“Mhmm. What else you want?” she asks, pursing her lips to the side.
“A Dr. Pepper with light ice. Oh.” Brandy snaps her fingers. “And onion rings. You getting something?”
I guess Mom always knew best.
I smile, turning up the volume on the radio.
After an easy Uber Eats order, an attempted goodnight hug from Brandy that Phat thwarted with a pretend nauseous stomach, and a drunken Shipley’s visit, we end up back on the Northside.
The living room television casts a soft light across the living room as I push open the front door and stumble inside with Phat tangled around my waist.
“Go shower and get in bed,” I whisper, scooping her backpack off the floor.
Whatever she drank has her hands sneaking under my shirt and her eyes heavy. “D’you get my bear claws out the car?”
“Mhmm.” I peel her hand off my skin and push my nose into her braids. “Go get ready for bed.”
I can’t lose myself like I did in that bathroom stall because she won’t be drunk forever. Eventually she’ll sober up and realize what was said, done, and why I was always trying to keep her off of Earth.
She hooks her arms around my waist as I push forward with us together. “Go to bed. I need to let Jazmine go and check on Mom.”
“I can do that. ”
“Not while you drunk, you not. You know better.”
Another mewl claws from the back of her throat and I think I want her soft and drunk like this forever until she turns around, stabbing her finger into my chest.
“Don’t youeverlet that girl in our front seat again. Girls like her will end dudes like you.”
I grab her finger, curling mine around it while smiling. “Been there and done that. Go to bed.”
Another jersey chaser had already ended me, but I know Phat can’t handle that story.
* * *
Lourdes
A loud,screeching buzzer pounds into my eardrums and Jalen Rose talks to me in my dreams.
“Last night the Lakers took on the Suns in another preseason matchup in Vegas. This preseason has definitely been a struggle for the purple and gold without Ason Williams. Rookie Javier Quinones had a solid night—eighteen points, six rebounds, two assists. I don’t know how the regular season will look for them, Jacoby. I think the Lakers organization is still struggling from the loss of AW.”
“Absolutely and let’s also be mindful of the tremendously hard year he’s had with the death of his wife Angie and the controversy surrounding his son—”
I bite on my tongue and push against my mattress, but my body won’t move. It’s stuck. I can’t even yell at Jacoby for having the nerve to talk about Ace, and I swear somebody took a sledgehammer to my temples.
“Be still. You can’t do push-ups with a hangover, kid.”
My arms collapse and I realize my mattress isn’t under me. Ace is.
I fall face first into his bare chest, gurgling out a groan.
“A hangover?”
“Mhmm.” He hums, tapping against his phone’s screen.
There’s a block in my brain from last night. I hear DJ G5’s screeching; I feel myself peeling Bryson’s hand off of my ass; I see Brandy’s blonde curls and I taste Ace’s smell deep in my throat. But the rest is black.
Jalen Rose screams at me this time like he’s disappointed that I got drunk for the first time.
