Babineaux Bléu

13

Emotionally Available

Lyle gently shook a sleeping Esther and she opened her tired eyes.

"I'm going to head home now. Do you need me to help you upstairs?" He whispered.

She managed to drift off, impervious to the noise from the kitchen. She and Lyle played a few rounds of chess, him losing every match and it had nothing to do with being distracted from Siani and her company's endless conversation, she was just that damn good.

After two hours of torment, Jacob finally mentioned that he had to leave and he was all too happy to hear it. Lyle watched the two pass by, waving to Jacob after he threw a nod his way and rolled his eyes when they were out of sight.

"Where's Siani?"

Lyle looked up, catching a glimpse of her before she disappeared behind the wall, climbing the steps. It was clear to him that she was still avoiding him and there was no need to stay now that Esther was exhausted.

"Upstairs."

"Yeah...yeah, sugar, that'd be much appreciated." She said, gradually bringing herself to her feet and they headed up the steps too.

He helped Esther into her bed and said goodnight, closing the door behind himself. He looked at Siani's bedroom door a few steps away, tempted to knock, but fought the urge and made his way downstairs.

***

Siani removed the towel from her head, letting her damp curls fall all around her. She threw on a pair of old shorts that barely covered her behind, a plain white tee and knee-high tube socks.

In search for her phone, she looked around her room momentarily before she remembered she left it in the kitchen.

Taking two steps at a time, she entered the quiet room and saw her phone on the counter. A list of messages and notifications greeted her, but the one from Jacob stood out to her the most and she tapped it open to read.

"I'll humble myself and take that L. You can cook girl.👌🏽👏🏽"

She smirked and quickly replied.

"I'm a fair person, so I guess I'll make it an even tie.🙄😂"

Turning on her heel, she walked to the pantry and pulled out a cup. Her phone chimed on the island while moving towards the refrigerator to pour herself a glass of sweet iced tea.

Lyle revealed himself, leaned over on the granite after the heavy door closed and Siani jumped, spilling the beverage over her arms and onto the floor.

"Doux Jésus! Sweet Jesus!" She breathed. "What in the actual—?"

"I wasn't trying to scare you." He moved to help.

"Don't." She snapped, placing her glass and pitcher onto the counter, shaking her wet hands.

"Just let me help you."

He watched her grab a good amount of paper towels and place them over the spill.

"I got it, Lyle, please. Just go."

"I want to talk."

"I really don't care to hear what it is you have to say." She knelt down and cleaned up the mess. It was in that moment she realized how exposed she was to him and instantly became self-conscious. "Go home, Lyle."

"You hate me that much that you won't even have a civil conversation with me?" He asked, searching her face when she stood.

"You're a manipulative emotional bully, there's no civility in that." She shook her head, discarding the saturated napkins.