His anxiety over me and thismomentmakes my breakfast sneak up my throat because he sounds more like a man that won’t ever get to experience another college party and less like the carefree senior he’s supposed to be. There’s also that giggling feminine voice that makes me want to choke on it.
“Yes! Go have fun with your friend. I got the baby.”
My breakfast inches further up, and I gulp it back down as soon as I push the door open. Jazmine grabs her phone back from Mama like Ace hadn’t been on there, demanding I don’t do shit with a girl giggling in his arms.
“Come sit before you go.” Mama pats the bed next to her. “I’m gonna give you the same talk I used to give Marcus back when he was in school.”
I have to force my body to sit next to hers because it’s stiff with too many feelings shooting through it.
“You being for real?” I ask. “Or you just making up stuff?”
“Now hold up, dammit. You know your mama is as real as they come.”
If she was, she wouldn’t have been taking orders from a twenty-one-year-old that never fathered a child.
She squeezes my wrist. “Absolutely no drinking tonight.”
My nostrils flare.
“Don’t get in the car with people you don’t know or people that’s been drinking. Bring your backpack and make sure your phone is charged in case I need to get in touch with you.”
OrAce needed a way to obsess over me more while she slept the night away.
She reaches out and squeezes my cheeks. “But most importantly, have fun. Life ain’t long enough tonothave fun. Don’t you ever forget that.”
CHAPTERFIFTEEN
Lourdes
“Hold up... hold up! All my freshman ladies make some motherfuckin’ noise!”
That’s all Splashtown is—noise. Screaming, laughing, hot ass noise in a pool on the Southwest side that ain’t big enough to hold everybody here.
“You already know what it is, DJ G5, on the ones and twos! We lifted in here! It’s hot as a bitch but not hotter than the last fucking party of the summer! Ya feel me?” DJ G5 talks so fast my eyes cross.
Bryson tugs me through swarms of sweaty bodies as the sun beats down on my skin. I keep stretching my neck to look for Chelsea like she’d ditch the Holy Convocation to look like a fish out of water with me, but I know it’s just wishful thinking. Nobody comes between her and God—not even Splashtown.
Bryson twists his neck. “Quise say they over there in the corner. C’mon.”
I nod, clutching my phone in my hand because he convinced me to leave Marshall’s backpack at the house.
“You not twelve.”He laughed.“Please, leave that.”
So I left it next to the front door, even though Ace insisted I bring it like the control freak he was.
We bypass braids, weaves, wigs, Afros, two-piece swimsuits, one-piece swimsuits,noswimsuits. Some girls know Bryson and they stop to remind him they do while fluffing his hair and tugging at the chain around his neck.
I push up on my toes as another one prances off with her friends after flagging him down.
“Who’s that?” I ask, pressing my lips close to his ear.
“She’s in my psychology class.”
I look around for any familiar faces from my classes, but it’s hard to find them when I only see them twice a week. Sometimes I don’t see them at all. I don’t see any of my co-workers from the bookstore—not even Brandy. I stretch my neck, looking for her blonde springy curls one last time. It’s just more wishful thinking.
My shoulders droop until Bryson yanks me up a step and pulls me toward a corner where there’re no weaves, wigs, or braids—just a bunch of boys.
I yank his hand.
