Gathering handfuls of hair, she pulled her locks into a high ponytail and yanked open the door of her car to grab a hardback from the passenger side. Spitz took it from her hands, looking into her eyes as if to ask if it were okay. She obliged him, commenting, "Guys are crazier."
"Why's that ma?" He sat on the hood of her car, straightening and steadying the bound book on his legs. Hoisting herself up next to him under the lone flickering street light, she sighed heavily, "They think girls are dumb enough to not take a fuckin' hint." Spitz mimicked being blown away, putting a hand to his chest and widening his umber eyes at her, "I never underestimate a female. Homeboy got you fucked up huh?" He was referring to Kaleb, attempting to seize an opportunity to have more of a reason to go after him.
"Kaleb? Fuck no. He'd never do me like that. That's my babe," she sighed, waiting patiently. With a disappointed nod, Spitz edged a business card up to make two long dashes on the surface of the treatise. His Adam's apple bobbed with strain for a moment until he ventured, "That your mans huh?"
Hours of darkness crept around Jaylene, making her want to rip off every last piece of her 'costume' in an attempt to shed the night's events away. All of her fury welled up in the pit of her stomach; how could Brik have lied to her - to everyone, for that long, and act so surprised and insulted? The blank look on his face told no lies, Jaylene had become well acquainted with the impassivity. It was a front for all the things he felt and endured. And if what she said made him rattled, good. At least he could feel something.
She ignored Spitz for a moment as his mahogany gaze burnt into her and his high cheek bones tensed with the clenching of his jaw. He accepted her silence and handed her half of a straw for easier consumption. Slanting her posture, she bent towards his lap and helped herself, more than grateful for his altruism. Luckily for her, all the right people with all the right intentions had been showing up at just the right time all night long to save her from herself. When she hauled up again, she cleared her throat and rubbed three fingers against the bridge of her nose, "Yeah, something like that."
"So I gotta' ask who you're talkin' about, or, at least what's bothering you." Soda laughed, arching her back and putting her palms behind her to lean rearward and look at the sky. Yeah, like you really fuckin' care about anything aside from unzipping my shorts. But if it would buy her time and deter him, she'd sure as hell humor him.
"I have a friend who has been keeping a health issue from me. I think it's something serious," she left out the fraction of the story where she was wildly jealous and irritated, "I pick him up from the hospital, he tells me nothing. Not shit. Nada." She cut her hand through the air to signify it - zero. The drug enhanced her socializing skills and eased her chagrin. "Coughs up blood and all this shit. I don't know, I act oblivious. I don't say anything, it's not worth the bullshit that will follow." Spitz snuffled away his portion and nodded, impressed by the girl as if she was from another planet, "So why didn't you call him out?"
Triggering a shake of her head, she exhaled heavily as the two shared a potentially enlightening, cloying moment. Apportioning being gassed the fuck up was enough. She didn't want to disclose much more, so she simply stated, "I did." and crossed one long, tan leg over the other.
With his dark, buff eyes relaxed and his mind gone, Spitz tugged at his scarf and then wrapped it around Jaylene's neck haphazardly, "Now you look like you're going to a Harvard banger." At this, Jaylene started rolling. It wouldn't have been that funny if she was less emotionally strained and high, but at that particular moment it was hilarious. She pressed faux glasses up the bridge of her nose and continued with ridicule, "I hope I don't have to do the walk of shame in the morning."
The dealer grinned in complete wonderment. He's probably just ripped. Resting a hand on the flesh of her knee, he boldly added, "Don't worry yourself with people who ain't loyal or honest to you. For real, real talk. If your homeboy isn't telling you what's going on with him, he don't respect you enough to tell you. That's all it is." Jaylene scoffed, not wanting to accept it but knowing it was true.