Nova
Sugar had gracefully turned to shit.
One second I was already imagining myself strolling through Kaylin and Lamar’s Bayfront condo naked, taking full advantage of the wall-to-wall glass windows as I looked out onto the city every morning. But the next second I was watching Guy unload his and Jaxson’s suitcases that were immediately taken by a doorman before they led the way into the same place I thought I’d be calling home.
Kaylin was slow to get out of the truck. But when she did, I quickly pulled her to the side by the arm, keeping my voice as low as possible when I asked, “Umm… Kaylin? What’s going on?”
“What do you mean, Nova?” she asked, completely oblivious as she stared at me with a confused expression.
Instead of answering with words, I nodded my head towards Guy who was moving along without a care in the world, baby boy a few steps ahead of him as if he knew exactly where he was going. And apparently I was the only one who wasn’t in the know as Kaylin nonchalantly replied, “Oh, they’re staying here too. There’s plenty of room up there, you’ll probably never even see them.”
She took off again, but this time I legitimately yanked her back, making her yelp and drawing the attention of Guy and Jaxson just as they made it the door. I gave an awkwardly polite smile and Kaylin gave a wave to tell them everything was okay. But once they turned back around, I whispered through my teeth, “Kay, I don’t know these people.”
“I thought Jaxson was your new friend?” she teased, making me roll my eyes.
“Yeah, Jaxson is. Not that damn daddy of his. And speaking of parents, where the hell is Jaxson’s mother?”
It really wasn’t any of my business. They weren’t any of my business. But I couldn’t help myself in asking since she was the only piece of the puzzle that was missing.
Kaylin’s face went from playful to… unreadable, something I wasn’t used to when she sighed, “Girl… I’m not even gonna get started. Matter of fact, I’ll leave it to him to tell you. You guys have all summer right?”
While I could hear the hint of amusement in her voice, I still wasn’t ready to actually join in on whatever fun she called herself having with this. So instead, I gave her a little shove when I scolded, “Quit playin’ with me.”
She tried to play innocent when she squealed, “I’m not! I just knew you could use some new… energy.”
“New energy? What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked, having an idea where she was going with things since it seemed to be a place we visited every time we talked.
But instead of confirming she was talking about getting rid of David, she only sighed before she replied, “It doesn’t mean anything, Nova. You just had a really long school year and now it’s time for you to relax. That’s why I brought you here, mamas. Remember?”
I shrugged but couldn’t hold back the grin that came to my face as I told her, “Yeah, that’s what you say. But I’m starting to wonder if that wasn’t your only motive.”
Not that I could really blame my girl for what she had done. Guy was a fine piece of manly, strong, thick without being sloppy ass. I mean, the man was just straight up… girthy. And he couldn’t close his legs which meant that probably extended to other places. But since that was the last thing I needed to be thinking about, I followed Kaylin into the building, focusing my attention back on Guy and Jaxson as they browsed the kiosk of brochures for different activities to do.
When they noticed we had finally joined them, we all headed towards the elevator together, Kaylin using a special keycard that gave us access to the top floor before handing it over to me and telling Guy, “Lamar will bring the other key by when he gets out of practice so you two won’t have to be stuck together.”
“Wait, we’re staying together?” Guy asked, his expression a mix of shock and amusement as if the news was actually a pleasant surprise.
But his reaction was also authentic enough for me to ask, “You didn’t know either?”
He was already shaking his head as Kaylin interjected to explain, “Look. If y’all wanna place blame, put it on Lamar. He’s the one who didn’t give me exact dates on when you guys were coming down. And I had already extended the invite and condo to Nova so…”
“So we’re staying together,” Guy finished for her.
“Exactly,” she replied with a short nod, the reminder making me feel a little uneasy though Guy didn’t seem bothered at all.
In fact, he was already busy squatting down in front of his son to tell him, “You hear that, Jax? We gotta be good roommates to Miss. Nova so she won’t kick us out. That means you gotta be quiet sometimes, and follow her rules, and clean up your toys after yourself. Oh, and you gotta remember to flush the toilet every time you go, like you do at Mom’s house.”
While the mention of the mother I still didn’t know much about already had my ears buzzing, I was a little caught off-guard when Jaxson added, “And I gotta wipe good too!”
