Six: Dead Ends

I couldn’t resist showing the portrait to a couple more people around my school but nothing ever came of it and by Friday, I’d lost all hope of finding Skater Stud. At least through school. After the last person, an irritable nigga who obviously didn’t wanna be asked shit, told me no I decided to quit or risk looking like an obsessed stalker. I shove the book in my bag with a sigh. No one could recognize the girl in my drawing. I don’t even know why I thought they would. It’s not like I expected her to run in these particular circles. I guess I’d been hoping she graduated from here or something. Kinda like Aisha had.

Speaking of, Aisha and I have been texting back and forth all week. Not constantly but enough times that it’s slowly becoming a habit. I like her so far, but definitely not as much as I had before the crazy ex-girlfriend beat down. Despite all our texts, I hadn’t mustered up the guts to ask her about skater stud. I don’t know why I’m hesitating so much. For some reason, I didn’t like the idea of Aisha thinking I’m into her or anything. Despite the fact that I maybe kinda am? Arrgh! What the hell is up with this girl! I wanna swear I’ll forget about her but I already know it’s a lie. She’s made some impression on me whether she knows it or not and I badly want to see her again. I stride towards the front doors absently, debating whether to ask Aisha about it or not when someone put a hand in my way. I’ve seen the girl in cafeteria once or twice but I hadn’t spoken to her before and I definitely don’t know why she’s blocking me from moving forward. I look around to make sure there were still people around and I couldn’t get got in broad daylight although that hadn’t really helped me before.

She’s a few shades darker than I am with short, curly hair and thick framed glasses. She wasn’t exactly dressed like a stud or a gangster but there was nothing girly about her cut off jeans and plain gray sweater.

“Um. Hey?” I say when she doesn’t immediately speak.

“Yeah. Hi. Tari right?”

She asks and not sure if I should, I gave a hesitant nod.

“I overhead you talking to Hayden there and I thought I could help. Can I see the picture you have?” I’m relieved she doesn’t seem to be Tracey’s goon sent to shank me but I know people well enough to be wary of her unprompted offer. Still it was a shot and I had nothing to loose by showing one more person skater stud’s picture. I shrug off my back pack and fish my book from inside, opening to my first portrait and holding it out for her. She bent to study it for a bit before straightening and shaking her head.

“Sorry. Thought I’d know her if I got a good look but I don’t. Does she go to school here?”

“Oh. Um… No. Ion think so. Thanks anyways for trying to help.” I wanted to get away from her now that she’d confirmed she couldn’t help me. She didn’t seem to be done with our conversation though.

“I got an idea though. About people that might recognize her.” I pause.

“Okay?”

“Ion know if you been down yet but there’s a park a couple of blocks away from here. Halfway between the school and the residential houses?” I had a bad feeling I knew just the one. There couldn’t be that many ‘parks’ around here could there?

“If you asked around there I’m sure someone would know her. A lot of people from even other neighborhoods come around to party there on Saturday nights.”

Her idea makes sense, especially since that’s where I met skater stud in the first place but I blanch at the thought of actually going back there. There was no way in hell. If I never ran into Tracey again it would be too soon. No one was worth another altercation with her. Not even skater stud of the green eyes. I thank the bespectacled girl and walk around her, striding out the doors and taking the front steps two at a time so I can get out of there faster. Aisha’s my only other option now. I really didn’t wanna talk to her about this. What if she asked why I looking for the other stud? I sighed. It was either Aisha or wait for skater stud to show up again because lord knew that evil ass youth park was off the fucking limits for me. Damn. Was this how she was just gonna fade out of my existence? Just one of them random ass people that walk into your life, make some sort of impact and disappear? I hoped not. The thought of never meeting her again depresses more than it should and for the millionth time since she gave me that first irritating smirk, I wonder why. Why am I so invested in this chick who until a week ago I could have sworn wasn’t my type? This question keeps bugging the fuck outta me and all my private musings remained unsatisfactory as shit.

Tommie hadn’t come to school today and I’d missed my bus so I was walking home. Again. Neither Jada or Elle would tell me why she was absent and she hadn’t responded to any of my texts this morning. I fished my phone out of my pocket to make sure I hadn’t missed anything but there was still nothing from her. Strange. Usually I couldn’t get the nigga to stay outta my dms. After sending a couple off to some friends back in ATL, I opened Aisha’s latest message from thirty minutes ago.

Aisha: I’m still at my last class. My Prof sucks balls.

Me: Oh shit. That’s wassup. My classes sucked too. I’m finna go home and take a nap.

She replied immediately.

Aisha: Mmmm. Sleep. That sounds good.

