The One She Loved

Chapter One,

     "Look man, all I'm saying is; we go in there, clean 'em out and get the fuck outta dodge—a quick li'l in and out," Easton concocted as him, Faven, Jemali and Asanté all sat on the metal bench in the basketball court.

      "What's gonna make this time any different than the last, East?" Faven rolled her eyes, twirling her finger around one of her twists. "Every time you plan something, shit goes wrong,"

     Mali nodded in agreement, dribbling the ball between his legs. Easton kissed his teeth, waving a dismissive hand, shuffling his feet. "Man, you always got something negative to say," he lowered his eyebrows, holding a mug on his face.

      "She's right though," Asanté finally spoke up, keeping his eyes fixed on the girl across the street, a couple of guys were catcalling her, following her from a distance as she was heading towards the corner store.

     "In order to hit the perfect lick, you gotta thoroughly plan shit out. Is the owner packing his own tool? What's the usual police response around this area? Are there any police around this area that would be able to respond quickly? Where are the cameras located in the store?" Asanté started throwing different questions at East, his eyes swiftly darting back and forth between the girl and the group of boys.

     "Why don't you plan it out then, genius?" East cut his eyes at Asanté, gesturing his hand towards him. Asanté got up from the bench, walking down a few steps. "Where you going?"

     Asanté ignored him, walking out of the court, he looked both ways on the street before crossing it. His friends quietly watched him, beginning to realize what caught his attention. "Should we go?" Faven asked the guys, briefly looking at them before returning her attention back onto Asanté.

     "Nah," Mali shook his head, spinning the ball in his hands. "He got it,"

     Asanté inally made it onto the sidewalk, stepping between the group of boys and the girl. "I'm giving y'all three seconds to walk away," Asanté warned them, they stopped in their tracks, a few beginning to back away.

     "Oh shit, my bad, Tay," One of the boys threw his hands up, slowly backing up. "This you?" he pointed at the girl who had briefly stopped walking, hearing the conversation that took place.

     "Take y'all dumb asses to school," Asanté ignored his question, his piercing stare, cold and deadly. Without another word from the boy, he turned around and started to walk away with his friends, one of them could be heard mumbling something under his breath.

     "What was that?" Asanté spoke up loudly, catching their attention again. The boy turned his head, quickly shaking it. Asanté watched them cross the street, before finally turning around to face the girl—who was now closing in on the entrance of the corner store.

     "Luvie," Asanté called out to her, quickly catching up to her. She ignored him, reaching to open the door, but Asanté opened it for her. "Luvie,"

     "Leave me alone, Asanté," Luvie huffed, greeting the store owners with a friendly wave in the process. She walked down the aisle where the freezers were, craving to get her usual fix of the vanilla flavored Starbucks coffee.

     "You gotta start walking wit' some type of protection on you, especially if you gone be walking alone." Asanté lectured her, following her down the aisle. Luvie continued to ignore him, opening the freezer door to grab the bottle of coffee. "Do you hear me?"

     Luvie shot him a displeased glance through the glass door as he stood on the other side. She shut the door and walked further down the aisle, looking for a light snack that would hold her over until lunch time.