Reeka had a solo cup in her hand, her hips popping in rhythm. Narri was leaned back laughing, one arm in the air, holding a slice of pizza and doing her best body roll.
They didn’t see her at first.
Then Narri turned and froze.
“BINE!!” Narri screamed, arms waving. “YESSSSSSSSSS BITCH!!”
“You look like a young jawn, Bine!” Reeka smiled.
Sabine laughed, wiping under her eyes again just as the first notes of Rihanna’s“What’s My Name”blared through the speakers. That beat—those opening lyrics—it was too much.
Oh na na…what’s my name?
“No crying right now,” Narri grabbed her hand. “Come dance, bestie! Right now!”
Sabine let herself be pulled. She didn’t fight it. Narri twirled her like they were back at campus parties, yelling out lyrics at the top of their lungs. Reeka joined, cheeks red from laughing.
They found the middle of the dance floor and let it all go. People moved around them, but they were the sun in that moment, spinning, singing, rhythmless.
Sabine laughed so hard her stomach hurt. Her cheeks burned. Her eyes were glossy, but it didn’t matter. This was joy. This was where it started. Familiar and fragile and full. She hadn’t even noticed him yet.
Adair stood near the drinks table, just like he had back then. Leaning, watching. His red cup in hand, gaze steady and locked on her. And this time, much like the first time?—
He was already in love.
“The square root of sixty-nine is eight some, right? Cause I been tryna work it out, ohhh!” Narri and Sabine sang into their fist mic.
“Good weed, white wine, I come alive in the nighttime!” Reeka rapped. “Okayyy, away we go…”
“Only thing we have on is the radio-ooooooo!”
“Let it play!” the three of them screamed together.
Adair told himself he was playing it cool, keeping his distance. Letting her soak it in without pressure but the truth was, he couldn’t move. Couldn’t even blink right. Sabine looked so much like the girl he met in 2010, it rattled him but it wasn’t the dress or the shoes or the song that got him.
It was her smile.
That full, radiant, big-ass smile that used to knock the wind out of him. She was glowing. Crying and dancing and laughing like joy wasn’t a luxury—it was her birthright.
And he just stood there. Holding his cup. Heart on fire.
“You breathing nigga?” Tate bumped his shoulder.
Exhaling, Adair realized he wasn’t. “Shit, barely.”
Tate laughed as he watched his own dream girl twirl on the dance floor, smile wide, glowing, most likely from another life she chose to carry from him. She was his blessing. “I ain’t gon’ lie, I know this about you and Bine, but all I see is my girl from 2010 too.”
They stood in silence again, the music loud, the memories louder. Adair chose that moment to tell his friend some truth.
“I’m tellin’ you now, don’t wait too long. Don’t let whatever pride or fear or dumb shit you holdin’ keep you from speakin’ up. Talk to her, don’t let it fester. Don’t let her wonder. I know what that kind of silence does to a woman who already been through hell. I know what it did to mine.”
Tate swallowed. Adair finally looked away from Sabine, just for a second, and turned to face him.
“You love her?”
“Yeah.”
“Then act like it.”