Page 4

. . .

“When you coming back?” Aku yawned, stretching out like a lazy cat while the phone rested on her chest.

“You must thought I was lying when I said I wanted a month-long honeymoon?” Noodle laughed, her voice light like the Amalfi Coast’s breeze she was probably laid up under.

Aku rolled her eyes. “I didn’t think you was lying…. Just thought you would at least be bored by week two.”

Noodle giggled, her joy pouring through the phone like sunshine. “You know I never get tired of my Bu… my husband,” she dragged the word, adding her southern twang.

“Ugh. Whatever.” Aku kissed her teeth. “Call Ahvi’s hoe ass on three-way.”

She didn’t even have to ask twice. Seconds later, the line clicked and Ahvi’s voice blared through the phone.

“Jacory, what you calling me for when you should be gettin’ bent over?” Ahvi’s voice cracked through the phone like she was yelling from across the room.

“Why you so loud?” Aku winced, sitting up in bed and squinting as the sun hit her face through the curtains.

“She loud ‘cause she in that kitchen bossing them people around,” Noodle joked.

“Girl, please… my employees are the best. Everyone is doing their job except for Kamari,” Ahvi huffed.

Her restaurant, Sunsets and Moonlights was doing better than she could’ve ever imagined.

It kept her busy and kept her independence intact.

Everything Little Lunar told her a life with him would look like—he delivered.

“When you coming out here to cook for me?” Aku asked.

“You just want me to cook for you? You ain’t trying to see me?” Ahvi asked slightly offended.

Noodle cackled. “That’s her way of asking for your time and attention. Aku like to pretend to be unbothered but really thrives on love.”

Aku pursed her lips like they could see her but didn’t say anything. Noodle knew her better than she knew herself and had indeed clocked her.

Ahvi cleared her throat. She wanted to tell her girls she was engaged but didn’t want to be insensitive knowing Aku wanted that too. So, instead she asked, “Noodle when you coming back so I can plan a trip out there. We need a replay of the bachelorette party.”

Aku snickered, knowing she actually didn’t need a replay of that. She got so tipsy, she found herself on top of Devin listening to him declare his love for her. Then, she watched him and Bu get into it real bad. It was a weekend night to remember, but one she never wanted to relive.

“I’ll be back in ten days. Dejanay already got studio sessions lined up and Bu has a few meetings back in Emerald City about Bumblebee Landscaping.

He’s expanding.” Noodle was so proud of her husband.

Bu had turned his little landscaping business into something so big that he was now looking at franchising.

“Come through power couple,” Ahvi clapped.

Noodle laughed. “Likewise, Ahvi. I can’t wait to see all the good things you do with Sunsets and Moonlights.”

Ahvi huffed. “Thanks, but it feels like I’m still dreaming. I always thought running a restaurant would be easy… calling all the shots and making all the money. No one ever told me it was harder and more tedious than that. Like damn, I feel like I barely see my son and my man.”

“Work-life balance boo,” Aku chimed in. “It’s all new, so right now you just have to squeeze your time in when you can, but once you’re secure in your business, you’ll be able to trust your staff and give yourself much needed breaks. Right now, it’s all go time.”

Noodle agreed and Ahvi just sighed.

Silence lingered between them for a few seconds.

Aku sighed. “It’s too quiet without y’all here. I be hearing my thoughts too loud.”

“Eww,” Ahvi said. “You ain’t supposed to listen to those.”

“That’s hard to do when I ain’t working.”

“Are you happy?” Noodle asked, flipping their childlike questions when they found themselves huddled in her happy den.

“I think I am,” Aku’s voice didn’t sound certain. Doubt lingered in places it shouldn’t have.

“Anyway,” Ahvi said, cutting through the awkwardness. “Let’s get to the real tea. Aku… you been back slidin’ into Devin’s bed or nah?”

Aku sucked her teeth hard enough for it to echo. “Hell no. He been calling but I ain’t been answering.”

Noodle cackled so loud it clipped her mic. “I know that’s right.”

“Like I know he loves me, but that ain’t gonna be enough for me. I want a love like my parents have…like y’all,” Aku admitted.

“What if that ain’t in the cards for you, though?” Ahvi questioned.

She fully understood how much Aku wanted something special for herself, but she didn’t want her girl to get caught up in the idea of love when everything was never as black and white as people made it seem.

Aku kissed her teeth. “I’m a descendant of Big Lunar… love will always be in the cards for me. My uncle up there with Big God so I know he ain’t gonna let his favorite niece go without.”

Noodle and Ahvi laughed ‘cause maybe she had a point.

“Like, my daddy is French. That man will build me a nigga.”

“And will,” Noodle cosigned.

A deep sigh cracked Aku’s chest. “I really can’t accept nothing other than that… even if you might be right, Ahvi.”

