She shrugged, gnawing on her lip in thought before she answered, “Somewhere fun. And outside of the normal dinner and a movie, cause you’re not supposed to talk during movies which means you can’t really get to know each other better at the movies.”
“How about a concert?” I suggested, thinking I could use a few of my old connects from my musician days to get us some tickets.
But once Londyn replied, “If you wanna spend the night yelling back and forth to each other, sure,” that idea went out of the window, forcing me to wrack my brain for a new one.
“What about… roller skating?”
“Can she skate?” Londyn asked, the question making me frown with confusion as I fired one right back.
“Am I supposed to know the answer to that?”
“I’m just asking. Because skating is a cute date if you know what you’re doing, but embarrassing as hell if you don’t,” she explained, both the visual of Jayla gliding around the rink with ease and the visual of her busting her ass making me smile.
“Sounds perfect either way to me,” I decided before rushing her off the phone now that I was running a little late thanks to her nosy ass. But it was the good kind of nosy that put an extra pep in my step so I could make good on her idea, excited by the prospect of spending some real quality time with Jayla.
No matter when I showed up to work, I knew I’d find her car in the parking lot once I pulled up, her overachieving spirit always keeping her around way past the typical work hours. It was the same overachieving spirit I now knew extended to things outside of work as well, only making me admire her even more. And once I clocked in, I made a beeline for her office, surprised to find her door only slightly cracked open with the lights turned off.
“But her car was outside,” I thought, giving the door a light knock before peeking inside to find her with her head resting on top of her desk. And according to the soft sounds of her rhythmic breathing, she was getting a decent sleep, something I didn’t want to interrupt since she must’ve needed it if she was doing it here of all places.
I was already on my way out when I heard her whisper, “Khalid?”
Turning back around, I lifted my hands to tell her, “My bad, Jay. I was just making sure you were good. I didn’t mean to wake you.”
“No, I’m glad you did. I might’ve slept here all night if you hadn’t,” she replied, standing up and stretching her arms over her head in a way that made her dress rise, the sight of those perfect ass legs of hers making me lick my lips out of pure reflex.
Considering the location, I did my best to ignore the urge to sit her on top of her desk and stick my face between her thighs, instead smirking when I insisted, “At least you would’ve been protected.”
“True,” she agreed with a little yawn, blowing past me to turn her office lights back on. And once she did, I noticed the unfamiliar sight of bags under her eyes.
Not that she couldn’t have bags under her eyes.
Even Superwoman had to take a break every once in a while. But considering it was the first time I had ever seen Jayla like this, taking a nap at the office, I felt concerned enough to ask, “You good?”
With a wave of invitation, I followed her down the hall from her office to one of the break rooms, listening in as she groaned, “Mmhm. Just dealing with the special kind of fatigue that comes when your body is mad at you for letting another egg go to waste.”
My face only scrunched with confusion as she reached for the coffee maker, not able to offer a response until she explained, “My period, Khalid.”
“Oh. Ohhhh. Sorry.”
She quickly brushed me off with a little laugh. “Don’t be. Just means you didn’t get me pregnant. I should be thanking you.”
“Well, now that you mention it, I do have an idea on how you can thank me,” I told her, watching as she prepared the cup of coffee to her liking and making a mental note so I could do the same for her later.
After taking a sip to check the taste, she released a satisfied moan before finally asking, “What’s going on?”
For whatever reason, I suddenly felt nervous about it all, the pressure of her waiting gaze and the possibility of her turning me down on the stance that going on dates were never a part of the plan both running through my head. But it was now or never. And if I expected Jayla to ever take me seriously for anything other than just sex, I had to start somewhere.
So after a heavy sigh to get rid of some of the nerves, and remind myself that I was that nigga, I put it on out there. “I wanted to know if you’d be interested in a little date night or somethin’ this weekend.”
“A date night?” she asked, her eyebrow piqued in a way that told me she was either surprised by the offer or legitimately interested.
