“Exactly, motha fucka! You almost as big as me at thirteen,” I laughed hard as fuck, stopping at the red light. “But I got yo lil ass,” I informed him, lifting up my phone to flash my screen in his direction to show the voice memo recording. His eyesbucked. “Yeah, I told them you still bad as fuck. They don’t believe me though. I’m sending this shit right now.”
“Nah, come on, Unc. Quit playing,” he bantered.
“Now I’m Unc? Lil nigga, miss me with the bullshit.”
“For real, man. Look, I’ll stop cussing, and I’ll continue to keep your secret or I’ll have to air yo ass out too.”
“What secret?” I questioned, ignoring my phone.
“I know TT spendsa lotttttof time at your crib, and vice versa,” he suggested, adding extra emphasis when he said a lot. His gaze narrowed in on me, and the corners of his lips lifted into a devious smile.
“What?” I sputtered, dropping my phone as the light turned green.
“Yeah, and I been keeping it P,” he smirked.
“Man, what the fuck you know about keeping it P? You go to a private school,” I burst out laughing, keeping my eyes on the road.
“I know enough. I ain’t never seen anybody drink those peaches and cream Olipops drinks but my TT. I thought I was doing right drinking up all of the Capri Suns. But you acted like a nigga robbed you blind because I had a few…”
“Nigga, you drank a whole pack while I took a two hour nap,” I argued.
“Same difference. Either way, I didn’t see you drink one of those Olipops the whole time I was there. Actually, not a single time I’ve been over your house. Then, when I went to TT house, her fridge was flooded, looking just like yours. Nothing but those Olipops, water, and Capri Suns on the top shelf. I’ve never seen my TT drink a Capri Sun before either. It’s really peculiar that your fridge would look just like hers. Then that day when you got mad about me drinking the Capri Suns, Elise went right in your fridge and grabbed an armful of Olipops to take home because she ran out and didn’t feel like stopping at the store. You ain’tsay shit to her, you let her rock out, but you almost kicked me out for the Capri Suns. Nah, those lil drinks TT likes cost $2.50 a pop, I went online to see for myself. A whole ten pack of Capri Suns will run you about $3.50. You couldn’t spare $3.50 on me, but spared twenty dollars on her. She took eight, you know I’m good at math.”
I cut my eyes at that tall, lanky motha fucka and suppressed my laughter. He was too smart for his own damn good. “Aye, jit, Ion know what you talking about.”
“Just like Ion know what you talking about when you said I be cussing,” Nash quipped, texting away on his phone. “She the reason you took the diamond grill out and got your teeth done, ain’t she?
“Mannnnnn,” I drawled, keeping my face stone and my eyes on the road.
I couldn’t have Nash knowing how close he was to the truth. Elise loved me for me. She never pressed me to change my appearance. It was largely my own growth that had me dropping a bag on porcelain veneers. However, when I told her my plans, and she confessed to loving my smile before the extras, I was all in.
“Ya parents asked me to grab you on the way to your Grammy’s crib since I was on this side,” I explained.
“Bet, some of my family from South Carolina is down here for the weekend, so I know everybody is over Grammy’s house and she is whipping them pots,” Nash nodded, rubbing his hands together. “Let the top down, it’s Halloween,” Nash stated before pressing the button.
“Man, stop touching my shit,” I demanded, slapping his hand away.
We shot to his Grammys house, and I scanned the familiar street for an empty space. Ms. Candace lived in Essex’s old crib, and they had the street lined with cars. Essex stood outside withmy Goddaughter in her stroller, looking around at everything. Nova Victoria Hunter was born on January 10th, the day that changed my perspective on life, and made me get my shit together. I was already on track, but Nova helped push me there quicker. Seeing my nigga with his own family made me realize what I was missing.
Elise was the woman who had my heart since we were eighteen. From the moment I got that first taste, I was hooked and wanted to lock in, but her bitch ass parents got in the way before we could get started for real. Probably once or twice a year, I let Elise treat my face like a seat on the low. She’d hit me up whenever she wanted that pussy licked, and I never turned her down. She didn’t even tell Victoria, and she told her everything.
Fucking with Elise in public, knowing she loved me in private, was a sick, guilty pleasure of mine. I enjoyed making her squirm, and I always thought one day Elise would crack in front of others, but she never did. She spent the first eighteen years of her life poised and proper, giving her the ability to handle anything.
For ten years, that was our arrangement until eight years ago, we took it a step further, and I took her virginity. After going there, I thought we were making progress. I thought that meant she was my lady and we were going to settle down and stop sneaking around. Unfortunately, Elise had other plans. She pulled back, then Essex was discharged from the mental facility, and she was back on her bullshit.
Keeping shit from Essex was easy after that; he basically became a hermit. Essex was always in the crib, and you wouldn’t see or hear from him unless you reached out. Elise and I lived about five minutes away from each other in Town 'n' Country, which was practically an hour drive from where Essex lived, especially with the influx of people moving to Florida. Besidesthat, Elise made sure we were confined to either of our cribs whenever we did link up.
Initially, I understood Elise’s reservations about giving me a chance for real. I was still moving in the streets, and she didn’t want to get caught up in any of that. After what happened to Victoria, I couldn’t argue, I never wanted to put Elise in harm’s way. I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself if something happened to Elise on account of me, and Essex wouldn’t either. My boy couldn’t afford to take another loss.
Plus, we were all going through one of the darkest times in our lives when we crossed that line and had sex. Essex’s first wife was murdered. We all lost a fixture in our lives, and then Essex tried to take himself out of the game. I was tired of that shit, though. I wanted my own family, and I wanted to love Elise out loud. We were pushing thirty-five, I was out of the streets and ready for this; it was now or never. Essex wasn’t the same man he was before he met Nariyah and Nash. My boy attended every sporting event for Nash, organized an annual car show, and took Nariyah anywhere she wanted to go. I didn’t think we’d get away with sneaking around for much longer. Hell, intuitive Nash was confirmation of that.
We stepped out of the car and approached Essex. He was surrounded by unfamiliar faces, women, children, and teens, all wearing costumes. The closer we got, I realized that baby girl was dressed as Scooby Doo, explaining the white long sleeve shirt, orange ascot tie, and light blue slacks Essex was wearing.
“Essex out here dressing up for Halloween? Even when you got away from your parents, dressing up for Halloween still wasn’t your thing,” I pointed out.
“Yeah, jit lame,” Nash chimed in.
“Man, both of y’all gone on. My wife wanted matching family costumes, so I’m down,” Essex waved us off.
