Addicted

With that, I hung up the phone. I knew I was wrong for that. There she was excited, wanting to share her first sexual experience with me, and I totally dissed her. I couldn’t help myself. I cried myself to sleep, light on and all, wondering why in the world Brina could get some loving and I couldn’t.

The next day I went outside and sat on the stoop sporting a pair of dark sunglasses, a black turtleneck, and black jeans like I was in mourning. I even had on black socks.

Jason came out his front door a few minutes later and headed across the street to join me. He was eating a Hostess Chocolate Cupcake and offered me half of it before he sat down.

“No, thanks,” I mumbled under my breath, not even wanting to acknowledge him.

He sat down on the stoop beside me, inquiring, “What’s wrong with you? You love chocolate cupcakes.”

“I’m not hungry right now, is all,” I replied, looking down at his feet and noticing he had a new pair of white Pumas.

“Aww, I get it now. It’s that time of the month, huh?”

I pulled my sunglasses down slightly so I could snarl at him and roll my eyes. “What do you care if it’s that time of the month? It’s not like we do anything!”

Jason cleared his throat and starting fidgeting. He polished off the rest of the cupcake and pretended to be enthralled in a squirrel climbing the oak tree in my front yard.

“You know about Cordell and Brina having sex last night, don’t you?” he asked, finally breaking the silence.

Damn, Brina was telling the truth! “Cordell told you?”

“Yeah, he called me early this morning to brag about it.”

“How dare him spread Brina’s business around like that?” I barked, automatically going into my protective mode. “Damn, he’s almost as bad as you.”

“Hold up now! Didn’t Brina call and tell you? You don’t seem too surprised about it.”

I tried to hold back a smile, realizing I was in essence calling the kettle black. “Maybe she did. What of it?”

“How can you be mad at Cordell for telling me when Brina told you? Hell, she probably called you the second he left her place to spill the beans. At least he waited until this morning to cal

l me.”

Wow, Jason read Brina’s ass like a book! I looped my arm around his. “Baby, when are we going to do it?”

He pulled his arm away from mine. “Zoe, I told you I’m not ready to go all the way. I want us to wait.”

“Wait how long? Till we’re fifty years old?”

I could tell he was pissed. He started huffing and biting his fingernails. “Don’t be ridiculous! Are you such a freak that you can’t wait until the time is right?”

“Freak?” I started to slap him but caught myself. I was trying to make a sincere effort to lay off the violence. “How can I be a freak if I don’t do anything freaky?”

“Well, maybe you should call Mohammed’s ass up!”

Oh no, he didn’t even go there! “Well, maybe I should. He’s a real man . He wants my body, unlike you,” I said, telling a bold-faced lie. Mohammed wouldn’t even give me the tongue, rather less the dick.

Jason stood up, probably just so he could look down his nose at me. “You don’t know what the hell I want, Zoe! You don’t know a damn thing about me!”

“And Chandler does, huh?”

“Chandler didn’t ever ride my back like you’re doing! That’s for sure!”

I was hyperventilating, trembling, and on the verge of an explosion. “Just get the hell out of my face, Jason!” He stood there and stood there and . . . stood there. “I thought I told you to get out of my face. Did I stutter?”

“So what are you saying, Zoe?” Hell, I had no clue what I was saying! How dare he ask me that? “Are you breaking up with me?”

That was when I made the stupidest move I’ve ever made in my entire life. I said, “Yes, I am.”