I pulled up my pants, washed my hands, and splashed my face with the cool running water, then came back into the living room. I saw Rasul had already closed the blinds and put a sheet and blanket on the couch. He was lying on the opposite love seat staring at an old Freddie Jackson video on Midnight Love. I assumed the covers were for me, and flopped right down on the couch. I was so tired, so drained, so needing a good night’s sleep, that I closed my eyes almost as soon as I lay down.

“Aw, that ain’t for you,” he said, his hands still slyly stuffed into his Karl Kani jeans.

“Who it’s for then?”

“I was gonna sleep out here. You can sleep in my room if you want to.”

I knew enough about niggas my age to know you can’t trust what goes on between their sheets, whether they were alone or with somebody. Especially when they were alone. I decided I was fine right where I was.

“No, I don’t want to take your bed away from you. I’ll sleep out here.”

He looked disappointed. He grabbed the remote control to turn the volume down.

“That don’t bother me,” I said. Then, “I like it.”

“Oh, alright.”

I felt myself slipping away, in this strange apartment with its strange books and this strange boy. But as I sank deeper into the couch with the blanket up to my chin, nothing at all felt strange about being there. I rubbed my navel and wondered what the fight had done to what was inside. I wondered if it was still in one piece, or if it was even one piece yet to begin with. I couldn’t remember from the Reproduction unit in school. But right then, I didn’t care. I would look in my book whenever I went back to school.

“I ain’t goin’ to school tomorrow,” I whispered, but he heard me anyway.

“Shit, I might not go myself. It’s almost over anyway.”

“Let’s not go,” I giggled.

“Cool with me,” he said, not looking my way, only staring at the TV. Freddie Jackson sang on to that light-skinned, green-eyed model that was in almost all the videos. You are my lady, you’re everything I need and more, you’re all I’m living for… Before I could imagine what Rasul might be thinking, I was asleep.

NINE