“‘Cause it wasn’t peelin well.”
“Well, you’re no fun.” She balls the candy wrapper in her hand.
“You the only one that likes them corny ass jokes.” I grab the Vaseline sitting next to her thigh, but she snatches it back.
“Wait! I got another one. Betcha haven’t heard this one.”
“You been taking them Laffy Taffys from the cashier’s window and making me listen to them stupid ass jokes for years. I’ve heard ‘em all.”
“Believe me, you ain’t heard this one. It ishilarious. Let me get my phone so I can read it to you. I don’t wanna fuck it up.” She tucks the Vaseline under her armpit and pulls her phone out of the pocket of her basketball shorts.
Ms. Kathy lays on her horn as she flies by us in her midnight black Audi and whips into a parking spot next to Lucky’s F-150. Neither of us waves at her.
Arnez’s light cheeks turn a rosy red while she scans the phone for whatever stupid joke she found online that I’ll have to pretend to laugh at. Back in the day, me and Senior used to fake laugh at all of her dumb jokes until our mouths hurt.
She shimmies from side to side, then sits up straight with her phone in front of her face. “Guess what Rasheeda told me when I texted her to ask about an appointment with her boss?”
My mouth gets dry. “What the fuck you do that for?”
“Aht…aht…don’t start. It takes the fun out of the joke.”
“I told you to leave that shit alone?—”
“Where is that text? I wanna read this word for word.” Her honey-brown eyes float across her phone until they finally stop. “Hm. Here it is. She said…”
She clears her throat and sits up even straighter before reading, “‘I’m gonna tell you like I told Ms. Faye when she came by the ranch last week and the week before that—Melo ain’t taking appointments about balance inquiries. Especially not appointments for Pup. I’m trying, but Pup’s gotta start doing his part too. I heard about what happened at Beatrice’s last night, and if I heard, then you know Melo heard. Pup can’t dowhat he wants around here anymore. It’s nothing personal—just politics.”
Her nostrils flare, and she slams her phone down on the truck’s tailgate right as the brassy sound of trumpets plays and the camera pans over to the Knight’s sideline.
“So, is it true?” she grits out.
“Is what true?”
“Don’t play stupid with me. Did you really stomp Wendell Barnes out in Beatrice’s backyard?”
I turn around, trying to swallow the gust of air that blows through the empty parking lot, but I can’t catch it. One thing Smitty always said about not following those made-up rules was that just because you didn’t believe in them didn’t mean they didn’t carry consequences.
“Who told you that?”
“It doesn’t matter,” she hisses. “Are you crazy?”
She balls up the Laffy Taffy wrapper and throws it at me. “Hisfuckinbrother? You’re disrupting Melo’s ecosystem again.”
“And you overstepping boundaries again.”
“Youwouldknow. You’re the king of that shit. You’re fucking his assistant and still fucking his brother’s girlfriend when I told you to stop. You loveee testing boundaries—especially his. You ain’t gon’ be satisfied until he…he…” She swallows hard.
“I was fucking them before all this,” I mutter, looking off. “I ain’t changing my life because of him.”
“He’s got a whole machine behind him. Don’t you understand that this shit is bigger than us? This nigga was on the news dressed like Blade, standing next to the incumbent mayor and you’re telling me you’re not worried about what he’s capable of?”
“You done?”
“Areyou?”
“Did I ask you to text Rasheeda about that? I told you to leave it alone. I told you to worry about school—worry about yourself. Move on.”
“You’re telling me to leave it alone?” She scoffs. “But you had Faye running her ass out to Manvel to ask the same goddamn question. What the fuck, Pup?”
