Below The Belt

Round 17

DeAndre's POV

"Dude you move so slow..." Antwon groaned as he sat on the bed watching me go through my clothes. The fight was in an hour and I was still getting ready. Antwon and I had helped each other retwist our hair a few hours ago, and then Antwon got dressed. Then he started complaining about me not being ready at the same time as him. "It's not like you're gonna be in front of any cameras, just wear what you usually wear."

Yeah, he had to be irritated because he hates what I usually wear. He calls me a fashion disaster every chance he gets. "Relax, kid. We still got an hour."

"Your sense of time is actually insane." Antwon muttered as he put his head in his hands. I know I stress his lil ass out, but it's funny to me so imma keep doing it.

Eventually I did just pick my usual outfit, and Antwon looked like he was damn near ready to cuss me out as I finally led him out of the door. One thing about me, I hate taking an Uber anywhere. But I don't got my car here and I didn't feel like getting a rental, so Uber it is.

Antwon sat beside me in the backseat of this stranger's car, bouncing his leg impatiently as he stared at the time on his phone. "Can you relax? Damn nigga. You need a blunt." I caught the look the driver gave me in the rear view mirror and made sure to mug that nigga right back. I'll be damned if a nigga with a black ice car air freshener tries to judge me.

"I'd be relaxed if you weren't chronically late for literally everything, dude. Like how did we have so many hours to prepare and we're still gonna be late? That's not insane to you?" He asked with stress evident in his voice. Voice cracking and all. He gets this from his mama.

"Hm, nigga." I muttered while fishing a pen out of my pocket and handing it to him. Once he grabbed the pen I placed my hand palm up in his lap and watched as he started to draw on it. I told his ass to bring his sketchbook so he wouldn't stress out and he didn't listen. Luckily for him, I'm always prepared for him to be stressed... Because I always stress him out.

He continued to draw on my hand until my palm was completely covered in small doodles. He then flipped my hand over and started to draw along the back. He didn't stop until the car finally came to a stop outside of Caesar's palace. "See? We're here. You're fine." He turned to glare at me as he opened the door, and I rolled my eyes at his dramatic ass. He's so punctual. When I was his age I was late to everything without a care in the world.

Despite being pissed at me, he still grabbed my hand as we made our way into the overflowing building. Nervous ass nigga.

I started to text Marcus as we walked through the venue. The plan was to meet up with the group and find our seats together.

Finding them was easy. Marcus' loud ass was like a homing beacon.

"Hey girl hey!" He yelled from across the room, making people turn to look at him. "Fuck is y'all lookin' at? Mind y'all business, damn." Sure enough, they all turned away. Marcus must know how to fight because he be way too quick to jump.

Once I got closer to them, Marcus jumped into my arms, wrapping his arms and legs around me as I held him up. I caught Antwon giving me a confused stare and I shrugged my shoulders. "Twon you already met Rome and B. This is Marcus and the one overdressed for this event is Auntie. Y'all, this is my son Antwon."

"Hey girlll!" Marcus said, dragging the word out as he finally let go of me. "Romeo told me you were a sweetheart, it's nice to finally meet you."

"Romeo thinks any child is a sweetheart." Bianca chuckled. "But Antwon is very sweet. Very respectful."

Within the next few minutes, Marcus and Antwon were best friends. Antwon told Marcus about that kid he's crushing on while Marcus tried to convince him to confess to the kid.