“Aww, boo… I’m not right. You know Ish just be in the back of my head still. Lunar ain’t fucked that all the way outta me.”

“Hoe! I ain’t tryna hear about you and Little Lunar,” Aku fussed.

She sat up straighter, the sleep finally wearing off as she remembered how her week had actually gone down. “I had to go style Zaire the other day. He was in Crescent Park doin’ a lil Nike shoot. Thought it was gonna be regular degular… but baby, the weed man?”

“Oh God,” Noodle sighed, already knowing where this was headed.

“He wasn’t just any weed man,” Aku said, eyes wide with dramatics. “This man? Whoo! Light skin, tall, long braids like he deep conditions ‘em… quiet but had that presence. I was fixated.”

“So what you do? Flash a nipple?” Ahvi asked.

“No! I was professional,” Aku said, then paused. “But I may have bent over a lil slower, when I was taping Zaire’s pants hoping he was somewhere in the cut watching me.”

Noodle hollered.

“And we’re talking about black pro golfer, Zaire?” Ahvi asked for clarification. Having casual conversations about professional athletes was something she still hadn’t wrapped her head around.

“Girl yes… but we ain’t talking about him.” Aku continued lusting over Malik. “He was on a four wheeler looking too fine. Then he had that Cali accent.” She stared off with images of Malik replaying. “Whoo!”

Ahvi needed more clarification. “So, pro golfer , Zaire was buying weed?”

“Mm hmm,” Aku nodded. “But it wasn’t like some janky shit. The young nigga got an app or some shit for the neighborhood.”

“Plugged In?” Noodle blurted out, familiar with it. She’d heard one of Bu’s workers saying something about the app a while ago.

“Yea! How you know?”

“Girl, I be knowing,” Noodle snickered.

Ahvi kissed her teeth. “Jacory, please.”

“So anyway, it’s some neighborhood shit and clearly the only way to get in is to be put on. Malik… that’s his name,” she added. “He downloaded the app on my phone. Now, I’m a part of the community.”

“Okay…” Ahvi was waiting for more. “Like have you tried talking to him?”

Aku hadn’t been back on the app over the last few days since she’d been busy working. Now, while she chopped it up with her girls, she swiped around her phone clicking in the app once she found it.

Her inbox lit up.

One new message.

Her mouth parted slightly as she tapped it open, heart doing a lil two-step.

Key: You ain’t in Kansas no more, Dorothy.

“Oh shit…” she whispered, lowering her phone just enough for her girls to hear the shift in her voice.

“What?” Ahvi and Noodle said in unison.

Aku stared at the screen and grinned. “Y’all… he messaged me.”

“What he say?” Ahvi asked, like her life depended on the answer.

Noodle piped in. “He say he miss you already or he tryna drop off a sample?”

Aku smirked, dragging her finger across the screen as she reread the message.

You ain’t in Kansas no more, Dorothy.

She shook her head, lips curled up like the start of trouble. “He said… ‘you ain’t in Kansas no more, Dorothy.’”

“ Oop ,” Noodle sang. “He tryna drop game in parables.”

Ahvi laughed. “So what you finna say? Don’t say nothin’ corny.”

“I’m not corny, hoe. I’m cultured,” Aku shot back, typing her reply.

StylistBae: I peeped. But I ain’t scared of flying monkeys, neither. App solid, though. Didn’t think the weed man had code in his fingers.

She hit send, then turned the phone screen down on her lap.

Noodle gasped. “ Okay, flirting!”

“No I’m not. I’m complimenting the interface.”

“Don’t nobody compliment the interface unless they tryna interface ,” Ahvi said, cracking herself up.

Before Aku could clap back, her phone buzzed again. One new message. She flipped it over. “Damn, he quick.”

Key: Code keeps my people safe. Strands keep ‘em sane. Both come from the same hands.

She read the message out loud.

“OH!” Aku screamed. “He poetic and shit.”

“He poetic and employed,” Ahvi said. “Girl, that’s marriage material.”

“I didn’t even know I liked nerdy dealers,” Aku whispered, almost to herself. “But here we are.”

Malik doubled texted.

Key: You always this friendly or am I just interesting enough to want to talk to?

She read it out loud, and the phone slid down her thighs like it was too hot to hold.

“Oh, he got time today,” Noodle laughed.

“Girl, blink twice if you need us to come save you from catching feelings,” Ahvi added before she burst out laughing too.

Aku sat back, staring at the ceiling like it held all the answers. “What do I even say to that?”

Noodle leaned into the silence. “Be real. That’s what you always say. Say what you feel . ”

Aku bit her lip, letting her fingers hover for a second, then typed:

I’m a friendly person. Not too friendly though.