"Nia." Her name softly fell from his lips and she soaked in his sweet breath like a pancake to syrup. Her eyes were low and she was watching his chest rise and fall. She couldn't look at him just yet. She was frozen in place.
With just this brazen...
Nia couldn't tell anyone she had decided to board the Malcolm Express again. There was no one she could tell. No one she knew could know.
Not Colin, not her girls, and certainly not Malcolm.
Mainly because it was stupid.
It was kind of embarrassing if Nia was honest. It was as if she resurrected her childhood self from the grave with this dumb crush.
Scratch that, her childhood self was much smarter and wiser than this.
Even as she walked down the hall that led to Malcolm's condo on Thursday evening, she badly wished 12 year old Nia was there to smack some sense into 30 year old Nia. Because 30 year old Nia's heart was bumping to the beat of bad decisions with every step she took.
Going to see Malcolm was fine, normal, and routine even.
What Nia had decided to wear, however, was not.
It wasn't like she had pulled up in a trench coat and lingerie, and sure, a black pleated mini dress with button down cleavage seemed innocent enough for brunch; but coupled with thigh high high-heeled boots for a movie night with a man was certainly the opposite. Especially, when that man wasn't her current man, Colin. Particularly, when she suddenly wanted that man to snatch off her clothes. Specifically, when that man was her best friend since forever, Malcolm Streeter.
It was actually something she had chosen to wear for her next date with Colin, but now that had become game night with the girls. Plus, that decision was made before flirtation between Nia and Malcolm had manifested on Monday. Before she felt sparks fly during mild and mundane conversation. After that, the dress had beckoned her like a siren in her closet, begging to be worn and seen... by him.
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Though in her mind, Colin hadn't left Nia's heart - he had practically imprinted his body onto hers over the last weekend - but there was something in the air between her and Malcolm that she couldn't deny exploring.
After she knocked on his apartment's door, Nia nervously tucked back a few strands of hair that had fallen from her butterfly clipped updo. She heard Malcolm's muffled shuffling before he appeared and when Nia saw him, she was sure to concentrate solely on his face, waiting for his reaction. His expressions shifted from shock to confusion with a raised then furrowed brow, but ended with his lips twisted in a pleased smirk. If Nia stared at him too long or read too much into what that hint of a smile meant, she might end up scrawling 'Mrs. Nia Streeter' over everything she owned.
"Hey, Ni."
"Hey Mac- you cut your hair?!" Nia hadn't noticed it initially, but now she could see Malcolm's three years of growth was gone, replaced with a short fade that only left his coily curls atop his head. Nia thought it suited him, but she also preferred a short cut on men so her opinion was biased. Now looking at him, she couldn't help but think about the fact that Malcolm knew things like this about her and that the timing of him making this decision had to be more than a mere coincidence.
