“They might as well hang a picture of you on the walls, best friend! You’re all anybody can look at tonight!” she boasted loud enough for everyone to hear.
My cheeks were on fire when Sym pulled me against the front of his body. He stared deeply into my eyes with a gaze both heavy and low. He began to sway us from side to side. His nose nuzzled in the crook of my neck was comforting. I wrapped my arms around his neck, giving myself permission to be in the moment and not in my head, and just like that, the world slipped away, leaving only me and Symphony.
“I’m so happy you came,” he told me. He cupped my chin, then ran a finger down my lip, making me smile.
“I am too. I am proud of you, Symphony. You’ve always had a beautiful voice. It’s truly amazing what you have been able to accomplish at such a young age.”
He chuckled with a slight shake of his head. “Damn, that’s the first time you’ve allowed yourself to acknowledge that I’m him. Thank you. I really appreciate that, baby.”
In tandem, I sighed as my hand went to his cheek. “You have to stop calling me baby,” I warned him.
He smirked slyly, rubbing small circles on my chin with the pad of his thumb. “Why, baby?”
“Because I’m going to get delusional.”
I swore, that man hollered like a psycho, and suddenly, we were back in the club with everyone’s eyes on us. “It’s about damn time. You’re not being delusional fast enough, if you ask me, and that’s saying a lot, ’cause I never let a woman get close to me. But you . . .” He shook his head as his voice trailed off.I wanted to chase whatever was at the end of his statement, but what came out of his mouth next was just as satisfying. “You wanna go to the courthouse and get married tomorrow?”
Without thinking, my head began to nod. “Yes, I do.”
Sym’s face broke out into a panty-soaking smile. “Oh shit, I’m pretty sure I’m in love with yo’ ass.”
He scooped me up and sat down with me right on his lap. Then we were kissing . . . I’m not talking about a little peck that only lasted half a second. No, . . . I’m talking about the kind of kiss that people found both intriguing and repulsive while being unable to look away.Ask me how I know?When we finally broke away from each other, there were a variety of expressions on the faces of everyone in the section.
“Mind y’all fuckin business! Me and my girl getting married tomorrow!” Sym yelled out, making me slap a hand over my mouth to hold in my laugh. He turned his attention back to me and grinned. “Don’t pay them no mind, baby. They don’t know what real love looks like.”
I shook my head and used the back of my hand to check his temperature. “You are not right in the head,” I teased Sym, but I got the eerie feeling someone was watching me. Glancing over my shoulder, I spotted one of the girls in the section sporting a deep scowl.
She was obviously the Instagram-model type, but everything was just too . . . big. The lips, the teeth, the titties, even the ass while she sat down made me very uncomfortable. No one needed to have that much for a man to lust over. Whatever issue she had was her own, so I paid her dust.
My attention fell on Tauri bouncing her ass like an expert. She never needed anyone else to have a good time. With a grin, I leaned forward to beatbox her ass cheeks. “You see it moving, best friend?” she jokingly asked.
“Chudaiii,” I replied, and we both fell out laughing.
My head snapped to the right when a voice I didn’t recognize spoke up. “Ayeee, bounce that ass just like your friend do.”
It was the same hating-ass girl who wouldn’t give me my face back. I twisted my lips to the side, giving her a deadpan expression because,girl, puhlease. . . “I’m not my friend. I have a mind of my own, and it couldn’t fathom bouncing my ass for attention. Seems more like your speed, babe.”
Her head jerked back, and those eyes rolled to the back of her head. I was surprised they didn’t get stuck to the thick clumps of glue along her lash line. “Oh, girl, please. Sym loves bitches who shake their asses. Be for real.”
I couldn’t help but laugh at that one. Little did she know, Sym would lose his mind if I put on a show for these people. “I’m sorry. I can’t relate. I’ve never had to shake my ass to get Symphony’s attention. But like you said, that’s something bitches do.” I flipped my hair over my shoulder and shrugged. “And I’m far from that.”
Tauri noticed the exchange and cleared the distance between us quickly. “You got a problem, ho? My friend might not fight, but I’ll dog walk your ass from here to Chinatown just for fun. Jump stupid if you want to.”
Sym burst out laughing, easing a little bit of the tension building amongst us. “Man, I told you, don’t start no mess, Tau.”
She bucked at him and mushed his head to the side before plopping down on the seat beside us. “That’s your little whore that can’t keep her hate to herself. She’s already stankin’ up the section with her atrocious fucking BBL smell.” She scrunched up her nose and waved her hand in her face. “Eeeyuckk!”
Literally, everyone within earshot fell out, laughing. I could only smirk because she’d brought it on herself. I wasn’t the messy or drama type, so Tau and I balanced out well. My girl was on all that, especially when it came to me.
Ol’ girl’s mouth fell open as she hopped to her feet. To make matters worse, Tau started losing her balance as if by some external force. She was on a roll; she lived for roasting people to a crispy pulp.
“Big, bloated bitch, shaking the whole damn building. Ass so big them cheeks rubbing together like tectonic plates. I’m scared she gon’ start an earthquake if she stomps away.” The girl’s fists balled up like she was ready for a fight, and since my best friend never turned one down, she continued to antagonize her. “You gon’ hit me? That’s so unladylike. I thought IG baddies were supposed to be classy.”
Sym slapped a hand over Tau’s mouth while howling like a damn wolf. He was laughing so hard that there were tears streaming from his eyes. “Dawg, shut up. You funny as shit.”
The girl folded her arms over her chest. “Really, Symphony? You’re going to let her talk to me like that?”
He lazily shrugged his shoulders. “You started with my girl first. You lucky I let her get on you ’cause if I start up, I promise you’re going to run out of here in tears for real.” She looked like a raging bull, standing there. I guessed she thought she meant something to Sym by fucking him, but he was unfazed by her presence, maybe even a little annoyed by it. “Matter fact, you want to get out of here?”
