I popped up out my seat quick. “Two? Nigga, count again.”
“Sit yo’ ass down,” he shot back, finally leanin’ forward. “You cheatin’ anyway. Ain’t nobody watch you shuffle.”
That made ’Lo shake his head. “I said the same shit. I ain’t trust that last lil’ shuffle she did.”
“Damn…y’all boys really mad ’cause I’m whoopin’ y’all ass real bad out here,” I said, pointin’ at both of them.
We went back and forth like this all damn day, talkin’ shit, laughin’, drinkin’, and enjoyin’ each other just ’cause it was about to be my last night out here for a minute.
Toni was the one who messed it up, though. Not in a bad way, but just… Toni bein’ Toni.
She had been drinkin’ all day, laughin’, dancin’, and then outta nowhere, she came up to me with tears in her eyes like a switch flipped.
“I’m really gon’ miss you, bitch,” she said, grabbin’ me.
I looked at her, then I started laughin’. “Bitch, you actin’ like you, ’Lo and ’Lo’Lo ain’t flyin’ out this weekend.”
She wiped her face quickly. “You know what I mean.”
“I do,” I said, pullin’ her to me and holdin’ her tight. “I’m not goin’ nowhere forever. I just gotta go home for a minute.”
She nodded against me, still snifflin’, and Kay’Lo walked up behind her like he already knew she was about to start cryin’.
“Aye,” he said, lookin’ at me while he reached down and grabbed the black leather Louis Vuitton bag sittin’ by his chair.
Before I could even ask what he was doin’, he stepped over and pressed the whole bag into my hands.
I blinked, lookin’ down at it, then back up at him. “What is this?”
“Take it,” he said, like it wasn’t even a conversation.
I frowned a lil’, openin’ it just enough to see what was inside, and soon as I did, my eyes went wide. “‘Lo, what the hell…?”
“It’s yours,” he replied. “You goin’ back home, and I don’t want you goin’ back without bein’ takin’ care of.”
I looked at him like he lost his mind. “You know you ain’t have to give me all this damn money.”
“I know,” he replied, smirkin’. “But I wanted to.”
I shook my head, but I still leaned in and kissed his cheek. “I appreciate you, cousin. For real.”
“I know you do,” he said, grinnin’.
I zipped the bag, then looked back at him. “I’m still gon’ get my ass on the city bus and fill out some job applications.”
That had everybody around us laughin’.
“You better not,” Toni said.
“I am,” I said, smilin’. “I’m not about to sit around spendin’ y’all money like I ain’t got no home trainin’.”
The sun started droppin’ after that, and the moment just went into somethin’ lighter. The music slowed down, and everybody started to spread out more, and the drinks started hittin’ harder than they was earlier.
By the time night really settled in, I was fat, full, drunk, and sittin’ here feelin’ like tonight ain’t owe me nothin’ at all.
Pressure had got too drunk, and Pluto had to take his ass in the house, talkin’ ’bout he was doin’ too much. Kay’Lo and Toni disappeared not long after that, and I already knew they was knocked out in his old room ’cause that’s what they did if neither of them felt like drivin’ home. So, I ended up out back by myself for a minute, sittin’ at the table, hummin’ along to some old school R&B playin’ low through the speakers, just lettin’ everything from the day sit with me.
That’s when I heard the door open.
