***

"We'll pick back up on Thursday"

I closed my notebook and stuffed it into my bag. I attempted to pay attention today and somewhat succeeded. I was only on TikTok for half the class instead of the entirety of the class.

"Ms. Baldwin" My professor says to me motioning me over to him.

"Yes?" I asked putting on the strap of my backpack on my shoulder.

"How's that research paper coming along?" He questioned as he stuffed loose sheets of paper into his satchel bag.

"It's going well. Thank you for the extension I'll have it into you before midnight"

He nods his head "Perfect"

I didn't start that damn paper. It was about to be a long day. The 10 pages won't write themselves.

I walked out of the building and put my AirPods in my ears. Shoot My Shot by Yung Bleu began to play. I mouthed the words as I walked down the street. In my peripheral vision, I could see a car driving slowly beside me but I refused to look over. I sped up my pace and turned down my music a little so I could be more attentive.

"Damn why you moving so fast?"

I recognized the voice so I glanced over and it was, sure enough, the guy from Starbucks. I stopped in my tracks and turned towards him. I crossed my arms across my chest and shifted my weight to my back leg. "Whatchu want?"

It's been about two weeks since I've given him my number. I totally forgot all about him.

"C'mon get in, where you headed?"

"Sorry. I don't get in the car with strangers" I reply and continued my stride to my car. He pulls off and I looked at his all-black rolls Royce wraith. The shit was nice. Definitely didn't see those around here too often. He pulls over and his door swings open.

He was dressed in black jeans, a black t-shirt, and a black bomber jacket. This was my first time seeing him in casual attire and he honestly looked even better in just these jeans.

"I know I was supposed to call I had business to handle" Q speaks as he approaches me.

"It's cool" I roll my eyes continuing to my destination.

"I still wanna take you on that date I promised you" He replies walking with me.

"I'm busy" I reply back not paying him any attention.

"I didn't even say a date yet" He chuckles. I could feel him looking at me but I kept my eyes straight ahead.

"When?"

"How about r-"

"I'm busy" I cut him off before he could finish the question. He grabs my hand slightly causing me to stop walking. Q looks at me with those dark brown almond-shaped eyes and my attitude immediately went away.

"I could've texted you and let you know what was up. My bad, I was wrong for ghostin you like that. But I just drove over an hour to see your beautiful face, at least let me drive you to wherever you're going" His thumb rubs the back of my hand as he spoke. He never broke eye contact with me when he spoke, this man was fine as fuck and he knew that.

I nod my head "Okay fine" I give in shrugging my shoulders.

"Cool" He nods his head. I could tell he was trying to hide his smile as we walked over to his car.

He opens the passenger door for me "Thank you" I sit down in the seat and buckled my seat belt. He gets in the car and starts it up.

"This is nice" I say looking around at the interior of the car. The car was super clean and still had that new car smell.

"Thank you" He pulls off from the parking spot, "Where you headed?"

"Just to my car, up the street"

"You coming from class?" Q asks glancing over at me.

"Yeah" I nod my head.

"Ain't no parks by your classes?"

"It is, but it's like $300 for a parking pass for the semester. I can just walk" I say with a shrug.

"When winter comes around you gon freeze your ass off"

"I'm a big girl, I'll be fine," I say with a chuckle laying my head back against the headrest.

"You hungry?" Q pulls up to a red light and turns his attention towards me.

"I could eat"

He nods his head approvingly and continues to drive once the light turns green. I took my phone out of my pocket and sent a text to Michelle letting her know I wouldn't be coming straight home like I usually do. Int'l Players Anthem was playing lowly through the car. "What you know about this?" I say turning up the volume.

"Nah what you know about us this" He chuckles bobbing his head to the beat.

"So how did you find me?"

"I was just gonna ride around until I saw you" Q laughs.

"Wow. Such a smart plan" I say sarcastically.

"Thank you. It took me a couple of days to come up with it"

When we finally arrived at the restaurant valet came to my door and opened it. I didn't even know where we were, but whatever restaurant it was I'm underdressed.

"I don't think I'm dressed for this," I tell Q looking down at my black leggings, all-white crew socks, and shattered backboard Jordans.

"You look good" He says looking me up and down. I felt butterflies in my belly. We began to walk to the door and I reached to open it.

