"𝘉𝘪𝘵𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰 𝘥𝘰𝘰𝘳 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘨𝘪𝘳𝘭 𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘴!"
Rico Nasty - Girl Scouts
~
"Well... that was trash"
It was around 2 o'clock in the afternoon and Riley and Fatima had just left the theatre, Fatima had convinced him to watch some drama-romance featuring an actress she liked, but of course Riley didn't feel it at all. The two walked together down the street, whilst Fatima gently swatted him on the arm.
"Stop hatin', it was a good movie!"
Riley scoffed "all 'em niggas did was cry and argue for a hour and fifty minutes bro, don't tell you really fuckin' widdit like that?"
"Just 'cause you're used to mindless violence and action doesn't mean this movie was trash, hater"
The boy dramatically put a hand to his chest, gasping loudly "Fatima Onuwatendo! I can't believe you'd call me, Riley Freeman, a hater!"
The duo laughed as they continued to chat about the movie they had just watched. It was nice to be able to spend time with his girlfriend alone for once, sure he loved the rest of his friend group, but it seemed like every time he planned him and Fatima to go out together, it would always become a group thing as opposed to a solo thing.
He then smiled when he thought of something, it was going to be her birthday in a few weeks time, but he wasn't really sure what to get her. In all honesty, he could get her anything since he'd saved up a lot of money from his 'job', but he wanted it to be special, not just something expensive but something she would actually cherish and what not.
"Still, I don't think she was stupid for taking him back" Fatima hummed, "I mean, he was drunk, at least they were able to come to a resolution"
Riley smirked, "so are you sayin' that I'm allowed to-"
"Stop right there, I know what you're gonna say, shut up"
He began laughing, throwing his arm around her quite suddenly "come on Tima you know I'm playin', I wouldn't do nothin' like that!"
"Mhm, aight" she said, rolling her eyes before giggling "you bet not"
Riley was going to make a smart reply, before he felt his phone vibrate. He picked it up before looking at the caller ID, frowning when he saw who it was, he looked over at his girlfriend and sighed "yo Tima, I gotta take this call real quick, it's kinda private, mind if I go somewhere else?"
She nodded "sure," she then sat on a bench "I'll wait here, take your time"
Riley smiled, he knew he had to stay with her, mostly because he doubted he'd ever meet a girl so trusting and respectful of his privacy ever again in his life. The boy made his way to a rather close by ally before picked the phone and frowning yet again "nigga fuck you want!"
"Damn lil' man! Can I get a fuckin' hello? A how you doin' or some shit?"
"Nah nigga! Man... Khalil, you can't be callin' me all random and shit, I'm out wit' my girl bro"
"Yo girl? You think I give a damn right now? Bring yo ass to the apartment lil' man, it's an emergency!"
"Fuck you and yo emergency, I'm not finna leave my girl out the blue-"
"Well unless you want yo girl marchin' down the street wit' yo face on a shirt screamin' 'say his name' I suggest you bring yo ass on!"
Riley found himself pouting, it wasn't a 'work' day and he was on a date so he really didn't want to go, but considering Khalil went out of his way to call him at a time like this... he hated to admit it but it was probably something really serious.
He eventually grumbled a quiet 'alright' before hanging up the phone. He took in a breath, left the ally and approached Fatima who was still seated on the bench "look, Tima... sorry but I gotta go, some family shit went down and uh... yeah, I can't stay"
Fatima instantly adopted a look of worry "is everything okay? You know you can tell me"
"I know Tima, but it's kinda urgent so I gotta dip, sorry again"
She shook her head "don't be, you can't control what happens in life, just... let me know if anything goes wrong, okay?"
Man, now I feel bad for lying...
Riley nodded, before grinning "you know I'll tell you anythin' Tima"
And with that, they both said their goodbyes, with Fatima then making her way home and Riley making his way over to Khalil's apartment. The second he knocked on the door, the boy was pretty much dragged inside, and slumped onto the couch "ow! Nigga what the fuck!?"
Riley was going to cuss further, but felt visible confusion when he looked to his side and saw... Quincy. The two had interacted a few times after their first meeting, mostly on their runner jobs, but never had Quincy been over at the apartment "ayo Q.C, watchu doin' here 'cuz?"
