The pub applauds because they’re drunk out of their minds and Za’s probably the best thing they’ve seen all day. She bows dramatically. Then she looks directly at me and winks.
I grin without thinking.
She hops down, Sol and Amin immediately flanking her again like she was a midfielder on the opposite team.
She throws her head back laughing at something Sol says, and for a second I don’t see the girl who begged me to choose. I don’t see the sister I almost lost. I see the theatre kid who used to practice monologues in our bedroom mirror and force me to be her unwilling scene partner.
Yet at the same time, I see a future musical star.
Amin pretends to whisper something scandalous in her ear and she swats him away while Sol clutches his chest dramatically.
This is an interesting sight.
Jabari slips his hand into mine under the table and I relax. It’s subtle. His thumb brushing over my knuckles.
I squeeze Jabari’s hand once.
He looks at me. “What?”
“Nothing.”
He narrows his eyes like he knows I’m having a moment.
“Are you crying?” he asks quietly.
“Shut up, Jabari.”
“Aw,” he coos. “Big baby, you want me to kiss away the pain?”
I scoff. Then climb into his lap.
“The big comment is sooo unnecessary.”
That makes him throw his head back and laugh like Za. “I love you so much, Jelly.” ??
“Yeah?” I lean in closer for a kiss. ??
“You love me too.” His breath brushes against my lips. “Say it.”
“Don’t get cocky.”
epilogue
Frankie.
I’ve wipedthis counter so many times the marble’s starting to look back at me.
The cloth dragsslow under my hand, catching on nothing, because there’s nothing left to catch.
And still, I wipe again.
And again.
The kitchen smells like citrus cleaner and cinnamon from the candles I lit way too early.
Now our whole flat is warm.
“You’re gonna take the finish off that thing,” Jabari says from the couch, mindlessly twirling his hair between his fingers. He’d ask me to braid it the night before but I couldn’t be arsed.
