New People by Danzy Senna

Author:Danzy Senna
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2017-07-31T23:00:00+00:00

They are already singing “Happy Birthday” when she gets back to the table. The cake is a work of high art—a sublime golden confection, created especially for Lisa by her friends at the bakery. Maria slides in beside Khalil, mouthing the words, her eyes now fixed on the redhead, Shura, who sings hardest and loudest of all. Maria feels a little better now that she knows the girl came alone. And if she really did just make it through a medical calamity, this means that she was probably not fooling around with boys. Still, she is sitting too close to the poet and keeps flashing goofy smiles at him while she sings along.

Khalil puts a hand on Maria’s knee. Everything all right?

She picks up a wineglass and gulps what’s left in it. I think your sister hates me.

She doesn’t hate you.

I’m sorry about the doll.

Hey. Look at me.

What?

It’s okay. I forgive you. And you know what else?

What’s that?

I love you.

He tugs her chin toward him. He begins to kiss her soft and slow on the lips. She can feel Lisa’s eyes on them, and she returns the kiss as best she can, thinking, Either I’m wooden or he’s wooden—one of us is wooden.

She hears Lisa say, You two are killing me. Go get a room.

Maria kisses him back, but her mind is on the poet, and the horrifying possibility that he is watching them go at it. She pulls abruptly away, wipes her lips, and looks over at him.

To her relief, he hasn’t seen a thing. He’s too busy eating his slice of birthday cake with full concentration. He savors small bites like a child. She thinks it is perhaps the most beautiful thing she has ever seen, the poet enjoying his slice of cake. And as if he can hear her thoughts, he glances up from his work of eating and catches her eye. She doesn’t smile and he doesn’t either. They watch each other across the table beneath the chili-pepper lights and she thinks he looks a little unsettled by what is passing between them. He frowns and looks down at his cake, then up at her again, chewing what is left in his mouth slowly before swallowing.

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