She followed that with a cute picture of herself, face all pouty with her make up a little smudged at the edges. I bit my lip and paused on the sidewalk staring at the swell of titties peeking out the dark purple top she wore. Shit, I know better than to fuck with this girl. Hell this friends thing was probably not gonna cut it either. But she’s fucking gorgeous and dropping all the green lights already. My self-control is fickle at best. There’s a hot girl in my dms that obviously wants me to fuck her. How the hell am I gonna not do it?

Me: You look pretty asf baby girl.

I send with as many emojis as I can to emphasize my point.

Aisha: Ty daddy ;).

My stomach lurched and before I could reply, she sent me another text

Aisha: Come see me after school?

Fuck. I start walking again while I think about her request. Should I really be going to see her? What if her bozo ex girlfriend found out we were talking and tripped again? Would she kill me this time? Seems like an extreme reaction to someone cosying up to your girl but look what the lil thugger bitch had done to me the first time. My phone beeped again and another text from Aisha lights up my screen.

Aisha: Please?

I sigh and send a text back. Damn me and my weakness for hot women but I wanted to see them titties more than I wanted to avoid death at the moment.

Me: Aight. Text me when you get back and I’ll come through.

Aisha: Yay!

Yeah. Let’s just hope we’d still be yaying after tonight.

I get to the house thirty minutes later and find it empty. Grace usually stayed out late at whatever it is she does until seven. Was it weird that I was living with my mother now and still knew nothing about her? Maybe but I didn’t much care enough to find out. I shower and change into some boxers before climbing into bed for that short nap I’ve been thinking of.

All of a sudden she was there, cool green eyes trailing languidly over my frame, that maddening ass smirk on her face. I saw her fingers lift to my dreadlocks once again, this time almost in slow motion giving me enough time to stop her. I don’t.I just stand there, heart beating rapidly while her fingers creep closer to toy with the ends of my locs. With that slow, mesmerizing motion she turns her wrist, wrapping my hair around her hand several times. I stare transfixed at her full, smirking lips gasping when she pulls me forward with a sudden, tug of my entwined dreads. I tumble into her and for one moment, I could have sworn I felt her hard, solid body press firmly against mine. Then I was sitting up straight in my bed, panting hard with a sheen of sweat sprinkled all over my forehead.

“Fuck!” My mouth is dry and I look down to see my nipples poking hard at my tank top, announcing my arousal to the whole world. So she wasn’t just content to haunt my waking moments, now she was in my sleep? I got off the bed fuming and took another shower to wash off my sweat and frustration. After I was done, I grabbed the first clothes I found outta my closet, some sweats and a gray shirt, and crept out my window. Grace would be downstairs by now and I was doing my best to avoid talking to her ass.

I cross the street to Aisha’s house and turn around the back to stand under her window. I started to climb when it occurred to me that Tracey or her brother might be in there so I got out my phone to text her first.

Me: You home?

Aisha: Yea. Hbu?

Me: Out your window.

There was a short pause and she poked her head outside with a smile. “Come up here.” I took that as all the signal I needed and scrambled up her wall pulling myself into her room in a matter of seconds. Aisha gave me a shy look.

“Hi.” She was wearing these tiny little hot pants and a tank top that was far tighter than mine. The titties I’d gotten a peek of earlier were wrapped snug inside and like the last time I was here, she wasn’t wearing a bra. I could see the imprint of her nipples and my already simmering libido started to rise again. She gave me a tight hug and it took all of my willpower not to slide my hands just a little lower and grab her ass. Fuck I was a horny mess but for the first time since this week, I liked what I was horny about. This was more like it. This sexy, feminine woman who felt like putty in my arms. I could seduce her if I wanted. It wouldn’t take much at all. Hell, she was probably expecting me to try. I knew exactly how it would play out if I took her to bed. I’d done this dance with many other girls like her and its almost second nature at this point. Aisha is familiar. Safe. So unlike skater stud. I liked that about her.

She finally pulled away rather reluctantly and I tap her chin.

“Hey you. How was your day?” She rolled her eyes and pinched her fingers together. “Awful. I’m this close to burning down campus.”

“Damn. Ain’t this shit post to suck less when you go to college?”

Aisha scoffed. “I dunno who but somebody been lying to ya.”

“Damn.”

“Ion think you gotta worry bout it though. With that big ass brain of yours.”

I chuckled. “Girl, what? I ain’t that good. I mean I get my grades aight but I’m a B student at most.”

She snorted. “Better than my straight Cs and Ds. You wanna watch a movie or something?”

I wasn’t really into movies so I was more interested in the ‘or something’ but I nod anyways. Aisha turns to her bed and leans over it searching for some shit. I get a good look of her tight ass before she straightens, her speakers in hand. She lays stomach first on the bed, in front of her open laptop and patted the space next to her. “Come on.”

