Read Shattered for Free Online

future.
    Later, when Audri showed up in front of my R Street apartment building, I stepped out the door in my royal-blue outfit. I ain’t wanna hurt her too much with the nude dress. My hair and makeup was flawless, too. Audri looked cute in her black Lacoste polo, some jeans, and some fly Jordans. Her Nationals cap was cocked. She raised her shades for a second, like she was getting a better look, and then she smiled. She closed her phone, then said, “Hey, you.”
    “Hey,” I said, getting inside.
    “You look good.”
    “Thanks. You do, too.”
    “So you wanna get something to eat first?”
    “Yeah.”
    I listened to music as she drove, not knowing where she was taking me, but we ended up on H Street in Chinatown. Audri parked, and then we squeezed inside Matchbox, which always stayed crowded. It was a long wait to get a table, and it was too many people there to really talk, so we ate without saying much. I couldn’t believe she still had her shades on inside the restaurant, but I ain’t mention it. When we was done eating, she asked me if I knew how to shoot pool.
    “No, but I can learn.”
    Audri smiled and led me to the parking garage. In the car, she asked me how old I was, where I worked, and how long I been single. She told me she lived uptown on Kenyon Street, that she was twenty-two, and that she worked in a mailroom downtown.
    We ended up at a pool hall on Benning Road. I had seen it before when I used to live on Nineteenth Street, but I ain’t never go inside. Audri seemed like she been playing for a while, the way she lined the balls up and sharpened her stick. When she cracked the balls apart with her first hit, two balls went flying down holes. I was impressed, especially after she got the next three balls, too. The fourth ball went in and out.
    “About time I can get a chance to play.”
    She laughed, then tried to show me how to do it.
    “When you gon’ take your shades off? I wanna see your eyes.”
    She smiled and backed away. “Nah.”
    “Why not?”
    “They’re medicated.”
    “No, they not.”
    “Yeah, they are. All my shades are.”
    “Why?”
    “I got bad eyes.”
    I mean, I guess I had to believe her, but until I saw her eyes for myself, I ain’t know if she was gonna look crazy or what. We played a couple rounds of pool. Of course, Audri beat me each round, and then she asked if I wanted to hit a lounge on U Street. I said okay. She bought me a Grand Marnier mixed with pineapple juice, and then we sat on a plush sofa in a corner. Some people danced around us, but it was more people chilling, drinking, and talking, listening to Maxwell- and Chrisette Michele–type music. I hadn’t been to a place like this in a long time.
    “So what’s up with you?” Audri asked.
    “Nothing.”
    A dude I recognized from a party waved at me. I waved back. I felt my phone vibrate and decided to sneak a peek to check who it was. I smiled when I saw Camille’s picture pop up. I hadn’t talked to her in a minute, but I couldn’t answer it now.
    “You wanna get that?” Audri asked with a little attitude.
    I slipped my phone back in my clutch, then took another sip of my drink. I guess I was being rude. Audri looked disappointed for a while, and then she said she was going to the bathroom. I sent Camille a text that I was on a date and that I’d call her back. When Audri returned from the bathroom, she said she was ready to go. I followed her out of the lounge, then down the street to her car. Inside, she said, “What made you give me your number?”
    “I don’t know. You seemed interesting, I guess.”
    “Am I?”
    Was this a trick question? I nodded.
    “Tell me more about you then,” she said.
    “Umm…ain’t much to tell. I got two sisters and a brother. A niece and nephew. I’m taking classes at Everest to be a medical assistant. I don’t know. What else you wanna know?”
    Audri shook her head, then started the car. She drove down Florida Avenue, then headed toward my