Page 123 of Kissed By the Trillest Thug 2

“I think about you when I wake up. When I’m sitting in class, I wonder how your classes are going. And when something funny happens, you’re the first person I want to tell. When you leave here, I’m already looking forward to the next time you come back.”

I smiled nervously.

“And this gone sound crazy, but every night before I go to sleep, I really hope your pillow is cold on both sides.”

She just stared at me, and then tears slowly filled her eyes. I immediately sat forward.

“Penn… why are you crying? I done messed this up already, didn’t I?”

She laughed through her tears and shook her head.

“No. You didn’t.”

She wiped beneath her glasses.

“It’s just that nobody’s ever thought about me the way you do.”

“Well, I ain’t keeping it to myself no more.”

We both sat there still for a while. It was so quiet in my apartment that I could hear my neighbor next door dragging her slippers across her floors.

I felt better getting the shit off my chest. I felt like I could breathe a little bit easier. After taking a long exhale, I reached over and picked my English book back up. She frowned.

“So that’s it?”

I looked over at her.

“What?”

“You don’t wanna know if I like you too?” I asked.

I smiled to myself before I opened the book.

“Nah.”

“Nah?” She blinked.

I shook my head.

“I said what I said because it was true. I didn’t say it so you’d feel like you had to say it back.”

I looked down at the page even though I wasn’t reading a single word.

“I never want to force anything. If you don’t feel the same, that’s cool. I was just getting that shit off my chest.”

I stared down at my notebook, trying to look like I was doing something when we both knew that I wasn’t. I heard her close her notebook.

“Well, good thing nothing’s forced.”

I looked up, and she was already looking at me.

“I like you too, MJ.”

A smile tugged at the corner of my mouth, but I stayed quiet because she continued talking.

“I think you scare me a little.”

That caught me off guard.