Things We Lost In the Fire

Exploration

Did he just say that?

I didn't even know what to say after that. I hadn't even realized my mouth was open until he said, "you might wanna close your mouth before you catch flies little mama."

"Ha ha ha you are hilarious. You should really try some stand up at your next concert," I said sarcastically, "And for your information I'm not little."

"Well you're not big. What're you 4'0 tall?"

"4'11 thank you very much!", i shot back. "Now if you'll excuse me, it was nice meeting you." Before I could move past him, he gently grabbed my forearm pulling me back.

"No, please stay. And besides I didn't catch your name."

"I didn't throw it." I hadn't even realized how harsh I had said that until I noticed the slight look of hurt in his eyes. "I'm sorry, force of habit", i nervously laughed and extended my hand, "Jasmin...Jasmin Amina Wilson."

"Jasmin..Amina..Wilson," he repeated, "like the flower; that's a beautiful name, it suits you."

"Why thank you." Randomly I reached out and carefully grabbed the diamond encrusted Love Symbol pendant on his long silver chain before I proceeded to say,
" So...I know you go by this unique unpronounceable symbol here but...what can I call you?".

With a sly grin he said, "Hmm, well between me and you, you can call me Spud."

When he said that I squinted my eyes and turned my nose up, "Spud??? Like a potato?" He wiggles his eyebrows in response, "You know what...I don't even want to know what that means!" We both laughed.

After a few seconds of awkward silence, a confused and inquisitive expression popped up on his face. "Wait...Wilson...MORGAN is your sister?". "Yep that's my big sister."

"Wow, she told me a lot about you. How smart you were and how proud she was of you for graduating from high school at 16. That's all she talked about last year."

"I bet, Morgan can be sweet when she wants...and speaking of the devil."

The sound of Morgan's heels clicking grew louder the closer she got. "There you are! I should've known you'd be sneaking around here. P, I should've told you I was bringing her with me. But I see you've finally found the man of the house Stoney."

"Actually, I found her. I saw this beauty leaning on the balcony so I thought I'd keep her company." As he said that, I couldn't help but feel my cheeks burning and turn bright crimson. Meanwhile, Morgan just glared at him.

"Is that so? Hmmm. P can I talk with you alone for a second?", Morgan said sternly.

"Maybe later, I wanted to give Jasmin the full Paisley Park 'experience' ", he says, using air quotations to emphasize. "I'm pretty sure she's dying to see the rest of the complex."

"Yeah, I would love to see the rest of the place!". I quickly realized during our interaction, Morgan kept that same hardened scowl on her face. I didn't know what her problem was nor did I care. I thought she would be happy to get me out of her hair. Morgan looked shook as if this was the first time he told her NO.

"Well, I'll be in my office." And with that she turned on her heels and sashayed away.

Almost immediately, he turned around and took my hand to lead me down the hallway towards the elevator. As we entered the elevator and the solid metal doors shut, I realized how close he was standing next to me. With our arms brushing up against each other, I took in the intoxicating scent of lavender that was radiating off of him. Out of the corner of my eye, I take notice of how he had the faintest evidence of makeup on, minimal foundation and jet black eyeliner adorning his eyelids. A smirk starts to form on his face. I quickly focused my eyes back ahead, in hopes that he hadn't realized I was practically staring at him.