Ballin' [slumptacion]

Thirty fouR

Now the only thing that was left to do was to ask X. Two days before X was scheduled to get discharged from the hospital, Stokeley visited him. When Stokeley first mentioned it, it seemed like X was aware of the situation regarding him being discharged soon. He seemed worried though.

"Yeah, I know. Me and the nurses have been talkin bout it" X said, scrolling through his contacts.

He had so many names on there, and yet still the only ones he recognized now were 'Stokes', 'Bestie' and 'Jordan'. A few of the other contact names were a tad bit familiar, but no face came to mind. Stokeley had given Jahseh's, or more accurately, X's, phone back to him. He had kept it until Jahseh was conscious, and now that he had switched to X, he could give it to him. He said he could text or call him whenever he wanted, no matter the time, if he needed something whenever Stokeley wasn't around the hospital. Or if he just wanted to talk... but Stokeley didn't say that, because he knew X would think it was weird.

When X first got the phone, messages started rolling in from 'Bestie'. He didn't know who that was, so that was the first time X texted Stokeley. Stokeley informed him that it was Symere. X also wasn't really comfortable with Stokeley's contact name being 'Stokes', he thought it was corny, but he felt like changing the contact names would be disrespectful to Jahseh. Not that X ever gave a fuck about who felt disrespected by him... but it just felt wrong to come into Jahseh's life and start altering things he had built up, even if it was small shit like a contact name.

There were a few things X knew he was going to change for sure though. He couldn't stand the indigo blue locs, for one. He didn't know exactly how he wanted his hair, but he was gonna do something about that. And maybe start working out a bit. He wanted to physically look more like the way he looked when he thought of himself mentally, it felt a bit uncomfortable living though someone else's body. The face was accurate, but the rest felt like a matter of taste. X didn't like Jahseh's taste.

X kept scrolling until he stopped on a specific contanct, "See?" He said, turning the screen over so Stokeley could look.

Stokeley moved closer to the hospital bed to see what X was referring to.

"This is a person who knows everything about me, someone that loves me unconditionally, someone I should be able to turn to in situations like these, but I can't. Cuz to me she's a stranger" X said.

Stokeley frowned, the contact name said 'mom'.

X turned the screen back to himself and stared at it, his eyes looked almost sad.

"I mean, from what Jahseh have told me, I'm pretty sure Cleo would love for you to stay with her so she could take care of you. You're still her son after all, it doesn't matter if you as X don't know her or if she doesn't know you. Like you said, she loves you unconditionally" Stokeley said, trying to comfort X.

In reality, Stokeley really wanted X to stay with him. He thought it was a perfect opportunity to get to know him, and he didn't really want to miss any part of his progress. What if he missed out on something important? But regardless, he wouldn't just force X to do whatever he preferred. If X wants to stay with his mom, he should. Stokeley had no interest in coming in between him and his mom in any type of way, he knew how much Jahseh loved her and how much she loved him.

"Yeah bruh but you know what? I don't even think I'd be comfortable being there, spending time with her when I don't know shit about Jahseh's life other than what Dwayne have informed me of. It would feel fake, like I'm borrowing someones body and entering their private lives" X said, now locking his phone and putting it on the bedside table.