“Real shit, what’s going on, cuz? We were all just kicking it and you were cool—tipsy but you were good. Taking shots and shit and now you’re over here on this shit and don’t say it’s nothing because Bri Bronx told the girls to tell us to come over here. If she didn't think something was wrong then she wouldn’t have told us to come. Now sit down so we can talk about this shit.” Eyeing Zoo then Sin, I walked over to the couch and took a seat.
“This shit with Teddy is fucking with my head. Yea, we were just good but the whole time I'm thinking of where the fuck this nigga at. Since the shooting, I’ve been having these crazy-ass dreams of you not surviving and Bri leaving me because I’m blaming her for the reason all this shit happening.”
“I’m cool with you blaming her, but the part about me dying needs to be fixed. The fuck!”
“Zoo, shut up!” Sin fussed then shook his head. “He ain’t cool with any of that shit and I ain’t either. You can’t blame her for nothing that nigga decided to do, that’s the part you have to get through your head, first.”
“Damn, so fuck the part about me dying?” Zoo butted in.
“I ain’t say that. You alive and well, nigga. Yea, the outcome could have been different but it wasn’t. The part that he gotta fix for sure is the part about his girl. If you are blaming her in your sleep then you feel that way for real but just masking that shit. Do you feel like this is her fault?”
Thinking it over, I sat there for a minute before I answered, “I don’t want to feel like it but in a way, I do feel like if I never met her, then none of this would have happened. I don’t regret meeting her because I love the feeling that she gave me before all of this shit happened. You know, yourself, that it was all work and no play for me, until her ass bumped into my life. Shit has been real different for me, and I got her to thank for that. It’s just me wanting to be around her that got me out that fucking studio. I wanted us to take these steps together to learn each other, then love each other but now... I don’t know.”
“Maybe you guys should take this conversation to his house. Please, lock my door on the way out.” Bri started walking off then stopped. “I wanted them to come over here to calm you down because I knew that I wouldn’t be able to. I care that fucking much about you to know that you needed your family to help you get your mind right, only for them to come and I findout just how much you really care about me. You don’t!” Hearing Bri’s voice had all of us looking stupid. Me more than them.
“Baby, I do care about you.”
“You don’t and it’s ok. Shit was fun while it lasted. Again, you guys can finish this conversation at his place.” The tears that rolled down her face had me stuck.
“Fuck!” I blurted out, pissed off that she heard all of that shit. I was just rambling out shit, trying to get my thoughts clear. “This is the shit I’m talking about. I can’t get shit right. Then, I can’t find this nigga so I’m really on edge. I’on want either one of you to handle this, I will.”
“Regardless of how you feel and what you think, you need family. I want this nigga more than you do. I’m smart enough to know that when I can’t get shit done alone, I have fifty niggas that’s gon’ rock a nigga soul for me, and I'm ok with that. This shit ain’t all about you. We both let that nigga slip through our fingers that first night he popped up, not just you. Trust me when I say, you and I gon’ flip the city upside down until this nigga surface. Ain’t nobody gon’ be able to stop us. It’s always us against the world.”
“Now, it’s us against a crackhead.” I chuckled.
“Yea, this nigga in my living room talking about he wishes he never met me. How all of this shit is my fault. He got me fucked up. Girl, yes, in my damn house talking shit about me. I told all of them to get the fuck out of my house and lock my damn door on the way out.” Bri was talking loud as fuck. When she got to the bottom step and saw we were still in the living room, she didn’t try to change her tune. “Tell me why the Three Stooges still in my living room. Hell yea, Sin’s big burly looking ass is still here, too.”
“Damn bruh, she’s going off!” Zoo let out with a loud-ass laugh.
“And don’t get me started on PJ’s man. Mr. I got pinched in the arm but still gon’ lay up in the hospital for days like I got lit up with a machine gun, looking ass.”
Zoo’s face fell and now it was our turn to laugh at him.
“I hope that nigga Brooklyn heard every word that I said, too. He is not about to act like this is my fault and not expect me to feel a way about it. I guess it’s my fault he had those slippery-ass shoes on and couldn’t catch Teddy slow-ass, too, huh? The nigga got an injury from playing ball, ain’t no way he couldn’t catch him. Shit, I had on heels, had a torn ACL, and could have caught Teddy.” When she came back through the living room, she walked back up the stairs, still talking shit about me.
“You may want to let her calm down before you bring yo’ ass back over here. She didn’t give a damn about either one of us hearing her. Let’s go before my girl be mad at me behind yo’ shit.” Sin stood up and started walking to the door, first, then I followed. Still feeling the effects of the bottles of liquor I downed caused me to wobble a bit. Looking back, I saw Zoo was still sitting there.
“Y’all can go, I’m trying to see if she gon’ call Pen next. I want to see what Pen gotta say about me to her. She’s been lowkey still upset with me about pushing yo’ ass out the way. Two mad bitches together are deadly as fuck.”
“WHO YOU CALLING A BITCH, ZOO?” Bri shouted down the stairs. Sin and I was laughing so hard at how fast he jumped out the chair and ran out the house.
“I swear if my girl mad at me, we really gon’ have to fight. Pull yo’ shit together, nigga. Got us over here in yo’ bullshit. Get cho’ dumb, drunk ass in the car. Smelling like MD22!” While Zoo fussed, I looked back at the house towards Bri’s window. She was standing there, looking down at me. I tried to give her a look that said I was sorry but when she stuck her middle finger up, then closed the curtains, I knew I had fucked up bad.
I hopped in the backseat of Zoo’s truck, and Sin got in the front. My head was fucked-up before but it was even worse now. Now, I had to kill Teddy and suck the soul out my girl’s pussy to get her back on my side.
I woke up this morning with a massive ass headache. Knowing I still had to start getting this album prepared for this artist named Kim, I dragged myself out of bed. Since I’d been here, I’d called Bri every five minutes and she hadn’t answered once. I barely could get my work done because I was putting all of my energy into getting back on track with her.
My phone going off pulled me from the half-work I was doing. When my mama's name and picture came on the screen, I picked up with a smile on my face. “What’s up, pretty lady?”
“Hey, Baby, what you over there doing?” My mama’s soft voice came through my earpiece.
“Maaan, Mama, you must’ve known yo’ son was going through some shit.”
“Brooke, now you know I don’t care how upset you are, right?”
“Yes ma’am, so don’t curse.” If my mama didn’t do anything else, she was gon’ make all of us respect her, regardless of how old we were. We knew not to play with her. Zoo was the only one who would try it, and she would pop the shit out of him. But this is different because I was really in my feelings. “Can I curse this one time?”
She laughed before replying, “Yes, Baby, but not too much.”
