“Alright,” he said. “I hear you.”
After that, the conversation changed, and I went back to bein’ myself, crackin’ jokes, keepin’ it light, talkin’ with her mama and askin’ her pops more questions about his work. But that other shit still sat in the back of my mind.
Before we left, her parents hugged us both. Her mama kissed her cheek, and her dad shook my hand again.
The drive back was quiet, but I tried my best not to let that shit get on me wrong.
I reached over and grabbed Reni’s hand, holdin’ it while I drove and rubbin’ my thumb across it like I always did.
She ain’t say nothin’, and I ain’t either, but I could feel all that shit sittin’ between us. Everything her pops said, everything I said, and even the parts we left alone… it ain’t just disappear. It stayed right with us, even when I tried to play it cool.
But even with all that, I still kept her hand in mine, holdin’ onto her.
I wasn’t goin’ nowhere, even if I ain’t have all the answers yet…
Trill-Land, Jungle Estate
Later that night…
Tonight, I was in the gym with Pressure and ’Lo, and it was lit up just enough to catch every line in a nigga’s body while we worked out.
I was on the bench, pushin’ the weights up, feelin’ that shit hit my chest and arms while I worked through it. My grip stayed tight on the bar, and every time I pressed it up, I felt it all the way through, but my mind wasn’t even on the workout like it should’ve been.
“Aye,” Kay’Lo said from across the room, watchin’ me while he wiped his face with his towel, “what the fuck wrong with you?”
I racked the weight and sat up, grabbin’ my towel and runnin’ it across my face before lookin’ over at him. “Ain’t shit wrong with me, nigga.”
“Man, cut that bullshit,” he replied, already shakin’ his head. “You been in this bitch quiet as hell. We been workin’ out for like twenty minutes, and you ain’t said some reckless shit yet. That ain’t like you.”
Before I could even respond, Pressure let out a low laugh from where he was adjustin’ the weights on the cable machine.
“Reni stressin’ that nigga out,” he said, not even lookin’ at me.
I let out a short breath and grabbed my water, takin’ a sip before I answered. “Get the fuck outta here. Ain’t nobody stressin’ me.”
Pressure glanced over at me then, with one brow lifted like he already knew I was on bullshit.
“A’ight,” he said, draggin’ it out. “So, you just woke up and decided to be weird as fuck tonight?”
’Lo shook his head. “Exactly. That ain’t even you, nigga. You movin’ different. We barely see yo’ ass now.”
I shook my head, standin’ up and walkin’ over to the dumbbells, pickin’ up a pair and droppin’ it for my next set.
“Y’all niggas need to worry ’bout y’all selves.”
Pressure chuckled under his breath. “Nah, nigga. We worried about you.”
I started pressin’ the dumbbells up, feelin’ my arms tighten again, but these niggas wasn’t lettin’ up.
“You been lowkey withdrawin’ a lil’ bit,” Pressure added, his tone still calm but direct. “Don’t act like you don’t know what I’m talkin’ about.”
I pushed through the last rep and dropped the dumbbells, sittin’ up slow before lookin’ at both of ’em. “Man, y’all the last niggas that need to be speakin’ on me bein’ wrapped up in a woman.”
That made ’Lo grin. “Oh yeah? Talk yo’ shit then.”
I pointed at him first. “Nigga, you went MIA when you first got with Toni. We ain’t know where the fuck you was. You just disappeared like a ghost.”
He laughed, shakin’ his head. “I was locked in. Somethin’ yo’ ass need to do.”
