Being back home did nothing but amplify my own failures; here was my little cousin, pretty much my only leaving blood relative, and while I should've been here helping him through the shyt he was dealing with, I was in Denver chillin with Kemoni. I should've put that trip on hold, especially after sitting down and just listening to everything that Gambino has been going through in D.C., I wanted to fly down there, find that nigga Papa Toenail or whatever the fuck his name was, and put a fuckin bullet in his head, but Gambino ensured me that he was fine, that he had people that were looking out for him and making sure he was taken care of. That only made me feel worse, because I was supposed to be looking after him but just like me he was independent and seemed to have a plan about what he wanted to do. I needed to do better, at least in terms of checking in on him and keeping in touch.... the only problem with that was I was easily distracted for example right now. I was supposed to be listening to him and yet, Chris had just walked by the room, he was shirtless and despite the seriousness of our conversation, Gambino's words became distant as me and Chris's eyes met for that split second... Gambino pushed my shoulder gently and when I looked at him he was smirking.
"So what's y'alls deal?" Gambino asked giving me a knowing smirk, at first I was confused until Chris walked by again with a box in his arms. "That your dude, your ex, fuck buddy, wassup?" He asked looking into my eyes.
"None of the above, that's Legend's boy.... I literally just met him a few weeks ago. What made you ask that bullshyt?" I asked knowing that there was something way deeper going on, I just haven't quite figured out what that something was just yet.
"Nigga because y'all are constantly watching each other, y'all seem to have this thing where y'all know when the other is around, and I've seen the way you look at him. Something is there, you're just too afraid to go after it." Gambino said smiling.
"Nah, I've never been afraid of anything.... Chris is a good dude and I wouldn't mind getting to know him on a deeper level but that comes with time. So what's your plan? Are you staying here or going back to D.C.? If you're staying here, I can help you find a place and if you're going back to D.C. I'll come with you because I wanna met this Papa Tonsils or whatever." I asked wanting to change the subject.
"Neither... my bro Uriel and mentor Frédéric are setting me up with a place in Boston, he says I'll be staying with his brother or something which is coo with me... as for Papa Tunde, there are some other people who are after him and I trust when they find him......." Gambino said trailing off but I knew what he was getting at. "I should probably start getting ready for this party tonight." Gambino said getting up, I got up as well and walked downstairs where Legend, Chris, and Preston were all laughing at something.
"Ayy are you going to finish helping me painting that last room?" Chris asked and I nodded. "Thanks, man I really appreciate it, Legend claims he's got something planned but he refuses to tell me what it is." Chris said and I looked at Legend who smiled before turning away from me. Look at this nigga trying to play matchmaker.......
"Which room is it?" I asked and Chris got up and started walking towards the stairs, God why did I have to walk behind him? His ass was just...... I could just picture grabbing that muthafucker while his d..... I shook the thought from my head and I followed him into an empty bedroom. "I think grey would be bomb for this room.... it's on the wet side of the house so when the sun is going down it'll give it a nice subtle yet sensual glow." I said looking around.
"We can figure it out next week.... but I really brought you up here to ask you something, I uhh..... I gotta drive back down to Georgia and pick up the last of my stuff and I was wondering if..... I know it's kinda outta nowhere but you've been helping me out so much and I just figured I'd ask." Chris said looking away.
"Yeah under the ONE condition that's it's AFTER MLK Weekend because I absolutely refuse to be anywhere near ATL during that shyt." I said smiling and Chris smiled back. "Now what was the second thing because I kinda gotta get back to the house and finish cooking." I said pushing my hands inside of my pockets.
"It's kinda personal...... don't get offended aight? So uhh.... is it true?" Chris said his voice turning serious. "Is it true that you think pumpkin pie is better than sweet potato pie?" He asked smiling.
"What can I say, I'm a pumpkin pie type of nigga." I said shrugging, I really hoped he wasn't about to start that shyt. "Please don't tell me you have a problem with my love of pumpkin pie? I get clowned enough from Legend, Jizzle, Murda, Nolan, and Rú for liking the SUPERIOR pie. The last thing I want is for our new friendship to end before it even begins." I said smiling.
"I honestly think your right to say nigga should be revoked for that bullshyt you just tried to out into the universe. I'm serious, you gotta watch that word around me because I'm not even sure you're really black, if you had said pecan, apple, hell I would've even accepted key lime pie.... but you said pumpkin, and that shyt just doesn't fly where I'm from." Chris said his smile burning into my memory.... it was something I wanted to keep forever and I........
