“I closed on a house.”
My niggas clapped for me while Amir’s eyes got wide.
“We’re moving, Dad? Into a house?”
I nodded. “Yeah, I had Islah pick out a house. She picked, and I made my moves behind the scenes. We closed on that shit today.”
“Damn, that nigga just doing it all at once. Getting married, moving out of the penthouse to a damn house?—”
“Next thing is giving this nigga a sibling,” I said, cutting Keith off.
“A sibling?!” Amir yelled out. “On my mama, y’all are doing a lot.”
We all laughed at him.
“Yeah, baby boy, we got a lot going on.”
Our food finally came out, and we dug into it while talking about sports, my store, and what them niggas been up to.
Once we were all finished, Sammy had to skate off to cut somebody’s head.
We paid for our shit, finished our drinks, and threw money on the table before walking out.
“What’s y’all move for the day?” I asked Keith and Ricky.
“Shit, I’m tryna see the house,” Keith said. Ricky nodded, agreeing.
I laughed. “Iight, let’s ride.”
We all hopped in our whips, and we moved through town, making it to the other side where all the celebrities were, staring at all the houses that we passed in awe.
We made it to the house. All three of us parked in the driveway and hopped out of our cars.
“Damn, nigga,” Ricky said.
“She picked a mansion,” Keith added.
I didn’t say shit at first, just stood there looking at it. Three stories, dark brick with black trim, like it was fit for a nigga like me. The driveway cut, the grass was thick and a bright green, almost like it was fake.
But it wasn’t the house that had me standing still in that driveway, staring at it. It was the fact that Islah picked it, and it already felt like it fit us perfectly.
As we were walking up to the door, the realtor opened the door for us with a huge smile on her face.
“Welcome home, Mr. Mayer,” she said as she held the keys out for me.
I walked in, and we all looked around at the high ceiling with the black beams going through it.
The realtor pulled me to the side to sign the last bit of papers and send off the money, and she was along her way.
The air inside was clean. Empty, but not unfinished. Everything had already been handled. Floor done, lighting set, space wide enough to feel like something was supposed to happen here.
All of us walked through the house. I walked through room to room.
Kitchen, living space, stairs leading up. Every step I took, I was already placing her in it. Her walking barefoot in the morning, Her sitting at the island. Her voice echoing in a space that finally like hers—all hers.
Keith was still talking, but I barely heard him. All I heard was silence.
We made it back around the house, and I stopped in the living room, looking around once more, and pulled my phone out of my pocket and checked her location.
