Honey and Spice(103)

I smiled. “I love you too.” My smile faded and I exchanged a loaded look with Aminah that she instantly translated. She gravely nodded her agreement. “Which is why I have to tell you guys something.”

Shanti quirked a brow and Chioma froze. I inhaled deeply and proceeded to tell them the real origins of Malakai and me. When I was finally done, Shanti and Chioma stared at me in blank confusion while Aminah sipped her wine in a rare moment of silence.

“Um. Did you guys hear me?”

“We heard you,” Shanti said, with the eerie grin.

Chioma shrugged. “Yeah, babe. You and Malakai were in a fake relationship to help you boost ratings for Brown Sugar to help your summer program application in exchange for you collaborating with him on his film—”

“But then you were actually in a ting,” Shanti finished, with a glint in her eye.

“Uh, right. And I didn’t mean to lie to you guys, and I didn’t expect to become such good friends with you and—”

“Lie to us?” Shanti smirked wider. I repressed a shiver. “Oh, honey. Thank God you’re pretty.” She shot a look at Aminah. “Does she genuinely think she was in a fake relationship this entire time?”

Aminah released a confusing cackle. “Babe, I know. It’s mad.”

Chioma snorted and her hand flew to her mouth, her clinking bracelets and bangles adding percussion to Summer Walker’s crooning.

My brows furrowed. There was a joke being told that I wasn’t in on. “Know what?”

Aminah continued as if I hadn’t spoken, waving a manicured hand in the air, “She’ll come to it eventually.”

I blinked. “Okay, I have no idea what you guys are talking about but I’m trying to apologize.”

Shanti swatched lipstick at the back of her hand. “Babygirl, it’s fine. Thanks for telling us. I get why you didn’t, though.”

Chioma smiled. “Right. You didn’t know we’d become gang. We know you, sis. It wasn’t like, malicious.”

Shanti shrugged as she tossed a nail polish bottle. My relief at their grace was strong enough to refrain from pointing out that I loved that color. “We still love you or whatever.”

My heart filled with warmth, the comfort of being seen and known displacing anxiety. “You guys are pretty fucking amazing.”

Shanti shot me a flat look. “No shit. Also, the plan was kind of genius. And it technically worked.”

Aminah nodded. “Yeah, before . . . everything . . . we were up by sixty percent.” She patted her own shoulder elegantly in congratulations.

“Plus,” Shanti continued, “you fucked Zack up. Thinking about it, Zit wouldn’t have done all this if he wasn’t intimidated by you. He’s literally printed out his face on flyers with a caption that says You know what to do. Dude is terrified.”

Chioma nodded gravely. “Shook. Your power is potent, queen.”

I felt myself returning to myself a little, the brightness of my friends forcing some perspective, easing the clouds. The self-pity was receding to reveal a gleaming fury that was primarily for Zack and his audacity.

Aminah scrutinized my face. “Okay. I see some color coming back to you.” She paused. “Metaphorically. Good. Because AfroWinter Ball is next Saturday and I’m going to need you to be ready for it. Kofi is still giving us his hotel room so . . .”

The mention of the ball gave me a genuine, hearty laugh that I was grateful for. “Oh. I’m not going to that.”

Aminah’s brow arched. “Are you joking?”

I smiled and my chin jutted out incredulously. “Are you joking? Going to the ball was something I was doing because I was with Malakai and it was part of the whole deal. Going to it now would just be humiliating.”

Aminah flipped both her palms up. “You’re unbelievable.”

“Um . . .” Chioma’s voice was quiet and tentative. “What’s going on?”

Shanti gently reached over for the ice cream tub I was holding, grabbed a spoon, and returned to her chair. “I think they’re having a domestic?”

I shuffled a little further from Aminah to assess her. “Meenz, what’s wrong, because I feel like you have something to get off your chest.”

Aminah sat very still and then started blinking rapidly at me in a very alarming manner, as if she was malfunctioning. Then she raised a hand and through her long, extended lashes she pincered me with eyes hard with love. “Kiki, this is not okay. First you shut me out for a week and now this? Why is Malakai the only reason you want to socialize? Was I not enough? You didn’t come to the AfroWinter Ball last year, and even though I went with some girls from my course it was shit without you! It’s a pattern! You bail on the most fun stuff in uni because you get shook! And I get it, but it’s time you let it go, okay? I am tired! ó ti su mi. Sis, I am not going to let you miss out on this. Fuck, I am not gonna let myself miss out on a good time with my best friend. Which, by the way, I have. So many times for you.”

I blinked, stunned, her words sitting cool within me, sending up spindles of shame. “What? I never asked you not to go to events.”

Aminah rolled her eyes. “No, you never did. Of course, you never did, you would never do that, but you think it’s fun for me going out without my main? Most of these bitches are dull as hell.”