“Girl yes, ain’t nobody got time for that at all.” Laughing at Mimi, I dropped my things on the table when I walked inside. Today had been long but I was happy to finally get some me time in.
After months of nothing but ball, me time was most definitely needed. Mimi and I got out early to do some shopping and then we went to brunch. I had one too many mimosas and I was feeling every last one of them. Apparently, Mimi’s orange juice had her feeling a way too by the way she was cutting up on the phone. She was mad as hell because she couldn’t add champagne.
“Call me later. I’m about to go give Sin some of this pregnant pussy to get his mind off Zoo.”
“Have fun with that.”
“Aww don’t sound so sad. You can give up the goodies, too. Stop being stingy.”
“Girl, bye. I’m holding out a little while longer. The first time I tried to give him some, I burnt the meatloaf. That was a sign from God to hold out a little while longer.”
“Nah, that was a sign from the cook police because who the fuck eats meatloaf?” I could’ve just imagined the disgusted look that was on Mimi’s face.
“You sound like Brooklyn. He was happy that shit burned up but mad because he couldn’t get the juicy meat he was about to recei—” Pausing, I stood still and pulled the phone away from my ear to listen to the screams that I heard. “Let me call you back.” I ended the call without her replying once I realized the screams were coming from upstairs. Taking the steps two by two, I pushed my room door open and ran inside.
“Brooklyn! Baby! Wake up!” Shaking Brooklyn, I called his name back to back to get him to wake up.
His body popped up like a broken mattress spring, scaring the hell out of me. Brooklyn’s forehead was covered in a sheet of sweat. I used the palm of my hand to wipe it off. My hand glided around his face, stopping at his chest. I felt his heart beating harder than a stampede of elephants. “Are you ok?”
Breathlessly, Brooklyn replied, “No,” with a shake of his head.
“Another dream?”
“Yep.”
“What happened this time?”
This was the fourth dream Brooklyn had since we left the hospital the other night. Regardless of him just laying down before he went to the studio, he would still wake up from a bad dream. I felt bad because Teddy had really been in the wind and there’s no telling where he was.
“Zoo died in this one and you broke up with me right before the doctors came to tell us about Zoo. I lost both of you within seconds from each other. I went from blaming myself for being the reason he got shot, to blaming you. I’on know what I gotta do to get these dreams to stop but I can’t be having thoughts like that.
“These ill feelings don’t happen towards you when I’m awake, but when I go to sleep, my thoughts are consumed of this being all your fault, and I don’t want to feel like this. I know none ofthis is on you, this is all Teddy. Once I separate his skull from his spine, I’ll be able to sleep better.”
“Um, the fact that you casually said that like it’s something easy to do…”
“It is. All you have to do is put your thumbs right at the nape and allow your other fingers to grip around his face, lift your most dominant leg, place your foot on his shoulder, and yank that shit off.”
“Really, Brooklyn?”
“Dead ass. Which is how he gon’ be... a dead ass.”
I laughed but when he didn’t, I knew he was serious. “Just be safe. Whatever he gets, he deserves plus more, so I’ll never try to talk you out of doing what you need to do. Just be safe. I don’t want you getting hurt, and I especially do not need any of this attached to my name since he is my ex. I see how the reporters have Zoo and PJ all over the news and headlines; I don’t want that type of press at all. Whatever you do, do this shit discretely. Do I want you to risk getting caught, end up going to jail and possibly becoming someone's boy toy? No! But—”
“That shit not gon’ happen any-fuckin’-way. I can promise you that. You don’t have to tell me to be discrete, Baby. Trust me when I say, they’ll never find no traces of him. Now that, I can promise you. Just make sure you don’t look at me any differently.”
“Like how you look at me now?” I rebutted, causing him to look at me.
“Nah, when I look at you, I think of how beautiful you are and that I’m lucky you chose me.”
“If you say so. Your dreams are telling you otherwise, Baby.” Tilting my head to the side, I smirked and slouched my shoulders. “Things will get better.” Leaning in, I gave him a kiss on the lips before turning to leave back out the room.
“Where you going?”
“To get the things I just got while shopping with Mimi and then to my mom's. She’s upset because she hasn’t heard from BJ since the night he left with a new chicken head of his. I don’t know what she expects me to do, but I’m going to ease her little troubled mind. You want to ride with me?”
His head dipped to the side before replying, “It depends, am I being introduced as your friend, Brooklyn, or ya man? When my parents met you, you were my girl but I feel like I just forced that on you and really didn’t give you an option of being with me or not.”
“When you said we are together and can learn each other as we go and grow, I was ok with that. Yea, I just got out of something but that shit been over with. With you, we started out as friends and you never really pushed to be more. I liked you. When we started to spend more time with each other, I started to miss not being around you. Miss not smelling you or sleeping on a pallet with you just to feel safe.”
