“Come in,” I said.
He laughed as he walked past me. “Okay, so I got the food and liquor, but you never told me what’s going on, love.”
“Well…” I closed the door behind him. “Just… come in.”
I directed him over to the kitchen, and he set everything down on the counter. He looked around for a second, then shook his head and laughed.
“Yo, your apartment is tiny,” he said. “You didn’t tell me you were inviting me over to a shoebox.”
I laughed a little. “Boy, bye. I love my lil’ shoebox. Plus, I figured my man would get me a house, but…” I sighed. “That’s definitely not happening now.”
I mumbled that last part, and PB looked at me confused.
I turned away from him to open the brown paper bag. There was a brief silence before he said, “Look, I’m sorry about the shit that went down earlier with my baby mama.”
I crossed my arms. “It’s cool, boo. You didn’t ask her to come at me sideways, and besides… I can hold my own.”
“I’m sure you can.” He smirked a little, then said, “Let me get another hug, though. I can’t remember the one from earlier.”
“Damn, you thirsty,” I said playfully, then turned to face him and closed the gap between us.
This time, when he pulled me in, he got a little bit closer than he had earlier. I felt my whole body practically melt into his. It was like I felt myself relaxing for the first time today.
“You okay? You good?” he asked into my ear, his deep voice bringing me back to reality.
“Yeah,” I said. “It’s just a lot on my mind.”
We pulled away, and I went over to the cabinet to grab some shot glasses. He shook his head.
“Nah, I don’t want no shots.”
I raised my eyebrows at him. “Oh, you wanna sip-sip?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay, say less.”
I grabbed two red Solo cups instead and poured us both some tequila. He didn’t want any chaser, so for myself, I went into the fridge and grabbed cranberry juice, mixing it in with mine. I grabbed a paper plate and started loading it up with tortilla chips, pico de gallo, and the shrimp, chicken, and steak cheese dip I had him pick up.
The food was hot as hell, so I blew on it before I took a bite.
“Mmm.” I closed my eyes for a second. “Okay, come on. Let’s go sit down.”
We both took a seat on the couch. There was a little bit of sun coming through the window between us.
PB glanced around. “I ain’t gon’ lie. Even though yo’ shit is a shoebox, you decorated the hell out this muthafucka.”
I cut my eyes at him. “Call it a shoebox one more time, and I will cut you.”
He threw up his hands in mock surrender. “Aight… I don’t wanna be cut. My bad, love.”
We both laughed a little, and I continued to eat while he sat there watching me. He said he wasn’t hungry, so that meant it was more for me, and I was not complaining about that. I was definitely going back for seconds the second I finished this plate.
“So why am I really here?” he asked.
I blurted it out. “I told him.”
PB looked confused. His eyebrows raised. “Told who? What?”