Frogs

TWENTY-EIGHT

"Did you have fun tonight?" Layne asks me as we get ready for bed. Yes, I'm sleeping over at my man's place again.

"Yes," I smile.

"I can't believe I missed you singing."

"Once in a lifetime, too," I joke as Layne sucks his teeth.

My mind recaps the events tonight; smoking with my baby, singing with Tanya, feeling embarrassed as I was singing one of Chris's songs as Chris watched!...and Tanya...her words as she hugged me.

"What?" Layne asks me, humor in his voice. Standing by his bed, I stay silent, looking at him as Tanya's voice echoes in my head; Thank you for this."What?" he asks again, his voice now turning serious.

"Tanya..."

"What about her?"

"I just...I feel like something bad is going to happen."

"Like what?" he asks, confused.

"I-I don't know...."

Layne steps towards me. He hold my forearms and stare deeply into my eyes.

"Nothing bad is going to happen to you," he tells me.

I shake my head, "No, not to me."

"...I don't under-"

"Tanya," I whispered, scratching my head. Are you listening?

"Tanya is safe. We dropped her off, remember?"

I nod. Then, "She said...."

"Said what?"

"She said, "Thank you for this."

"Babe," Layne laughs.

"I know. I sound stupid," I shake my head, quickly dismissing myself.

"You don't. Would calling her make you feel better?"

I nod at Layne's suggestion. "...I don't know her number, though," I realize. Damn. Layne gives me a soft chuckle.

"How can I ease your mind?" Layne asks as he pulls me into a hug, moving me side to side.

"Do you have more weed?" I giggle, craving to get high again.

"Yes, my little pothead," Layne laughs, kissing me on the forehead as he releases me.

"Shut up," I grin as I sit on his bed, moving towards my special spot as I wait for him.

"My innocent little pothead," he continues as he moves towards his stash.

As I overthink about Tanya, Layne rolls up by his dresser before moving to the bed. Layne lits up the joint, inhaling some before handing it to me. I gladly take it between my fingers as Layne undresses for bed; taking off his t-shirt and pair of jeans. Thoughts about Tanya faded away as I exhaled the smoke, staring at his Black plaid boxers. I pass the joint back to him after he relaxes into his side of the bed.

"We haven't been on a date in a while," I tell him, making myself comfortable on his chest.

"I know," he agrees. "Sorry about that."

"I wanna go dancing," I tell, smiling at the random idea. Layne's bedroom quickly fills with smoke as we rotate the joint back and forth to each other.

"We can."

"Like slow dancing."

"We can," Layne says again, smiling.

"When?"

"Tomorrow."

"Ehhh, I need like a day to get ready."

Layne laughs, "For what?"

"To find the perfect dress, exfoliate my face and body, learn some sexy dance moves, you know, all that good stuff," I list.

"Sounds like a lot of work."

Ignoring Layne's comment, I go on. "I can picture it.  A beautiful evening. Me in a sexy red dress. You naked."

Layne bursts into laughter,  shaking his head. Then, "I see it's working," he says, referring to the weed.

I gasp, another idea coming to mind. "We can have it at my place. The living room is big enough for a dance floor. And it'll just be me and you," I say, remembering that Shana has a weekend work trip.

"Mmh, let's do it...I should have a tux somewhere," he ponders, staring into his closet.

"Sunday is good for you, right?"

Layne nods, "Should be." I smile, doing a little excited dance. Layne laughs, kissing my cheek."I love it when you get excited," he says before a yawn and passing his amazing weed back to me.

"You have really good weed."

"Thank you," Layne chuckles, yawning again.

"Like really good. I feel like I could write a poem about it," I say, watching more smoke rise to the ceiling. Layne laughs again. And I bring my attention to his knuckles. His big pink knuckles. "I feel like I could write a poem about your knuckles," I tell him as I play with them.

"Go ahead."

"I love your knuckles."

"Mmhmm," Layne says, taking another puff before putting the joint out, neither of us wanting anymore.

"I love your knuckles," I repeat. "I'm in love with everything about your body...Maybe because they are branches of you," I said quietly. Hmm, maybe I should start writing again. Layne turns on his side. Sighing as he faces me with his eyes closed. Leaning closer, I press my forehead into his shoulder."I think Tanya is going to kill herself," I whisper into him.

I feel another warm, soft exhale release from Layne's lips. I sit up, quickly noticing that he has fallen asleep. I shake my head, almost glad that he didn't hear me....I don't know why. Maybe because I'm sleepy too?

"Goodnight," I say in a louder tone, smiling at his closed eyelids.

"What's wrong?" he asks, his sleepy eyelids lifting at me.

"Nothing." I lean down to kiss him. "Night, night," I then whisper, leaning over him to turn the light off.

"Night, night," Layne mumbles, drifting slowly.