"Don't touch that door" Q says assertively.

"Oop. My bad" I hold my hands up in defense. He opens the door for me and I step inside. He walks up to the hostess. There were many people sitting around waiting to be seated.

"I have a reservation at 2 pm for Quincy."

"Follow me" She grabs two menus and we followed behind her as she led us to a booth. I slid in the booth sitting my purse down beside me.

"Reservation?" I question raising an eyebrow at him.

"I knew you'd be hungry" Q chuckles looking over the menu. I glanced over the menu and even though I already knew I was going to get pasta. We ordered our meals along with our drinks.

"I like your watch," I say looking at the AP watch on his wrist. It looked just like the one my dad was showing me the other day, "So what do you do? You got a nice car and nice jewelry and everything"

"I do a lot of stuff. Got a few businesses, a couple of business partners. Gotta get this money" Q shrugs his shoulders. He said a lot but nothing at the same time.

"Must be nice" I chuckle sipping my iced tea.

"You'll get there one day, stay in school. I should've stayed in school prolly would've changed my life"

"Ugh, you sound like my dad" I laugh rolling my eyes. "Q's short for Quincy huh? That's cute it fits you"

"Oh, so you think I'm cute?" He smirks at me.

"See I didn't say allat" I laugh rolling my eyes at him, "You ight I guess"

"Awe damn you're a hater" He laughs shaking his head at me "You're beautiful though, ion got no problem admitting that"

"Oh stop it you're gonna make a pimp like me blush" I smile looking down tucking my hair behind my ear, doing the Debby Ryan move.

"I like your dimples, I'm just now noticing em"

"Thanks" I smile causing my dimples to appear even more. "So you said you live in New York?"

Quincy nods his head yeah "I just moved out there recently. I'm tryna get this art shit off the ground"

"You're an artist? What's your style?"

"I do graffiti"

"Oooh can I see something" I rub my hands together.

He nods his head and pulls out his phone. As he searched for a picture the waitress came back with our drinks.

"Here's something I'm working on now." Q hands over his phone.

"Did you actually do this or are you just posing for the picture?" I question zooming in on the picture.

"Nah that's all me" He chuckles.

"You're talented as fuck. This is dope" I say still looking at his artwork, "How long have you been doing this?" I asked handing him his phone back.

"I've been drawing since I was little. I just got into graffiti a couple years ago"

"If all your shit is raw like this, you're definitely gonna take off in no time"

"Thank you, I really appreciate that" Quincy smiles at me causing me to melt. I don't know what it is about him today but he was definitely more attractive now than the first time we met. We just stay there gazing at each other.

"Shrimp scampi?" I hear the waitress say causing me to break eye contact.

"That's me" I say moving my cup out of the way so she could sit the plate down. I didn't like how nervous and jittery he was making me feel so I kept my eyes glued to my plate. I wasn't the type to get butterflies this easily so this was something new to me. There was an awkward silence as we both sat and ate our food.

"So what're you looking for?" Quincy asks me.

"Huh?" I raise an eyebrow looking up from my plate "Whatchu mean?"

"You looking for a boyfriend, a friend, somebody to just vibe with, a friend with benefits? Like wassup? Ion wanna waste either of our time" He replies getting straight to the point.

"Ummm it depends, what're you looking for?"

"I got enough friends" He states before eating a piece of his steak.

I nod my head "I do too"

"Alright then cool, we on the same page" He nods his head. I appreciated him wanting us to confirm our intentions with each other out the gate so there's no confusion down the road. I couldn't count on my hands how many of my situationships failed due to a lack of communication. Either I wanted a relationship and they didn't or I wanted to be single and they wanted to be in a relationship.

Once we were done eating we got back in his car and headed back to the parking lot where my car was.

"Thanks. Lunch was really good" I tell him as he pulled up beside my car.

"No problem" He shifts the gear to park.

"So are you actually gonna text me this time?" I questioned as I unbuckled my seatbelt.

"Yeah. I gotchu" He chuckles.

"Alright. I'll talk to you later" I got out of the car and dug around in my purse for my car keys. I unlocked the car doors and climbed inside. I tossed my purse to the passenger seat and started up the car. A-Team by Travis Scott instantly began to play as I backed out of the parking spot. We both drove out the parking lot going in opposite directions.