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“Charm where? Did you not see what I went through last night?”
“I did. And you know what? I know what it’s like to be down bad. Struggling with no help. I listen, I don’t judge. Sorry. Plus, it’s just sex.”
“Okay, smartie. So, if it's just sex, why does he have a bag here?”
We both turn our heads to a white duffel bag off to the far left side of her couch. Sitting there like it pays its own form of rent. Dime turns back to me dripping in guilt.
“Well, like I said, I know what it’s like to not have shit but my own two feet. Besides, he’s your
family.”
“More so Damien’s family. I’ll let you have it though.”
She shrugs. “Regardless. He can’t be that bad, right? The nigga just needs a friend.”
“With benefits. Right?”
“If you want to put it that way,” she shrugs again, “Sure.”
I can’t help but to sigh.
“Dime, I love you. I really do. You have my heart. But I promise you, sometimes, I really think they replaced your brain at birth with one of a duck.”
“Look, I’ve got him. Okay?”
“Cool,” I start to look down at my phone, “I’m still telling Damien, but cool.” “Great.”
“Fine.” “Splendid.”
My patience with her stubbornness wears thin. “Girl, what did you want to talk about? Damn.”
A lightbulb goes off in Dime’s head. She goes from being annoyed with my nagging to looking like she has big news.
“Oh shit. Okay, come into my bedroom.” “Do I get Oreo cereal after too?”
“Girl, shut the fuck up.”
We rush into Dime’s bedroom, closing the door behind us. I can smell sex in the air and it’s making me want to jump out of her nearby window. I start to sit on the bed but quickly recoil, choosing to stand.
“What’s wrong with you?”
“I don’t want to risk sitting in the aftermath of the Rayne Storm.”
“Hoe, eat my ass with that bullshit,” she sits on the edge of her bed, “Look, I remember where I saw that girl you were kicking it with last night.”
“Syren?”
“Oh my God. It is her.” “Huh?”
“You remember a while back when I vented to you about this bitch who was fucking with my baby daddy? Always starting shit.”
“The girl who used to punch on him with my niece in the room?”
“Yeah. Back then she had blonde braids and always wore hoodies. That’s why I didn’t recognize her at first. I don’t know who this bitch in the ladies night special dresses thinks she is. But that’s her. On the G, it is.
“But wait a minute. You said you fought that girl.”
“No, I said I almost shot her. She was raising hell on this one Monday in particular. And my baby girl came calling me in a panic, saying she was scared that daddy was going to die. I get there and this psychotic hoe is holding Jay at knife point. I shoot at her with my gun, barely missing her head. She bum rushes me, I drop the strap, and she dips. I never saw her again after that. I promised I’d turn her body cold if I ever did. A few weeks later, my baby daddy’s the victim of homicide.”