Instead of being embarrassed by the outburst, Guy only laughed as he stood up and agreed, “That’s right, kid. Boo-boo stains are not the wave, and I don’t think Miss. Nova wants to be friends with someone who can’t do it all by themselves.”
Jaxson turned towards me, his eyes wide with excitement when he insisted, “Miss. Nova, I wipe real good. I promise!”
Since the kids I worked with had their share of gross tendencies, I wasn’t at all bothered by the poop talk, nodding as I told him, “Me too, cutie.”
“Yeah, we’ll see about that…” Guy muttered, making me cut my eyes his way even though he diverted his elsewhere. And before I could really dig into him about his little comment, the elevator doors opened up, leading to the place that pictures and videos definitely didn’t do any justice.
The condo was just as spacious as Kaylin had insisted, given an even more open feel with the wall-to-wall windows which gave the perfect view of the water; a sight that I could easily get lost in. In fact, I was already doing so when Guy’s voice startled me from behind.
“We’re pretty lucky to have such bomb ass friends, huh? I mean, what a blessing to be able to have this place for the whole summer.”
I honestly couldn’t have expressed it better myself, Kaylin’s phone call to invite me down alone giving me the sort of the joy I didn’t realize I was missing out on. But since gushing about it to Guy like he was already a friend felt completely out of place, I only gave a short nod when I told him, “I’d have to agree.”
We stood in silence, me observing the view and him… shit, he’s looking at me. His gaze was just as heavy as everything else about him, making me squirm as I felt him take me all in. And he held nothing back, not even bothering to play it off or back down like most men would when I finally worked up the nerve to turn his way. In fact, he almost seemed amused when he finally got my attention, letting out a low chuckle before he said, “Look, Nova. I promise we’ll stay out of your way as much as possible. I mean, if we gotta set up a schedule to split living room time or whatever, I’m down. I just want this to be as enjoyable as possible for you; for us. And I understand having a busy ass three-year-old around doesn’t exactly scream paradise, but…”
“Guy, it’s fine. Really. I’ll be fine,” I told him with a wave of my hand.
“And if you’re not fine, you’ll let me know?” he asked, his eyebrow piqued as if he was legitimately concerned about keeping our communication open, something I could appreciate.
In fact, I appreciated it so much that I offered him a smile when I confirmed, “If I’m not fine, I’ll let you know.”
What I thought was a simple compromise turned out to be so much more when Guy took a step closer to me, leaning towards my ear to say, “Let’s be real, sweetheart. You’ll never not be fine to me, but if you say so.” Then he walked away, heading towards the room on the other side of the condo that Kaylin was already busy getting Jaxson settled into.
I was torn between being stunned that Guy had been so forward and, being completely honest, turned on by how forward he had been. Somehow it was already clear that Guy wasn’t the type of dude to play games. He was straightforward, willing to the set the tone and let his thoughts be known at all times unlike David who hid behind text messages and talk to you laters.
“Am I really comparing the two of them already?” I thought to myself just as Kaylin joined me, an extra pep in her voice when she wrapped an arm around my shoulder and asked, “So, what do you think? You’d still rather stay at the Motel 6? Beach bum it out all summer?”
“I never said that was an option, silly. But to answer your question…” I trailed, peeking over my shoulder towards the hall Guy had walked down before telling her, “I think we’ll be just fine.”
“We’ll?” she asked, her eyes twinkling with excitement as if whatever she called herself doing was already working.
But I remained as neutral as possible when I explained, “Teamwork makes the dream work, right? And I mean, the least we could do is get along since y’all asses set us up like this.”
She released her hold on me so that she could put her hand on her hip, snapping her head back and acting as if she was really offended when she repeated, “Set you up? I told you I didn’t do it on purpose, Nova.”
I turned her way, mocking her pose as I challenged, “Well how convenient that Lamar’s best friend is staying here with your best friend. Practically a double date waiting to happen.”
She initially smacked her teeth. But then a sly grin grew on her face as she leaned into me to gush, “Don’t blame me cause you’re already checkin’ for Guy.”
Damn, so I really am making it that obvious?
Even if she was already reading me like a book, I still tried to play it off, tossing my locs over my shoulder as I told her, “Nobody is checking for Guy. Sure, he’s handsome but that’s where it ends.”
The last thing I needed was to get caught up in some summer fling, especially considering David and I were still technically dating. Well, if you considered unreturned phone calls and bunched boxers over nothing dating. But just the fact that I was already referring to Guy’s existence as a summer fling should’ve been the first warning sign that things weren’t going to go as planned.
