Chicago | LA Capone Story

$$ BACK TO SAME OL' PT 2

The air was dry and warm as we walked under the night sky. To be honest, I wasn't too excited to go to the block party. I didn't wanna "surprise" the people with me being back in Chi-town. I had too much history with some of these people. Especially the dude who was the reason I didn't trust anybody. Fucking jerk, I was silently praying he wouldn't be there but my nerves said otherwise. My heart was beating faster and faster. The urge to spin around and run back to my home was as strong as a fucking hurricane. I swallowed hard as my eyes were stuck on the sign that read 60th street. This was his street, he claimed it. I shook the memory off and encouraged myself to have fun, to enjoy it and to put on a happy face. I freed my straightened hair from the loose ponytail it was in and shook my hair around and fluffed it a bit to create volume. I pressed my lips together as we continued walking and heard the bass from the music already. I could spot the cars and the swarm of people. "You good?" Jacie asked, looking at me with a worried face.

"I'm great." I lied, smiling at her. She raised her eyebrows and gave me a small push. "You a boss, remember that. You that hard bitch, niggas know how you rock." She said. Her words comforted me. I smiled, "Yeah, I'm sure they do know how I rock and I'll teach them if they don't." We both laughed.

"Off the Scottie" by GMEBE was playing loudly and people were bopping like crazy. Some of them on the cars, others of them battling. It all looked fun, it was fun but I wasn't feeling it at all. My gut was telling me something was about to happen and it wasn't going to be something I'd like. I bopped my head to the beat as I tucked my hands in my pockets. Jacie grabbed my wrist and pulled me to the side of the streets where a group of people were standing. I internally cursed her for not telling me who they were because once I noticed, my heart pace fastened.

"Sup Jacie." Tay said. "Who's your friend?" he asked. I rolled my eyes as I was showing them the side of my face. His flirt game was still weak as hell, I thought to myself. I finally turned my head around and raised my eyebrows at him, also getting a full look of who the people were that were standing there. There only was one guy I didn't recognize. "Why -Mani man!" he laughed as he pulled me into a loose hug. "You back and you ain't even say nun!" he yelled. I laughed, "Shut up bitch, why would I tell you?" Again, he laughed. "Man I missed yo mean ass." He smiled. "I missed yo stupid ass too." "So you gon' just - ignore me like, yo, aight." I heard JB say and I turned to look at him. He pretended to walk away and when he noticed no one was grabbing him to stay, he turned around. "Y'all bein' fufu as hell!" he yelled and we all laughed. "Come here!" I said and hugged him. "How you doin?" he asked. I frowned for a split second because I felt a set of eyes on me but I refused to look. I didn't know who the other guy with dreads was so I decided to just ignore him and maybe give him a slight, "Hey, I'm Armani." "I'm good. ATL was aight but I missed this." I lied as I smiled. "Yeah, ain't no place like Chiraq." "There really ain't." I murmured sarcastically. I finally looked up to the dude watching me all the time and stuck out my hand. "Hey," I said as I watched him. He looked at my hand and then at me, brushing the couple dreads out of his face and making my heart stop. My hand quickly dropped as I pressed my lips together and showed him the side of my face. I could feel my blood boil and my face getting hotter and hotter as I realized who I was talking to. I quickly reminded myself not to show my weakness again. It seemed much harder back here than it was in ATL, maybe because in ATL I didn't have stupid fake people who tried to play me all the time. Don't show your fucking weakness, man up. "Sorry, I didn't recognize you." I said as I faked a small smile and watched him but kept my focus between his eyebrows, everything to not look in his eyes again. "It's okay." I heard his deep voice say. I nodded and turned to Jacie. "Can I talk to you for a second?" I said, my voice low. She nodded and we both walked away from the group, my heart sinking even more.

"Why did you take me to them? To him?!" I asked with gritted teeth. "I didn't - I just wanted you to talk to Tay nem, I didn't want you to talk to him but I thought you would ignore him." She said. "Shit, I would if I knew he had dreads now! I didn't even recognize him but felt his stare all the time so I thought I should acknowledge the stranger. Damn." I cursed under my breath as I ran my hand through my hair.