously as I closed the distance between us.
“Stanley, what are you doing here?” I asked, tilting my head to the side. “You’re not having a nervous breakdown, are you?”
My voice made him spin around quickly. He chuckled nervously. “Oh, damn. You caught me losing my mind, huh?” I nodded slowly. “You scared?”
I tapped my chin, then shook my head. “No, I’m not scared. Maybe a little concerned though.” I raised an eyebrow at him suspiciously.