Hoping for the latter, I answered, “Yeah. I wanna take you out, Jayla.”
“Take me out where?”
“I was thinking we could, maybe, go to the rink.”
Presenting it as a maybe made it sound less set in stone just in case she totally shitted on the idea. And I figured that was exactly what was about to happen when, instead of agreeing to it, she started laughing. “You want to take me on a date? To go roller skating?”
“Too corny for you, huh?” I asked with a regretful sigh, making another mental note; cuss Londyn out for putting me up to this shit.
Just before I could save it to the hard drive in my head, Jayla put her free hand against my bicep to reply, “Not at all! It’s actually super sweet. I’d love to go. I mean, I haven’t been skating since like, middle school.”
Now I was the one laughing. “Uh oh, shorty. I can’t have you out there bustin’ ya ass cause you’re too rusty on the wheels.”
Smacking her teeth, she insisted, “Boy, I know how to skate. I just have to warm up, refresh my muscle memory. But I definitely want to go.”
Just like that, I was making a mental note to thank Londyn while telling Jayla, “Bet. It’s a date then. Saturday night is good for you, right?”
She started to nod, but then caught herself. “Ahh, damnit. Saturday I was supposed to be doing a binge watch of The Chi with Mila. But maybe her and Shaq would want to come too. Like a double date.”
The way the idea made her face light up made me feel a little bad for replying, “Nothin’ against your sister, but I am not tryna spend my Saturday night with the two of them.” And that was the truth, especially if this was going to be our first night out together as a… not a couple.
My feelings about it didn’t stop her from insisting, “It’ll be fun! And besides, if we let them smoke beforehand, they’ll probably be in their own little world anyway.”
Since I knew that would happen regardless of if we “let” them, I was quick to remind her, “Last time they smoked together, they fucked up our night. Do you really wanna run the risk of that happening again?”
“I think they deserve a second chance,” she replied sweetly, stepping closer to wrap an arm around me as if she was trying to soften me up to the idea.
Really, she was only hardening me up in other places, the fact that I was already on the clock keeping me from making good on the closeness. And just when I started to say, “Well, I think...” she popped up to land a quick peck on my lips that changed the direction of everything I was saying.
“If that’ll make you happy, then I guess we can make it happen.”
&
I should’ve never let her talk me into letting them come with us.
That was all I kept thinking as I listened to Shaq argue back and forth with the Mitchell sisters about plastic surgery of all things, Shaq’s opinion that every woman who got work done should have to disclose a “before” picture on first dates not going over well at all.
Because it was stupid.
Because he was stupid.
“That shit ain’t fair, man. I’m looking at shorty thinkin’ her ass is fat, when really I’m just looking at silicone or all the fat that used to be in her stomach,” Shaq defended, mak
ing me roll my eyes as Jayla grunted with annoyance and Jamila damn near jumped out of her seat to respond.
“Who cares! Most of the time, you can’t even tell! And I’m sure that never stopped you from looking nor throwing ones in the strip club,” Jamila said with a confident smirk, making a valid point since that’s exactly what Shaq would be doing if he wasn’t here with us.
I wish he wasn’t here with us.
I wasn’t chiming in on this dumbass topic, keeping my mouth shut as Shaq held his hands up to say, “Hey, man. That’s a sensitive subject. Don’t talk about my girls like that.”
Jayla started laughing, taking a swig of the slushie she considered a rink staple as Jamila asked, “So if I told you I got my ass done, what would you say?”
“I’d say your surgeon didn’t do a good job, cause you ain’t even got ass like that,” Shaq replied, earning himself a much-deserved punch in the arm from Jamila that made him look her way and squeal, “What?! I can’t be honest? You’re still cute in the face, baby!”
