She snapped her fingers. I turned to catch my reflection in the mirror. I was thankful I wasn’t showing because I already had a little belly. I studied myself. I looked pretty. My freshly twisted wavy locs and full-face glam made me look like I’d stepped off a magazine cover. I was a tomboy in the way I dressed, but I stayed with my hair done and makeup on.

“I guess you were right,” I said.

“I’m always right.”

“Yeah, whatever⁠—”

The sound of the doorbell ringing cut me off. My date is here. My heart skipped a beat.

“That’s him...” I said.

“Did you turn your location on?”

“Yes, Lo.” I rolled my eyes at her extra ass. We were going to the most crowded place in the city.

“Well, okay. Good luck, bestie. Have fun, and go Warhawks! If you see your punk ass baby daddy, make a scene!”

I shook my head as I disconnected the call and walked toward my front door. I hadn’t even thought about the possibility of him being there. He wasn’t playing, so why would he attend? While I wanted to talk to him, a public venue was not where I wanted to do it. My phone buzzed just before I opened the door. Thinking it was Lolo saying something crazy, I glanced at it and froze as I read the message.

The number you texted is no longer in service.

My heart sank. Did this nigga block me? A wave of reality hit me. Reggie was ghosting me on purpose. He wasn’t even man enough to have a conversation with me. I felt instant disgust form in my stomach. How had I made the mistake of lying down with somebody who would do me like this?

“Coward,” I muttered, trying to shake off the disappointment.

Ghosting me when he was a professional athlete was crazy. I had half the mind to do exactly what Lo said and blast his ass on the internet. Reggie had never once mentioned having a girlfriend nor were there signs of her on his socials. The first day he’d come into my job to get his hair cut, I’d just had a video kind of go viral. He was charming and professional. He paid me a thousand dollars for his cut and invited me to lunch. He was the hometown hero. We had run in some of the same circles in high school, so I went.