Sneaking out of school was too easy, all I needed was the right distraction and BAM out the door.... what I didn't expect was Max to be standing there waiting as if he knew exactly what I was up too. I looked at Mario before turning around and walking back into the school pissed, guess I wouldn't be smoking today since I had to go straight to the studio right after school and the last thing I wanted was to go up in there smelling like weed. I walked to class and took my seat next to Noah, who was getting eye fucked by the new girl..... I tapped him on the arm and nodded in her direction, Noah looked and turned beet red. I really hoped he wasn't thinking about stepping out on Jade because I would hate to have to beat my boy Jose's ass, knowing how protective he was of his sister and since I was a great cousin I was going to take the new girl off his hands so him and Jade could continue their perfect relationship. I got out my seat and sat next to the girl who never took her eyes off of Noah.
"Wassup I'm Toussaint." I said smiling, she looked at me as if I had just climbed out of a trashcan before turning her attention back to Noah. "In case you didn't know that's my little cousin you're staring at and he has a girlfriend....." I said and again she gave me the evil eye.
"For now....." She said as the teacher walked in and told me to take my assigned seat with his bitch ass. Class was boring as fuck and I was starting to get sleepy until Mario walked past the door, nodding his head.
"Ayy can I go to the restroom." I said and the teacher nodded before handing me the hall pass. I quickly walked to the bathroom and when I walked in Mario was standing by the sink washing his hands.
"Wassup Saint." He said looking at one of the stalls, I stood by the door until some senior walked out the bathroom leaving us in here alone. "We gotta talk about what happened the other day in my house....." Mario said looking in my eyes.
"Yeah I was trippin......." I said looking down at the ground. "That's why I followed you because I just wanted to make sure we were coo and things wouldn't be awkward between us." I said quietly.
"We're good...... but umm you've never thought about...... y'know?" Mario asked.
"WHAT!? Nah....... I mean I get too much pussy to even consider it........ you?" I asked and he started turning a bronze color that made him look even cuter...... I mean made him love brighter.
"Nah I like girls." Mario said quietly. "So when you tryin to smoke again? My parents don't get off until late and my sisters are probably going to be with their friends so it'll just be me." Mario said and I noticed a hint of hope in his voice.
"I can't today, I gotta go work for my dad...... but Saturday I'm free. You can come to my house and we can chill, smoke watch movies or whatever." I said looking at his lips which turned me on way more than it should. "I'll have my driver come pick you up." I said checking my watch and seeing that I really needed to get back to class. "I'll catch you later Mario." I said running out the bathroom and trying to erase these feelings that were starting to grow outta control..........
After stopping by McDonald's and the house, I got to my dad's building and remembered my first time coming here, I had never seen a building this big before and I knew one day it would probably be mine. I walked through the building ignoring the looks I got from the staff and caught the elevator up to the top floor. I walked into my dad's office and saw he was in the middle of a phone call and decided to wait in the hall until he pointed at the seat across from him.
"It's your first day and you're already late." My dad said shaking his head. "Also you look like a damn fool. Not the way you wanna impress your new boss." He said getting up, I looked down at my clothes because from what I was told I was the best dressed freshman.
"What's wrong with what I'm wearing?" I asked both pissed and embarrassed.
"Toussaint, you look like you're going to a football game and not work. Look at me have you ever seen me look anything less than professional? No because I'm always on point........ because you never know where you might have to go or who you might meet so you gotta be on top of your game." My dad said walking over to me.
"I hear you dad." I said ready to quit already.
"Saint...... I'm not telling you this to be hard on you, I'm telling you this because I want you to be better than me. When was the last time you got your haircut?" He asked.
"Like two weeks ago." I said running my fingers through my hair.
"You need to learn to take care of that yourself or at least learn to give yourself an edge-up." He said and I started to go off on him because I didn't have any money to get my haircut much less buy clippers. "Saint look at me, how much do you think my net worth is?" He asked and I shrugged.
"I don't know dad........"
"Seven Hundred and Fifty Million........ now my net income just from this company is $273,750,000; do you know what the difference is?" He asked.
"Your net worth is how much you have in like property and possession and cash, minus the debt. And your net income is your salary after taxes." I said and he smiled obviously impressed.
"Good..... the reason I asked brings me right back around to the topic of your appearance if you wanna keep working for a man like me you gotta look the part. Now you get paid in three weeks what are you going to do with your first pay check?" He asked.
"Buy some more professional looking stuff and save the rest to buy my mom a tombstone......... last time we visited her grave all that was there was a stick with her name on it." I said quietly.
"Saint you don't have to do that....... last time we went to your mother's grave I noticed how pissed you were about it, so when we got back to the hotel I ordered her a marble headstone...... I was going to wait until we went down there next summer to surprise you but since you were already considering I figured I tell you know." My dad said and I felt my throat start to burn and my eyes tingled.
"Excuse me....." I said getting up and walking into his executive bathroom. I turned the water on and actually cried for the first time in years, not angry tears but real emotion poured out. After ten minutes, I walked back out and my dad was standing outside the door getting ready to knock, we stood there staring at each until finally he pulled me into a tight hug..... honestly I didn't remember the last time he actually hugged me and once again the tears started coming.
"Make that your last time using my bathroom." He said laughing as he pulled away, I noticed his eyes were glossed over but he quickly blinked away the tears and backed up. "Aight well you're on the clock, so I want you to go down to the cafeteria and get me a bottle of water and a turkey sandwich with tomatoes and hot sauce, then I need you to go check and see if Devin finished recording that song, once your done with that I need some papers copied........... you should probably be writing this down." He said walking over to his desk and picking up his phone. I walked out his office and set off on the task he had for me, honestly it was pretty easy I just had to be fast and accurate when I finished everything I was waiting for him to finish some last minute work when I got a text from Noah.
NOAH: Ayy bring me a sandwich to my dad's office, ham and cheese with pickles. LMAO
I was going to beat his ass when I caught up to him, I didn't get a chance to decided what I was going to do because Mario had texted me right after and I got too excited to be getting a text from a dude, maybe sometime in the near future I could talk about these feelings I was having with my dad because if there was anyone who could help me through this it was him.................
DOMINIQUE
No time for introductions...... I took off down the long, dark alley with my boy Justice right behind me, what we had just did was pretty foul but it had to be done. After running like three miles we hopped over a fence and ran into a my mother's house and down into the basement trying to catch our breaths.
"Domo we did what we had too, that nigga was a snake and he was messing with a fuckin 13 year old girl." Justice said wiping the sweat off his face.
"I know Jus..... but we need to get outta of here until shyt cool's down a little." I said looking around the small basement. "Come on...." I said leading him upstairs to my room. There wasn't much in here just a bed, a dresser and a few pictures, I looked at the only picture I had of my dad Kadeem and shook my head. "So where will you go?" I asked.
"I got some family in St. Louis, I'll go up there for a couple weeks. What about you?" He asked. I looked at the picture of my dead deadbeat dad and shook my head.
"I got some brothers in Houston....... that's where I'll go. Remember nobody can know what we did and we can't be in contact with each other just in case aight?" I said and he nodded. "Well this is it........ I'll see you in a couple weeks little bro." I said pulling him into a brotherly hug, I didn't have any options left I guess my brothers were going to get a kick out of me showing up on their doorstep tomorrow..................................................