“Drunk minds show how you really feel. You fucked up about me, and that’s okay. The way it’s going with us, I’m fucked up about you too. I don’t want you anywhere else besides where the fuck you already at,” I was honest.
You could tell that what I said was like music to her ears. She smiled at that. She dropped the chocolate bar in her lap while leaning over, so that we could kiss again. So many things kept getting in the way of us fuckin. We couldn’t do that shit the other night because we were at my grandma’s house. We couldn’t do it last night because she was drunk. We couldn’t do it now because her period just came on. When we did do it, I swear to God I was going to show out. Mark my words… when she finds out what this dick is hitting on, she’ll never bring that nigga up again a day in her life.
Chapter 10
Amina Sinclair
ONE WEEK LATER
“Amina? Get up for a second,” the sound of Gemini’s voice snapped me out of the sleep that I was in. I woke up, frantically looking around, trying to see what the hell was going on.
We were in the truck, driving on the highway. It was late. Gemini told me a while ago to go lay in the back, but I don’t know if I was becoming obsessed with him or what, but I opted to stay up here with him. I had my shoes kicked off, with my legs pulled up Indian style in the chair, with a throw blanket wrapped around me. My head had been lying on the doorframe. I was getting some good sleep. You would have thought that I was the one that had been driving this big truck around all day.
“Huh? What happened?” I was confused, not really knowing what was going on, or why he’d woke me up.
“It’s two state troopers behind me. They pulling me over. I don’t know what the fuck I did,” he said, and that’s when I looked in the rearview mirror, and it was the first time that I was actually hearing the sirens.
They had their lights flashing, alerting Gemini to pull over. I could tell he wasn’t scared though. His voice was calm. A littletoo calm, but I guess that was a good thing because I didn’t want to freak out.
Before I closed my eyes, I remember Gemini telling me that we were headed to Louisiana. We were going to a part called Monroe. It’s been a week since we’ve left Mississippi. After leaving Mississippi, we went over to Southern Arkansas. That was my first time in Arkansas. Even though we were there for work, I enjoyed the feel that Arkansas had. It was humid there though. I don’t think I wore my braids down one single time while we were there. My period was on the entire time that we were in Arkansas, and something about my period, and heat that just didn’t mix. That was probably the only downside about it though.
Other than that, when Gemini got a few moments to spare, we did little things. The sunsets out there were beautiful as hell. He had me trying new foods out there. I tried smoked brisket and fried green tomatoes from a food truck spot that he found. I saw fireflies for the first time, and just the overall simplicity of being out there with him is what I loved.
Now, here we were, in Louisiana, and with Gemini getting pulled over, I hoped that this wasn’t getting ready to set the tone for how our stay in Louisiana was going to go. I wanted this to be a good experience, just like the rest of the states that we’ve visited so far.
“You weren’t speeding or anything?” I asked him, just trying to see what it could have possibly been for them to pull him over.
“Nah I wasn’t speeding,” he told me.
It was pitched dark on this highway. Like a lot of the highways that we’ve been on, there wasn’t rows of streetlights that stretched for miles. It was after ten, and something about this traffic stop just seemed so eerie. I said a silent prayer, hoping for the best.
I sat my feet down, taking them out of the chair, and because I didn’t want it to look like I was hiding anything in my lap with this blanket, I went ahead, and tossed the blanket down on the floor.
By this point, Gemini had the truck pulled over onto the shoulder lane. He rolled my window down, along with his, and he sat with his hands on the steering wheel.
It took about a minute for the state troopers to make their way over. One went on Gemini’s side, while the other came over to my side. The officer that was on Gemini’s side, he flashed a bright flashlight into Gemini’s face. For him to even do that, let me know that he’d come over here looking for a problem. He could have flashed the light into the car. Instead, he came over here being an asshole, looking for a reaction out of Gemini.
I knew Gemini well enough now to know that he had self- control. He wasn’t going to give the officer the reaction that he was looking for. Instead, he just dropped his head, so that the light wasn’t flashing in his face.
“Good evening. May I ask you where you’re headed tonight?” the officer asked Gemini.
Did this man really pull us over to ask Gemini where he was headed?If that was the case, then he needed to get back in his car, pull everyone over, and ask them where they were all headed to tonight too.
“I’m headed to Monroe,” Gemini was calm in his response.
When Gemini responded, the officer didn’t say anything else after that. He just simply looked into the truck, flashing the light inside. My eyes were on him, so he flashed the light in my direction. He kept it on me for a few seconds and then dropped it back down into the truck.
“Can I ask you why you pulled me over?” I knew that question was coming from Gemini. Hell, if he didn’t ask it, then I was gearing up to do it.
“You can’t ask me anything, boy! I’m the one doing the questioning here!” he snapped on Gemini.
I was angry. Literally seething. Leg bouncing up and down. I knew that Gemini was upset too, but he was able to keep it together.
“Will all due respect sir, I can ask the reason for the stop. It’s late at night, and I’m just trying to get to the truck stop that’s coming up in the next few miles. You pulled me over and have yet to ask me for any proof of I.D or registration. The first thing you inquired about is the destination at hand. I’ll cooperate with you man, but I want to know why I’m being pulled over,” Gemini stated, hands still on the wheel, while turning his head, so that he could look the officer in his eyes.
As if what Gemini just said was a joke, the officer on his side laughed. It prompted the officer on my side to laugh as well.
“You hear this boy? Craig, he’s talking about he wants to know why I pulled him over. Let him know that this is my city. I don’t need a reason to pull you over boy,” the officer on Gemini’s side stated. Both of them were cracking up.
