A Losing Game

"The Secret of Yesteryear"

            Montrell quickly walked away from them towards the bakery. Without saying a word, Roderick passed by Jacory and Nate and walked away. Jacory looked back at him for a second before heading towards a nearby music store with Nate. Before turning the corner, Roderick looked back and watched as Jacory and Nate entered the store. He then pulled out his phone and arranged for a Lyft to take him to where he'd parked his car.

            After getting his cookie and exiting the bakery, Montrell received a text message from Saquan asking him to come to the alley between a Citi Trends clothing store and a Subway restaurant. He smiled and immediately made his way to the alley. He spotted Saquan standing near a set of steps that led to the vacant space above the Subway restaurant.

            "It's cold as fuck tonight," said Saquan while rubbing his hands together.

            "You can say that again. Congratulations on the win, baby."

            "You already texted that to me."

            "I know but I wanted to say it to you in person."

            "If you really want to congratulate me, you'd give me a hug and a bite of that cookie."

            Montrell gave him a look and snapped, "Boy, I am not letting you put your lips on my bootyhole out in this cold."

            Saquan burst out in laughter and said, "Bae, I'm talkin' about the cookie in your hand."

            "Oh, right." He gave Saquan a hug and then let him take a bite out of his giant white chocolate macadamia nut cookie.

            "Mmm, that's good. That's my favorite type of cookie. Well, I love sugar and snickerdoodle, too."

            Montrell's eyes widened as he revealed, "Those are my three favorite cookies, too. Wow, we have something else in common."

            "How about we go somewhere where we can be warm in common?"

            "My momma is home and I don't even feel like explaining to her why I need to spend time in my bedroom with my downlow boyfriend. She's gonna jump to conclusions."

            "Who you here with?"

            "Jacory and Nate. You?"

            "Some of my basketball teammates."

            "Well, you should kick it with them tonight. You just won the first game of the season."

            "I see them niggas everyday at practice. I wanna spend time with you."

            "We don't have anywhere to go that's warm."

            "Actually, there's one place we could go. Well, it's more like several places." He pulled out his phone and began arranging for his idea.

            Out on the street, Demetrius parked his Honda Civic in a parallel parking space in front of Citi Trends and turned the car off. Tayvon immediately climbed out of the back and walked away while Demetrius and Zayvon stayed in the car.

            "What's going on between you and Tay?" Demetrius asked.

            Zayvon shrugged his shoulders and replied, "We're good. Why do you ask?"

            "I don't know. It seems like you two haven't been the same in a while."

            "It don't feel like that to me. He's still my annoying twin that's four minutes younger than me."