Page 133 of Call Me Baby 2: Side B

Except for my pulse beating like a bass.

Or maybe it’s Jasmine’s.

Celie stunned still, face blank.

“Wait—nah. Nah, nah, nah.” Her eyes widen. “Tell me he didn’t just curve Jasmine.” She squints at me. “Yo, we might need to check his pulse, ‘cause that ain’t normal. We handed this man ten-outta-ten model on a gold platter, and he deadass turned her down? The baddest woman in the city? That’s some next-level restraint…” Her voice is still running in the background of the shock that I’m in.

I shake my head slow.

I didn’t think he’d shut it down.

Thought he’d at least take the easy way out, grab her number, toss it in his phone and never use it.

A number’s harmless.

But he didn’t even do that.

The car door opens,

snapping me out of it.

Jasmine slides into the backseat,

closes the door, exhales.

And then nothing.

No one moves. No one talks.

We sit there⁠—

three bodies, three heads spinning.

“Well…” Jasmine tilts her head, processing the last twenty minutes. “This never before happen to me.” Her eyes narrow. “He… gay, yes?”

The quiet rolls back in.

I play it back in my head.

Did we fuck this up somehow?

“Aight, enough’a this,” Celie says. “Let’s get some fuckin’ food. I’m so hungry I could eat chopped cheese off the street.”

Jasmine giggles, crashing into her.

“Pff, I am so hungry,

“I could eat soft dick.”

Celie’s laugh explodes,

head tipping back against the seat.

Jasmine falls forward into her,

mouth hitting Celie’s shoulder.

Celie catches her breath. “I’m so hungry I’d fight a rat for a slice right now.”