“Like go find Monshay and finish what I should’ve finished years ago.” Spirit’s laugh was bitter. “Seeing her today... It brought everything back, Ken. All the shit I thought I was over.”
Kennedi grabbed her water and settled onto the couch. “You wanna talk about it?”
“Not really. But I probably should.” Spirit exhaled hard. “You got time?”
“Yeah. Monroe’s good, food’s cooking. I got time.”
Another beat of silence. Kennedi could hear Spirit moving around.
“Robin and I grew up together,” Spirit started, voice quieter now. “Like, literally grew up together. With Giovanni and Rolani being friends, it made sense. We were best friends before we even understood what that meant. Me, him, and Monshay.”
Kennedi’s stomach dropped. She already knew where this was going.
“Monshay came later, of course. She moved here during our seventh-grade year, and we did everything together. But somewhere along the way, it changed for me. I started seeing Robin differently. He got taller. He got a mustache. Shit, a fifteen-year-old girl starts noticing.” Spirit paused. “I was gonna tell him at prom. I had this whole plan—I was gonna take him to our spot and tell him how I felt. Spill it. I even wrote it all down.”
“What happened?”
“Monshay happened.” Spirit’s voice went hard. “I let her read it. I told her how I felt about Robin. Mind you, no one was checking for his nerdy ass. Anyway, she was my best friend, and I trusted her with it. Told her I was in love with Robin, that I was gonna tell him and give him my virginity. Repeating this all feels so childish now...”
“It’s okay, sis. Get it out.” Kennedi kept her voice steady. “I assume she?—”
“She told Robin she was secretly in love with him. She basically stole my damn everything. She slept with him.” Spirit’s words came out sharp, cutting. “She saw what I wanted and took it to prove she could.”
Kennedi closed her eyes. “Spirit...”
“Robin didn’t know. About how I felt, I mean. At least I don’t think he did.” Spirit’s voice cracked. “I never got the chance to tell him because two weeks before prom, Monshay announced she was pregnant. And Robin, being who he is, stepped up. Did the right thing. Committed to her and the baby.”
“Did you ever tell him? After?”
“Yes.” Spirit’s voice went quieter. “Years later. I came home from college, and he wouldn’t let me exist here without telling him why our friendship ended the way it did. I told him the truth about Monshay, and I could tell he felt the same about me, but... I don’t know. That visit only complicated shit more.”
“Spirit, why didn’t you tell him sooner?”
“What was I supposed to say? ‘Hey, I know you’re about to be a father, but I’m in love with you’? That would’ve been selfish as hell. So I kept my mouth shut. Watched them playhouse. Watched Monshay destroy him piece by piece.”
Kennedi heard the pain underneath the anger, the years of holding this in. “That’s why you left.”
“I couldn’t stay here and watch that bullshit. I couldn’t watch him love someone who didn’t deserve him. I couldn’t watch Monshay play in his face over and over. Because even at the end of the day, Robin was my best friend, and he needed me to be neutral, not make shit harder for him.”
“And now you’re back.”
“And now I’m back.” Spirit laughed, but it held no humor. “And the first day I’m back, Monshay shows up. Like theuniverse is testing me or some shit. I wanted to kill that bitch all over again.”
Kennedi’s mind was racing, trying to piece it all together. “So, you still have feelings for him.”
It wasn’t a question.
Spirit didn’t answer right away. When she finally spoke, her voice was barely above a whisper. “I don’t know. I thought I was over it. Thought I’d moved on. But seeing Monshay today... It all came rushing back. And I hate it. I hate that after all this time, all this distance, I still feel something.”
“I feel like you aren’t telling me something.”
“Is this the journalist shit everyone is talking about?”
“Sorry.” They laughed, and Kennedi rolled her eyes. She truly couldn’t turn it off.
Spirit’s voice dropped. “When I came back home from college, I told you Robin was breathing down my neck about why things had changed. Long story short, I gave him my virginity that night.” Spirit paused, the weight of it heavy. “That shit only made my heart break more. That man had a family at home. It didn’t matter that he was unhappy. It was still wrong.”
“Spirit...”
