[maurice 'reece' george, 16]
December 3
6:32pm
"Now, y'all sure y'all can handle two babies?" Cheyenne asked Maurice and iLeah who had just come through the door with Imani who was nearly three months old. "I don't know if I feel comfortable with that." She scratched her head.
Sadè unstrapped and picked up the three month old, cooing at her, completely ignoring Cheyenne's doubts because she needed a break.
Reese answered saying,"I know Georgie's schedule. What she can and can't eat. What helps her calm down and everything. iLeah and I are still learning Mani, but, she is really calm most of the time."
"iLeah, you cool with it?"
She nodded her head.
"Girl, you got rocks in your head?"
"Sorry." She faked a smile, "Yeah, we'll be great." She answered, taking a quick walk back out the door, soon to be followed by Maurice who first had to check Chey saying, "You don't have to be rude. She literally just got done crying before we came in. You think she's always that red?"
Cheyenne balled her lips up, trying not to laugh at the last part.
"Cheyenne." Sadè called her out with a tilt to her head.
"Fine, i'll go check on her. But are you sure she's gonna be alright with both Georgie and iMani? Especially if she's already in a mood? She might get overwhelmed or anything."
"That's why she has me." He said surely.
"Mkay, period Black king." Sadè snapped her fingers at him as Cheyenne left through the front door. "You gotta excuse her, she a little hormonal. You know she—" she cut herself off and held her hands to her belly.
"Damn, when she gone get the chance to tell anybody herself?" Cole complained, "The whole world know before she can even talk to her nigga about it."
"He know."
"Yeah but not because she told him. He just smart and know her. She the dumb one thinking she can keep hiding it."
"You ain't shit."
"It's really not hard to hide it though." Maurice added.
Sadè smacked her teeth. "You ain't shit either. Yo ass shoulda told somebody as soon as you found out your girl was preggers."
"I did. I told Dame."
"Somebody you know. Remember that part next time." Cole instigated. "The problem is y'all be having sex and not thinking that 'oh shit, this is how niggas get babies'. Then wanna be all shocked and surprised and confused about if you should keep it or not. Then you be hiding shit and lying to motherfuckers. Next thing you know you're popping up at somebody house three years later in the middle of the night because you had nightmares and now you feel guilty for lying about an abortion that nobody ever knew you had in the first place."
Both Sadè and Reese stared at Cole, concerned.
"Speaking from experience homeboy?"Sade asked.
Cole shook his head, "Nah." He lied and exhaled loudly. "But, since you her girl and all. Maybe tell her to talk to Cecil before that nigga go jump off a bridge or something."
"Good God." Maurice mumbled.
"Oh yeah, get used that!" She told a mortified Maurice, "The nigga takes everything to the edge."
"You gonna talk to her or no?"
"You don't think I already have? Maybe you should talk to her. It might seem more sincere coming from her future brother in law."
"Hell no. I'm not getting involved in they lives."
"He is your brother, right?"
Cole shrugged, "That's what the papers say."
Cheyenne came back into the home with iLeah in tow. They were both, equally lightskinned, now rosy in the cheeks, on the nose and around their eyes. Sadè exhausted and deep breath at the sight while Cole observed the body of Cheyenne noticing how it really wasn't that obvious that she was carrying— it made him wonder if she even was (anymore).
He cleared his throat, "Y'all ready or what? Imma be in the car." He stood, leaving the house. He walked down the steps and as he touched the path that weeded through the lawn, he looked up at the street where he saw a white sedan parked on the other side. Though the windows were tinted, he knew who the car belonged to.
Making his way across the pavement, he knocked on the window of the passenger side door. When the window was rolled down, he looked in, greeting the man inside who welcomed him in by unlocking the doors.
As Cole slid into the passenger seat, the car sped off, barely giving him the time to close the door properly. "Damn, nigga." He exclaimed, as the door slammed with the help of the wind.
"Where you been at?" Black asked, looking at Cole's appearance noticing he was a little more dressed up than usual— and the scent of his cologne. "You smell good."
"Thank you."
"So you not gone tell me where you been?"
"Where you been?"
"Minding my business."
"Oh." Cole chucked, "Me too. But, my business not yours."
"I miss you." He told him as he parked on the street adjacent to where Dame's house was. "When can we see each other again?"
"You seeing me right now."
"Yeah, but you obviously about to go somewhere— so not for long."
