I hung up and waited for his text. When I received it I walked over to my car. I was only fifteen minutes away from the Starbucks he wanted to meet at. Once I pulled up, I found a parking spot. After parking my car I exited, heading into the nearby Starbucks. When I got in there, I noticed Mr. Cotler sitting at a booth table in the front. Instead of looking like I got into a fight I looked like I just went for a workout. I was able to take my scarf off and wipe the Vaseline off of my face. I walked over to the table he sat at.
"Hey" I spoke softly.
"Hey Mercedes" he said standing up to hug me.
I embraced him back.
"Thanks for coming. I know it was last minute" he said pulling away.
"It's fine. I was in the neighborhood" I said taking a seat across from him.
"I ordered you an iced coffee with extra caramel."
"I appreciate that."
I took a sip of my coffee as silence filled the air. We locked eyes and smiled at one another.
"I had a good time the other night" he broke the silence.
"I did too. Sorry about the interruption though" I apologized for Rodrick interrupting our date.
I couldn't lie it was hard to walk away from Rodrick but it's what was best.
"That's okay. Who exactly was that?" Mr. Cotler asked.
"He was an ex. A very recent one" I said truthfully.
"Oh. Are there still any feelings there."
"I want to be honest with you I'm still in love with Roddy although we're not together. You're such a great guy but I'm not looking for anything more than friendship. I have to focus on me."
I had to admit that I was still in love with Rodrick. It wasn't going to change any time soon.
"I understand. I can accept being friends" Mr. Cotler said smiling at me.
"Thanks for understanding" I said.
We took the rest of the time just telling jokes and enjoying pastries with our coffee.
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Rodrick
I grabbed one of the big ass pair of scissors and passed the other pair to Trell. We cut the red ribbon at the same time.
"Kush Boyz is officially open" I said hella excited.
I finally accomplished a goal of mine which was to open my own dispensary. I wasn't only trying to chase tha bag but have ownership of a business.
"Hell yeah nigga" Trell yelled as the crowd cheered.
The whole gang came out to support. There was our people from the neighborhood and our family.
"Can you believe we did it?" Trell said dapping me up.
"But you knew that though" I bragged.
We had a section for edibles, pre-rolled blunts, strain testers, and merch. I watched people go to the different sections trying things out.
"What up niggas?" Amari said before piecing us.
"You back off of ya tour?" Trell asked him.
"It wasn't a tour man. I just had a show to do in Miami" Amari said pulling out his iPhone 12.
"We hella proud of you bro. I gotta see that shit. It's on the gram or Youtube?" I asked pulling out my phone too.
"I got a video. But forget that. This shit look fire as hell nigga. Y'all really did this shit" Amari said hyped up.
"We wasn't bullshitting when we said we was gonna own our own dispensary" Trell said.
"I see y'all. Let me post something on IG" Amari said pulling up Instagram making a story.
Trell wrapped his arm around my neck while I pointed at the phone.
"If you tryna get lit come out to Kush Boyz. Me and my nigga Trell gonna hook y'all up" I said.
Amari posted the story. He took a picture of me and Trell in front of the Kush Boyz merch section. After he sent it to my phone, I posted it up on my IG page. The likes started rolling in. When I studied my phone screen I noticed Cedes like my pic. My stomach started doing backflips. I couldn't lie I missed her. It was hard for me to admit that I was scared of being in a relationship with her. It was easier to just keep bitches at a distance. But with Cedes it was different. I had real feelings for her. I clicked on her page just to see what she was up to. I only saw a couple of selfies. She was always beautiful to me. I liked a few of her pics before exiting out the app. I pulled up a pic of me and her when we went to the club one night. I wish she could've came out today to support but I know we not in a good space. I wasn't sure if we were gonna even see each other again. I feel like a I lost a real one. I just didn't know how to fix it.
"Nigga why you looking like one of the homies just died?" Amari joked looking down at my phone screen. "Ain't that shawty from my show?"
I nodded clicking my phone off.
"Why she ain't come through?" he asked.
"We ain't really fuckin' with each other right now" I admitted feeling some type of way.
"How you fucked that up? Shawty bad as shit."
"She want a nigga to commit."
I know commitment don't seem like that big of a deal but I just don't know if that's what I want.
"Okay? Give her what she want" he said folding his arms across his chest.
"It ain't that simple bro. I don't want to hurt her" I sighed.
"So you can't keep ya dick in ya pants just to please her?"
"It ain't about that. She might have expectations that I can't live up to."
Amari walked over and stood next to me leaning against the wall.
"Love and relationships is about communication and working together. Everything else comes after. I saw how y'all looked at my show that night. She loves you and you love her. Stop playing and go cuff her my nigga" he said before walking away.
I thought about what he just said. Mercedes meant a lot to me. I had to question if love is what I felt for her. To be honest I never really been in love before. Not even with Shay.
