She sent me a picture of her outfit. This was a constant thing with us. Naiari always wanted my approval, even though she knew how to dress better than all the girls in her class. She was in her senior year, and for some reason, she obsessed about looking her best. Personally, she would have looked gorgeous in anything she put on, but I couldn’t tell her that, or she would complain that I wasn’t seeing her vision. Whatever the hell that meant.
I replied to her message and told her the outfit was straight.
Cocoa Puffs:Gee, thanks for all your help.
I gave her a thumbs-up, knowing she would be fussing at me about it later. Ari and I had been friends since I moved to Liberty Heights when I was nine. After my father was killed in a drive-by shooting, my mother decided the best thing for us to do was leave town. When we arrived in Liberty Heights, the environment was vastly different from what I had grown used to. There weren’t any junkies walking the streets or boosters setting up shop on the sidewalk in my hometown, but they were in abundance in Liberty Heights. Jonah Hills was the next town over, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as it was in our neighborhood. That was why we chose to hustle and do our dirt in Jonah Hills. There were more people with money and nice things.
Although our neighborhood wasn’t as clean or kid friendly, I spent most of my time outside playing, where I met Naiari. The moment I laid my eyes on the chocolate beauty, I saw stars. The boys on the basketball court teased me about it and called me a sucka, but I paid them no mind. She and her friends were jumping rope and singing songs together. I thought about approaching her, but her presence intimidated me. She seemed different than any girl I had ever met.
It took me weeks to finally work up the nerve to talk to her, and when I did, it was because some boy was picking on her. The moment I saw him toss her backpack on the ground, I rushed to her rescue. I beat that little nigga’s ass until one of the neighbors stepped outside and threatened to call the police. After I finished, I stepped right over him to help Ari pick up her things. She remained quiet until we reached her house. She thanked me for helping her, then scurried up the steps to her front door. When I turned to leave, she called out to me before rushing back over to me. Ari threw her arms around me, causing me to freeze in place. Affection wasn’t something I was used to, so it took me a moment to adjust. From that moment, the two of us became thick as thieves.
Even at a young age, I learned that my looks could give me an advantage. Women, both old and young, complimented me on how handsome I was. There were times my friends and I would get into trouble, triggering car alarms and stepping on flowers. The women would come outside yelling and fussing until they laid eyes on me. My dad said the Joseph men were blessed with good looks, good dick, and the gift of gab. I didn’t understand his statement fully until I became a teenager.
My father, Emmanuel Joseph, was called Blue Devil in our old town because of his ocean blue eyes and dark skin, and I was his twin in every way. Many people often accused him of having contacts until I was born with the same colored eyes. The kids called me a freak for having weirdly colored eyes in contrast with my deep mahogany skin, but women gave me a completely different reaction.
My father called it a blessing and a curse. I was too young to remember much, but I recalled the many arguments my parents had about my father’s infidelity. I didn’t understand what it meant back then, but I hated the way my mother used to cry whenever a woman came to our house. My parents were my introduction to toxic relationships before I had any concept of what a relationship actually was. He would cheat, they would argue, Momma would cry for a few days, and then my father would be walking around the house singing while my mother cooked him breakfast.
He used to tell me that I would come to understand the power we possessed, but I wasn’t sure whether that was a good thing. The girls at school practically threw themselves at me. My homies talked shit about it all the time, but that shit didn’t move me. I fucked a few bitches here and there, but I wasn’t pressed about it. To be honest, I started fucking at the age of ten, so pussy didn’t impress me the way it did others. Now that Iwas nineteen, my mindset was different from a lot of the young niggas my age.
Once I got out of the shower, I got dressed in the bathroom since I had company. Lyric often slept in my room whenever my momma and Tone argued. They had been together for four years, and things had only gotten worse. While he took care of the house financially, I couldn’t bring myself to respect him as a man. My mother used to work at the local hospital before he came around. She wasn’t perfect by any means, but she always kept a job and food on the table. When they first got together, he started spoiling her with money and gifts. Eventually, he started buying gifts for us, too, which won my sister over in no time. None of my momma’s other men ever did anything for us. Hell, some of them pretended as if we were invisible until it came time to discipline us.
Once he moved in, things changed for the worse. He turned into an angry drunk, and my mother became his punching bag. I didn’t bother to step in, because it backfired so many times before. If she wanted to be with a man who treated her poorly, there was no point in my trying to get in her way. My plan was to get a place in the next few weeks and move Lyric in with me. I doubted my mother would put up much of a fight because she wanted to be under her man all the time.
My phone rang, and my stomach did that weird shit it always did whenever her young ass called my line. We were only a year and a few months apart, and I still called her young, because Naiari was green to the world around her. She had no idea about the dangers lurking in the shadows.
“What’s up, Cocoa Puffs?” I greeted her with a cheesy ass grin on my face as if she could see me.
“I’m so tired of you and that corny ass nickname. You could have come up with something cuter than that.” She huffed into the phone, but I knew she liked it.
“I love your nickname. You remind me of my favorite cereal. Chocolate and sweet. I think it’s perfect.”
Silence lingered before she finally responded again.
“Umm, yeah. I almost forgot the reason for my call. Can you take me to get my nails done tomorrow? You don’t need to stay or anything like that. All I need is a ride.”
“What time is your appointment?” I had some running around to do, so I wanted to make sure our schedules lined up, although it really didn’t matter. I would make sure she got where she needed to be, even if I needed to move some things around.
“Suki has walk-ins, so I didn’t bother scheduling an appointment. I figured I would go whenever you were available.”
I nodded my head even though she couldn’t see me.
“Alright. I gotta head into the city around ten, so I’ll come get you around nine thirty, if that’s cool.”
“Okay, that’s perfect. Thank you, Keke.”
“Get the fuck off my phone with that dumb ass name. Play with somebody else.”
Naiari giggled into the phone, making my dick hard. She had no idea the effect her presence had on me.
“I don’t see what the big deal is. Your name is Keynauri, so I don’t see anything wrong with Keke. It’s not my fault your momma gave you a girl’s name,” she teased.
“I can’t even argue with you there. I still can’t believe she gave me this girlie ass name. Either way, you can dead all that Keke shit. You can either call me Keynauri or daddy. One or the other.” I threw the last part out as a joke because I knew it would get under her skin.
“Well, I guess since you’re the only man who truly takes care of me, I should be calling you daddy, huh?” She snickered. My dick twitched again, letting me know we needed to get off the phone before things took a turn.
“Whatever, Cocoa Puffs. I’ll call you in the morning, when I’m on my way. You’d better be ready too, because I’ll pull off on your ass if you have me outside waiting.” I lied through my teeth, but she didn’t need to know.
“Yeah, yeah. I hear you. I’ll be up bright and early, so you have nothing to worry about. I’m about to hop in the shower and then call Nova. I’ll see you tomorrow. Thank you again, Keke.”
