When Tricks Are For Kids
Me: I really enjoyed myself the other night.
Me: Thank you.
Roll Bounce: I'm glad. When can we do it again?
Me: Whenever you want.
Roll Bounce: …
Roll Bounce: Word?
Me: Yeah…
Roll Bounce: Shiiiid, well what are you doing Tuesday?
Me: Whatever you have planned.
The phone began to ring, vibrating in my hands and startling me out of my damn socks. Xeno's name flashed across the screen and I swiped to answer the call.
"Hello?"
"Texting is cool but I'd much rather hear your voice."
The feeling was absofuckinglutely mutual and her transparency kicked off butterflies in my stomach. She wasn't downplaying her feelings and not only was it refreshing, it was fucking terrifying. I didn't know how to act.
"I thought you might have been working or something. I figured you musicians keep crazy hours or whatever."
She laughed and goddamn talking to her was torture. I muted my phone so that I could whimper without fear of judgment.
"That's usually true, but I'm at home right now."
"You're home…in bed?" Why did I ask her that? Envisioning her in bed made my nipples bead and my heart rate speed up a little bit.
"I am."
Was I tripping, or did her voice get a little huskier?
"What you got on?"
Blinking rapidly, I pulled my phone away from my face and stared at it dumbly before bringing it back to my ear. "Huh?"
"I said, tell me more about why you moved."
"Oh." I laid on my stomach and propped my chin on my folded arms. "It goes back to that palm reading I had."
"The one I reminded you of?"
Smirking, I nodded, though she couldn't see me. "Yeah. That one." I waited, anticipating her next question.
"You gon' tell me or nah?"
I giggled. "I'll give you a summarized version. She basically told me that I needed to do something different or I would never have the love I deserved."
Xeno was quiet for so long that I would have thought we'd lost connection if I hadn't heard her breathing.
"Hello?"
"Yeah. I'm here." She cleared her throat. "So you moved."
"Not immediately, but eventually, yeah, I did."
"And my déjà vu made you think of that?"
I swallowed hard, staring down at my phone like the answer to her question sat on the screen. "Um, yeah."
The sound of rustling filtered through the line and held my breath as I waited for her response. Would she think I was saying that she had the love I deserved? Was that what I was saying? A half dozen questions flitted across my mind but then she said, "Interesting," before changing the subject completely, and allowing me to release that breath on a cloud of relief.
That was a line of conversation that I did not want to have. Not now, at least; not until I had a clear idea of what it meant for my life and how Xeno fit into it.