Cole smiled at him.
"What?"
"Nothing." He continued smiling, "I just forgot how pretty your eyes are."
"I ain't pretty nigga. I'm handsome."
"Big ole puppy dog eyes. Don't look at me too long, might make a nigga fall in love with those."
"Well shit, if that's all it take." He stared into Cole's eyes, seriously but with a smirk.
"I was just telling somebody about you." Cole told him. He was now searching his face and the smirk was slowly fading into something bluer. "Yeah, I was nervous at first," Cole admitted, "but it felt good— made me wonder where you were."
"What you tell them? Who was it?"
"I told her how I feel about'chu." Cole watched as Lonnie looked away from him and down at his lap where his fingers played with a cigarette "Why you look sad?"
"I don't. Go ahead."
"I told her that you're irresistible. No matter what you say I still find warmth in your voice." Lonnie glanced over at him, quickly looking away again. "You make me feel soft and safe even though you can be the opposite. I told her that the opposite is the only thing you show the world though and that scares me."
"I scare you." Lonnie asked looking out the window.
"No."
"That's what you said." He looked back down at the cigarette being rolled between his fingers.
"Nah, I think that's just what you were waiting to hear."
Lonnie looked at Cole out the corner of his eye, still facing towards the windshield. "I get it though, a lot of people act like I should be scared of you. But i'm not." He informed him, watching his partner with a compassionate eye. "You say shit like, 'what ever comes to me, i deserve it. I'm not gonna fight the bullet' and things like 'I don't want you to get used to me being around'. That's what scares me, Lonnie. The fact that you don't give a fuck whether you live or die."
"We all got a date." He defended himself.
Cole huffed.
"I told her that i'm scared because i'd do anything to protect you."
"That's stupid."
"I know."
"But—"
"I'm not done yet." He stopped him, "I also told her that I sometimes question if I ever actually felt how i thought I felt for my ex when I consider how I feel with you— it doesn't even compare."
"Your ex? Jemaika?"
"No— Jill."
"So y'all still together?" He asked referring to Jemaika, finally fully looking at Cole head on.
Cole squinted his eyes with a head tilt, "You couldn't let me just—" Lonnie rushed towards Cole, head first, still seated, cutting him off yelling, "Hell no. I couldn't let you just gas me when you still fucking her."
Cole leaned back, astonished, "Damn. You had no problem with it before." Be defended himself.
"I've always had a problem with it. Ever since the day you was at my crib talking about you gotta make sure your girl get in safe—" he paused, "I shoulda never had sex with you. I always get caught up with some DL nigga who don't actually give a fuck about me. I'm tired of being in love with straight niggas."
"You love me?"
"Cole, you gotta go."
"But we not together together. We just still cool."
"You sitting here, in my car, lying to my face about a bitch when you was just telling me some shit about how you feel this and you feel that and all that shit was probably lies too. Like, if I didn't pull up on you, you'd never had a reason to say that shit to me."
"Exactly because I don't even know where the fuck to find you no more. You keep going fucking ghost and popping back up."
"Because niggas want me dead and I don't got a crew backing me up no more. I can't just be out here looking for your ass, tryna pretend we in a relationship and shit."
Cole sighed.
"I'm not going to be around no more. I was coming to say goodbye."
"The fuck you mean?"
Lonnie didn't answer, he just started the car and pulled back around the corner, stopping in front of his brother's house.
"So i'm never gone see you again."
"I didn't say allat."
"Then what are you saying."
"Just don't be looking for me." Lonnie answered, unlocking the door.
Cole opened the door, but closed it back. He looked at Lonnie, staring more like. Lonnie acted as if he didn't feel it but Cole reached over touching his face only to be swatted away by Lonnie's hand. He reached again, gripping his cheeks in between his fingers, forcing him to look his way. "I fucking love you too nigga."
He stared at him for a few more seconds before letting his face go. Lonnie still held his head in the direction of Cole although he was no longer being forced to. With sadness glazing over his puppy dog eyes, he watched Cole exit the car and as his wyes followed him until Cole disappeared into his own car.
Lonnie balled up his lips as a tear rolled down his face. Flicking the lighter against the cigarette he'd been playing with, he lit it as it hung from his lips loosely. Staring out his window as he drove past Cole's car, he blew smoke out of the slight crack of the window, taking note of the man's unforgettable face one last time.
P:04.24.24