Jamila’s attitude didn’t waver from the compliment, even when Shaq wrapped an arm around her shoulder to pull her into a hug she immediately resisted as Jayla said, “Anyway. I think it’s a woman’s choice to do whatever she wants to do with her body, and it’s nobody’s business but hers unless she chooses to share. As long as she’s not selling lies about it, which is really a separate issue. Right, Khalid?”
“Damn. I forgot I was even here,” I replied sarcastically, keeping my attention on the skating rink until Jayla wrapped an arm around my neck and gushed, “Awww. I’m sorry.” Then she popped up from the bench we were sharing and stuck her hand out to me.
“Come on, let’s go skate.”
Turning her down would’ve been silly considering that was the whole reason why we were here in the first place. And since I would’ve done just about anything to get away from Shaq and Jamila’s annoying asses anyway, I used her hand to pull myself up, trying to put my attitude on a permanent pause as she led us out to the rink.
“This is the most fun I’ve had in a really long time,” she announced the second we successfully merged into the crowd of other skaters, the excitement in her voice doing a number on how annoyed I originally felt coming out here since… “Seriously?”
“Yes, seriously!” she squealed, rounding the corner as she explained, “I feel like a teenager again, especially with Jamila tagging along. My mom wouldn’t let me go anywhere without taking her with me even though she was so much younger than me. I guess she figured if I wanted to go somewhere Jamila couldn’t be, then I had no business going myself.”
Hearing Jayla talk about her past, her family, told me she must’ve been for real about having a good time since she rarely opened up about that kind of stuff. And since that was the whole objective for this little date - to get to know her better outside of the bedroom - it suddenly felt like a success when I continued the conversation by asking, “Are you and your mom close?”
Instead of answering immediately, her expression fell flat.
“Fuckin’ up already,” I thought to myself, watching how uncomfortable it made her to push out, “Not anymore. Cordial, at best.”
“Sorry to hear that,” I offered, not wanting to ruin the night by pressing for details; especially since I damn sure wasn’t interested in opening up about my own family history.
With a shrug, she insisted, “It’s for the best, really. At least, I know I’m better this way.”
“Then that’s all that matters,” I replied with a half-hearted smile, one she returned just as the lights dimmed and the rink’s DJ slowed the music down by playing, “Permission” by Ro James.
“Is this becoming our song, or what?” Jayla asked with a little chuckle, doing a smooth turn around on her skates that ended with her in front of me and skating backward as we continued making our way around the rink.
It was a move that turned my half-hearted smile into a full one since her little “warm-up” had apparently paid off. And now that it seemed like her good mood was back too, I couldn’t help teasing, “Aww, so now you’re tryna get fancy with it, huh?”
“I told you I knew how to skate. I’ve been doing this since before you were even born,” she replied with a smirk and an extra sway in her glide that made her look especially adorable - and sexy.
I caught up to her so that I could put my hands against her hips when I told her, “Chill with that shit. You only got me by a few years, and you know good and well I make up for every one of them.”
“I’ll give you that,” she agreed, putting her hands against my shoulders to add, “Seriously, though. Thank you for inviting me out.”
You would’ve thought the woman had never been taken out for some genuine fun - or ever married, for that matter - considering how appreciative she was of a basic ass roller skating date. Then again, this was light years ahead of the time she had spent with Eric. And if ol’ boy was really out here on her like it seemed he was, it probably had been awhile since she had somebody put a little thought into making sure she enjoyed herself.
So with a shrug, I replied, “It’s nothin’, Jay. You know that. But next time, we’re rollin’ solo.”
It wasn’t that I hated the idea of a double date. But I was officially at the age where everyone younger than me outside of a few select people annoyed the hell out of me, which meant being around Jamila and Shaq for an extended period of time was too much for me to handle without snapping on somebody.
I was grateful when Jayla agreed with a simple, “Deal,” speeding up her glides with the change in music. And while I did my best to keep up, it was more exciting to just watch her do her thing… until doing her thing ended with her ass against the shiny, hardwood floor.
