I left Nana’s room an hour later, promising to return another day with pictures of the kids.
“Okay, child. And don’t you forget your other promise, too.” It was clear where her priorities were.
I found Malek sitting on the living room sofa in front of the TV. He was struggling to take his braids out, ripping at them with a comb. That shit looked painful, but he had a big smile on his face as he watched me enter the room.
“Did Nana tell you why she wanted to see me?” I was even more suspicious now that I saw how damn happy he looked. Not the suffering boy Nana had made him out to be. Whose wish was fulfilling, anyway?
“Nah. Why? What’d she say?”
“Nothin’,” I mumbled. For now I would just play dumb. I still needed to figure out just what I was gonna do about this situation. “Why you taking out your braids anyway?”
“LaKeisha Nixon’s supposed to redo them for me tonight.”
“LaKeisha Nixon?” That girl had been trying to get with Malek ever since we were in high school. “Please don’t tell me you mess with that bitch.”
He paused before he spoke. “Nah. She just gonna braid my hair.”
“Ohhh, really,” I rolled my eyes. “You know she burnt Little Rob and Jeffery Owens, don’t you?”
“She did?” be lifted an eyebrow. He may not have fucked her, but he’d obviously been thinking about it The question I had to ask myself was why was I so concerned about it. It wasn’t like Malek was my man or nothing. I was treading in dangerous waters and I knew it. The last thing I wanted was for him to think I was interested. Or cared. Time to change the subject.
“Goddamn it! Will you give me that comb?” I snatched the comb out of his hand after I watched him rip through another patch of hair. “Damn, watching you take these things out is painful to the eyes. Sit down there” I motioned to the floor in front of the couch and he sat with his back against my knees. I went to work loosening his braids, much more careful than he was.
“You sure you don’t mess with LaKeisha?” I asked him cautiously. I wasn’t tryin’ to make him think I was jealous or nothing, but I couldn’t get the image out of my head. Old rivalries die hard.
“Nah, I ain’t mess with her. But I could hit it if I wanted to.”
“You and everybody else with a dick.” He spun his head around and studied my face. I avoided his eyes. “Will you turn around? I’m tryin’a get these braids out”
He faced forward and neither of us said another word until I finished combing out all his braids. I was lost in my own memories. Malek had been my first love, and even though he’d left me, we’d had plenty of good times. It was bittersweet, remembering them now, especially when I was about to be married to another man. A man who I knew was much better for me and my children.
“So what’s up? You want me to braid these for you, or you want LaKeisha to do it?”
“You can do it.” He handed me ajar of grease.
“What style you want?”
“I don’t know. Whatever you think’s gonna make me look cute,” he chuckled. Malek and his damn ego. He must’ve known I still thought he looked good. But I wasn’t gonna play that game with him now.
“Hey, Shorty, can I ask you a question?”
“No.”
“Why you gonna be like that?” He turned his head.
“Because my name ain’t Shorty. My name is Stephanie. I’m not a sixteen-year-old kid you trying to run game on anymore, Malek. If you wanna ask me a question, use my name.”
“Okay, Stephanie,” he tried again. “Can I ask you a question?”
“Go ’head.” I was afraid I was gonna be sorry, but I knew he wasn’t about to give up.
“Is he as good as me?”
“Is who as good as you?”
“You know. What’s-his-name. Your boyfriend.” He was right. I did know who he was talking about, just like he knew damn well what his name was.
“His name is Travis, and he’s my fiancé, not my boyfriend,” I reminded him.
“Okay. This Travis, is he as good as me?”
“Good as you at what?” I wasn’t gonna make this easy for him. Men are so self-centered sometimes. Always comparing themselves to one another in the bedroom like it’s some badge of honor. When we first started going out, Travis must have asked me the same question a hundred times. None of them would ever think to ask if he was as good a friend to me, or some shit like that. They seemed to think all that mattered was the almighty dick.
“You know what I’m talking about. Does he fuck you as good as I did?”
It would have been easy to deflate his ego and be done with it But just like I did with Travis four years ago, I decided to keep that little secret to myself.
“Do you really think I would tell you that, Malek? Matter of fact, do you really wanna know the answer to that question?” I couldn’t resist that little jab at his ego. Although I forgot just how big his ego was.
“Hell, yeah, I wanna know the answer.”
“Well, you’re not gonna get one.”
“Ah’ight, then answer this for me. Is he as big as me?” He turned his head and looked up at me with a grin. He was holding his hands about a foot apart.
“I am not gonna answer that either!” I shook my head again and tried to suppress a smile.
“Come on, Stephanie. Admit it, my shit is bigger than his, isn’t it?” He laughed and lifted his eyebrows suggestively. I couldn’t help it. I smirked a little, waving my hand. Malek was bigger than Travis. Hell, he was bigger than anyone I’d ever seen.
“You are so stupid, Malek.”
“But I got a big dick, don’t I?” he teased. I couldn’t help but laugh a little this time.
“I knew I could make you laugh. It was just a matter of time.” He looked proud. “Remember how it used to be back in the day? You’d braid my hair while I cracked jokes and rolled a blunt.” He leaned back against my knees and I started greasing his scalp again.
“Yeah, I remember.” I smiled. “We’d smoke it then go to Ryan’s Steakhouse. I used to love me some Ryan’s.”
“Oh, hell, yeah. Ryan’s was the bomb.” He shook his head. “Damn, I ain’t been to Ryan’s since we broke up.”
“Neither have I,” I said quietly. There were still certain things I avoided doing since Malek left me, and going to Ryan’s was one of them. Our nights there had been part of a happier time between us. Malek obviously shared some of my memories.
“Hey, do you remember how much fun we’d have when we came home from Ryan’s? You used to do some freaky shit when you were high.” He gave me a devilish grin.
“Don’t go there, Malek.”
“Don’t go where? I don’t know what you”ne talking about.”
“Like hell, you don’t. You trying to take me on your little trip down freaky-memory lane.” And doing a good job, I might add.
“No, I’m not,” he protested weakly.
“Yes you are. And if you keep it up, you gonna be walking around here with half a braided head, ’cause I’m gonna be out.”
“Okay, okay. Sorry,” he said casually. “Can I say one thing, though?”
“As long as it don’t have to do with sex.”
“It doesn’t.”
“What is it?”
“We should go to Ryan’s again, after you finish my braids. My treat”
“Your treat? Where you getting all this money from? You selling drugs?” Better to change the subject than think about how tempting his offer really was.
“Hell, no. I got a real job. I been working over at Home Depot for almost two months. Yesterday was payday.” He looked at me and smiled. “Never thought I’d get a real job, did you?”