• • •

Elijah Baker

"Your mom is nice," Kensley stated.

"She talk too damn much." She moved her head from my chest to glare at me, "It really wasn't no reason she should've been in there telling you allat."

"Ms. Tracey gives me candy and runs the tea. No slander will be tolerated."

My mama had a talking problem. She just starts talking, and won't stop. I couldn't think of a way that I would even be brought up, and especially not for her to mention me being married and unhappy.

Like Kensley a therapist or some.

"She doesn't like your brother, though." She continued, "I can see why."

I smiled, "Ion like him either."

Lauren's timing was off, and I didn't intend on Kensley hearing any of that, but I gave Lauren the option of not talking in front of her, and she did it anyway. I don't know why she continued to tell me, nor did I know what she expected me to do about it.

She always wanted to vent, but I couldn't listen to somebody complain about the same shit without trying to make it better.

I thought about what else my mama might have mentioned in her coffee shop therapy session, "What all she told you?"

"Ouu. That sounds like somebody who got some secrets."

There weren't any more secrets that should matter to her, "Ion like not knowing what you know about me."

Kensley balanced her chin on her hand, "She didn't say much. Just the stuff about your brother" She paused, "And threw shade at your dad."

"Yeah. Don't nobody like Christian either."

"....Why?"

Leah was the only other person I was open enough to share why I didn't like or respect Christian, and she did the same shit.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to." Kensley assured me, "I was just making conversation."

She never pried, never rushed, just waited. I understood why my mama told her so much.

"It's nothing like what you might be thinking. Just the same situation as Marc and Lauren."

Maybe I shouldn't have cared so much, but my mama didn't try to hide it like Lauren did, and neither did Christian. We saw everything, heard everything. Each week a new bitch, a new argument, a new necklace.

At least Marc found a permanent one.

It's why I hated it when people yelled. I had to listen to that shit nearly every day as a child.

"I could understand if she wasn't shit to him. But nah, she had food ready when he walked in the house, nigga had clothes laid out in the morning. Depending on the day she might go wipe his ass after he take a shit."

Kensley snorted then quickly apologized, "Sorry. I wasn't expecting you to make a joke."

I didn't respond, focusing on the ceiling so I could push the onslaught of emotions to the back of my mind.

The bed moved as Kensley sat up, grabbing my shirt and throwing it at me, "Get up."

"Where we going?"

"It's a surprise."

• • •

The surprise found us at a gas station, and I watched as Kensley grabbed item after item, "Get some stuff. We're taking a road trip."

"Road trip where?"

"You ask so many questions." She walked to the counter and sat the basket down, "And can I get a pack of Newport 100's?"

I turned and walked out of the store, patting my pockets for the keys. I saw Kensley's car and remembered she drove, so I started walking up the street.

I'll be damned if I talk to somebody smoking Newports.

"Elijahhhh." She laughed while blowing the horn, "Come get in the carrrr."

"You got me fucked up."

Her laughter got louder, and she leaned over the armrest, "I been running since I was stealing pickles out the candy lady house. I'll really hawk your ass down."

I tried to think of the last time I ran, "Let me stretch real quick. You ain't tryna see me out here."

• • •

I alternated between looking at the street and looking down at Kensley who was once again stretched across the armrest, only now my dick was hitting the back of her throat every time she went down.

This was the first time she gave me head, and I was tryna' understand why she didn't do it all the time.

I hit a bump and shook my head when the steering wheel started shaking, "This car so got damn raggedy."

She giggled, making me jump, "Please stop laughing with my dick in your mouth."

Kensley took it out and continued to laugh, "This the thanks I get? I'm down here sweating and you complaining about my car?"

"My bad." I used the button on the side to slide the seat back more, "Better?"

She hummed the affirmation, and I used my free hand to move stray pieces of hair from her face.

• • •

"So?" Kensley prompted.

I chewed slowly, staring at her, "It's straight."

"Straight?" She said the word in disgust, "These the best waffles you'll ever eat in your life."

"Pancakes my go-to." I tried not to laugh, "Ion too much like waffles."

Kensley sighed and laid her head on the table, "I bought the cook a pack of cigarettes but if you don't like the waffles, I'ma get my money back."

"For the food or cigarettes?"

"Cigarettes. I got the receipt in the car."

I finally laughed, pushing the plate towards her, "They good. I'm just talking."

One of the exits had a Waffle House sign, and I'd never been. Kensley apparently planned on coming here, which was why she bought the cigarettes.

"What make you think the cook smoke?" I asked while watching her cut the waffle in half.

"It's Waffle House. If he didn't, I would've gone to another one. Cigarette smoke gives the waffles the lil extra seasoning it needs."

"Damn I learn some new every day."

• • •

It was 4 am by the time we walked through Kensley's backyard.

Maybe she knew something I didn't but I'd hate to start shooting at her daddy if he came out of the house on some bullshit.

