She moved to the side, as he eased by her, brushing by her, arrogantly. He had no idea what he did to her. Her youth made what she felt for him so intense. When she was around him, the air felt too thick to breathe. His cologne, Creed, she thought, hugged her as he passed, and she had to grab the doorframe. He made her knees weak, without even trying, without even noticing. He’s so fucking arrogant, she thought.

“What’s up, big homie?” Messiah greeted. “My people took me to pick up the car and I drove it here. I didn’t want to bring nobody out to your spot. I know how you are when it comes to shit like that. You think you can run me back to the crib?”

“Morgan can drop you,” Ethic said.

Messiah turned to Morgan. “Drop me at the crib?” he asked.

Morgan nodded, before leading the way outside. She almost forgot that she had just rolled out of bed. She climbed into the passenger side of the car and cringed, as she glanced at her reflection in the visor mirror. As Messiah walked around to the driver’s side, she hurriedly licked her fingers to try to slick down the edges of her hair, and then wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her shirt, to remove the day-old cosmetics that now resembled clown makeup. She was sure her breath smelled like corn chips - at least it tasted like it - and she sighed in frustration. He had to pull up on me looking this good and smelling this good. Meanwhile, I’m sitting here looking crazy, she thought, mortified. When he lowered into the seat, she snapped the sun visor shut. Young girls worried about the most trivial things and Morgan was no different. She was damn near holding her breath to make sure he didn’t smell her funk.

Morgan wondered what he was thinking behind his brooding stare. He didn’t speak, so neither did she; even though she desperately wanted to rehash the events that had happened the night before. He had paid her more attention than she had ever seen him pay anyone. He had opened up to her. She had felt it. Or am I tripping? He’s sitting here like I don’t even exist. It didn’t help that he couldn’t sign, and she couldn’t speak. It was like the sun had come up and exposed all the reasons why she could never have him. She, desperately, wanted to go back to the dark, where it was safe to let her inhibitions go. In the dark, it had felt possible that Messiah would want a girl like her.