He moves away and ducks back into the fort again, sitting opposite me.
“Cat food smells like crap,” I say, wrinkling my nose.
Terrell laughs. “Thank God we don’t have to eat that, right?”
Chiamaka returns with a scowl and her arms crossed as she walks toward us.
“What?” I ask.
“Where am I sleeping?” she asks.
“You can have my bed. I don’t mind sleeping with Devon here,” Terrell says.
I feel really hot, but I ignore the way his sentence sounded.
Chiamaka smiles. “Thank you, Terrell,” she says, before climbing into his bed like she probably intended on doing anyway, whether Terrell said yes or not.
“Guess that leaves us with the fort. Want me to get any more pillows or blankets?” Terrell asks.
I shake my head. I’m good.
I lie back first, staring up at the sheets strung above me, ignoring Terrell and his proximity when he lies down too.
We lie there in silence and I start to feel a little drowsy. From thecombination of today’s stress from the ball to just being emotionally drained anyway, I find myself drifting a little.
“Stargazing?” Terrell asks.
I turn to him, looking confused. “What?”
“You’re looking up pretty intensely—thought you were searching for stars in my sheets,” he says.
I nod. “I was… Millions of stars in the sky tonight,” I say, pointing up at nothing.
“I see them… I know some of the names for them too, you know.”
“Enlighten me,” I say, watching as Terrell gets comfortable and looks up.
“That one there is called Tupac, named after the legend, of course. Scientists were like… that star is mad bright, let’s name it Tupac—”
I burst out laughing and Terrell smiles at me.
“Maybe you should consider a career in teaching people how to BS,” I say.
“Maybe I should,” he replies.
We spend the rest of the night like this. Talking, Terrell joking, making me laugh.
The last thing I think before sleep catches up with me is:
No more Niveus…
No more Aces.
46
CHIAMAKA
Friday
