Pleasurable Expectations

t h i r t y - f i v e

"So, what did Nat mean when she said she wasn't tryna expose you?" I pressed, my posture rigid as Jeremiah turned the corner heading back to his place.

Though I may have let the rest of the evening play out in peace, their exchange was echoing through my mind the entire night. There was no misinterpreting or spinning what Natasha said or Jeremiah's shifty response. After I stepped away, they spilled the secret that I now aim to know. Jeremiah was enraptured in hanging out with his boys, which left room for me to overthink and play out different scenarios in my mind in peace.

Jeremiah's eyes darted to me, a cautious smile teasing his lips. "What?"

"Nah, we're not gonna pretend that we didn't hear me," I combatted as I crossed my arms over my chest.

"I'm not saying I didn't hear you," he assured, his hand falling to my thigh for a moment. "I'm saying I don't know what you're talking about."

I studied him as his eyes darted to me again, his fingers moving from the wheel to brush away something in his eyebrow. My eyes narrowed as I let the ghost of a smirk dance over my lips. With that one little movement of his, he just locked in a way for me to peep his lies.

"Oh? You didn't have a sus little conversation with Nat after Cam called me?" I leaned in, my brows now raised. "What all don't I know about you, Jeremiah?"

Jeremiah looked over to me as the car halted to a stop. I watched as his eyes took in every inch of my face, a slight scrunch coming on his. "I'll bite. What'd you hear?" he vocalized as the car lurched forward.

"I stepped out to take a call from Cam after a confusing conversation with Nat, and I heard her ask you if I "know all about you."" My fingers formed air quotes as I shrugged. "What really sold me was you asking where I was at," I scoffed, my finger pointing to him as I looked at him with disbelief.

Jeremiah sucked his teeth before blowing air through his lips. I saw his mind working as he tried to drum up some kind of mistruth at me. Either that or he was gonna try and avoid the conversation altogether.

"Can't this wait until we get in the house?" Jeremiah groaned as his hand rubbed the back of his neck. "Or 'til tomorrow? Cause I'm hella tired."

"Nah," I denied with the shake of my head.

His denial was the only motivation I needed to keep pushing. His refusal to speak on the topic confirms that not only is he lying, but he's at the point where he can't lie anymore; There's no explaining this one away.

"Ki, baby, I need to sleep on this one. Tomorrow we got it, just not right now," he continued on, trying to sway my decision to his favor.

"It's not as fun when you're not the persistent one, huh?" I leaned back against the window, my body relaxing somewhat. "You got caught up, and now you're tryna figure out how you're gonna talk your way outta this."

"You had a lot of time to think at that party." He stopped for a moment to park the car before he flung his seatbelt off, his body facing me.

I heaved a sigh as I responded, "Yeah, I did. But that has nothing to do with what I know I heard."

Jeremiah clapped his hands together and said. "Ki, I can't explain it to you cause I'm not one hundred about what happened right now. I need my head to clear for a minute so I can...."

"So you can what?" I urged after he failed to continue. "Continue to dodge answering my question?"

I'm the one who needs the constant reminder that communication is one of the keys to our success, Jeremiah the nagging voice in my ear telling me to let it out. He doesn't even realize the longer he continues on, the deeper the hole he's digging himself into.