I settled next to her and we argued over what to watch on Netflix for a bit. She put on this romance called After. It wasn’t really my thing. I didn’t dig the whole bad boy meets good girl bullshit. The movie had barely started when I lost interest. I wanted to slide my hands over the body next to mine. I didn’t though. For some reason I couldn’t get myself to make a move on her. Despite all my bravado, a huge part of me was still terrified of Tracey finding out I’m talking to Aisha much less fucking her. I tried desperately to think of something to distract myself. Skater stud’s green eyes flashed in my memory and I decided to try finding out more about her instead. I couldn’t just ask though. Fuck. How could I possibly slide it into the conversation?

“So um… have you been to the park lately?” My tone is deliberately casual even though my heart is running a mile a minute. “What park?” She asks without looking away from her laptop screen.

“You know. The one we were at a couple weeks ago.” Where yo crazy ex went off on my ass? She glances over at me. “No. Why?”

I shrug. “No reason. I just been thinking that’s all. It’s a real cool place. I liked it.”

“Yeah. It’s cool. But I think it’s best we stay away from it for a while.”

“Oh? Why?” She gave me an ‘are you stupid’ look.

“I mean I know. It got kinda freaky there last time but I was just thinking. It’s a pretty cool place. Got good peoples.” I feel like an idiot when she glances at me so instead of meeting her eyes I focus on the the screen without a clue as to what the hell was going on.

“I guess. You even tryna watch the movie?”

“What? Yeah. Of course.” I risk a glance at her and she gives me a look letting me know she sees my bullshit.

“Okay fine. I’d be way more interested if they were lesbians.”

Aisha giggled. “Of course you would.” Her voice turns playful. “Got anything else in mind that we can do?” several distinct images immediately came to mind but remembering the feel of Tracey’s fist in my gut, I picked the safest option.

“Um… maybe talk?”

“Oh.” Was it just me or did she sound slightly disappointed? Still, she paused the movie and turned to fully face me, propping her head up with a hand on her chin. The position made her titties push a lil bit out of her tank top and my eyes lingered there for a moment.

“Okay. Whatchu wanna talk about then?” Her voice was teasing, as if she knows exactly what’s going through my mind and I blurt out something to distract us both.

“The park.”

“The park?”

“Uh… yea. I mean a basketball court AND a skate ramp in one place? Who’s idea was that?”

“I dunno. It was just a regular park when I was a kid. Kinda run down though. Some folks from around the neighborhood got together and fixed it up like two or three years ago. Since then there’s usually all sorts of muhfuckers around. We let the lil kids mess around there during the day but once the sun goes down, most of the older peeps come out.”

“Bet. That’s cool as hell. So you know a lot of the folks there?” She shrugged. “I guess. I lived here pretty much all my life.”

“That’s wassup.” I hesitated. “So…what about that skater chick then. You know her?” Aisha frowned. “Who?”

“The… um… skater stud who, you know, did those awesome moves and shit the other day.”

Aisha still looked blank.

“She got like, these hazel green eyes?” It took a moment but recognition dawned and a confused frown appeared on her face.

“Oh. Yeah. I mean I don’t know her know her but yeah. I been seeing her around. Why? You… like her or something?”

“What? Nahh. Definitely not. She ain’t my type at all. Trust me.” There was a little pout on Aisha’s lips that made her look so kissable right now and I focused on that instead of the tight feeling in my chest.

“Oh for real? What’s yo type then?”

“Hmmm. Lemme see. I like em a lil girlier. Shorter, pretty definitely with long ass hair I can pull up to.” I scooted closer to her and threw my arm over her waist, my fingers coming to rest on the swell of her hips. “Thick too.”

“Oh yeah? How thick?” My hand slid further down until I was half cupping her ass. God I wanted to squeeze it so badly but I only let my hands brush over one cheek before pulling back to her hip.

“Thick enough.”

“Mmm. Is that all?” She arched and pushed her ass into my palm while her titties tilted higher to my face. Fuck. If I didn’t get out of here now I’d do something I wasn’t sure I could survive. I’m mad attracted to her but my eyes are still a bit blue black and my trunk still feels tender as hell. Before I could think of what to say to diffuse the situation, Aisha leaned up and kissed me. I responded for like half a second before gently but firmly pushing her away.

“Uh. For now. I’ll… tell you if I remember anything else.” My voice sounded weird even to me. A lil more high pitched than usual. I had to get out of here. A voice reminded me I hadn’t gotten what I came for. I didn’t care anymore. I got off her bed and pretty much ran without so much as a goodbye.