Ariella
Davonyé and I are so tired, we sleep through both our alarms. We wake up at eight and I don’t make it to school until just after nine cuz I had to get gas. I dropped him two streets up from school, too, so he was even later than me.
I told him about my new abilities; we’ve been messaging each other all day. Student support emailed him, just like dad said they would. He's gotta keep up with his schoolwork, but I've already decided to get him ahead, the old-fashioned way.
He got a voicemail from Mahroni, too, telling him his three-week holiday’s been approved, starting today. That means I'll be biting him after school...
My heart goes crazy when I think about doing that.
My parents’ house will be empty by the time we get home, and I know they're gonna wanna talk about what happened this morning, too.
Ugh...
I meet Harmony in the cafeteria at lunch, but I keep sneaking looks at Davonyé who's across the room with his boys at another table. He's got his back to me, but that don't stop me looking.
Harmony is strangely subdued, and I feel her rapidly changing emotions. Something’s gotta have happened last night. “Did you see him?”
She looks up from her salad. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
I frown. Surely my Aunt and Uncle haven’t defied my parents and told her about my magic. “Tell you what?”
She looks around quickly before looking back at me. “That the more time you spend with your mate, the more fucked up you feel.”
I smile, but she doesn’t. “I’m sorry. I thought Aunt Asha and Uncle Quis woulda told you how intense shit is.”
“Yeah, they did.” She sighs. “I thought they were just being extra about the whole thing.” She’s quiet for a moment. “I fucked up.”
I try to get a grasp on how she’s feeling but she don’t settle on one emotion long enough. I wanna look at her memories so bad, but I let her have her moment. “What do you mean?”
“He told me to wait up for him. Basically said Carisse would be falling asleep soon. We had this crazy moment in the kitchen where we kinda mind fucked each other. Anyway, I wait up for him and Carisse falls asleep. He takes me into the kitchen and basically tells me how he don’t do girlfriends and some other shit, then he straight up asks me if I wanna fuck.”
I feel my eyes tryna pop out of my head. “What?”
She nods. “Yeah. So of course I was on it, but that nigga didn’t have any rubbers.”
“Oh… But you know you don’t need—”
“Fuck that. Every nigga gotta earn the right to get inside me raw. I don’t just let anyone smash without a skin on.”
“Okay… so what happened next?”
“I got vexed. I had to listen to Carisse talkin’ shit for time, waitin’ on that dick, and then he ain’t even got the tools to use it.”
“So you left?”
“I was gonna…” She bites her lip. “…but he grabbed my arm and wouldn’t let me. I told him I’d break it and he basically dared me to, so I bent it back a little.”
I laugh. “Fuck, Har, you make me laugh.”
“Fuck him. He’s got this ominous feeling about him. I swear, he was givin’ me mixed message looks. One minute he looked like he wanted to eat me up, next he was lookin’ like he wanted to beat my ass. Shit was fucked up.”
I give her a look. “What, like actually beat you up?”
Her eyes widen as she nods. “Yeah. It was the craziest shit, but what was even more crazy was the fact that that nigga was turning me all the way on.” She shudders. “All the way on.”
“So…”
“So then he asked for my number and I gave it to him.”
“Okay, good. Least you ain’t gotta go through Carisse to see him again.”
“That’s not all, though.”
“Yeah?”
“He kissed me.”
I smile, remembering mine and Davonyé’s first kiss. “And?”
“Shit was a muthafuckin’ explosion.” She exhales deeply. “I ain’t ever experienced anything close to how that felt. Girl, I was so fuckin’ wet…” Her face suddenly falls.
“What?”
“I didn’t fuck him, though, even though I wanted to. Badly.” She looks down at her salad. “I did somethin’ much worse.”
I frown. “Worse?”
She keeps her eyes down. “Yeah. So he let me leave, finally, not without warning me that we were gonna finish what we’d started. He basically ordered me to see him today, too, and it was weird cuz it was like I didn’t have a choice. Anyways, I ran my ass out of there when he tried to kiss me again cuz my decision not to let him fuck was waverin’.”
“Yeah, so that’s all good?”
“No, it ain’t,” she whispers. “I ran to my car and made myself cum.”
Fuckin’ hell. “Shit, Har.”
She looks up at me, and I feel her shame. “And I swear I only rubbed that shit a couple times and I almost died from how strong it was.”
“Yeah, well, mates do kinda make you feel way over the top when it comes to that.”
She nods but quickly looks back down. “He saw me, Ella.”
“What?”
She nods again. “Yeah. He saw. I looked up and he was looking out the window at me. I swear the look he gave me has me scared to close my eyes. He’s been blowing up my phone all morning, too, askin’ when the fuck I’m gonna link him.”
“Oh, shit.”
“Yeah… That nigga even sent me a pic on WhatsApp.”
“A dick pic?”
“Nah, a pic of a twelve pack of Magnum XL’s and said he’s gonna use them all on me. Today.”
I laugh so hard at that, and it draws attention. Davonyé’s whole table turns around to look at us, too, and the look Davonyé gives me makes my heart race. I quickly look back at Harmony, though, and I’m relieved to see her finally smiling. “Damn, Har… What you gonna do?”
