“When y’all move past friends and you decide to do grown man shit, don’t be dumb. Strap the fuck up. You can’t be a father and I damn sho’ ain’t PawPaw material yet.”
“Bruh!” Quise huffs. “It ain’t like that.”
“A’ight but when it gets like that, you heard what I said.”
“Yes, sir. I hear you. I know.”
“You taking her to homecoming?” Akeem asks and Quise sighs again. He’s definitely feeling this mysterious young lady.
“I want to,” he finally admits.
“Then ask her. If she’s entertaining you, she likes you. If you ask, she’ll say yes. She’s probably just waiting for you to ask anyway. You only got a month. I know you not scared.”
“No…no…I’m not scared,” he assures. “I just gotta figure out how to do it.”
“I know you got this; so don’t even sweat it.”
“I got it.”
“Hit me if you need anything.”
“Just a car to drive to the dance,” he says and Akeem hears the smirk in his tone.
“Get a license first,” Akeem says with a chuckle.
“I’m gon’ get it. You’ll see. I gotta go, Pops. My project’s due tomorrow and I gotta finish my presentation.”
“Handle that and let me know when you ask yo’ girl. I love you, son.”
“Love ya too, Pops.”
Akeem slides his phone back into his pocket then reenters the restaurant. As he approaches their booth, he notices Sunjiya on her phone. Their eyes lock and a second later, her cell is away from her ear on the table. It dawns on him that she’s never beenon her phone. Aside from when they were trying to reach Honey, her phone has been dry.
She doesn’t have family, but what about friends?
The thought stays heavy on his mind as he walks in and materializes into words as soon as he rejoins her in the booth.
“Everything good?” he asks and she counters with her own question.
“I was about to ask you that. Is he okay?” she asks.
“Yeah. Quise is straight but what about you. Your call?”
“Oh. Un uhn. No. That was a telemarketer. I only answered hoping it might be Honey or something. That was nothing,” she says dismissively while adamantly shaking her head.
Before he can say anything else, the server returns with a large tray filled with their food. Gingerly, she places their food and condiments on the table along with utensils rolled in cloth napkins.
“Do you need anything else?” the server asks. Both Akeem and Sunjiya examine their food. Everything looks delicious and the steam coming off the plates indicates it’s fresh off the grill.
Pleased, they answer, “No thank you” in unison.
When the server strolls off, Sunjiya speaks before he can. “Mmm, this looks and smells too good. You want a shrimp?” she asks.
It takes him a moment to respond because truthfully he wants to talk about her dry phone, that call, or even her life in Atlanta. They’ve been having full conversations but after running through those talks in his mind, one thing becomes very apparent. They have been one-sided. He’s done most of the sharing. Besides the limited intel Axton gathered on her, Akeem really doesn’t know much of her life in Atlanta.
“Nah. This is good,” he utters before saying a quick, silent prayer over his food. Not able to dismiss his thoughts, he says,“Your phone never rings. With you being away from your crib and city, I would think that shit would be blowing up.”
Her head tilts in his direction and her eyebrows are peaked. She squints then relaxes. After pursing her lips, she asks matter of factly, “Really? I hadn’t paid that any attention. Plus, you just gave my phone back.”
