After Keith’s and my talk, I let him go back inside his dorm as I stood outside in the hall. I watched as some of the students walked out of their rooms with bags and luggage to leave for the holidays. To know they were going back to homes where they were accepted made me feel some kind of way.
I thought about what things would be like if Keith had something like that to go back to, but my brother was corrupted. He had fallen into the hands of someone else, and I knew it wasn’t going to be easy to pull him away from it. My mind shifted, and Morgan popped into my head. I needed to try to get ahold of her because I had no idea if she was ok after what she saw. Shit, she had seemed like the only other person besides Beans that cared about a nigga.
Here I was stuck on a college campus where I didn’t belong with my brother, who gave two fucks about what I was feeling, while I had been moving the way I had for him. I was heading back inside when I saw Beans hit the corner. When he saw me,he gave me a slight head nod as he got closer. “You talk to your brother?”
“Something like that,” I told him.
He glanced behind me at the door, “Look, I’m nobody’s judge. To me, family always does you dirty. You ready to ride out or what?”
I honestly didn’t want to leave Keith, but the nigga didn’t care, and I knew it. I stepped away from the door before looking back one last time. “Yeah, let’s dip.”
Beans and I headed out of the building toward his car. “I’m going to take you to my crib to get cleaned up, then we’re going to link up with Dio.”
I waved him off, “Why you want a nigga to be his friend so bad?”
Beans stopped walking and turned to me. “I’m not asking either one of you to be friends. What I’m asking for is for you two to be cordial. Just as much as you’re trying to figure your shit out, so am I. The Zoo has its ways, but I know that no matter how fucked up I am, or life is, those niggas are going to have my back. It’s a hard pill to swallow, but everyone wants a family, even the ones people think don’t need one.”
We hopped in the car, and he took off. I couldn’t stop thinking about the pictures on the walls at his parents’ home, and I had to know. “So, what, you some sort of tech nigga?” I blurted out.
“Nah, I’m just a smart nigga,” he said dryly.
I ran my hand down my face, “I don’t get you. I saw the awards and shit on the wall, I see the car you drive, the studio, and your parents’ home. Why are you so angry? If I had half the shit you had, I wouldn’t be that way. Shit, I’d probably be chilling, smiling from ear to ear.”
He scoffed. “Yeah, well, you ain’t me. All you see is material shit. The one thing you fail to realize is that just because shit looks good on the outside doesn’t mean it’s good on the inside. Wealth doesn’t equate to happiness, because most of the time, the wealthiest people are the unhappiest. Now, get out.”
When I glanced up, we were at a regular ass family home. I got out of the car and followed behind him. When we stepped inside, I turned to him as my lip curled up in a nigga please face. The inside of his crib was dope as fuck. It screamed I had to be the first nigga in line for all the new shit.
He pointed to a bag of clothes on his black leather couch. “Clothes for you, bathroom down the hall.”
I looked in the bag and turned to thank him, and the nigga had disappeared. I picked up the bag and headed down the dark hall. Before I could go into the bathroom, a crack in the door with an orange light caught my attention. I knew my ass should have gone to get dressed, but I was curious. I headed down the hall and peeked into the room. My eyes widened at what I saw. This nigga Beans was different, and right then, I knew he held a lot of power that nobody knew about.
PAIGE
Braylen’s sudden urge to leave last night pissed me off. Just when I thought things were looking good for us, he pulled another disappearing act. I tried asking what was wrong, but all I got was that he needed to leave. At this point, I was drained and done trying to get him to see that he could trust me, let his guard down, and allow me to love him as he deserves. It began to make me question things about myself. How I had been crushing on this man for three years, allowing him access to my body, and even that wasn’t enough.
I’d watched my father chase my mother for years after they separated, but she wouldn’t budge. It had gotten so bad that he somehow distanced himself from not only her but us. We saw him from time to time, but it wasn’t the same. At first, I didn’t understand, but as I got older, I did. When you love someone so much, and they don’t reciprocate what you’re offering, sometimes it’s best to fall back. I knew this was how I needed to move with Braylen because if I didn’t and he kept playing thismental mind fuck, I was going to snap, and the Piggy he knows would be long gone.
It was almost time for Samara’s little party to start, and I was already dreading it. If Braylen were there, it would be awkward. I sat in front of my game, dressed and ready. I wanted to dive into the new level he helped me reach. He probably didn’t think I noticed, but I caught a glimpse as he navigated through the game like a fucking pro. He knew things about the game that he shouldn’t have known for someone who claimed they didn’t play. Right then, I knew Braylen was hiding something.
I watched as the story mode started in the game. This level was centered around Pyran. My eyes grew wide as I sat up. She looked different. It was as if the game had been updated overnight. My phone buzzed with a call from Fallon. “Hello?” I answered.
“Paige! Have you seen the new update? I would be lying if I didn’t say that the character looks identical to you,” she squealed.
My voice trailed off. “She does, doesn’t she?”
Something was happening, and I didn’t know whether to be flattered or scared. The sound of Dio’s loud laugh caught my attention. “Fallon, let me call you back,” I told her as I hung up.
I got up and went outside. Samara stood at the door, “Come on, girl.” She waved.
I closed my door, locking it, and walked across the hall. When I entered their place, I noticed drinks and snacks neatly lined up on the island, and the music was playing. Dio came from the back, and when he saw me, he smiled. “Sup.”
I shyly waved. Moments later, Alyse, Morgan, and Peanut came into the apartment. My head slightly tilted to see if Braylen would come in next, but he didn’t. “Stutter Man!” Dio yelled.
Morgan made her way toward me and sat down. “I guess we’re the oddballs,” she laughed.
I had given her a weak smile. I was already considered an outcast, and tonight it looked like I was going to be one as well. A few more minutes went by when there was another knock on the door. Dio rushed over and opened it. My heart raced as I knew it was Braylen, but it was Xavier, the star player for the TSU Blue Hawks. Right behind him entered Pheobe. When she saw me sitting there, she smiled. “Paige?” she called out.
I got up from the couch to hug her. Phoebe and I shared a course. We talked here and there, but that was as far as it went. She seemed more reserved and didn’t really say too much. So, to see her out with him was a bit of a surprise. Samara walked around introducing herself to everyone and thanking them for coming. The more I watched how she was interacting, the more I was trying to figure out how she ended up with a hood nigga like Dio.