If the landing hadn’t been so brutal, I probably would’ve been laughing. But the way her face was laced with real agony had me legitimately concerned, deciding to save my laughs for when we told the story to someone later as I approached her and asked, “Jayla, are you okay?”
“I’m pretty sure my tailbone is bruised. Or maybe broken. I don’t know, but my ass hurts like hell,” she whined, wincing in pain when she tried to stand up just as a few of the elder skaters passed us with that disappointed look of, “Amateur” on their face.
I wanted to call them out for judging her like none of their asses had ever taken a fall on the rink before. But instead, I focused on helping Jayla up from the floor and then off the rink over to where Shaq and Jamila were both waiting with amused expressions.
Shaq was the first to speak on the situation, shaking his head as he said, “Damn, Jayla. You bit it pretty good out there. But at least your wig stayed on straight this time.”
She was already reaching to take her skates off - as if that would somehow make the pain go away - when she mumbled, “It’s a sew-in, asshole.”
“Your ass got cocky, and look where it got you. Bad Bitch takes a tumble. I wish I would’ve been recording you,” Jamila added with the laugh I was still doing my best to hold in while Shaq finally let his rip, earning the both of them a hard scowl.
Instead of letting that start up another one of their silly arguments, I offered, “We should probably get you home; get some ice on it.”
Considering how quickly she got out of her skates and into her shoes, that seemed to be exactly what she was thinking, wincing in pain to stand back up as Shaq said, “If you need something to help the pain go away, you know I got you.”
I knew Shaq offering Jayla some weed was his special way of trying to be helpful, but I still shot him a scowl of my own that he answered with an unspoken, “What?” as Jayla replied, “Just make sure my sister gets home safely, okay?”
“Ditto,” Jamila said with a smirk and a nod my way; a nod I returned before I helped Jayla out to the car. But once we were inside, I could tell the situation was still heavy on her mind as she stared out of the window whispering to herself, “I can’t believe I fell like that. I never fall.”
With a
hand to her thigh, I assured her, “Playas fuck up too, Jayla. It happens.” But it was almost as if my words meant nothing considering she only sighed, “So embarrassing.”
Since I knew it really wasn’t that big of a deal, I did my best to play it down, finally letting out that laugh when I told her, “Chill, Jay. For real. You fell at the rink, not at the Olympics.”
“Still embarrassing,” she fired back with a frown.
“Cause God forbid you’re actually human like the rest of us…” I muttered sarcastically, catching the way her frown turned into a scowl out of my peripheral when I added, “I’m just sayin’. I know you got that perfectionist shit deep in your blood, but you can make mistakes too; believe it or not.”
Gnawing on her lip, she stared down into her lap, latching her fingers as she quietly admitted, “Bad habits die hard. And beating myself up about stupid shit is one of them.”
“Well let me be the first to tell you, beatin’ yourself up won’t make you feel any better about it. But you know what would’ve? Getting back out there.”
The laugh she gave in response was laced with more disbelief than amusement. “I couldn’t have gone back out there if I wanted to, Khalid.”
“Then we’ll just have to plan a redemption date so you can make that happen,” I told her with a smile, already looking forward to it.
The anticipation only doubled in size when she insisted, “Without Jamila.”
“Or Shaq,” I added, knowing good and well I wouldn’t make the mistake of inviting him along ever again.
But to my surprise, it was Jayla defending his inclusion, turning in her seat to say, “I like Shaq! He’s entertaining, even when his opinions are way off-track.”
“Then y’all can go to lunch or somethin’, but I’m not sharing your attention with him again anytime soon,” I told her with no plans of changing my mind, happy when she agreed with a soft, “Fair enough.”
The rest of the ride to her place was mostly quiet between us, the car filled with the vibes from some R&B playlist she had playing through my aux cord. But even the fact that I was willing to give her that kind of control told me I was really feeling her on another level since the music in my car was something I took very seriously.
The Lessons We Learn Page 11