Baby Mama

8.

"Your best friend got jokes." Kasey says once we're in my car and the heat is blasting. It's cold as fuck outside, no cap. My tears probably froze up walking to the car.

"Aye, there go the pizza man. Be right back." I say and then I exit the car in a hurry.

After I pay for the food and I'm back in the car, I catch Kasey watching me with cautious eyes. I ignore it and drive us to a park not too far from their apartment complex.

Since we don't have any plates, I give her half of the stack of napkins before I sit the medium box in between us on the middle compartment. I turn my body in Kasey's direction after I turn the heat down.

"They be fighting all the time?"

"Hell yeah."

"Iono how you do it. I woulda been snapped." I tell her as I bite into my slice even though it's steaming.

"Ugh, I know. I'm on the section 8 waiting list though so whenever I get a call back, hopefully sooner than later, I'll be moving out."

"You're sleeping on the couch?" I ask.

"Yeah." She nods and glances outside to avoid my questioning gaze.

"Where's Zaylee gonna sleep?"

"In her bassinet."

I bite the inside of my lip as I think about my empty second bedroom.

"I got an extra room y'all could stay in until you hear back from section 8..."

"Girl, no." She laughs. "I'm not gonna ask you to do that. It's bad enough you think you want my baby."

She wouldn't be asking if I'm offering...

I don't say anything back because I don't want to give away the possibility I may be developing feelings for this girl. Never in my 29 years of life have I ever invited a girl to stay with me for more than a few days at a time.

Woah.

When we fall into a comfortable silence, I turn the radio up a lil' bit. The air is brick cold outside and thick inside the car.

I shake off the intense pull I feel towards Kasey and start scrolling through my phone absentmindedly. After a while, Kasey finishes eating and turns to face me.

"You should have got Wingstop instead." She says nonchalantly, wiping her greasy hands on a napkin.

"That your favorite place to eat?" I ask her.

She nods and rubs her belly through her winter coat once her hands are clean.

Goddamn, this girl is so fucking pretty.

"If I could eat it every day I would." She beams happily.

"Aight, what's yo order? Lemme commit it to memory real quick in case I gotta bring baby mama some food one day." I chuckle when she starts grinning and shaking her head.

"Girl, I am not your baby mama." She rolls her eyes but doesn't wipe the smile from her face. "But 10 buffalo classic wings with ranch and some fries. Mmmm, I'm 'bout to start drooling."

"Yeah, aight Kasey. I gotchu though."

"That's the first time you've called me by my name. I'm surprised you remember it." She bats thick eyelashes at me with a dreamy smile and my stomach flutters.

Damn.

"I know your name shorty." I laugh and start to clean up our mess so I don't focus on the amount of butterflies in my stomach.

While I move around the small car, cleaning' up, I can feel Kasey's eyes on me but I don't feed into it.

I know she's feeling me.

"So you and my cousin." She changes the subject once my attention is back on her.

"That's my nigga." I snicker as she rolls her eyes. If she wasn't feeling me, she wouldn't have asked, in my opinion.

"What kinda baby mama you gon' be?" I laugh as soon as the words leave my mouth. "Jealous? Bitter? Sexy as fuck? 'Cause I think you got the last one down already."

"None of the above because I am not your baby mama." She smacks her lips and glares at me. "You're annoying as hell and no I'm not jealous."

"You the jealous type?"

She gives me a smug look before running a hand through her locs. I can't take my eyes off of her. Even in the dark car, she's what my eyes focus on instead of the sirens in the distance.

"You the jealous type, ma?" I repeat myself because I really want to know her answer.

She cuts her eyes at me and shrugs.

"Kasey."

"Aight so you do get jealous, mama. That's all you had to say." I smirk and reach under my seat for my rolling tray.

"You're so annoying."

"You care if I spark up right here?" I ask before I start rolling up. She shrugs her shoulders again.

"Nah. It's your car." She says.

The next couple of minutes pass by in silence. I'm in the zone breaking down weed and listening to an old school Biggie classic playing softly on the radio. I can feel her eyes trained on every move I make.

I don't know why I attract jealous women. In a way, I guess some part of me likes it. I just hope she's not jealous like Riah is because then that'a gonna be too much.

"I'm not jealous." Kasey confesses after a while.

"You lying?" I laugh when her cheeks turn red.

"No. I'm not jealous about you and Mercedes or your girlfriend because I'm not gay."

I gotta stop her right there. Riah ain't my girl.

"Aight, if you say so but I don't have a girlfriend."

"You wanna be single so bad." She says through a giggle that makes my stomach turn into a puddle of jelly.

"Girl, fuck that. I am single." I tell her bluntly.

I'm not exactly lying. After Riah keyed my car the other night, AGAIN, I suggested we take another break.

This time it's gonna be for good.

It's 11:45pm when I take a look at the time on the dashboard. Damn, time flew by.

When I pull back up to Mercedes apartment, I roll the windows down so I don't smoke Kasey out and spark up.

"As bad as I wanna sit right next to you while you smoke, imma head inside. I'm tired." Once the words slip past her lips, Kasey releases a big yawn.

I'm a lil' disappointed because I like chilling with her but I'm tired too.

"Thanks for the food." She says as she prepares to be wrapped into winters arms on the brief walk upstairs.

"No problem. Night, baby mama."

"Ughhhh, goodnight Sapphire."