I folded my arms and rolled my neck. “And the water.”
“You want me to give you product for free?”
“Did you just try and sell us drugs?” I asked, and Gerald looked at me like I was crazy.
“Boobie, he ain’t even say that shit?”
“Keep the water… Goon keep her out my store.”
I refused to move from the counter. “Water balloons too.”
“Zoya, what the fuck you need water balloons for?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know… I just want them.”
Gerald tossed money on the counter and pointed to the water balloons. “Gerald, take the water balloons and go.”
His head snapped in his direction. “You want me to fuck you up?”
“What?”
“Fuck you calling me by my government.”
“Only I call him that… anybody else hot?”
Both of them paused and looked at me. “Fuck you sweating so bad for, Zoya?”
“I had a cookie.”
“From fucking Gams?”
I smiled up at him, my vision slightly blurry. “You know it, Pumpkin.”
Gerald shook his head, no longer concerned about the ice or the water, and snatched a piece of cardboard from the Linden cookies that were on the shelf. He took my hand and pulled me out the store.
As we stood on the corner, he fanned me with the cardboard piece as he held me close to him. “Everybody knows not to fuck with Gams’ cookies… who gave them shits to you?”
I saw Meer’s long ass leg before I saw him, as he did an extra ass step over toward us. “I believe that would be me.”
“Meer, please,” Capri laughed, as she ran behind him.
“He had cookies too?”
Capri looked at Gerald and then back at me, then back at Gerald. “Is this a safe place.”
Poor Gerald was stressed because he realized that not only was Meer and I high, but Capri was drunk. “Baby Doll, why the fuck did you take off running like that?”
“Capp, the fuck up with them?”
“The skyyyyyyy,” Capri did jazz hands, and started to shake her hips.
Meer did the electric slide behind her and joined in her series of jazz hands. My hands felt like they were missing out, so I started doing the same thing.
Cappadonna and Gerald stood there, confused, but he never stopped fanning me. “Pissy bought some of Gam’s cookies, and this one been slugging those nutcrackers down. You a mama, Capri.”
“Big mama to him though,” she snickered, loving to get under her brother’s skin.
Capp laughed, because his favorite thing to do was remind his baby sister that she was somebody’s mama. Alaia walked up the block toward us and shook her head.