She looks at me as if I’m crazy. “Obviously I’m gonna meet that nigga.” She smiles harder. “I’ma make him wait a little bit longer, though.”
“You’re bad.”
“Am I fuck. He’s the one who wanna offer dick without rubber. He deserves that shit.”
I shake my head and chuckle. “Well, if you need help healing afterwards, let me know. I got the same blood as mom.”
Her eyes widen. “Shit, really?”
“Uh, huh. Sounds like you gonna need some, too.”
“Ugh… I wish I was twenty already.”
“Don’t wish that shit away. Enjoy the last bit of being human. Besides, if you think shit is intense between you two now, you don’t wanna know what it’s like once even one of you has changed. Shit is way over the top.”
She holds her hand up. “You’re right. I don’t wanna know.”
“So what's the deal with you and Carisse?” I hear Demus ask Davonyé.
I lower my eyes and block out Harmony so I can listen to their conversation.
Davonyé’s mood switches in an instant. “We broke up.”
“Why? What happened?”
I hear Davonyé sigh. “I don't love her. Simple.”
“Damn. I thought you two was gonna get married and all that shit.”
His mood switches; he’s vexed. “Hell will freeze over and the world will blow up before that shit ever happens.” He even sounds pissed off.
“But you always said—”
I hear a bang on the table. “I don't give a fuck what I said before, nigga. Now I'm telling you I’on love that girl, and I don't wanna have this old ass conversation again.”
“Chill, Von. It ain't that serious—”
“To me it fuckin’ is! Shit, if you care so much, you fuckin’ date her ass.”
“Alright, alright. My bad.”
I know why he’s so angry; he knows I can hear him. Ugh, I wish we could communicate with each other cuz I’d tell him that I’m fine. He can’t change his past and I wouldn’t want him to. It led him to me. I take a quick look over to him. I can sense all kindsa emotions from that table. Shit is tense.
Harmony asks about my plans for Davonyé’s change, so I fill her in on some of the details. Then she tells me about Carisse’s intentions to go down to Davonyé’s work.
Let her try that shit. I feel the spike of jealousy hit, but I soon let it go. “It don’t matter anyway cuz he ain’t gonna be there for the next three weeks.”
I pull out my phone to text him. Good job you got that voicemail cuz Carisse was gonna show up at your job.
I watch him check his phone and then he stiffens. “Yo, I'll see you niggas in class.” I watch him stand to leave, picking up his bag from beside his chair before he turns and looks straight at me.
I look back to Harmony but feel him walking in my direction.
“Theatre,” he whispers when he passes. I close my eyes briefly because that cologne he's wearing is my favourite on him; I swear it heightens his natural scent.
God help me tomorrow when his scent starts getting stronger up to his change.
“You alright? You look like you're in pain,” Harmony says, smirking her face off.
Shit... I will be soon. “I gotta go, but if you need that blood—”
She eyes me. “Bihhh…”
I smile. “Text me.”
“Alright. I’m gonna come over to meet my cousin tomorrow morning before my classes start – but don’t worry, I won’t bother you.”
I roll my eyes.
“What? I know you be gettin’ that shit in.”
“Don’t be jealous, you will be soon, too,” I tell her, before I leave her to walk in the opposite direction Davonyé just went. Niro catches my eye and gives me a look; I know it's because of what happened between him and Davonyé the other day. I sense his suspicion and look away from him, sighing. Fuck knows what's gonna come of that...
I go to the ladies’ room and then port to Davonyé in the theatre. He's sitting on one of the chairs by the wall, so I make my way over to sit beside him.
He's hunched over with his hands held in front of him and I slip my hand over his. “What's wrong?”
He turns his head to look at me. “I know you heard that shit.”
I nod. “Of course they're gonna ask questions. You were with her for two years and moved here to be with her. Now suddenly you ain't together and they don't understand why.”
“It's none of they damn business why the fuck I ain't with her. I don't wanna talk about her, and I sure as hell don't wanna be reminded of her.” He looks back down at his hands and sighs. “And I don't want you being upset by that shit, either. I done hurt you enough already.”
Oh, God… My heart… “Hey...” I pull his arm so he looks at me. “Time will pass and they'll get over it. We're together now so that's all that matters. I'm a big girl, Baby. I can deal with it.”
“Well, I can't.” He cups my jaw and kisses me so damn passionately. I feel his mixed emotions of sadness and regret. When he pulls away, he keeps his hand on me. “Fuck all a them. I don't wanna keep us secret. I see the way these little boys be watchin’ you around school. They want what's mine cuz they don't know you belong to me.”
My heart flutters madly. “Baby...”
“I know you're worried about your cousin, but what about us? Why we gotta pretend, huh?”
I hold the side of his face, feeling his soft beard in my palm. “Once you come back to school it won't be like this, alright? She saw Jaheim yesterday, and they kissed, which means it's only a matter of time now. They'll be more drawn to each other as time goes on.” I kiss him softly and then hold his face firmly in my hands. “Let them look. No one can take me away from you. I love you and only you, Davonyé.”
He sighs but I feel his mood lift. “I love you, too, Bae.”