“Yeah?” I asked, just to hear her say it again.
“Yeah,” she repeated, and this time there wasn’t no hesitation in it.
“I like the sound of that,” I replied.
We went quiet after that, but it wasn’t empty. It was one of them quiet moments when both people got a lot goin’ on in they head but ain’t sayin’ it out loud.
I knew she felt it, and I knew I did too.
“You should get some sleep,” I told her after a while.
“You too,” she replied.
“I’mma text you when I get up in the mornin’,” I added.
“Okay,” she said.
It felt like we both wanted to say more, but neither of us pushed it. We just let it be what it was.
“A’ight,” I muttered.
“A’ight,” she echoed back.
The line went quiet after that, and I pulled the phone away from my ear, lookin’ at her name on the screen for a second before I set it on the charger.
I laid back in the dark with my hands behind my head, starin’ up even though I couldn’t see shit, and my mind kept driftin’ right back to that week I had lined up with her.
It wasn’t even about nothin’ extra either. It was just the fact that for once, it was gon’ be me and her without all that other shit in the way.
The more I lay there thinkin’ about it, the more I realized this was exactly what I wanted, ’cause everything with ‘Nelle had been easy from the start. I was just fightin’ the shit. And for the first time, I ain’t feel like I had to fight that shit or pretend like it wasn’t exactly what I wanted.
Days later…
A nigga was back in Greystone City, but I was strictly out here for Sha’Nelle this time.
Last time I came out here, everything was rushed and heavy, and I wasn’t thinkin’ about nothin’ but makin’ sure she made it through what she was dealin’ with.
At the time, I grabbed whatever spot I could find, and stayed locked with her until I knew she was straight.
This time was different, and I ain’t step on no jet either. I caught a regular flight like a normal nigga, sittin’ there with my hood up and my mind runnin’ through everything I had lined up for her, ’cause this wasn’t about movin’ fast or gettin’ in and out. I was comin’ out here to spend real time with her, and I wanted that shit to feel like it.
I had already booked the Airbnb days before I even touched down, and I made sure it wasn’t no regular setup like last time.
This one was bigger, cleaner, and actually felt like somewhere you’d wanna be for a minute. I went through every picture, read everything they had on it, and made sure it had the space and the feel I wanted before I locked it in.
It wasn’t just that either. I had already looked up spots around the city, like places to eat, shit to do, and I made reservations before I even got on the plane. I wasn’t really the type to be doin’ all this extra shit, but with ‘Nelle, it ain’t feel like extra shit. It felt like I was finally doin’ somethin’ I should’ve been did.
By the time I landed, my head was already on what I needed to do.
I grabbed the rental. It was somethin’ clean that fit the vibe I was on, and before I went anywhere else, I stopped at this flower spot I had looked up yesterday. I ain’t just walk in andgrab anything either. I stood there for a minute lookin’ at what they had, tryna picture what this woman would like, and when I finally picked somethin’, I knew it fit her.
Soon as I got back in the whip, I set the flowers on the passenger seat and just looked at ’em for a second before I pulled off.
That’s when her text came through with her mama’s address.
I put it in the GPS and started drivin’, and as I got closer to her side of town, I couldn’t help but laugh to myself a lil’, thinkin’ about how me, Pressure, and ‘Lo always ended up dealin’ with women that was ghetto as hell. I guess it was just somethin’ about ’em that a nigga couldn’t ignore.
It wasn’t even planned. That was just what we liked, I guess.
