Between Her Lips 👄 & Lies
Quinn went quiet for a moment on the other end of the line.
“Too soon?” she asked softly.
Lashae sat up on the couch and rubbed the back of her neck. “I mean… Quinn, I just got back home. Mi still trying fi process everything.”
Quinn sighed. “Yuh know mi wasn’t trying fi pressure yuh, right?”
“I know.”
“Because if yuh don’t want it, just say so.”
Lashae’s heart dropped at the disappointment she heard creeping into Quinn’s voice.
“No, no. That’s not what I’m saying.”
“Then what are yuh saying?”
Lashae looked around her apartment. The place suddenly felt unfamiliar. Empty.
She thought about the mornings at Mae’s café. The smell of fresh coffee. Quinn singing while she worked. The sound of laughter from her family. The warmth she felt every single day she was there.
Then she looked at her bare walls.
“I’m scared,” Lashae finally admitted.
The line fell silent.
“Scared of what?” Quinn asked gently.
“Leaving everything behind. Moving to another country. Starting over.”
Quinn chuckled softly.
“Lashae.”
“Hm?”
“When yuh came to Jamaica, yuh wasn’t looking fi me.”
A small smile tugged at Lashae’s lips.
“No.”
“Yuh wasn’t looking fi my family either.”
“No.”
“But somehow yuh found both.”
Lashae laughed quietly.
“True.”
“Sometimes the best things happen when yuh stop planning every little detail.”
Lashae could hear voices in the background. It sounded like Quinn was outside with her family.
“Look,” Quinn continued. “Mi not asking yuh fi pack up tomorrow.”
“Good.”
That made Quinn laugh.
“I’m asking if yuh can see a future here.”
Lashae swallowed hard.
A future.
Not a vacation.
Not a visit.
A life.
The answer came to her quicker than she expected.
“Yeah,” she whispered.
Quinn became quiet.
“Yeah?” she asked.
“Yeah. I can.”
A huge grin spread across Quinn’s face.
“Then that’s enough fi me.”
Lashae smiled.
“That’s enough?”
“That’s enough.”
They sat in comfortable silence for a few seconds before Quinn spoke again.
“Besides.”
“What?”
“Mi already told everybody yuh coming back.”
Lashae’s eyes widened.
“You did what?!”
Quinn burst out laughing.
“Mi joking! Mi joking!”
“Quinn!”
But hearing Quinn laugh made Lashae laugh too.
For the first time since leaving Jamaica, the distance between them didn’t feel quite so far.
Lashae leaned her head back against the couch and listened to Quinn breathe on the other end of the phone.
She was exhausted.
Not physically.
Emotionally.
She was tired of learning new people. Tired of investing years into relationships only to realize she was building a future alone.
“Domo really messed me up, yuh know,” Lashae admitted quietly.
Quinn didn’t interrupt.
Lashae appreciated that.
“She was always focused on everybody else. Everybody else’s problems. Everybody else’s drama.”
“Hm.”
“But when it came to us…” Lashae shook her head. “Nothing.”
She stared out the window.
“I kept waiting for things to change. Waiting for her to get serious about life. A career. Goals. Something.”
Quinn remained silent, allowing her to continue.
“I don’t need somebody rich,” Lashae said. “But I need somebody who sees a future. Somebody who is building something.”
A soft chuckle came from Quinn.
“That sounds reasonable to me.”
Lashae smiled.
“I just got tired of carrying everything.”
The words felt heavier once they were spoken aloud.
She remembered paying bills.
Making plans.
Thinking about tomorrow.
While Domo seemed content drifting through life without direction.
“And then when things fell apart, I had to start over again.”
“Again?” Quinn asked softly.
“Again.”
Lashae laughed bitterly.
“New friends. New conversations. New people. Learning what they like. Learning what they don’t like.”
She shook her head.
“I’m tired of introductions.”
The line grew quiet.
Then Quinn spoke.
“What if yuh don’t have to start over?”
Lashae’s heart skipped.
“What do you mean?”
“What if this isn’t starting over?”
Her voice had become softer.
“What if this is the first time yuh actually found something worth building?”
Lashae couldn’t speak.
Because the truth was, Quinn didn’t feel new.
She felt familiar.
Safe.
Like home.
And that scared Lashae almost as much as it comforted her.
“I don’t know what being loved properly feels like,” Lashae confessed.
The admission hung between them.
For a few moments, Quinn said nothing.
Then she answered gently.
“Maybe.”
Lashae waited.
“Maybe that’s because nobody ever took the time to show yuh.”
A tear slipped down Lashae’s cheek before she could stop it.
And for the first time in a long time, she wondered what it would feel like if someone actually chose her every day—not because they needed her, but because they wanted her.
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