Gracie
July 13, 1994
"Gracie can you pass me the eyeliner?" Sophie asked as she stuck her hand out and I handed her the eyeliner. It was the day of the concert and come to find out, the concert is two whole towns over, but I wasn't gonna complain because at the end of the day, it's still front row tickets to see my favorite group. Sophie was the kinda girl that couldn't go a single day without makeup. Every time you see her she'll always have on some colorful eyeshadow, heavy mascara and eyeliner. I stood beside her in the mirror of the bathroom, watching her apply the eyeliner carefully
"Sophie! Is that my eyeliner?" Gigi, short for Gina, my other cousin and Sophie's older sister, asked as she walked into the bathroom
"No. I brought this"
"With what money? Last time I check you ain't gotta job. You must be trickin" Gigi asked with a laugh as she crossed her arms and I looked at Sophie, waiting to see if she was gonna respond. Instead she took a deep breath and slammed the eyeliner in Gigi's hand
"Have it. I'll just buy another one" she responded as she stormed outta the bathroom. We both watched her storm off and Gigi looked at me
"She'll be alright in about 5 minutes. You know she's just a drama queen"
I shook my head and walked pass Gigi, going into Sophie's room. She sat on her bed going through her purse
"You good Sophie?"
She quickly looked up at me and nodded
"Yeah. We should get going anyways, we gotta long drive to get to the concert and ion wanna be late"
I nodded as she hopped off of the bed and threw her purse over her shoulder before walking outta the room. I followed behind her, tugging on my dress a little as we exited the house
"Aye! Sophie wassup babygirl" some boys yelled down the street as we walked to her cherry red 1993 Acura. She smacked her lips and rolled her eyes
"I hate the niggas in this neighborhood"
Hood.. that's what she meant. Sophie lived in the nice part of the hood if you know what I mean. Their mom, my Aunt, is NEVER home because she's so caught up in her relationship with some lawyer she met at a nightclub. Now all she does is take trips and shit while Gigi and Sophie take care of themselves off of her boyfriends money.
As we got into the car, we both put on our seatbelts and there was a knock on Sophie's window
"What. The. Fuck" she mumbled before turning her head, seeing the boy that called her name standing there
"Roll the window down baby, we need to talk" he told her with a smile as he threw his hands up. Sophie groaned before cranking her window down slightly
"What Rodney?"
"You can't roll it down no further?"
"No. It's broke" she lied and he smacked his lips while I found myself entertained. Just as he was about to say something, he looked over at me and raised his eyebrow
"Aye, you Darren girl? Ain it?"
The minute he said Darren's name, my heart dropped for some reason. The same way it did when I found out about his murder. My grin went away and Sophie looked at him like he was crazy
"Really Rodney?!" Sophie fussed as she started the car and shook her head
"What I said?" He asked confused as she pulled off, leaving him standing in the same spot. We rode down the road in silence for a while, but Sophie occasionally glanced over at me. I guess she felt bad about that Rodney boy mentioning Darren but I'm gonna have to learn to get used to it. That's what I'm known for, and he won't be the last person to bring it up. By the time we reached the next town, she finally spoke up
"Look, Gracie I'm sorry bout that. Rodney is a du-"
"It's fine Sophie. You ain't gotta apologize" I laughed a little, tryina play it off even though it really did hurt. Sophie sighed and I leaned forward, turning the radio up and Ain't too proud to beg by TLC started playing, putting me back in a good mood
"If I need it in the morning or the middle of the night, I ain't too proud to beg" I sung with the song. I was on my way to my front row seat at the TLC concert, life couldn't get any better right now.
"I'm ready to see Chilli!" You know that's my favorite" Sophie told me and I shook my head
"No. Left Eye is my favorite" I told her and she laughed
"Cause y'all act just alike bitch"
"Oh shut up" I rolled my eyes and just as we both looked back at the road, the car in front of us quickly slammed on brakes, not giving Sophie enough time to do the same
"Oh shit!" She yelled as she swerved off the road to avoid crashing into the person's car, causing us to run into a sign that stood in the grass.
"oh my gosh!?" I said as I looked over at Sophie "you Okay?"
"Yeah, you okay?"
"I think so. But what about the car?" I asked as I pointed to the front of the car. She followed the direction I pointed in and cursed under her breath before getting outta the car and I got out as well
"Oh my God, mommas gonna kill me!" She started panicking as I looked at the car. The right headlight was busted and there was a big ass dent where she ran into the sign. How in the hell were we gonna cover this?
