Glass Heart

9

Sage laughed loudly as she continued to shoot water from her water gun at Kareem. He stopped shooting and ran away behind the house. Sage pulled her hair into a ponytail as she slowly followed behind him. When she got behind the house, he was gone. She looked behind the bushes and in the small storage room and eve in the pool but he was nowhere. She sighed and was about to give up until someone grabbed her from behind and ran towards the pool.

"Kareem no" she laughed out but it was too late. He jumped in the water with Sage in his arms. They stayed under for a few seconds before popping up. She couldn't stop laughing as she tried swimming to the end of the pool but couldn't.

"Whoa, don't drown on me" Kareem laughed as he grabbed her and pulled her to the shallow part. "You know how to swim, right?”

"Yes, I do but not while laughing" she giggled out. Kareem pulled her close and she kissed his lips "Why are you so damn cute?" She mumbled, wrapping her arms around his neck.

He bit his bottom lip "The same reason why you so beautiful. “he spoke "I needa tell you somethin"

"It’s not bad, is it?"

He shook his head "Remember those letters you used to get at the coffee shop?"

"Wait, how do you k-" she paused and looked at him "K.L is you?"

"Duh" he laughed "Kareem Lewis. I thought you would've picked up on it sooner but you slow as f**k"

She splashed water in his face and smiled "Wow, it was you. For 4 months though? Why didn't you just come talk to me?"

"Cause a nigga was nervous. You remember how I asked for your number" they both laughed "But if it wasn't for your crazy ass brother, we wouldn't have met"

"And you wouldn't have known what it feels like to be me"

"You think you hot s**t huh?” he laughed.

"Hell yea I do"

"Eh, you straight" he shrugged.

"Make me fight you. Act like you know"

"Girl, you gotta mouth on you huh? Quit all that back talk before I put that mouth to better use"

She laughed loudly and slapped his chest "You're so rude, you don't hear me talking about how I'd put your mouth to better use"

"I wouldn't mind that, at all" he bit his bottom lip and kissed her lips. "Damn you so damn sexy"

"I think maybe we should get out the pool. It's making your hormones get all wild and crazy"

"You're gettin my hormones wild and crazy" Kareem let Sage go and followed her as she walked inside.

"Rag and towels under the sink" she yelled as she walked to the upstairs bathroom. The next day came and Sage found herself walking out the firm and towards her car. She got in and made her way to the coffee shop where she'd be meeting Jamie. He said they needed to talk about something important after she got off work and he sounded serious.

By the time she got to the coffee shop, her brother was already there. She slid into the booth "Hey brother, what you needed to talk about?”

"Kennedy" he mumbled.

Sage rolled her eyes "What about him? Did he get killed while in jail? r***d? "

"I wish. Turned out, the b***h ain't even in jail. He never was"

"Wait what? But momma said he was and his bail $5,000"

"Yea we'll she think he is because that's what he told her. Anyway, she's on her way here now to talk"

"Excuse me?" She asked "She's coming here and you didn't think I should know that?"

"Come on Sage, momma said she's over it. Why can't you get over it?" He rolled his eyes "Its petty anyway"

"I can't believe you just said that" she mumbled, getting out her seat and heading towards the door. Jamie quickly stood up and followed, grabbing her arm before she got in the car. "Get your hands off me"

"Lower your fuckin voice when you talkin to me Sage. Why you upset anyway? All u need to do is sit down, shut up and listen? Why can't you do that?"

"Because I don't want to be around her. Do you not remember what she said to me? Because I sure as hell do"

"Get over it" he yelled, making tears fall from her eyes "What she said is in the past, get over that s**t Sage. It’s all in the past and nobody remembers it or cares about it but i"

"You might be right. Nobody remembers it except me because every time I get naked, I have bruises to remind me of what happen in the past. And now instead of them just reminding me about what Kenneth did to me, they remind me about how momma really feels about me"

She backed away from him and tried getting in her car but Jamie stopped her. Before he could say anything else, she was already running down the street to get away from him.

"So how was that strip club this weekend?" Kareem asked, wiping the sweat from his forehead.

"Man when I tell you, that s**t is bomb as f**k. I been there every Saturday since it opened" Tyreke smiled.

"That's crazy nigga, you ain't gon find no wife in the strip club. Look at Tyga. Stripper baby momma"

"See, I'm not Tyga though. d**k so good, she'll propose to me"

They laughed but stopped when Stan walked passed and sized them up. They worked on building the second layer of the new office building until Stan was no longer by them.

"His ole stank ass. Smell like sweaty booty and bum ass" Tyreke mumbled. Kareem laughed but that died down when he and Tyreke eyes looked at the same thing. He wasn't sure but from where he was, the woman looked like she was crying.

And it looked like Sage.

Kareem quickly hopped down and jogged across the street and when he saw it was Sage and called out to her. But she didn't turn around.

He picked up his pace and grabbed her arm. She turned around with tears running down her face "Hey, baby. What's wrong? What happen? “He asked softly.

She tried talking but the crying kept getting in the way.

"Shh, it’s ok. I would hug you but I'm all sweaty and s**t"

Sage ignored his comment and wrapped her arms around him, crying on his chest. He wrapped his arms around her too and kissed her head.

"Come on shawty, quit cryin and tell me what's wrong" he mumbled in her ear.

"Can we not do it here?" She said through tears.

"Whatever you want. Where you tryna go?"

"Your place please"