Chapter Seventeen: You Ain’t Gotta Say It, I Know
581 Words
Lyric
The couch felt tight even though it was made for three.
Janiyah sat next to me, arms crossed, jaw locked, tapping her heel like she was trying not to blow up.
I stayed quiet.
Smoke had shut her all the way down in front of everybody—like, sit your ass down was loud enough for the people near us to hear.
He ain’t yell, but the message? It cut.
Zay stood close. Not touching me, but close enough that I could smell the smoke on his hoodie and the slight spice of whatever cologne he wore. His gray eyes scanned the backyard like he was expecting someone to test him.
Nobody did.
“You mad at me now?” I whispered to Janiyah.
She finally looked at me, tight smile. “Not at you. Just tired of being embarrassed.”
“You did come out looking like a stripper in church,” I said, laughing soft.
“Girl, don’t play.”
We both laughed a little.
But it was still tense. The type of tension that ain’t fixed with one joke.
She sighed. “He could’ve told me in private.”
“He could’ve,” I agreed.
“But he ain’t let me keep looking stupid either,” she said, quieter now.
I looked at her. “You like that, don’t you?”
She smirked. “A lil’ bit.”
Ten minutes later, Janiyah got pulled aside by some girls she used to dance with, and Smoke let her go but gave her that look.
Meanwhile, I stayed on the couch, sipping from my cup, scrolling my phone, pretending not to notice how Zay was still close.
He sat beside me without saying anything.
Didn’t touch me.
Didn’t ask questions.
Just sat.
Like he was making it known—I’m here, you’re not alone, they better not try you.
“You always this quiet?” I finally asked, looking up at him.
He looked over at me. “Only around people that talk too much.”
I snorted. “So... I talk too much?”
He smirked a little. “You talk just enough. But I watch more than I speak.”
I sipped my drink. “And what you watching now?”
“You.”
I bit my lip.
“You always this bold?” I asked.
“Only with what’s mine.”
That shut me up quick.
I didn’t say I was his.
He didn’t ask.
But somehow… we both knew it.
Later in the night, the DJ started switching the music up. More bodies crowded the backyard, cups everywhere, weed in the air, loud laughing, louder flirting.
Janiyah walked past me with Smoke’s hoodie now tied around her waist, eyes low like she just got a reminder of who she was with.
Smoke followed right behind her, looking satisfied.
I looked over at Zay. “Y’all really got control issues.”
He leaned in, his lips close to my ear. “We got standards. Don’t confuse the two.”
That heat slid straight down my spine.
I stood up after a while to stretch, tossing my cup in the trash. Zay grabbed another for me without asking and filled it up.
He handed it to me.
I raised an eyebrow. “So you just gon’ stand over me all night?”
He stepped closer, leaned in.
“You’d rather I leave?”
I hesitated. “No.”
“Then stop asking dumb sh*t,” he whispered.
- Writer
