“Waddup, gang?” Dio said to Xavier.
Morgan tapped me on my shoulder. “You know there is another party coming up, are you going?” she asked.
I hadn’t thought about a party since the last one, but I couldn’t deny the urge to go. I shook my head. “No, I’m going to miss the next one; besides, I wasn’t invited.”
My phone vibrated in my pocket. I pulled it out to see I had another text from Papi. When he texted me last night, I ignored it because I wanted to give Braylen all of my attention; however, had I known he was going to do what he did, I should have. He messaged saying he wanted to link up. I told him I would think about it. If Braylen was going to be on the same type of time as he was the other night, holding out for something that would never happen wasn’t worth it.
BEANS
I pulled up to the apartment ready to get this shit over with. My mind kept going back to Papi’s name that popped up on Piggy’s phone, and the more I thought about it, the angrier I got. I was ready to skip the talking and drive my ass straight to Lexington Heights.
Being able to open up to her felt comforting. I felt as if, for the first time, someone was really listening to me. Having a woman I liked and had fallen for hear me was indescribable. I had gone to the lengths of doing some things I’ve never done before, which was asking my father for a favor. I wanted Piggy to have her family for Christmas, so I put my pride aside and asked my father to make it happen so that Leek would be free for the holidays.
I had gone to get out of the car when Scooter stopped me. “Look, I don’t usually get in people’s business, but I saw that shit back there in your crib. I saw the shit on the walls at your parents’ house. Nigga, you created Treasure of Doom? Do youown the gaming café? Like, my nigga, who are you really? And yo moms—”
My jaws clenched. “Fiona isn’t my mom. She’s a bitch my pops married,” I gritted.
“Gang, what the fuck! Do any of those niggas know who you are and what you do? What about ole girl?”
I cut my eyes at him. “No, and the shit you saw better not leave this car.”
Scooter shook his head as he got out of the car. We walked up the walkway. “Wait, so in the game, Loch Ness Forest, you made that for ole girl.”
I stopped and turned to him. “I just told you to leave it. Besides, how do you know about the game? You’ve been locked up.”
“Shit, this little shorty put me on. The shit is kind of fire though, you need to add some goons in that bih.”
I ignored him as we walked up to the door. I glanced back at Piggy’s door. The thought crossed my mind of her finding out about the game, or that I had been watching her since breaking into her crib. The shit seemed intrusive, but to me, it was necessary. It was my way of keeping control of our situation. Deep down, I knew what I needed to do, and making her my girl was it. I had gotten to the point where I was tired of sleeping alone, tired of feeling like I had no one, and tired of not knowing what it was like on the other side. However, first, I needed to get rid of Papi.
I turned back around and knocked on Dio’s door. I gave Scooter a quick look. “Be yourself.”
He waved me off. “I’m cooling.”
The door swung open to Dio hyped as hell. “Waddup, my nigga! Come in,” he said to me.
I stepped over the threshold quickly, turned to make sure Scooter came in too, but Dio stood in the doorway. They stood there, eye to eye, grilling each other. “Fuck! Ayo—”
“Kareem!”A girl shouted as she pushed me out of the way, then Dio, and jumped into Scooter’s arms.
Dio looked me up and down, sucked his teeth and walked off. I glanced back over at Scooter and noticed it was the girl who had come to the rap session. They kissed each other like they had been apart for years. “Man, save that shit for the Telly!” Streets yelled out.
Scooter eyed me, “This is Morgan, Morgan, this is Beans.”
“I saw you that night,” she mumbled.
They both came in and closed the door. I was finally able to see everybody in the room, and then my eyes landed on her. A nigga had butterflies. She was sitting at the far end of the couch in the corner while everyone mingled with each other. I moved through the living room and stood in front of her. I reached out for her to take my hand, and she took it. I pulled her up from the couch and into my arms. Her smell was perfect, her touch was what I needed, and her smile was one I had seen often in my dreams. I leaned down toward her ear, “I’m sorry for leaving. I missed you.”
Her head slowly rose as she stared into my eyes, confused.I’m trying the soft shit.I mouthed.
The music lowered, and the sound of Samara caught our attention. “I want to thank you guys for coming and behaving yourself,” she paused as she looked at Dio.
“Man, don’t start that shit. I promised I would behave. You just don’t forget what you promised me.”
She rolled her eyes. “Anyways, I made Zoo juice and everybody, and I mean everybody, needs to drink it.”
Dio waved his hand. “Y’all heard her, drink this shit up, and you better like it. See, babe, I got you.” He winked at her.
We all grabbed an orange cup and guzzled down our drinks except Scooter. “Why this shit orange? Where are the blue cups?”
