"Oh shit, never mind," he interrupted with a grumble.
"What?" I snickered at the expression on his face.
"I'on wanna hear 'bout some nigga being with you like that. If that makes me seem like the jealous type..." He shrugged his shoulder as his words trailed off.
Laughing, I playfully swatted his arm. "You didn't even let me finish what I was gonna say. And anyway, my last boyfriend was well over a year ago, and it was Taurus."
"That nigga cheated on you?" Sin shook his head in shame.
"No," I answered. "Vick didn't have my back like a man should have for his woman." I wouldn't mention anything else that transpired between Vick and me.
"Back to the subject, though. For your information, it wasn't even like that with Taurus and me. He challenged me to a one-on-one, first to thirty. Our game got so heated that the court was packed by the time it was over." I smiled, recalling the day a good friend of mine, Taurus, challenged me to a game. He'd been trying to get me one-on-one for a while, but I never wanted to see him on the blacktop.
Taurus was a hood dude, who I became friends with while playing at the local basketball court. While I was busting everybody's ass out there, Taurus would sit off to the side and watch me. He was my age but had never flirted with me. I guess he considered me to be one of the boys.
"Needless to say, he beat me by two. Our deal was if he won, I had to get a grill. He knew how much I hated this one dude who played with us sometimes, and I would call him yuck mouth 'cause he talked too damn much and had all golds." Sin laughed at that. "If I would've won, though, Taurus would've had to give me the brand-new Mercedes he'd just purchased."
"Wow." Sin chuckled.
"Exactly."
"So, where's Taurus now? Happy that he can say he beat a pro-baller in a pickup game?"
"No." My smile dimmed. "He died a few weeks later. Somebody clipped him on the highway."
"Oh, damn. That's fucked up."
I nodded. "So, I got the grill even though he passed because a deal was a deal."
"Right," he agreed. "So, if I made a deal with you, would you keep it?"
Shrugging my shoulders, I said, "It depends on what you're talking about."
Sin peered off for a minute in thought. While he was busy thinking, my stomach growled impatiently. I was about to complain about the food taking too long when I saw the server headed back our way, food perched over her shoulder.
Sin must've had something deep he wanted to say because he waited until our food was in front of us before speaking.
After sweetly blessing the food, he asked, "Everything looks okay to you?"
"It sure does," I replied. At this point, my fried chicken and macaroni and cheese were going to have to do. My stomach was in protest of my waiting to fill it.
"Our deal is... If tonight goes well, you let me take you on a second date, a real date, just me and you."
"And if it doesn't go well?" As far as I was concerned, Sin seemed cool, but if I knew nothing else, I knew men's ways changed more than women. One dinner wasn't going to show me exactly who Sin was.
Sin chuckled. "It's gon' go well."
The finality in his statement and his voice made me believe him. I started eating, wondering if I was really opening myself up again. When my stomach wanted to roll in protest, I fought it back with thoughts of the kiss Sin had placed on my lips.
PENELOPE
As soon as our food hit the table, I dug in without even praying over it. Zoo scoffed, bowed his head, and said grace.
"My granny said not prayin' over ya food is a good way to choke on some shit," he explained.
I stared at him, dumbfounded. "What?" Rolling my eyes, I went back to my plate. "I wish you'd move. Nobody asked your ass to sit next to me," I mumbled around a mouth full of food.
"Lil' baby, you're salty as fuck for whatever reason. I'on know if you think that mean shit is a turnoff, but you might wanna reconsider with me."