"Man... man... it's some shit dawg... it's some shit"
The other boy hadn't failed to notice how shaken up Quincy was and how... visibly afraid he seemed. Fuck, what was happening?
Khalil stood back "so, I asked Quincy before you got here so I'mma ask you, so lil' man... you a narc?"
Almost offended by the allegation, Riley shot his head up "nigga hell nah! Fuck I look like snitchin'?"
Usually, Khalil would have laughed at the boys over reaction, but it was clear he was in no mood to laugh that day "they got Ty lil' man, they shot her, she not dead, but we gotta do sumn"
"They got Ty? Who?"
"Commando, the gang I had you deliver for"
"When we first met" Quincy interjected.
Riley was beyond confused "why they shoot Ty?"
Quincy decided to speak again "Commando was mad about somethin', drug related I think, Khalil was gon' send you over but Ty thought the whole situation was sus' like it was a setup or some shit, so she came instead... they got to arguing and they shot her in the thigh, they left without pickin' me up so I called the ambulance on her, told 'em it was a random drive-by"
"They not gon' get away wit' this" Khalil grumbled. Riley knew that out of all the girls Khalil had access too, Ty was probably the ond he was closest with, they weren't necessarily a couple, but more so 'best friends that had sex sometimes', so he knew Khalil was not gonna stand for them doing that to her.
"What you want me to do? 'Cause if you think I'm finna go and shoot up some grown ass men wit' A.Ks, you high as shit brotha" Riley sneered, Ty was cool and all, but Khalil must have been out of his mind if he thought he was gonna put his life on the line because she thought she could handle a gang all on her own.
Khalil rolled his eyes "of course not, I need you to do sumn else" the older man sat down "listen, Q.C ain't livin wit' parents lil' man, he live wit' a nigga I know, he cool, but now they asses in danger... even though Commando know Q.C, they don't trust him no more, so I'mma relocate them both to this neighborhood"
"Is that all?"
"Nah" he then looked into Riley's eyes "listen to this carefully, I'mma make sure Q.C go to yo school, and you niggas ain't gon' say shit, aight? My and my crew plannin' to blast Commando ass soon, and I gotta find a way to keep yo names out of it; y'all might be targeted though"
Riley's eyes widened like saucers "targeted?"
"Yeah, them niggas might come after you, Ion know how to protect yo ass yet but I got an idea" Khalil then produced something, a gun.
"Wait... you mean..."
"Yeah, I gotta show you how to use it though so I'm not gonna give it to you today" he dryly chuckled "you can't be comin' here monthly no more neither, so I hope yo ass been usin' that money wisely... we in some deep shit right now, these niggas been actin' off for the longest time but I ain't think they wanted smoke like that" he then sighed "all I'm trynna do is make sure y'all niggas safe, y'all kids and shit and I ain't trynna get y'all hurt, don't be goin' nowhere on yo own, and don't go alone in the dark, y'all might have to become homebodies or sumn because right now, it ain't safe"
Riley wasn't sure how to feel. As a runner boy, all he had to do was transport things, he didn't know gang details and frankly didn't care to know, he wanted no parts in all that just yet, his current main focus was to just make some money on the side so he could treat himself, his girl and the rest of their friends whenever they hung out. However, now that he was apparently involved in some gang drug conspiracy... he wanted out.
Issa lil' too late fo' dat big homie.
Khalil then spoke "Q.C gon' stay wit' me 'til my nigga move in to his place, then I'mma send him over there, you can leave now"
"O... kay" was all he said as he stood up "see ya Q.C" he then walked out.
The walk home was quite... hollow to say the least. Riley was silent the whole trip and honestly just wanted to get home as quickly as he could.
He was in danger. Sure, there was a chance that the gang didn't know of him and wouldn't come after him, but it was still a possibility. Riley was so shaken up that when he arrived home, he completely blocked out everyone and went to the bathroom, since Tahiry and Huey were still in the bedroom doing God knows what.
The boy let out a shakey sigh, it was all going to be okay, nothing was going to happen.
Her certainly hadn't made a mistake involving himself in this to begin with.
~
"And another thing!"
Huey sat there, perplexed. How Tahiry had found so many things to cuss him out with was shocking and honestly mind blowing to him. He wanted to tell her to stop, as a man can only be berated for so long before his ego is bruised beyond healing, but he always felt like he'd just make it worse; he wasn't even sure what she was saying anymore, just a whole lot of noise going in one ear and out the other.
