We stopped along the way as parents, students, and other teachers all wanted a minute of her time. I couldn’t blame them, but they needed to hurry this up because I was ready to have her all to myself. When we finally made it to her classroom, her steps slowed when she saw the bouquet of roses resting on her desk. She glanced at me over her shoulder.
“Did you do this, Symphony?”
“How’d you guess it was me?”
She shrugged, closing the distance to her desk. She ran her fingers over the roses like they were fragile. Or maybe it was her emotions that were fragile since I noticed her trembling lips. “No one else wants to buy me flowers.”
I didn’t like the way that sounded, but it worked in my favor. “I always knew I was the smartest person on the planet, so it tracks.” I shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal to see her smile, even though it really was. Leigh just didn’t know I’d buy her flowersevery day for the rest of her life to see her smile. She needed to stop playing with me. I was already missing a few screws in the head, and the look she was giving me had me ready to lock all the way in. I wanted her . . . I wanted her badly.
She finally picked them up and inhaled deeply. She looked at peace, hugging them to her chest. “Well, thank you. This is so sweet.”
“You’re welcome, Squirt.” I figured this was a fine time to christen her with her specially curated Unca Sym nickname.
She paused her admiration to give me an amused grin. “Squirt?”
I nodded. “Yeah, you said you wanted a cute nickname, didn’t you?”
She slapped a hand over her mouth to hide her smile, but I knew it was there. “And why Squirt?”
I smirked. “You know exactly how you got that name, and stop looking at me like that before I remind you of its origin.”
She gasped, dropped her eyes, and quickly began picking up her things. I chuckled when she raced toward us with her flowers and purse in tow. “I don’t want no problems, sir. Let’s just go eat pus-— I mean pizza.” She almost slipped up, but she caught herself.
I released a hearty laugh while following her out of the room. “Wise woman,” I whispered. I didn’t have the strength or desire to tear my eyes away from her ass as it switched from side to side in front of me. Leigh was going to be mine, and I could stamp that on my life.
We were settled into our booth at Nathan’s with Iylah sitting beside Leigh and me all on my own. I was a little jealous. Iwanted to sit by both of them, but whenever Leigh was around, Doodle Bop liked to act like I didn’t exist anymore. I was always an afterthought, and I couldn’t even be mad. Leigh just had a way about her where you wanted her all to yourself.
“Which pizza should we get, Doodle Bop?” Leigh asked Iylah, who was pulling out the crayons they’d given her, along with a coloring sheet with a picture of the logo on it.
“Sheese!” Iylah replied cheerily. “You like sheese?”
Lei nodded. “I do. I like pepperoni too.”
“I like cheese too,” I said, trying to join in the conversation. “And pepperoni.”
Iylah gave me the nastiest side eye before proceeding to crush my heart when she said, “Unca, sut up.”
My hand covered my mouth in shock, while Leigh couldn’t contain her laughter for even a second. “Well, excuse the hell out of me,” I said with a frown. “Guess I can’t talk to y’all either. It’s strict around this muthafucka,” I joked. Folding my arms over my chest, I mugged Iylah then sat back in my seat.
Leigh nodded with tears in her eyes. “It really is. You better be careful.” Turning to Iylah, Leigh corrected her. “That wasn’t nice, Iylah. You hurt your uncle’s feelings. Look.” She pointed at me, and on cue, I did my best imitation of crying.
“Unca cry?”
I poked out my bottom lip and nodded. “Yes, you hurt my feelings.” I kept up my façade of a heartbroken uncle, but it didn’t work even a little bit.
“Unca cry,” she said again, but this time, her little ass started laughing, like my tears amused her twisted, little baby soul. I didn’t expect my tears to bring her joy. She definitely got that wickedness from her damn daddy.
My mouth fell open in surprise. “Oh, you driving yourself home. And, . . .and!I hope you got money to pay for your own food,” I told her with an attitude. I didn’t care if she was four orforty; she wasn’t going to be talking to me crazy. Valleigh was over there with tears in her eyes because she was laughing so hard. “And that applies to you too, since you think it’s so funny.”
I moved like I was going to slide out of the booth, but Leigh placed her hand on top of mine. She knew her touch was my weakness. They were not playing fair at all. How did I end up on boy island all by myself, letting them run all over me? I needed to stand up for myself. This was emotional and verbal abuse. I just knew it was: no research necessary.
“No, don’t go. She didn’t mean it.”
“Did you mean to laugh?” I asked with a quirked brow. She tried to swallow her laughs, but she failed miserably. “That’s a damn shame. Not you condoning bullying.” I continued to slide out of the booth, forcing her to stand up and rush around the booth to keep me trapped inside. “This kidnapping.”
She waved me off. “Whatever. You don’t really want to leave, and you wanted me to sit by you anyway.”
I leaned back casually with a smirk. “I surely did.” I had no shame. She knew I wanted her. Iylah didn’t waste a second before she climbed out of the seat, then came on the same side of the table as us. “Let me sit on the end,” I instructed, making everybody get up to rearrange ourselves. Leigh sat by the wall, while Iylah sat between the two of us, just as content.