"You know.... I finally figured you out." I said leaning up against the wall and staring at him. "See you think you're slick with that southern gentleman thing you got going on. You think you can hide behind that 'aww shucks' personality but I can see the real you." I said removing my hand from my pocket, grabbing his chin, and making him look into my eyes, I could feel his body temperature rising under my fingertips and I wondered to myself what would happen if I......
"Two more questions.... who is the real me? And what the fuck is an 'aww shucks' personality." He asked quietly, maybe I was trippin but I could hear his heart pounding in his chest or was that mine?
"It's something one of my teachers used to say... basically it's someone who is easily embarrassed or who blushes at compliments, someone who is basically bashful. But that's not you.... I see deep down you someone who teeters on the edge of danger, you hide behind that sexy ass smile and pretty modest personality, but I know if pushed to the limit.... you're probably the most dangerous person in this house, maybe even the city." I said still looking into his eyes.
"Does that.... does that bother you." He asked looking away.
"Quite the opposite.... that shyt turns me on, I like a nigga that's a little dangerous. Makes things exciting.... but we got an eight hour drive for me to figure out more about you." I said slowly pulling my hand back. "Maybe by the end of this trip we'll be the best of friends."
"I'm not interrupting am I?" Legend asked walking into the room, I really wanted to punch this nigga in his dick but I shook my head and watched as Chris took a step back. "We gotta get back to the house, Murda is there alone and you know he's good for forgetting that there's food in the oven and I'll be extremely pissed if my house burns down, especially because of your Caucasian Pie." Legend said smiling and while he had a point, this was definitely something he could've handled on his own, hell he could've walked to the house, he didn't have to interrupt what we were doing.
When we got in the car, Legend had this look of triumph on his face like he had just hit the lotto or something; normally this is the part where I say something slick to piss him off but I couldn't think of anything. Right now all I could focus on were the butterflies in my stomach that so far only one other person has been able to make me feel and that shyt right there was depressing as fuck because I knew.... I couldn't have them both. We got back to the house and Murda was knocked out on the couch, which meant there were three people I needed to cuss out; Jizzle for leaving this nigga unattended, Frenchie because I knew what they were doing before we went over to Chris's which is probably why Murda was sleep now, and Legend for killing the moment between me and Chris.
"Let's just finish this shyt up before everyone starts to arrive, I still gotta pick, my cousin, up from the airport and take him and his dude to their hotel." Legend said as we walked into the kitchen.
"Is Cody staying over tonight?" I asked as we moved around the kitchen, checking pots, making sure the pies in the oven weren't burned, and making sure that ham hadn't been touched and the honey glaze was still shimmering on top.
"Most likely; Jizzle will be with Chae, Murda is probably heading back to his house, and Rú is supposed to be having one of his little friends come over for dinner. What you not trying to be here with all the fuckin that'll probably be going on?" Legend asked and I shrugged. "I'm sure Chris wouldn't mind having another roommate for the night, who knows maybe y'all can finish that conversation y'all were having earlier." Legend said smiling.
"Chill out.... " I said trying not to smile. "But nah, I'll probably get a hotel room or something, might stay.... it all depends on how the night goes. Speaking of which do we have cards?" I asked and Legend tensed up, now we always kept a deck of cards in the house the only problem is when things got heated they always seemed to come up missing, I was just trying to make sure we had some before everyone started getting here.
"I'll grab some on my way back, I think Murda took the other deck we had and... I'll get some." Legend said as the front door opened and I heard laughter coming from the living room. I walked in there to see who it was and I knew Legend was about to lose his fuckin mind. "I'm about to..... the fuck is he doing here?" Legend asked looking at Rú who was standing next to that nigga Saquon.
"Uhh.... is there an issue?" Rú asked confused, he didn't get the briefing about what happened over Cody's so I'll give him a pass but Legend....... he was probably going to end up choking that nigga Saquon out. I sat on the sofa and started to make myself comfortable when my phone vibrated in my pocket..... N UR CITY, TRYING TO C U...... Looking at the name my dick started getting hard, not because of anything sexual but because there was a chance I could make a lot of money tonight but did I really wanna keep doing this? Especially since things were starting to become complicated and well.... maybe I was starting to want something that not even money could provide........................................
****** QUESTIONS ******
1) Random questions but are you TEAM CHRIS or TEAM KEMONI and WHY?