PARADOX

PDX34

January 18th 2023
Dallas, Texas
12:57 pm

"You turned your read receipt off?" Ro questioned as he bit into his chicken taco that they'd just picked up from a taco spot down the street. They weren't the best to Amina, as turned off as Amina was by the hood, she had to admit that all the best taco spots were over there. The aesthetic restaurants focused way more on how things looked, versus how things tasted. Tacos were something you couldn't mess up though, so she wasn't complaining. "Amina." Ro called out, snapping her out of her daze.

"My read receipt always off." She finally replied as she looked down at her phone screen, staring at the last message Melo sent her from a couple hours ago. Her thumbs did a little dance as she contemplated what to type. After giving it some thought, she didn't want Melo to feel like she was dragging him along, so she decided that she'd take a step back. Amina was a firm believer in ghosting people being a fucked up thing to do, so she was going to pen him a little message, with the help of Ro.

"What would you say if you were in my shoes?" Amina questioned. Ro sat his taco down and grabbed his styrofoam cup that had watermelon agua fresca in it. "Nothing—Y'all wasn't that deep in for you to be explaining yourself." Ro slightly shrugged, he was right, but doing that would feel so wrong. Amina knew that Melo had taken a major liking to her, so doing this at least felt like common courtesy.

"So, you just stop talking to people?" Amina questioned as she dug her spoon into her Spanish rice and took a bite. "Hell yeah. First mistake in life is thinking people owe you anything—it might be the nice thing to do, but nobody owes you shit." Ro explained, Amina slightly made her face up. She didn't agree at all, common courtesy was the one thing we all owed each other. Amina looked back down at her phone and began to type.

Hey Melo, this has been on my mind for a while...I really enjoyed getting to know you, but I don't think we're a fit for each other. I think you're really nice but there's no possible way to take things slower than we already are... and I don't want you to feel like I'm just dry dragging you along.

"How's this?" Amina questioned as she passed her phone over to Ro, he slightly bit down on his lip as his eyes darted side to side while reading the short paragraph. "Sound like a letter from HR." He spoke, causing them both to laugh.

"Nigga finna get fired—literally." Ro added, making them laugh even harder. Without further thought, Amina pressed the blue circle to send the message before sitting her phone on the table and grabbing her food. "A girl ever sent you one of those messages?" Amina questioned. She'd never had a platonic relationship with a man before, so she liked hearing his takes on different takes from things as a man who didn't see her in a carnal way.

Ro shook his head no, "Once the vibe change, I'm checked out—thankfully they just get the memo." He explained. Amina used her spoon to cut her next bite of her enchilada. This was her first time having a seafood enchilada, and it was pretty good. A nice mix of herbs and spices added toward the overall flavor. She had to confess that the enchilada was 100x better than the tacos and the dish would definitely be one of her go to meals now.

"Honestly, when you called him a different name, he shoulda knew then." Ro added, Amina sighed. Her phone lit up, leading her to believe that Ro spoke him up. Amina used her free hand to grab her phone from the table.

Melo
Knew it was coming🤣🤣somebody had your attention the whole time. It's cool tho.

Amina didn't bother to reply, she locked her phone and sat it back down on the table. "You been shooting a lot lately?" Amina questioned Ro, she looked up to see him occupied with his food. "Yeah, a lot of Valentine's Day type shit and a lot of head shots." He explained, Amina nodded her head.