Of course Kaylin only looked amused when she replied, “Yeah, whatever you say, Nova. But for the record, if you actually care to know this which I know you do even if you’re gonna sit up here and act like you don’t, Guy is a good dude. I’ve known him for years, almost as long as I’ve known Lamar, and… he’s legit. As real as they come.”
I was glad she had read my mind enough to give up some information on my new roommate. But I was also caught up on the fact that she’d supposedly known him for years and hadn’t put me on. I mean… ever introduced us before.
“So if you’ve known him for this long, why am I just now meeting him? And why wasn’t he at the wedding?” I asked, finding it hard to believe he wouldn’t have been around for his friend’s big day.
And it only sort of made sense when she answered, “Mariah went into labor.”
“Mariah?”
“His baby mama,” she clarified, making me nod as I created a new profile for her in my head, anxious to fill it out with more information.
Naturally, the first question that came to mind about her was, “Is she just his baby mama or…?”
She was a little more animated than the last time homegirl was brought up, crossing her arms over her chest as she answered, “Now that, you’ll have to ask Guy about.”
I rolled my eyes, turning my attention back towards the window so that I could tease, “Damn, Kay. You are useless.”
She linked her arm with mine, leaning forward to meet my eyes as she gushed, “Uselessly about to give you the best summer of your life! Now come on. Let’s go get you all settled in. The boys took the smaller rooms which means you get the queen suite. And I even stocked the nightstand dresser with plenty of batteries for Mr. Trevante. That’s the new bullet bae, right? Or have you still been running back to that old thang, Kofi?”
“Bitch… shut up,” I said with a laugh, the fact that she knew my preference for chocolate men even extended to the names of my toys proving just how close we were even with the distance between us. But her mention also gave me yet another reason why Guy and I wouldn’t work.
He just didn’t fit the mold.
“How ungrateful of you. I thought I was doing your little miss maca root taking ass a favor,” she teased as she dragged me down the hall towards the bedroom I’d be occupying for the summer. And my reaction to it was almost identical to the one I had about the condo in general, completely in awe at its beauty.
Just like the main room, the bedroom had wall-to-wall windows, giving an even better view of the bay. And the California king mattress as the centerpiece made my queen mattress at home seem like a damn cot as I ran my hand along what I knew were unreasonably high thread-count sheets; one of Kaylin’s quirks.
“For your information, I stopped taking that over a month ago. All that horniness was useless since David hasn’t been around,” I told her as I hopped up onto the bed and immediately sank in as if I was laying on a cloud.
I closed my eyes, already imagining all the sweet dreams I would have when I heard Kaylin mutter, “Shit, it’s useless when he is around too…”
“Kay, come on. Don’t start. I just got here,” I groaned as I pulled a lavender-scented pillow over my face, not ready to deal with anything that involved him since he still hadn’t responded to the threatening text Guy caught me sending in the car. A text that might’ve involved more f-bombs than legal.
But since Kaylin didn’t know about it, she only sighed as she reasoned, “I’m just sayin’, mamas. You were the one texting me during what was supposed to be a post-sex glow talking about you wished you would’ve faked sleep. And this was after he had been gone for weeks, meaning y’all were supposed to be fuckin’ like rabbits. I mean, do you know how much sex Lamar and I have when he gets back from road games? A girl can hardly walk after that shit.”
“Well lucky you,” I groaned into the pillow, shocked when Kaylin yanked it from my hands and threw it across the room.
“Could be lucky you too if you quit playin’!” she yelled, surely loud enough to alert our other guests.
And just in case she had, I kept my voice low when I whispered, “Kaylin Marie Taylor-Gipson. I have a boyfriend. Let it go.”
Even if David and I were on the rockiest of terms, and even if I was already thinking about my next move - thinking about my summer roommate -, I believed in monogamy way too much to actually do anything about it at the moment. And no matter how much that annoyed Kaylin, she also knew she had no choice but to respect it.
So instead of continuing to push her agenda, she finally let me off the hook when she sighed, “Fine, fine. I’ll be quiet for now. But don’t say I never tried to help your ass.”
While I had a feeling in the end I’d regret the decision, I tried my best to stay confident in the moment when I told her, “Don’t worry. I won’t.”