Simi shrugged. “Whatever happened to community spirit?”
Aminah’s eyes narrowed and Shanti rolled hers from the sofa she and Aminah were sat on, bracketed by Kofi and Ty. Chi cleared her throat diplomatically.
“We’re not playing Never Have I Ever, Zack. We’re playing the numbers drinking game,” Chioma said with a tight smile from her position cross-legged on a cushion.
Since his unceremonious entrance, Zack had succeeded in making everyone feel slightly uncomfortable. He rolled through the party with his crew and without shame, feeling like a jurisdiction unto himself, knowing that Ty was too peaceable to say shit. Ty didn’t like trouble, and so, though his smile dimmed a little, he welcomed Zack in, let him divert the party to another gear. Ty figured we would get the drinking games Zack suggested out of the way before continuing the party, just to shut him up. This was of course under the misguided notion that Zack wasn’t obsessed with the sound of his own voice.
Zack hadn’t said a word to me since he arrived, but he was always near, always talking around me, beside me. Malakai had taken my hand, squeezed it, looked me in the eye, and said, “You sure you’re okay, Scotch? We can go.” And I’d replied with an easy nah, that there was no way I would leave anywhere because of Zack. Now I slightly regretted that decision as Zack repeated his question and necked his drink, looking straight at me.
“Come on.” He grinned. “Can’t only be me who’s shared the love.”
He wasn’t expecting an answer; he just wanted my attention. He also wanted to remind Malakai that he’d accessed me first.
Zack directed his gaze at Malakai. “Ay, that’s right. Who was it again? Chioma, Shanti, and some others, you been about, innit?”
He was trying to rile Malakai. I felt Malakai tense, but his voice remained level as he looked at Zack. “Is there a point to this?”
Zack laughed. “No vex. Look, man, I’m just trying to get to know you. There must be something special about you to make you the first guy on campus that Kiki claims.” Zack had strangely mutated the way he spoke when talking to Malakai, slackened his tongue to mimic Kai’s Naija-flavored south London accent. It made me feel queasy.
His eyes roamed over to me. “Because you’re picky, innit? Any man that’s had a chance to be with you is blessed.”
I held his gaze. “Anyone want a snack? Crisp bowl is empty. . . . I’ll be right back.”
Aminah shifted to follow me but I shook my head. Malakai’s brows furrowed gently.
I forced a smile out, murmuring, “I’m good. He’s gonna wait a minute and then follow me out. Let him. I need to deal with this by myself.” Malakai didn’t look convinced, but he released a tensed-jaw nod.
I’d just emptied a bag of Chilli Heatwave Doritos into a large, far-too-fancy crystal bowl in the sprawling farmhouse kitchen when I felt his presence behind me.
“You’re a prick, Zack.”
I put the bowl down and turned around, leaning against the counter to look up at his infuriatingly easy grin. He bent forward to grab a crisp and popped it into his mouth. “Don’t play like it’s not what you like about me.”
“I promise, I like nothing about you. Why are you here?”
He shrugged a shoulder. He was, of course, wearing a muscle T-shirt. He technically looked good because he always technically looked good. Everything was technically measured to the sum of Handsome but all I felt for him at this moment was repulsion. His pretty made my teeth ache, his cologne was suffocating, and his eyes had a sickly shine to them. Was it possible for a vagina to invert?
He stepped closer to me. “Ain’t it obvious? Kiki, I’m here for you. I’m not an idiot. You kissed him to make me jealous and it worked. Not talking to you is killing me.”
It was a premise hinged on the baffling delusion that we ever talked in the first place. I smiled sweetly. “Then die.”
As usual, my words didn’t land. He was living in his own American-teen soap opera. This was a pivotal moment in Kingsford Valley. He squinted, reaching out to caress my face. I shifted and his hand dropped.
“I fucking hate seeing you with him. You can drop the act—”
“Zack, I’m with Malakai because I want to be with him.” The lie didn’t taste like one.
“Babe.”
“I’m very close to a bread knife, right now. It’s serrated.”
“We can do this for real, this time. I see you, going to parties, out there, now. Imagine us doing that together? Ruling this place? Every king needs a queen.”