Nyna
They just made it to the restaurant before cut off time. Most of things she packed in her great escape were essentials – underwear, t-shirts, leggings, shorts, sweats and hoodies. She was also sure to leave with all the things that weren’t going to have her in court battling it out over a Birkin. For all she cared he could’ve gifted her bags to the next bitch. She left with her peace and the sanity and will he attempted to break.
DJ caught her frustration as she rummaged through her bags for something suitable to go out in. He talked her into getting dressed and stopped at a boutique in midtown. While she tried on clothes he waited patiently, handling last minute car show details before the event at the end of the week. When they walked out of the store there were eight bags in tow. It wasn’t the fact he could buy it without jacking a car or moving product in a quick play. It was the fact that he once again saw a need and didn’t bat and eye at fulfilling it.
Nothing made you appreciate your blessings than the absence of it.
“How many car shows have you done?” Nyna asked as the waiter brought over her black and blue chopped salad. DJ ordered the steak sandwich with fresh cut fries.
“We did a little spotlight at Lucci Day but now Daysha has turned it into a huge event. This is the first one we’re doing that’s this big. We got collectors and entertainers from all over the country either shipping their shit over or coming in it. The Crystal Ball is the venue and everything is set by tiers. Classics, remodeled old schools, hot rods, new school, low riders, trucks, bikes all of it. Family friendly so no gang bullshit.”
Nyna watched him talk taking every word and enjoying how he came alive when he talked about cars. “I’m proud of you.”
“Don’t start that shit, you gave me the vision. I should be thanking you for real,” DJ said with a smile. “But thank you.”
“It’s nothing. The world always seemed so much bigger when you started talking about your dreams. It was like space to me, I could get lost in it.”
“You know that’s some shit that always made my chest tight. It also was a dead giveaway in hindsight,” DJ shared. “All the signs that you were in love with my gangsta ass was right there.”
Nyna laughed and rolled her eyes. “Focus, D.”
“I don’t want you lost in me. I want you to love and support me yes but I don’t want it to cost you your dreams. You were supposed to be managing niggas. Telling them what to do and how to do it. Telling them to jump and they were supposed to ask you how high,” DJ said.
Nyna nipped her lip. “I applied for some assistant management positions. I don’t know if I’m going to hear back. I have the degree with no experience. So, I’m trying to figure out the next move.”
“The next move is that you don’t depend on someone else to see you. You see yourself and sell that. That’s the product. You were right you could finesse a nigga out his car and you finessedme out my heart. Which means you can sell a kid a dream about getting the fuck up out the neighborhood,” DJ shared. “A few of us ex-gang banging niggas started a travel league. We got five clubs for basketball, Jahlil Savage is a sponsor and hosts a summer camp for it. And eleven clubs for baseball. We reached across the line to Noble Paulson, Jr. to sponsor that. The scouts start looking at these kids around 16U lowkey ad following them. The thing is none of these parents or kids know a bad deal. They just know they’re getting the fuck up out the hood but get locked into some three-sixty contract like most of the old players Oceania Hawks got locked into years ago when Brody was there. They fought for their lives to get out that shit. These kids need someone like you who isn’t going to take advantage of them or hijack their careers.”
Nyna looked at him oddly before asking. “You’re going to trust me with that?”
“Baby I trust you with my life. Literally and figuratively. And I know you don’t need to anywhere you’re fighting to be seen. I see you, I hear you, I got you.”
Nyna bit her lip and conceded without push back. “Okay.”
“Uh uh what you thinking about?”
“Oh nothing,” she shared with a sly smirk.
“Nah it’s something,” DJ spoke.
“Wondering if Big Mama is going to be at the house and if I could get away with being grown,” she shared with a soft giggle.
“Since you said that, I want to show you something when we leave here.”
After lunch, the walked up the street pass the shops to the car to walk off their lunch before driving into the valley. The subdivision was perfectly placed between the neighborhood and his shop offering them an equal commute to both. Nyna trailed him to the door and watched him open it and let her roam inside ahead of him.
“I bought this a year after you left. After I got into a shootout and got hit. Big Mama let me bleed all over her couch and changed my bandages, fed me, prayed for me, and stuck right by me while I recovered. Even on the days I thought dying would be easier. At night when she fell asleep I’d imagine what our life would look like, you know if we were all still here. How’d we need extra bedrooms for those game nights that went on to four in the morning. A big dining room for our expanding family. A living room big enough for our children to grow, a back yard for them to run around. I found it and I bought it. I was in a haze but I knew that eventually I’d have you to make it a home. I even tried to spend a night here but it was lonely so I went back to the neighborhood,” DJ shared as Nyna sauntered around the foyer taking it all in.
“You bought a house for me?”
He nodded. “Would you judge me if I said you got a ring back at my spot?”
“I’d blame it on grief because I drove past a bridal shop and tried on wedding dresses so I could feel the joy Veya said it would be. I find it funny how they called it and they’re not here to see it.”
“I’ve been going to church with Big Mama for a minute. I believe they see it. I believe they’re all around guiding us back to each other. It’s got to be the only reason we’re standing here now.”
Nyna stopped looking at the house and focused on him. “Don’t think I’m crazy when I say this.”
“Never,” DJ assured.
