Page 27 of Omar

"Girl, finally." Nene's voice came through sharp and awake. "I been texting you since yesterday."

"I know, I'm sorry. It's been a lot."

"You good? Supreme still acting right?"

I leaned against the counter and looked at my own face in the mirror. "Yeah. He fine. But Nene, I need to tell you something."

She went quiet on the other end. "What happened?"

"You remember me telling you about Omar Baptiste?" I didn't wait for her to answer. "I walked into a meeting at a warehouse and he was there. Week ago. And then I saw him again a few nights back and turns out Ray been lying to me this whole time."

"What did your father tell you?"

"He told me Omar moved on. Got with somebody else, didn't want nothing to do with me. But it wasn't true. None of it was true."

Nene was quiet for a long moment. Then she said, "Your father played both of you."

"Yes."

A moment passed. "Asha, I need you to hear me when I say this." Her voice went into the counsellor tone, the serious one. "You need to stay away from him."

"I know."

"You have a plan, remember? This will only complicate shit."

"Nene. I know."

She sighed. Then her voice went softer, more careful. "Is he... is it still... when you saw him, was it still...?"

I paused just long enough.

"Oh no," Nene said. "Oh no no no."

"I have to go finish my client," I lied. I didn't have a client. I was standing in Supreme's bathroom staring at my own face.

"Asha Cole, don't you dare..."

"I'll call you tonight." I hung up before she could say anything else. The phone buzzed immediately with her calling back but I silenced it and set it on the counter.

I looked at myself in the mirror. The same face I'd been wearing like a mask since Supreme took me. The same mouth that had smiled at Supreme's tsunami speech and made all the right sounds while he worked himself into a mess. The same eyes that had looked at Omar on that street corner and felt something crack open that I'd spent fourteen years keeping shut.

I was smiling.

I didn't know why. There was nothing funny about this. Nothing safe. Nothing that made any sense at all. But I was standing in Supreme's bathroom wearing his t-shirt with my best friend yelling at me through a silenced phone, and I couldn't stop smiling.

I was in serious trouble.

I picked up the phone and texted Nene back: I know. I'll be careful. I love you.

She wrote back immediately: You better. Call me later.

I got dressed, did my makeup, and went downstairs to find Supreme's cook already working on breakfast. Cee was outside waiting by the car like Supreme had promised, broad and quiet and exactly the cage I'd just agreed to step into.

"Morning, Miss Asha," he said when I came outside.

"Morning, Cee." I got in the back seat and he closed the door.

The drive to the salon was silent. Cee didn't talk unless he had to, which I appreciated. He pulled up outside the building and told me he'd be right here when I was done. I thanked him, got out, and walked inside to a full day of appointments that I couldn't afford to think about Omar through.