cold for a lot of people to hang around outside. Sonny’s out here though. He waves at me from the steps. He sent me a text earlier and said he needs to talk to me.
“Later,” I tell Jay, and start to hop out.
“Hey,” she says. “Can I get a kiss or something?”
We don’t usually do all of that, but I guess this is one of those days she needs it more than I do. I kiss her cheek.
“I love you,” she says.
“I love you, too.”
She gives a quick peck to my temple. I’m halfway up the steps when she rolls down the window and goes, “Have a good day, Bookie!”
I freeze.
Oh, God. She didn’t.
I don’t know what the hell it means, but “Bookie” has been Jay’s exclusive nickname for me for as long as I can remember. It’s a miracle I didn’t think my actual name was “Bookie” when I was little, considering how much she used it.
The few people who are out here definitely heard her. I throw my hood over my head and hurry up the stairs.
Sonny smirks. “You do know you’ll always be Bookie, right?”
“Zip it, Sonny Bunny.” That’s his mom’s nickname for him.
“Screw you.” He picks at my pendant. “Damn. That was Uncle Law’s, huh?”
“Yep. My mom gave it to me. What’s up? You said we needed to talk.”
We climb the steps. “I should be asking what’s up with you. You didn’t text Malik back all break.”
I didn’t. I actually haven’t talked to him since he called me a sellout and made me the butt of his jokes to Shana. “What, he’s got you playing middleman now?” I ask Sonny.
“Unfortunately, I’m the middleman by default. You’re still pissed about what he said at Sal’s, huh?”
I should be madder at myself, but yeah, I am still pissed. And hurt. But admit that? Hell nah. I may as well admit that I stupidly had feelings for him and thought we had a chance.
We definitely don’t have one now. According to the text Sonny sent me on New Year’s Day, Shana and Malik are officially a couple.
Whatever.
“I’m fine.” I tell Sonny what I’ve been telling myself. “You really waited out here in the freezing cold to talk to me about Malik?”
“Ha! Hell no. I don’t care about y’all that much.”
I side-eye him. He cheeses. Such. A. Troll.
“But for real, this is what I wanted to talk to you about,” he says.
Sonny shows me his phone. It’s a text message from Rapid, sent this morning, and it consists of one simple-but-not-so-simple question:
Wanna meet up?
My mouth drops. “Seriously?”
“Seriously,” Sonny says.
“Holy shit.” There’s one problem though. “Why haven’t you responded?”
“I don’t know,” he says. “Part of me is like, hell yeah. The other part feels like this shit is too good to be true. What if he’s really a fifty-year-old man who lives in his mom’s basement and has a malicious plot to murder me and leave my body parts spread out across his backyard, unknown to anyone, until twenty years from now when a stray dog sniffs me out?”
I stare at him. “The specifics in your examples are disturbing sometimes.”
“It could happen. Then what do I do?”
“Um, I’d hope you’d run like hell before he could murder you.”
Sonny’s lips thin. “After that.”
“Call the cops.”
“Bri!” he says as I laugh. “Serious. He could be a fraud.”
“Yeah, he could,” I gotta admit. I mean, the internet is full of lying creeps. And I don’t know if it would be exactly like Sonny’s example, but it could be dangerous.
“Plus, once again, this is a—”
“Distraction,” I say for him.
“Right. Malik’s trying to find out who Rapid really is. I gave him some info and he’s already running with it. We did a bunch of research the other day.”
“Oh. That’s cool.”
My stomach drops. Sonny’s told Malik stuff about Rapid that he hasn’t told me. And they researched him together. Without me.
It’s stupid but it stings.
Sonny bites on his already-raggedy nail. “I’ll tell Rapid let’s wait to meet up. In the meantime, Malik and I will keep researching.”
He and Malik. Like the Unholy Trinity is now a duo.
Fuck. Why am I in my feelings so much?
“This could be some dumbass’s attempt to embarrass me, for all I know,” Sonny goes on. “Considering all the stuff I’ve shared with him . . . I’ll look like a fool.”
That shame in his eyes makes my feelings irrelevant.
I lightly elbow him. “You’re not a fool. He’s the fool if he’s Catfishing you. Because I promise you, I’ll whoop his butt.”