6.

6.

 

  “Why don’t you just move to New York with me?” Levi asked after Parrish told her about the argument with Justice.

“What?” Parrish asked with a piece of banana in her mouth.

“I mean it. I’ve got my new place in the city and you know I move in soon; finally getting out of my mom’s place.”

“New York? What am I gonna do in New York?”

“Be together… with me.”

“You mean… be with myself while you’re on the road every day for work and only come home every once in a while?”

“It won’t be like that. Maybe I’ll… quit driving the bus and get a job in the city.”

“You and I both know you don’t mean that.”

“If it’ll make you stay, I do mean it.” Levi convinced her. “It’ll be a new start for the both of us. It’ll be a good thing.”

“I don’t know if living together will really be a ‘good thing’.”

Levi sucked her teeth and replied, “You’re such a buzz kill, man.”

Parrish could hear the irritation in Levi’s voice. She knew this conversation had already gone down-hill. She softened her tone and tried to recover the already-ruined conversation.

“I’m not trying to be, I just want to be realistic. That’s a risky decision to make. Taking a step like that.”

“That’s what makes it so much better and spontaneous.”

“I get it, Levity. I just don’t think we’re ready for something like that yet.”

Levity sighed, angrily and said, “You’ve known me almost two years. And you don’t think we’re ready to live together?”

“The majority of that time was Facebook, emails, phone calls, online video chats…” Parrish explained. “If you really think about it technically, we only really met three months ago.”

“So?!”

“So… this is something we shouldn’t rush into, especially since I’ve never lived with anyone before.”

“Man, forget you, then. F**k it.”

“Levity…”

“Don’t ‘Levity’ me. You want to move forward with everything in your life but me!”

“That isn’t true!”

“It is true!” Levi yelled. “You’re over there talking about getting your own place and living with Ruby and whatever the f**k else you’ve told me about. But where do I fit into any of that?”

“You fit! You’re always going to be a part of everything. But we don’t need to live together to be together.”

“The fact that you’d rather live with Ruby instead of your girlfriend tells me everything I need to know.” Levi said, angrily. “Why don’t y’all just be together then? Since you treat her more like your girlfriend than you treat me.”

“What?!” Parrish yelled. “I don’t even know what you’re talking about.”

“Oh, whatever. You spend all of your time with her, you call her more than you call me, she knows more about you; things that I should know, and then on top of all of that, you’d rather move into her apartment and share your first apartment experience with her instead of me. Figures.”

“Oh, f**k you!” Parrish yelled. “You think you’ve got it all figured out, right?”

“Yeah, actually, I do.”

“Well, did you ever think that maybe if I could trust you or we didn’t fight like this every single time we spoke, then I’d think we could live together?!”

“Oh, let it f*****g go, Parrish! I did not sleep with Dana!”

“Yeah, just like you ‘didn’t’ ask Tammy to send naked pictures to your phone. You ‘don’t’ text Crystal and Domonica more than you talk to me. You ‘didn’t’ tell Myra you were single the last time I was at your house and you ‘don’t’ complain about missing Bryn every time something goes wrong between us. Shall I continue?”

“You’re such a f*****g child. Always bringing up s**t from the past when we’re supposed to be moving forward.”

“Well, I wouldn’t have to if they never f*****g happened!”

“Oh, go to hell.” Levi said, before hanging up.

“Well, since you’re gonna be there, I’d rather save myself the trip!” Parrish screamed into the phone, knowing there was no longer anyone on the other line.

She set her cell phone down and cupped her face into her hands. She could feel her tears running freely through the creases of her fingers as she gasped for air. She let out a deep breath, wiped her face of the wetness and dialed Ruby’s number.

“Hello?” Ruby said on the other line.

“Yeah. It’s me.” Parrish said, her voice cracking.

“…What did she say?”

The fact that Ruby knew the drill meant to Parrish that there was obviously a lot more wrong with her relationship than she could even begin to realize.