“What Renza crazy ass been up to anyway?” I asked, keepin’ my tone normal while I leaned back into the couch.
Toni clicked her tongue. “Girl, I don’t even know. Besides the lil’ time he was out there with us, he don’t come around like that no more.”
I frowned at that, sittin’ up. “How the hell he not comin’ around like that and he stay at Pressure’s?”
“I’m tellin’ you what I know,” she said. “Me and Kay’Lo been over there playin’ cards and eatin’ like three times, and he wasn’t there none of them times.”
“Damn,” I muttered, shakin’ my head. “That don’t even sound like him.”
“It’s not,” she said, her tone softenin’. “And I ain’t like seein’ him earlier on the yacht either. He was too quiet. Like… real quiet. That ain’t him, ‘Nelle.”
I leaned my head back against the couch, listenin’ to her. “That girl changin’ him,” she went on. “And she don’t even see it. She takin’ away his whole vibe, like the way he be jokin’ and keepin’ everybody laughin’. That man ain’t himself.”
“What ‘Lo think about all this?” I asked.
Before Toni could answer, I heard him in the background.
“Man… I ain’t got nothin’ good to say,” he said, his voice carryin’ through the phone. “So, it is what it is.”
I couldn’t help but smile at that, ’cause Kay’Lo don’t speak on stuff unless he mean it, and that right there told me everything I needed to know.
“See,” Toni said. “That’s what I’m sayin’.”
I sighed, pickin’ back up my fork. “That’s crazy.”
We kept talkin’ for a lil’ bit longer, goin’ back and forth about everything that happened, when another call started comin’ through. I pulled my phone away and looked at the screen, noticin’ the time first. Then I looked at the number.
I ain’t recognize it all the way, but somethin’ in me told me exactly who it was, and I felt myself smilin’ without even meanin’ to.
“A’ight, I’m finna call y’all back, cousins,” I said quick, already sittin’ up straighter.
“What the hell you got goin’ on, bitch?” Toni asked.
“I’mma call you back,” I repeated, grinnin’. “I love y’all.”
“Love you too,” Toni, and Kay’Lo said at the same time.
His voice came through low and smooth, and I leaned back into the couch, pullin’ my blanket up higher over my legs.
“No, I’m cool,” I said, smilin’ as I got comfortable. “I just got off the phone with my cousin. I’m just sittin’ here chillin’.”
“That’s what’s up,” he said, and I could hear the smile in it. “So I ain’t catch you at a bad time?”
“No, you good. I’m relaxin’ for real.”
“A’ight. I told you I was gon’ call you.”
“I see,” I murmured, grinnin’ to myself.
The quiet that followed settled in easy and was just enough for both of us to fall into the rhythm of it.
“So what you like to do when you off?”
I shifted on the couch, gettin’ comfortable. “Honestly, this right here. I be in the house, chillin’, watchin’ TV, mindin’ my business.”
A soft laugh came through the phone. “You don’t go out?”
“I mean, I do,” I said, smilin’. “But I ain’t one of them that gotta be outside all the time. I like bein’ in my own space.”
