“Act like what?”
“Like you’re committing murder.”
There was a long pause. “You wouldn’t get it.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
A voice said something inaudible through the door, muffled, pitch of concern. “Hey, can I—can we talk tomorrow?” he asked.
“Yeah, sure.”
The call ended, my screen going dark.
Chapter 24
The restaurant closed early for the employee holiday party. Trying to be festive, someone had strung up lights that were already sagging. The owner, a young white guy who I sometimes saw strolling through the kitchen or looking bedraggled at the bar, thanked us for our service with mid-tier champagne.
Milan and I loitered in the bathroom, babysitting rum punches. She applied a plum lipstick then passed me the silver tube. We drunkenly kissed the fogged-up mirror, forgetting it was filthy, leaving dark smooches. I longed to tell her about kissing Tristan, but I knew this was a side of me I couldn’t share with her.
At the bar, she spun in her stool, reaching for her phone every time it vibrated.
“Y’all look good.” Durk leaned against the bar.
Milan didn’t look up from her phone. “Y’all look broke.”
Durk tugged on her braids. She snatched them back. Spinning to face me, “You’re still gonna help me take these out later, right? They itch.”
“Yeah.”
Eric plopped beside me. “Where’s your man at?”
“Shut up, Eric.”
“Why you getting mad?”
“Because she’s a lesbian,” Durk said.
“I’m not mad,” I said.
“Nah,” Eric said. “She’s the other thing. Where you got like five wives and shit. They be doing that in Wyoming.”
I didn’t say anything. Durk laughed. Rah walked out of the bathroom with one of the servers. He glanced in my direction then looked away like he hadn’t seen me.
I pulled Milan’s arm. “Let’s dance.”
She didn’t respond, grinning at her phone, the screen lighting up her face. After several minutes, her chin jerked up. She yelled in my ear, “I’m gonna go smoke. You coming?”
I nodded, shrugging my coat on. On the escape, she licked the rolling paper, delicately folding it over. The streetlamps in the alley backlit her. She looked haunted.
“I’m thinking about quitting the restaurant.”
I laughed. “What? No. This is what we do together.”
“I wanna do other stuff.”
“You’re doing the play.”
She stared past me at the rowhouses. The night held a sinister beauty, the deep blue sky, trees black with shadow. “I don’t know if I’m gonna do the play.”
