Page 45 of Stay with Me
“I know.”
21
“Sooooo, when were you going to tell me about Ryan? It’s a shame I had to run across that hair-washing video on Facebook,” Nicky said. “That thing has a kazillion views! Girl, you are a genius for putting his super-fine ass in your videos.”
I shrugged. “He asked to be in them. And if you took your ass home once in a while, Mama could’ve told you about us since she’s already met him. I mean, after all that whining about Daddy possibly putting you out, your ass is barely there now. Where are you staying anyway? Not with Warren’s fuming ass I hope.”
She smirked. “No, not with Warren. I can’t deal with this whole ‘Mama and Daddy break-up’ thing. I was fine with pretending everything was normal, because hell, I’ve been doing that since I was born. I liked when our parents at least acted like they loved each other. But her putting him out, threatening him? That’s more than I can handle. And I’m not about to hang around the house and watch her cry and shit. That’d be too much for me, so I’ve been alternating staying with Grant and Antonio.”
“I have no idea who these two people are, but I take it you’re screwing both of them?”
“Not at the same time.”
“Oh, well that’s a relief,” I said.
“You think they’d let me stay with them rent-free otherwise? I gotta earn my keep somehow. And anyway, you’re trying to change the subject. We were discussing the man you’re screwing.”
I rolled my eyes and glanced around the restaurant, trying to see if Renee had entered the place. Sitting across from my little sister in the Smoothie Hut, I recalled what Mama said about Nicky inheriting her whorishness from Daddy. I was glad that gene skipped me. That shit had to be exhausting.
“Girl, that video was the most beautiful, romantic thing I’ve ever seen in my life! The way he washed your hair, and the look in his eyes when you stood up and kissed him. I bet y’all had some fun after the video cut off,” Nicky gushed.
I had been apprehensive about leaving that kiss in, but I liked the way it looked. Evidently, so did a lot of other people. Of course I cut out what happened after the kiss, because that was way too hot for YouTube. “So you mean to tell me it took Ryan being in it for you to finally watch one of my videos after all these years?”
“I’ve been busy trying to get my education. Duh.”
“But you’ve had time to screw every Tom, Grant, and Antonio, though?”
“Talk about a broken record. Is he in any other videos?”
“Yeah, a dye review, and we just filmed a Couples Tag last night. It’s not up yet.”
“A Couples Tag? That’s the one where you two count to three and then answer questions about each other at the same time to see how much you know about each other, right? I love those!”
“Yeah, I’ve received a ton of requests on social media for us to do one.”
“Angie, how long have y’all been together?”
“Hmm, must be close to two months now.”
Before she could continue her interrogation, Renee finally arrived looking harried.
Nicky didn’t care how she looked as she exclaimed, “Damn! About time! I’m about to starve to death!”
Renee fell into a chair at the table, and mumbled, “Sorry. Work is crazy. Let’s go order.”
We all filed to the counter, placed our orders, and since I was paying, Nicky lost her mind, ordering two salads, two turkey wraps, and three smoothies, explaining that she would take the extra food home—wherever that was supposed to be—for later. That kind of concerned me and made me wonder what was really going on behind that carefree front she was putting up.
As we settled back at the table, I set the vibrating coaster before me, and said, “Nicky, you can come stay with me if you really hate living at home that much.”
She looked up at me with glistening eyes. “What?”
“You’re my sister, and I feel some kind of way about you living with and sleeping with men who don’t even feed you.”
Renee said, “Whoa, what’d I miss?”
I looked at Nicky who informed Renee of her living arrangements.
“You can stay with me, too. I know you hate Robert, but he’s hardly ever home now, so…”