Page 122 of Kissed By the Trillest Thug 2
“You know what’s funny?” she said without turning around.
“What?”
“I’ve never gotten flowers before.”
“For real?” I said with a slight frown.
She nodded.
“Not even from my parents.”
Something about that bothered me more than it probably should have. She smiled as she admired the bouquet one more time before turning back toward me.
“Time to study.”
I let out a sigh but followed behind her to my living room. We settled onto opposite ends of the sectional with our books spread across the coffee table the way they always were. This was a study session, and that’s what I was supposed to be doing. At least, that was the plan, but when I read the same paragraph three different times and nothing stuck, I knew that I wasn’t going to be getting any studying done.
Every few minutes, my eyes wandered back to her. It was the way she tucked a curl behind her ear whenever she got focused. Or the little wrinkle that formed across her nose when something confused her. It was so damn cute the way she quietly mouthed sentences before writing them down. I even liked the way she pushed her glasses back up with one finger without realizing she was doing it. I started noticing everything when it came to this girl.
“You gone keep staring?”
I looked up.
“Huh?”
She smiled over the top of her notebook.
“You’ve been looking at me this whole time.”
“I have not.”
“Malik Junior.”
I sighed.
“You only pull my whole government out when you know I’m lying.”
“Exactly.”
She closed her notebook.
“So…” she dragged.
“So, what?”
“What is it?”
I looked down at the pencil turning between my fingers. I was never the type to lose my words. I always knew what I wanted to say and when I wanted to say it, but this girl man. She had me all over the place. I had this butterfly feeling in my stomach, and I hated that shit because wasn’t that only for women? Did niggas get butterflies too? Finally, I set the pencil on the coffee table.
“I like you,” I blurted out.
She blinked.
“What?”
“I like you. I’ve been trying not to. I kept telling myself we were just friends that study together. But somewhere between all these takeout nights and you fussing at me about my English papers, I stopped lying to myself.”
She didn’t interrupt. She just listened.