She was walking towards a small house, and after she unlocked it, I had to duck to go inside. The space was cramped but we still had room.

Kensley kneeled on the floor, getting a box from the small bookshelf lined with journals, "I haven't been in here in so long. The dust mites been living."

"When the last time you came home?"

"A couple of months ago. I don't come in here every time I'm home, though."

I nodded and continued watching her sort through the box until she pulled out a small woven bracelet.

"It's a bracelet my grandma made for me." She explained while undoing the knot, "It's supposed to help you through like, hard times and stuff."

I just stared at it.

Kensley reached for my wrist, turning it over so she could tie the strands, "It might sound stupid, but it worked in high school."

I continued to stare.

"The blue is for peace, orange for happiness, and red for love... She made a lot, but this one is my favorite."

My brain finally started back working, "Thank you."

"Welcome. Now, let's go before Ms. Emma Jean starts peeking out the window."

• • •

Later that week, Leah was in the kitchen sitting on a stool as she typed quickly on her laptop.

She looked up when she saw me coming towards her, "Hey."

"Hey."

"What's wrong? Did you wanna talk?"

Her voice sounded hopeful, and I actually felt a twinge of something, but it went away just as quickly as it came.

It was perfect timing that the doorbell rang, and I looked at Leah waiting for her to go answer it.

I wasn't nervous at all. I knew she'd be mad, but what could she do?

"Are you serious, Elijah?"

I nodded, "It's been time."

"How has it been time if you didn't do it all this time?!" She yelled, "You spend fucking day and night with Kensley and now it's 'been time'?! Fuck you!"

"Stop yelling in my house. Or get out."

Leah laughed, "You wanna play? Let's play. You won't have shit when I'm done. And we'll see if she still wants you then."

• • •

Kensley Parker

Jade pushed the magazine closer to me, "I was thinking December. So we can do a winter theme."

"Blue and white?" I asked, struggling to sound interested.

It was a very hard struggle because I didn't know why Ari asked me to come over here. She said it was important and didn't want to talk about it over the phone, but I'd been here for almost an hour and all we were doing was wedding planning.

I didn't give a damn what the wedding looked like as long as they got married.

"Or purple." Ariana suggested, "That'd be cute."

It'd be cute if she told me what was so important.

Seeing that she wasn't going to approach the subject, I did it for her, "So.. The important thing?"

Ari examined her nails, "What's Eli's last name?"

"Why?" I asked. It came out sounding ruder than I wanted, so I tried to fix it, "Did somebody say something about him?"

She unlocked her phone and went to her pictures, sliding it towards me, "No, but his wife might say something."

I'd never seen his wife, and believe it or not, I never thought about what she might look like because I didn't care.

Him having a wife was like Bigfoot. You never see him, but you know he exists. If you don't have a visual though, it's easy to pretend that something isn't real.

Now, as I sat there looking at the picture of Elijah and his wife.....I didn't know how I felt.

"I figured you didn't know." Ari sighed, "I-"

"Did you look him up?" I asked, "That's weird as fuck."

She looked surprised by my tone, "I was trying to make sure you knew what you were getting into."

I never even told Ari the story of Demetrius, she just liked to insert herself into situations that had little to nothing to do with her.

"I thought it was weird too," Jade stated, smugness lacing her tone, likely due to the fact that I was upset at Ari for something Jade told her not to do.

"How is it 'weird'? Most women would be happy that someone told them something like that."

I sighed loudly, "I already knew."

Crickets.

"You already knew." She sounded like she was trying to make sense of the words.

"We talked about it. They're separated."

"Divorced?" Jade asked.

The judgment in their tones meant nothing to me, "Separated."

Ari shook her head, "Wow. Kensley there's nothing worth the karma that'll come behind that."

I went to Google, typing in a word, then reading the definition aloud, "Separate: Become detached or disconnected; move apart. Divide into constitu-"

"I know what separate means." Ari interrupted harshly.

"I can't tell."

Jade looked uncomfortable, "Ari let's just let it go. It's not our business."

It wasn't their business at all and if she wasn't trying to be Scooby-Doo, she would've never known that he was married in the first place.

I couldn't understand the thought process one would go through to decide to go looking for him and his wife.

Well, I could see If I did it, but not Ari.

Ariana responded dismissively to Jade, "You wouldn't understand."

She was better than me.

I stood up, "Bye Jade. If you wanna go eat and talk about the wedding, just let me know."

"You're so mad because I'm right," Ari argued.

She was arguing with herself though because the conversation was over on my end.

Jade was growing visibly angry, but Ari continued to talk, "If they weren't together, they'd be divorced. 'Separated' is just a nice way of saying I wanna fuck you, but if the opportunity presents itself, I'll have sex with my wife too."

"It's really not our business Ariana!" Jade finally yelled.

Oh no. The girls are fighting.

I let myself out, vaguely hearing them continue to argue.

• • •

kensley might be a crutch or he might actually like her. who knows.

thanks for reading 💕