Page 46 of Loyalty, Lust, Love

She looked down at her dress and said, “Oh, yeah. We are a little overdressed for that.”

“I don’t think I told you how beautiful you are.”

“Thank you. I think this dress was the perfect choice. We did good.”

“You look beautiful tonight, but I think you’re always beautiful.”

“Oh… I… you do?”

“Yeah, but why don’t you go inside and change into something more comfortable? I’ll meet you out back in ten minutes.”

“Make it twenty. I want to take a quick shower, and I’m sure my dad will have questions.”

Fateema took her food and shake, and Lynx didn’t drive away until she was safely inside. Twenty minutes later, they were inside the treehouse, finally enjoying their food.

“I had to put my burger in the microwave for a minute,” she said between bites.

“Me too, but my shake is the perfect consistency now.”

“The shakes are best when they’ve melted a little.”

“True.”

“So, you and Tati?”

“Me and Tati, what?”

“Are you a thing?”

“No, Bunny, me and Tati are not a thing.”

“Why’d you ask her to prom?”

He wanted to tell her that he’d only done it to make her jealous but decided against it.

“Because I felt bad for her. She’s pretty and seems cool, but I don’t want to date her.”

“Well, if I wanted to date Rodney before, I sure don’t anymore.”

“Did you?”

“Did I what?”

“Want to date Rodney.”

She sighed as she thought about how to answer him. It was hard to imagine wanting to date him now that she’d seen the real him.

“I don’t know. You know I’ve never dated. Rodney is one of the most popular boys at school, and I was excited that he showed interest in me. I don’t know if I wanted to date him or if I just liked the idea of dating him. I mean, let’s be honest, a girl like me doesn’t need to be dating someone like Rodney. Octavia said it best when she told me he was out of my league.”

“She said that?”

“Yeah.”

Fateema didn’t like what her friend said, but she didn’t think Octavia was wrong. Rodney had a lot of experience with the opposite sex, and Fateema had none. It would’ve been an awkward match.

“I’m sure she didn’t mean anything by it, but she had it wrong. You’re out of his league. Rodney is one of the worst kinds of guys any girl could date, and not worth us wasting our time talking about. What do you want to do this summer before we all leave for school?”

Fateema shrugged because all she knew was that she wanted to have fun. She hadn’t given any thought to how she’d make that happen.