Page 19 of A Little Kissing Between Friends

Nana Cherry raised a hand. “Guilty. I know you just got him back, but Mary was telling me how they’re playing the latest animal cartoon movie at Discovery Green in about an hour, and I thought ’Mani might like to go since Mary is meeting her grands up there who are about his same age. We might do ice cream afterward, and I didn’t want you to have to wait up for him, so I told him to ask you if he could just stay the night.”

Pursing my lips, I thought it over. I had just gotten Amani back. He’d spent the previous week with Samir and I’d missed him, but one more day wouldn’t hurt. Kissing my baby’s cheek, I set him on his feet.

“I trust you not to have him up too late, and to make sure he doesn’t have too much sugar.”

Nana Cherry cringed, and I huffed a light laugh. Clearly my rules were cutting into their plans.

“I’ll make sure he gets the right amount of sleep,” Nana Cherry assured me, pulling my son toward her. Grinning triumphantly, Amani nodded.

“Yeah, Mommy.”

It didn’t miss me how she didn’t address the sugar intake, and all I could do was shake my head. The decision was made, whether I knew it or not, and all I was left to do was pretend like it was up to me despite me knowing otherwise. When those two came up with a plan, there wasn’t much I could do to sway them. Luckily, it was never anything that I ever felt the need to put my foot down on.

Heading back to the picnic table I’d been sitting at, I gathered up my empty plate and went to toss it in the trash. When I sat back down, Poppa nudged me with her elbow.

“So, I take it you’re kid-free for one more night.”

Sighing, I nodded. “Indeed.”

Sucking barbecue sauce off her thumb, Poppa echoed my nod. “Cool. I have to head into the studio for a couple hours, but Xeno wants to pop out to VR for a lil bit so, since your schedule is open, come with.”

As much as I teased Poppa about Xeno and I sharing a title, I didn’t hold any animosity toward the other woman. In fact, I loved hanging out with the two of them, which often included Xeno’s girlfriend, Trisha, who was funny and reminded me of some of the girls I grew up with back in Dallas.

“What time are you thinking?”

Poppa pulled her phone out of the pocket of her shorts and tapped at the screen a few times.

“Around eleven,” she finally answered.

I nodded. That gave me a couple of hours to go home and catch a nap.

“Count me in.”

Chapter Six

Jucee

Real Friend Girl Shit

Amani and Nana Cherry left for the park about half an hour later, but I didn’t say my goodbye until after seven. As soon as I got in the car, I called Mercedes and told her the plan, inviting her to join us. She usually danced on Sundays, so I was prepared for her to decline, but she said she’d meet us at the club since she had an earlier set.

Thirty-five minutes later I was in my condo in Midtown, scarf and bonnet secured and timer set as I slid beneath the cool sheets. Even though I danced during the day, I was no stranger to impromptu naps and found myself asleep in less than ten minutes. When I woke up, there was a strange sort of buzzing in my gut as I rifled through my closet, and I realized that I was excited about going out. Poppa and I hadn’t had many opportunities to hang out over the past few weeks because she’d been busy in the studio. I understood, but I also missed my friend. Daily calls and texts were great, but they weren’t enough.

I was used to us meeting each other for breakfast and video chatting regularly. I was used to sending memes back and forth on several different platforms and seeing a new movie available for streaming and immediately making plans to watch it together that night. When Poppa was in grind-mode, her phone was off and she rarely left the studio. She sequestered herself and whichever artist she was working with inside that room and made magic come alive out of thin air. Now that she’d resurfaced, I wanted to spend as much time with her as possible.

The club we were heading to was more on the upscale side, so I dressed in a black tube-top bodysuit with a sheer, knee-length bodycon dress over it. For a pop of color, I chose golden stiletto sandals with straps that wound around my calves and tied into a bow behind my knee and a matching golden clutch.

After scooting my seat back to make driving easier in my heels, I headed to Poppa’s ranch-style house in Memorial. When she opened the door looking scrumdiddlyumptious, I grinned. She wore a black dress shirt with the top buttons undone, giving a peek at the valley of her hiked-up titties, gray slacks, black suede loafers, and her signature gold jewelry. I followed her into the house as she grabbed her wallet and keys off of the leather couch.

“Oh, you must be tryna catch some pussy tonight,” I mused, “looking all fine and shit like this.”

Just like Cody didn’t want for female attention, neither did Poppa. And neither did Caleb, for that matter, but he tended to date men more than women and was also more the relationship type than his playboy younger siblings.

Poppa’s grin was sly as she ushered me back out of the house.

“You know how I do” was her cryptic answer, but after being around her for three years, I knew exactly how to decipher that. Poppa had been laying low for a minute while she worked her ass off—undoubtedly to produce the next Grammy Award–winning single—and hadn’t been on her usual shenanigans with women. Pussy was definitely the goal for the night. I didn’t judge her for that at all, even though I didn’t move the same way.

Things were a little different for me though. After Samir and I split, I dated a few people who were nice but left me feeling unfulfilled. Either they were great in bed but boring to talk to, or cool to party with but looked down on sex workers. I’d been surprised and disappointed by how many people could meet an exotic dancer while she worked, yet judge her for the job she did. Not wanting to continue wasting time with temporary people who only brought me temporary pleasure, I stopped dating and focused on finding joy in being single. It was the best decision that I’d ever made, after moving to Houston.