Finally, it seemed like even Tahiry was tired of yelling, and she slumped back on the wall and slid back until she was seated on the carpet ground. The room was silent, almost eerily so, all that could be heard was Tahiry's angered breathing occasionally, Huey couldn't bring himself to say anything, what could he say? 'Sorry for messing with your friends heart I just really don't understand relationships?' He had nothing to go with.
Tahiry then look up, finally facing him "Huey... why did you ask Valerie to be your girlfriend?"
Huey looked down, and didn't say anything for a few seconds, thinking for a bit before finally speaking "because I fell for her... I liked her, more than I liked any other girl at the time so I..."
"But what about Jazmine, do you have feelings for her?"
"No... yes... urgh" he ran a hand through his hair "I don't know"
Tahiry watched as the teenager seemed to be getting worked up, in a way that she had never seen before.
Huey hated confusion, he hated not being able to understand things, he hated when he couldn't wrap his head around things, so these confusing "do I like her do I not" feelings were everything he didn't want. He loved Val, Jazmine was his childhood friend, he didn't want to hurt either, he... he didn't know.
"I just don't understand Ti, I don't"
"What don't you understand?"
"Any of this, I don't get any of this relationship shit, I... I should have never asked Val that, I knew I didn't get it, fuck, why'd I do that man..."
Tahiry sighed "the problem is you can't even maintain friendships probably but you expected a relationship to work? Look at me Huey" when she was sure he was looking at her, she spoke again "I suggest that after you apologize to Val for being a clueless git, you two go on a break, maybe not an official break up, but just some time apart, and during that time I want you to make a friend all on your own"
All of Huey's friendships, including his one with Caesar and Hiro, and his ex one with Cairo had always been initiated by the other party, Cairo asked to be his friend, Caesar and Hiro practically forced him to be their friend. Huey had never gone out of his way to make any friends, it was why his current friendship group had only expanded because of Tahiry.
Never in his life had Huey tried to befriend anyone.
"If you can't even figure out how platonic relationships work, then how do you expect to be able to work a romantic one?" She then sat up "relationships are like math, it takes practice, trial and error to make them work, you can't just go into it expecting to know everything because that's how you end up in a situation like this... you can't always expect me to give you mutual friends Huey, you gotta learn to hang with other people, to make friends, then you can take those lessons you learned from the friendship and apply it to your relationship"
Huey held back a smile as she spoke, it had been a while since he'd seen this side of Tahiry, the wise, smart side that knew what she was talking about, the side that would give advice and teach him things even he didn't know.
"But I dunno how to start..."
"Simple, tomorrow, if you gotta do a paired assignment, try to get to know the person you paired with, actually try to befriend them instead of just work with them, and if you don't have any tomorrow, just do it when you do"
"Everybody ain't a social butterfly"
"You ain't gotta be a social butterfly to say 'hello, how are you, my name's Huey, what's yours', do you?"
Huey thought about it before shaking his head "no, you don't"
"Exactly!" She said, finally looking a little happier than she did when she first busted into his home "look, I know I gave you a hard time but at the end of the day, you're my friend Huey, and I want the very very best for you, I know you're not a bad boyfriend because you're a bad person, you're a bad boyfriend because you don't know how to be one"
The two sat in silence yet again, but it felt less tense this time, it gave him a chance to think over everything she had said to him, she was right, he didn't know relationships.
The first time he got confused was when he visited Chicago all those years back and was shunned by Cairo for supposed betrayal, he didn't understand, hadn't they been friends? What happened? Why did he suddenly hate him?
It then happened again when Grandad had passed away. The only adult figure in his life that he truly trusted was gone, he felt alone, but he couldn't express it, he had a little brother to look after. He could never express it, Huey was the one that was supposed to know everything, so he just didn't get why he didn't get people.
However, maybe Tahiry was right, he should try making a friend, then hopefully get his girlfriend back and try again.
Baby steps.
~
Sorry for this shorter than usual chapter, exams have been keeping me busy but I wanted to publish something
Poor Riley, oh well u know what they say, play stupid games win stupid prizes 😔☝🏾