21 year old, college junior A'mia Daniels has spent most of her life abiding by her overbearing and manipulative mother's rules. Equally overbearing is her boyfriend of three years, Aaron. However, what happens when it seems as though fate has broug...
Between the long lines and short staff I spent almost an hour in Walmart. By time I checked out it was around noon and the brutal heat seemed to have reached an all time high. On top of that, I had about ten grocery bags and almost missed the bus because I struggled to carry them all. The only good thing was once again I didn't have to wait forever for the bus.
Much like my journey to the store I sunk into my seat and let my music overtake me. However, this time I felt Tink's words deep in my soul as she crooned her hit song Treat Me Like Somebody. My mind instantly went to my boyfriend Aaron. I met him when he joined our church about four years ago, we were seniors in high school then. He wasn't the most handsome guy in the world but he was easy on the eyes. He stood about 5'9, caramel tone, faded haircut and dark eyes. He was apart of the young adult choir, life group and an usher on Sunday mornings. He was the epitome of a church boy, which was probably why my mother loved him so much. However, lately I wasn't so sure about me, he was becoming a little overbearing.
Some things never change. I thought to myself as the bus came to an abrupt stop AGAIN, jolting me out of my seat. It had been a minute since I last took the bus so I hadn't noticed just where I got off until all I saw was the bus' rear end in the distance, spewing smoke and polluting the air. After a few glimpses of my surroundings it didn't take very long for me to realize that I was in Rosewood. While I didn't actually live in the hood, my neighborhood West Point was quite close. Rosewood was known for its drug dealing, violence and overall rowdiness. I was about to sit at the bus stop and wait for the other bus but the temperature icon on my phone's notification bar convinced me otherwise. I grabbed all ten of my grocery bags and started my trek through the hood.
Ten minutes into my journey, So far so good, I thought. The hood was strangely quiet, the only noises heard were the occasional barking of pitbulls. Now don't get me wrong, not that I was spooked by the hood as I would've walked through here a couple of times during high school, I was just not in any mood to deal with the cat calls of the wannabe gangsters, sugar daddies and everybody in between. However, when I was about three blocks away from my neighborhood, lady luck hiked her skirt up and decided it was time to bounce. I could hear the ruckus and smell the stench of weed even before I saw them chilling on the corner of 56th street. Five negros who obviously had nothing better do but than sit around, play dominoes and shoot dice. As I inched closer and closer to where they were I silently prayed that they were either too high or engrossed in their game to notice me. Once again my wishes were thrown to the wolves.
"Aye ma!" Shouted one guy.
"Yow ma, waddup?" The other asked.
"Bruh, she actin like she too good for a nigga!"I heard the third one say.
"Man, nobody wanted you anyway, shaped like a damn spongebob in that Halloween episode."
My stomach churned as I hurried pass them, disgusted by their advances.
"Obviously no one ever taught yall how to speak to a lady." I muttered under my breath.
Just as I was about to continue with my silent rant I heard a voice calling out behind me. It was him, the only guy I noticed who didn't try to get my attention as I walked by.
"Hey!" He semi-yelled.
"Excuse me."
I was about to increase my pace when I heard feet loudly hitting against the sidewalk. He was running at this point and I couldn't escape, these groceries wouldn't let me.
"What?" I asked with a little more attitude than intended when I realized he caught up to me.
"Damn, you got alotta bags there. I was just wondering if you needed some help that's all." He threw his arms up in feigned surrender.
"No thank you, I can manage." No sooner did my hands betray me. The sweat from my clammy palms caused three of the bags to slip and come crashing down onto the sidewalk.
"Seems like you could use some help huh?" He chuckled as he proceeded to grab my bags off the ground.
"Thank you," I said with my head down instantly ashamed of the attitude I had only seconds ago. Truth be told I was extremely happy that I got some help. Momma was tripping with that grocery list knowing I didn't have a car.
"So, I never seen you around here before until today, where you from?"
"I'm from West Point, I guess I got off at the wrong stop today, been a minute since I had to take the bus." A slight heat circled my cheeks, embarrassed at my mistake.
"Besides I'm in college anyway, so I'm usually not around." I said proudly.
"Oh aight. College girl, that's wassup." He responded.
"So, what college you go to?" He went on to ask.
"Brown State University."
"Cool."
The rest of the journey to my house went by rather quickly and I was pleasantly surprised at the ease in which I was able to converse with homeboy. As we approached the beginning of my walkway I thanked him for his help and tried to take my bags away.
"I know you don't live in these streets, I offered to help you all the way home and that's what I'm gon do." He said.
"I won't rob you or nothing like that if that's your concern." He assured me.
I instantly felt bad for being prejudicial towards him and, allowed him to walk me up to my door. I thanked him once again and apologized for my stank attitude.
He smiled and for the first time I really observed just how good looking homeboy was. He flashed me a perfect set of 32 that I suspected came about as a result of years of wearing braces. His pearly whites complimented his deep mocha chocolate tone that seemed to glisten as the sun beat down on his melanin. He stood atleast 6'3 and had the arms and legs of an athlete. His hair was slightly grown out and possibly twisted with a sponge brush. However, it was his eyes that I thought was his most alluring feature. Light brown, mesmerizing and they seemed to change color in the sun. Or perhaps I was imagining things at that point but there was no denying that the brother was fine.
"No problem. By the way, you never told me your name." He said.
I was so busy sizing him that I didn't notice he was speaking to me.
"Huh? sorry I didn't hear you." I said, snapping out of my daze.
He flashed that gorgeous smile of his again. "I said, you never told me your name."
"Ohh my bad, I must've been day dreaming, my name is A'mia Daniels." I said.
"Aight, beautiful name for a beautiful woman." His tone sickly sweet as he winked playfully, a smile was still plastered on his face.
"My name is Slick by the way." He continued to say.
"Slick huh?" I smirked, with an earbrow pointed heavenward.
He chuckled," My bad, I meant my name is Lance Carter. My family calls me LC and the homies call me Slick."
"That sounds better. Well Mr. Carter I gotta go put away these groceries. Thanks again for walking me home." I said genuinely.
At that point I quickly stormed into the house, slamming the door shut as I was sure to get lost in Lance's eyes, again.
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