"Oh shit!" I heard a guys voice say as a car door opened. When I looked in the direction of the voices, I realized it was the guys that were in the car that caused us to run off the road. A boy, light brown skinned, very skinny and covered with tattoos, jogged his way over to us after getting out the drivers seat
"Damn, my bad. Y'all good?" He asked and Sophie's head snapped at him
"Are we good? Do you see this?" She pointed at the car, obviously very furious "my momma gone kill me when she see this"
"They straight ova they?" Another guy, dark skin with a strong face, asked the boy, who I'm guessing is their friend, as he walked in our direction. Another boy followed behind him with a blunt in his hand. He was brownskin, slim and had tattoos as well with a couple of scars on his forehead. Once they reached where we were standing, he looked over at me, putting the blunt to his lips and I quickly looked away, crossing my arms as I focused back on Sophie as she cursed the first guy out
"What made you slam on brakes like that in the first place dumbass!?"
"Aye babygirl you ain gotta cursed at me like that" the fist guy said laughing and the dark skin boy chuckled while rubbing his chin
"Aye babyjoe, today just ain't yo lucky day is it? First yo girl broke up witchu and now this"
"Fuck you nigga" the boy whom I'm guessing is baby joe, said back to the dark skin and I raised my eyebrow
"Baby Joe?"
"Yeah, that's what everybody call me" baby joe responded and I nodded and Sophie smacked her lips
"I gotta name I wanna call you... culo tonto perra" she mumbled while walking back and forth and I laughed a little. Sophie is part Latina from her biological dad's side, her and Gigi. Since we're around each other so much, I started picking up most of the stuff she says, especially when she's talking shit
"What she just said?" Baby Joe asked as he pointed to Sophie
"Mi madre me va a matar a todos por este estúpido y no es mi culpa!" She began to rant in Spanish while everybody just looked at her. Once she was done, she took a deep breath and looked at me "I'm sorry Gracie, I guess we're gonna miss the concert"
Once she said my name, the same boy that held the blunt, looked at me again
"Oh what concert y'all goin to?" The dark skin boy asked with a smile, dancing a little. I can't lie, these boys really were lightning up the mood a little. Sophie glared at him
"Don't matter anymore, burro"
I laughed a little again at the fact that she just called him a jackass.
"This shit say Ben. Not no damn burro or whatever you talkin bout ova they" He told Sophie and we both raised our eyebrows, confused at what he was talking about. That's when I realized that he was pointing to what I'm guessing was his work name tag, and he obviously didn't understand that she wasn't tryina say his name, instead she cursed him out
"Wowww" Sophie shook her head "So baby joe and Ben. Two names for two dumbasses, and what's your name then"
She asked the boy that kept looking at me. He pulled the plant from his lips and shook his head
"Don't worry bout that"
"The least you can do is tell your name since y'all wrecked my car" Sophie responded while crossing her arms and he exhaled, releasing a bunch of smoke
"I ain wreck shit. Betta talk to baby joe bout that" he mumbled before walking off, going back to their ride. Sophie smacked her lips, making a stank face
"I hate rude ass niggas"
"Nah if you wanna be technical, he ain't being rude. That's the nicest he's ever been" ben said with a laugh and Sophie rolled her eyes, leaning back on the car
"What am I gonna do. I can't get this car fixed"
"Well since it's my fault, I'll get it fixed for you" Baby joe told Sophie and she quickly looked at him
"What?"
"I'll get it fixed" he assured her and she smiled, but quickly that smile changed into a look of suspicion
"For what in return? I know how niggas are"
"Nothin. Forreal. But I gotta find someplace to tow yo shit so it can get fixed" he shrugged and she nodded
"Alright, let's go then" she told him as she started walking to his car and he looked at her funny
"Way you goin?"
"We bout to go find someplace that'll tow my car to their shop. What? You think ima sit out here and wait for you to get it done. Ion trust you" she told him as she continued to walk to his car and they both looked at me
"So y'all just gettin in the car with some strangers?" Baby joe asked and I shrugged
"Ion know about this, but I guess so"
"Well both of y'all fine as hell so why not" Ben smirked and I rolled my eyes as I followed them to the car
"What the fuck is you doin?" The guy that walk off, asked as he looked at Sophie some way while she hopped in the passenger seat of baby joe's car
"Just come on so I can get this crazy ass girl outta my shit" Baby joe told him as he walked over to the drivers door and Ben got in on the other side too. The boy sighed and looked at me
"Come on" he told me while putting the blunt to his lips. I quietly got into the back, sitting in between him and Ben
"Gracie let me know if one of em tryina touch on you back there, I got my razor" Sophie told me as she looked back at me while Baby joe shook his head, driving off and the same boy smacked his lips, pulling the blunt from his lips
"Aye, do me a favor"
"What?" Sophie replied
"Turn yo ass around and shut up"
Sophie smacked her lips and muttered something under her breath as she turned back around. I quietly laughed and the boy looked over at me, smirking a little before looking back out the window