Burning Sage

Chapter Fifteen

"Sooo," Letoya drew out, facing Trisha, "Tell us about that fine man of yours," she smiled.

Sage looked up behind her, "Yeah, where did y'all end up?"

Trisha rolled her eyes, "We exchanged numbers, he dropped me off, that's it," she shrugged.

"You finally have a man?" Ashley asked, "Something must be wrong with me," she mumbled.

Sage gave her friend a pitiful look before holding her hand, "Nothing is wrong with you."

"And her man is mighty fine, Lord," Letoya disrupted, "Like a dark chocolate Greek God," she added with much emphasis.

Trisha slapped Letoya's forearm, "I will tell Wes you're drooling over another man," she threatened with a laugh.

"He'll have to understand," Letoya shrugged, "Not that my man ugly, he is far from that but Aiden looks exotic," she finished off and popped a lollipop into her mouth.

"Now that Letoya said that, y'all suit each other well, I mean you look exotic on your own," Sage pointed to Trisha.

"Girl, bye," Trisha laughed.

"Stop being modest," Sage said, "You'd give Eva a run for her money," she assured.

"That's the first time I hear you compliment me," Trisha was touched.

"Yeah, you've never complimented anybody that way," Ashley sneered next to Sage.

Sage snapped towards Ashley and noticed that her soft demeanor had changed, "What's up with you?"

"She just jealous you're paying someone else more attention than her," Letoya said and winked at Ashley.

Sage laughed at that comment, "We're not in kindergarten," then she turned to Trisha, "All I said is true, I'm happy your wish came true too and let's hope he treats you well."

"Me too," Trisha squealed.

"He will," Ashley said plainly and opened a small packet of Doritos.

All the girls turned to face her, "How would you know?" Letoya was the first to ask.

"Because he treated me well," she shrugged and didn't return the questioning looks her friends gave her.

It then clicked in Sage's head as to where she'd seen Aiden, it was at the club the night she got grazed by a bullet. She instantly felt horrible for not remembering sooner as she looked at Trisha.

"You might be referring to a different Aiden though," Trisha argued.

"She's not," Sage admitted lowly.

"You've got to be kidding me," Trisha let out, "So you let me act a fool with her seconds?" She pointed at Ashley in disgust.

Ashley chuckled with her back to Trisha.

"I just remembered now as Ashley spoke. If I did before, I would've told you," Sage stressed her voice.

"That's fucked up," Letoya said.

Trisha shook her head, "This is how you repay my kindness, for that bitch? I'm done y'all," she stood up and left.

Letoya gave Sage a look that read 'oops' and followed behind Trisha.

Sage's eyes became teary and her bottom lip trembled.

Ashley stopped chewing and scooted closer to her, "Don't cry friend," she rubbed her forearm, "I'm here for you," she reassured.

"I should've figured it out sooner," Sage said lowly.

"It's not your fault," Ashley said, "You just forgot, Trish will come around."