Worthy of Sin | Nas

Four

*excuse any errors*

Zola 'Slim' Monroe || July 1998

     I slid the customer his shot over in exchange for a $20 bill. I analyzed the bill and I opened up the register and when I slid the $20 into the register, I heard him say, "I'ma need that change back!" over the loud ass music. I had to refrain verbally and physically from reacting to his statement. My words and facial expressions combined in such a matter would probably result in me losing my job, so I took it on the chin.

"That's not an issue." I responded, going into the register to retrieve a total of $15. I didn't need that weak ass tip anyway. I was almost off and I hadn't racked up on many tips tonight since it was pretty slow on the main level and Kelly had me working at the Bar.

Bastard.

"Here you go." I handed the money over and he smiled, "Thank you, sweetness."

I rolled my eyes, proceeding to wipe off the bar. I was so tired of these wack ass, cheap ass niggas.

While I stood there, I felt my two-way buzzing in my back pocket and I automatically smiled to myself because I already knew who it was.

Since our date, we had been conversing damn near every day and he even sent me another bouquet of flowers. He was a sweetheart, I just hoped his romanticism and thoughtfulness would remain consistent.

Since it was dry at the moment, I dug for it and flipped it open before reading the messages:

I miss u

Call me wen u can

I smiled and replied with a simple smiley face before putting it away. For the remainder of my shift, I stood behind the bar with Spencer who was trying to, once again, spit some wack ass game at some girl who was sadly entertaining the shit.

I was definitely ear hustling, very disappointed at the shit I was hearing. I knew first hand that his game was wack, but he'd never stepped to me on some bullshit like "How many more shots until you're ready to go? Cause I'm almost off." That shit was honestly weird as hell to me, and I definitely would've interjected, but homegirl was down with it so I left it alone.

Alas, my shift was over and after Kori and I had met up in the break room, we changed our clothes and journeyed our way home just as we usually did. I was always eager to get back home, but I was even more eager because I wanted to talk to Sincere.

"How'd you do in tips tonight?" She asked, lighting her cigarette and taking a pull off of it.

"I did alright, not as good as I usually do. I know it was crackin' upstairs tonight, huh?" She nodded, taking a pull off of her cigarette and I shook my head. "Stupid ass Kelly," She chuckled and took one last time before flicking the cigarette off somewhere on the sidewalk.

"So, you never did tell me about your date the other night," She smirked at me and I couldn't control the smile that found its on way on my face with zero effort. "It was a good date. He took me to go see Maxwell and then we went walking around the Botanical Gardens and then got chased out by security." I gave her a half shrug and I looked over at her and she nudged me, "Did y'all kiss?"

"Nope." She smacked her lips, "Girl, you answered that too fast," I just smiled as we continued on with our walk. "You ain't got'sta lie, Craig! You ain't got'sta lie!" She teased, poking at me in a teasing manner and I just chuckled and remained silent.

"Well, since you wanna be stingy with the details, can you at least tell me how you feel about him now?" I was just blushing my ass off, and I hated it. There was nothing wrong with it, but I just wasn't used to always feeling this way about someone.