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THE NAUSEA WAS GONE BUT the cravings had kicked in with a vengeance.
Ayoluwa sat on the couch, switching between a tub of vegan cookies and cream flavored ice cream resting in her lap and an open pickle jar on the coffee table in front of her as she watched the sunset through the living room window.
This had been the earliest Ayoluwa had been home all week and she was gonna enjoy it.
Firefly was playing with a chew toy on the floor, creating the only noise in the house.
Her phone rang on the coffee table next to the jar and she groaned but answered it, "Hello?"
"Are you busy?" Robert's voice answered.
"Um... It depends on what you're about to ask. I'm really comfortable right now." Ayoluwa admitted then slipped a spoonful of the dessert between her lips.
Robert chuckled, "I'm in the neighborhood. Can I stop by?"
Ayoluwa narrowed her eyes, "How are you in the neighborhood when we're not supposed to be recording today and you-."
"Damn, you ask a lot of questions. Yes or no?"
Ayoluwa kissed her teeth at the first remark, "Yeah. C'mon by."
Robert chuckled again, the sound low and raspy, "Aight. Give me five minutes."
As soon as he hung up, Ayoluwa rushed to put the ice cream and the pickles back in the kitchen and then surveyed her place.
"Shit, this place is a mess. And I look a mess. Wait, why do I care? I shouldn't care. You don't care. We don't care, right Firefly?"
At the sound of her name, Firefly stopped bitting the squeaky toy and tilted her head, one ear flopping over a little.
"Right." Ayoluwa brushed off her long t-shirt from high school that hid her growing baby bump and the gray biker shorts and matching fuzzy socks before carefully pulling half of her locs up then releasing them to be free.
"Ugh, why do I care? Why do I care? Why do I care?" Ayoluwa whispered to herself in rapid succession.
Dating or sleeping with someone that you work with was tacky and unprofessional and once you crossed that line, you could never go back.
So why exactly, was Ayoluwa so self aware about how she looked and why was she feeling a little nervous?
She began to hum Brandy's Put That On Everything to calm her nerves, an old habit from her youth, as she picked up dog toys and guitar picks from the floors and the counters to put them in the correct places.
The doorbell rang making Ayoluwa jump a bit and Firefly to stand on all feet and begin to bark.
Ayoluwa pointed at her dog, "Stay."
Then she opened the door to reveal a smiling Robert and a darkening sky.
"Hey." Ayoluwa pushed the door open a little wider so that he could come in.
"What's good?" Robert slipped in past her and Ayoluwa closed the door but not before checking that the street was still empty.
"I was just chilling," Ayoluwa said in a dismissive tone, "What are you doing in my neck of the woods?"
Robert whirled around, "I have a song idea for Better. I've been thinking about that song on and off since you played it and I have a verse."
Ayoluwa pursed her lips, "I wasn't trying to work today, I just wanted to go today without singing for work, if possible."
"I understand that. Just listen. Let me play your piano, superstar." Robert nodded towards the black Steinway closer to the three tiered living room window.
Ayoluwa had to force herself not to grin, "Yeah. Yeah, go ahead."
Robert slid onto the bench and began to play the melody to Better, "Come so many miles and memories from the block, feels like I jumped on a silver bird and never came back. I never get to see you but you always hold me down."
Ayoluwa walked over and leaned over a little to rest the upper part of her body against and on top of the piano to watch him play and sing.
Robert's singing voice matched his speaking one, husky, melodious and impossible to tune out, "It's like I never get a minute, feels like I'm never not on tour, sometimes I start to miss you, what am I doing all this for?"
He looked up at her and Ayoluwa had to blink twice before remembering that he was probably expecting an answer, "I love that. I still need to work the first chorus for a guy. Your voice is so nice."
"Thanks, superstar," Robert smirked up at her as his fingers continued to play the melody of the song.
"Superstar?" Ayoluwa questioned, "Where's that coming from?"
"Let's see..." Robert pretended to think, "Three and a half years in, and you have one Grammy nomination, three VMAs, Jimmy Fallon, number one song on the chart for six months-."
"Okay! I still have a long ass way to go," Ayoluwa sat next to him on the piano bench.
"Humble. I like that shit." Robert noted.
Ayoluwa rolled her eyes a little, trying not to let herself become too intoxicated by the rich smell of his cologne.
"This place is nice," Robert commented, his eyes on an art piece of a black woman with her oversized afro painted gold so that it could resemble a crown.
"Thanks. I've never lived alone before," Ayoluwa confessed, "Even when I did move out of my grandma's old house, I was living in this weird ass apartment in East L.A with my sister and her boyfriend. It still feels weird sometimes, coming home to no one but Firefly."
Robert stopped playing the instrument and put one hand on her bare knee, making sure that he held her gaze, "Aye. It gets easier, you know?"
Ayoluwa nodded then pursed her lips a little.
Robert's eyes drifted down to her mouth and he licked his bottom lip a little before turning back to the piano and beginning to play.
NOTE FROM KY Y'all really don't fuck with rob? 😭 vote & comment, porfa!
