Street (Urban Fiction)

Chapter Twenty Three

Chapter Twenty Three

"Sooooooo, tell me!"

"Tell you what?" I laughed at Maria. She was always a ball of energy, and that energy was doubled since she saw me with Mario at her house.

She groaned. "Stop playing stupid Risha, tell me what happened."

We were lying on my bed waiting for sleep to come. We'd just finished celebrating Michael's birthday. He wanted to do everything. We went paint balling, we went to a water park, we went go kart racing. By the time we finished everything, we were exhausted, but Michael wanted to keep going. Momma promised him that whatever we didn't get done, he could do with Marcus the next day. The guys went home after we cut the cake and Maria decided to spend the night.

She turned onto her side and pursed her lips at me. "If you don't tell me I'll be forced to imagine everything and jump to my own conclusions."

"Jump away," I said as I folded my hands under my head.

"Did you guys kiss? Oh my God, I bet you did. I'm so jealous of you guys."

"Why?" I spared her a glance, but she wasn't looking at me. She was looking down, drawing circles on my bedsheets.

"You guys seem so close. Chris and I haven't even kissed yet. Sometimes I feel like he was pushed to me, but doesn't really like me, you know." She sighed. "Maybe he's shy. Maybe I have to make the first move." Chris? Shy? No way. We barely knew each other for a week when Chris decided to first kiss me. "Who made the first move? You or Mario?"

"We haven't kissed," I admitted.

"What?" She shot up. "No way," she whispered when she realized how loud she was.

"I'm serious, I mean he kisses me on the forehead and stuff, but he says hugs can be just as intimate."

She rolled her eyes. "Ugh, my dumb brother. What is he waiting on? And how about you? Don't you want to kiss him? A hug can never compare to the intimacy of a kiss. They say a kiss can make or break a relationship. Isn't it ironic? Lies come out through the lips, but if kissing is involved, apparently there aren't any secrets. You can feel the person's love, passion, anger, disgust— whatever it is. A kiss brings it out. I don't know about you, but I always wonder what a kiss between Chris and I would bring out. I feel like then I'd truly be able to tell whether or not he's into me."

"Interesting." What would a kiss between Mario and I bring out? "There aren't any secrets between me and Mario." I found myself saying. Why was I saying this to her? Was this Mario's effect on me? Did he make me realize how easy it is to talk and be open with people? "He tells me how he feels, and even if he doesn't, I can tell just from looking at him."

"And how do you feel?" She asked. I looked over at her and scrunched my eyebrows. "Sorry," she added in quickly, "it's just that, he's my brother. A part of me just wants him to be happy and you're such a closed book, I can never read your expressions when you're with him."

"I get it. You've got nothing to worry about though."

"Good, 'cause his last girlfriend was a total bitch." We laughed in unison after a couple of seconds of silence and switched conversation topics.

The next morning, Jordan dropped her home. Mario was gone for the week. He had to handle a couple of things overseas, or at least that's how he put it. The previous night's conversation topic was still on my mind. How did I feel about Mario? And why didn't I feel the usual pang of jealousy I always did whenever Maria mentioned Chris.

"You ok kid?" Jordan asked, peeking his head into my room. "Usually you're up here saying, 'Do I look like I got some onions,' but today you're silent."