Once again, he grabbed her hand and guided her toward the exit of the gymnasium. Once in the hallways of the high school, they spotted his best friend, Teyanna. He was grateful for the distraction because he knew Iskyiah was about to ask him a million questions about where they were going.
“Y’all leaving?” Teyanna asked.
Moolah grinned. He squeezed Iskyiah’s hand before he dropped it so he could give Teyanna a hug.
Teyanna had been his best friend since diapers. They grew up together and got into trouble together. There had never been a moment of a romantic spark between them. It wasn’t that Teyanna wasn’t courageous. She was, and Moolah had fucked up a couple of niggas behind her, but he truly looked at her like a sister. She had smooth peanut butter skin and short, curly brown hair. Her light brown eyes sparkled, and she stayed dressing like she had some fashion sense and smelling good. That night, she wore a navy dress that was much shorter thanhe preferred on her, but he would let her live. Moolah couldn’t knock how fly she was, but he would never look at her like that. People never believed that they’d never crossed those lines, but Moolah gave not even half a fuck about what people thought.
The only person’s opinion he cared about was Iskyiah’s, and she knew what was up. The three of them hung out enough for Iskyiah to know that Moolah and Teyanna really were like siblings and nothing more.
“Yeah,” Moolah said as he pulled away from his best friend.
Teyanna pouted. “We were supposed to party tonight.”
Moolah felt a little bad. It would be his last time seeing Teyanna for a while, too, but they’d had their moment earlier that day. They went out to their favorite burger place before they hit the block and sold the rest of Moolah’s stash of weed. Well, most of it. He saved some to take with him because he didn’t know if he could get his hands on some good za once he left. They’d made a nice little penny on what they sold, though.
“I’ma get up wit’ you, Tey. You know that. I love you, girl,” Moolah said.
Teyanna and Iskyiah were the only two women he had ever said ‘I love you’ to, and he really didn’t say it often, but they knew he meant it with his entire being whenever he said it.
“Love you, too, big head.” Teyanna glanced at Iskyiah. “You good?”
Sky merely nodded with a sad smile. Both Teyanna and Moolah knew she would be effected the most by his departure.
“Come on.” Moolah grabbed Iskyiah’s hand once again.
“Y’all be safe. Mo, call me as soon as you land tomorrow. I’ll see you on Monday, Sky.”
Moolah stopped and looked Teyanna in the eye. “If any of these niggas start giving you a hard time, you let me know, hear? Fuck what Uncle Marlon talkin’ ’bout. I’ll catch a flight backhere to remind niggas who you run wit’. Goes for both y’all.” He glanced at Iskyiah.
By now, everyone in the school knew how Moolah spazzed out behind Iskyiah and Teyanna. It was highly unlikely that he would have to catch a flight back here, unless it was behind Charles.
Both girls giggled, but Teyanna was the one to respond. “Got you.”
They parted ways, and as soon as they got to Moolah’s uncle, Marlon’s, car, Iskyiah started with her questions.
“Why did you drag me out of there? What if Charles shows up? Where are we going?”
“Damn, can I pull out of the parking lot first at least before you start grilling me?”
“Moolah,” she whined, and he chuckled as he pulled out of his parking space. The way she said his name always disarmed him.
“First of all, fuck that nigga. If he was a real man, he would have picked you up and made sure you got to the school aight. And I ain’t answerin’ no more questions.”
Iskyiah pouted, but Moolah didn’t care. She knew better than to question him further, mostly because he would ignore her ass completely. Her pouting at or frustration with him never bothered him. At the end of the day, it was nothing but love between them. Wasn’t shit he could do to rock that—scratch that—wasn’t shit hewoulddo to rock that. Iskyiah knew how Moolah could get and how many of his buttons she could push, and vice versa.
There was a certain comfortability between them, and his only thought at the moment was getting back to Desmore Bay once he turned eighteen. Iskyiah would be waiting for him, and that was enough for him to push through these next few months and get back to his comfort zone, which mostly consisted of her.
Though the rest of the ride was quiet, there was a certain tension in the air, like they both fully understood that their time slowly dwindled down to the point of saying their goodbyes. It was a terrible feeling and something both of them had been putting off since Moolah’s uncle announced that they were moving to Montana.
Iskyiah hated that this was even happening. She loved Uncle Marlon, but she couldn’t stand him at the moment. Uncle Marlon had bought a farm out in Montana, of all places, and forced Moolah to drop everything he knew to go there and help him get it started.
Iskyiah knew Marlon hoped that working on the farm would steer Moolah away from the streets, but they both knew better. She was pretty sure Uncle Marlon did too. Still, Marlon was willing to do whatever it took to make sure Moolah was good. Though Iskyiah was pissed at Moolah’s uncle, there was nothing but love between them, and she knew Moolah felt the same way.Uncle Marlon sacrificed a lot to raise Moolah, and she thanked him in her prayers every night because Moolah was the best person she knew outside of her grandmother. Iskyiah knew as soon as Moolah turned eighteen and graduated from his new school, he would be on the first flight back to Desmore Bay. That was the plan, and she knew when he was determined, Moolah would always stick to the plan.
As soon as he made the right onto the secret path they’d been on countless times, Iskyiah grinned. She always trusted Moolah, even though she questioned him a lot. Seeing that he brought her to their spot made butterflies take flight in her stomach. He slowed the car down to a creep and then parked at the perfect spot before he undid his seat belt and reached for her. Once hers was off, he murmured, “Come here.”
Her brows pulled in. “Come where, exactly?” She looked at the limited space in confusion.
Moolah kissed his teeth and tugged her over the center console. She should have been surprised, but she wasn’t. Moolah tended to cross the line like that with her often, but she didn’t mind. He was her best friend. She loved him with everything in her, and he could get away with murder, and she wouldn’t look at him differently.
