“No,” she muttered, eyes drifting to the ground.
Prischa didn’t want to be a burden to anyone, let alone her best friend. She’d known Heavy since she was thirteen years old and loved him just as long. For him, it was platonic, a brother/sister type bond that couldn’t be broken. Prischa always had her hopes on something more, especially after their slip up a few years ago. Oddly enough, Heavy had never touched her in that way since. He told her that it shouldn’t have happened, and he didn’t want to fuck up their friendship. It shattered her young heart after being so fresh off the loss of Pierre’s father. He told her he would always be there for her and Pierre, but she wanted more than just his loyalty. She wanted his heart.
“Aight then. Quit all that overthinking shit. I show up because I want to. Every Tuesday and Thursday. I said I got y’all, and I meant that.” He stepped forward and kissed her on the forehead. “Have a good day at work.” Heavy pivoted on the heel of his steel toe boots and strutted down the sidewalk to his waiting vehicle.
Once he got inside, he blew the horn at Prischa before pulling away. Sometimes being around her could put him in a mood. He’d feel like shit because that look in Prischa’s eyes had never changed. She loved him. Not just as her best friend. She had that starry eyed glint like there was a torch continuously burning, and he couldn’t share that sentiment. He loved Prischa and would die for her any day of the week. Heavy just refused to jump into anything with her that he couldn’t fully commit to.
When it came to her and Pierre, anybody could get it if they fucked with them, but that was as far as it went for him. He knew he fucked up that one time they gave in to temptation, but he vowed to never take it there again. Prischa deserved better than him. Back then, Heavy wasn’t in a place to be with anybody. In all honesty, he still didn’t think he was. His grandparents were solid, but they came up in a different time. His mother was batshit crazy, and his father had been married to the streets for majority of his life. Being married, having kids, it wasn’t something that he’d planned for or even anticipated in his life.
“Did your power go out last night too?” Pierre turned and asked.
His thoughts immediately drifted to Giselle and how it felt being between her legs and within her snug, wet walls. Toying with his beard, he bobbed his head but kept his eyes on the road. He had to get this girl out of his head.
“Yeah. It did.”
“I got scared when I heard that loud bang. I went to check on Mama and see if she needed me to sleep in her bed with her,” Pierre went on.
“Oh yeah? So, you wasn’t scared?” he teased, glancing Pierre’s way.
“Nah.” Pierre turned his nose up and stared out his window. “I just wanted to make sure she was straight.”
“Whatever, homie.”
“Heavy, can I ask you something?” Pierre glanced his way.
“Anything. We potnas right?”
“Yeah. I was wondering why you and Mama are friends, but sometimes, it’s like you more than that. You come over and hang with us, you eat dinner, cut the grass, and fix stuff. Like somebody who is the man of the house does,” Pierre observed.
“So, what you want to ask, Pierre?”
“How come you won’t be my mama’s boyfriend instead of just her friend?”
Pierre was only seven, but Heavy knew he was both smart and perceptive. He’d helped raise this boy in a lot of ways, so he felt he was responsible for teaching him right from wrong and keeping him on the right track. There were enough fatherless black boys out here, and when Big P died, Heavy vowed to be there for Prischa. Pierre’s father was the only other man aside from Heavy that she let into her heart. Now, it seemed a little closed off. Shut down for business, and she wasn’t interested in reopening it for anyone, unless they came in his six-foot frame with his brownish-green hazel eyes.
“I love your mama to death. She’s my best friend, but we ain’t like that because when people get together like her and your daddy did when they made you, it’s because they’re in love with each other. There’s a difference.”
“I think she’s in love with you. I hear her on the phone, talking to auntie Henna sometimes,” Pierre muttered. “She said you don’t feel the same. Is that true? And how can you fall in love with somebody?”
“Pssh, these ain’t no light questions for this morning school ride, kid.” Heavy shook his head and gripped the steering wheel tighter.
Luckily the school was coming into view ahead.
“I’m just saying… you can make somebody fall in love with you, right?”
“That ain’t how that work.”
“Well, my mama is pretty, she can cook, and she got a good job. She takes care of me and our house. I love her and I think any man would be lucky to fall in love with her,” Pierre voiced, causing a smirk to capture Heavy’s lips.
“I can’t argue with you on none of that, Lil P. I’m just not that man. I believe one day she will find one, though, someone who will love all that shit about her too and you.”
Pierre stared out his window for the rest of the drive. Heavy wondered what was on his mind but didn’t want to give him any kind of false hope about the future. He wanted Prischa to be happy at the end of the day and would never keep her from that. Leading her on was something he couldn’t bring himself to do. There were probably men out there who would call him a fool for not fucking with her, given how she felt, but he couldn’t see himself playing with her heart like that. She was too good of a person.
Arriving outside of Southwick Elementary, Heavy got out of the truck and walked around to the sidewalk to help Pierre out. This was their thing twice a week, and Heavy looked forward to picking him up and dropping him off. It gave them time together, and they got to talk like they just did. He didn’t have any other male influences in his life, so when he had the time, Heavy made sure to dedicate it to him. He’d take him to the park to play basketball and let him come by the shop to show him how to fix cars. Pierre already knew how to change a flat tire.
“Aight, have a good day at school, and I’ll see you at four.”
“Bye, Heavy!” Pierre waved, falling behind a few other kids who were scrambling to the entrance before they locked the doors.
