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“Yeah, but…”
“You only have one bedroom? You with your mother?I—I don’t care what dad says about her. I don’t judge people. I mean, she’s gotta be alright to have raised a cool guy like you...” He turned away, dejected.
My brother’s assumptions rang familiar to me. Why did people build their own narrow narratives around my post-release life? I knew the answer, but still struggled with the fact.
“I was going to say, I don’t mind, but I know pops is gonna trip—maybe your moms, too.”
“I can talk to her. He may be a hard one to break, but I can work on my mom.”
“Nicky,” Jeanie, his mother, appeared in the doorway of the home. With one glance my way, she palmed her sandy blonde hair down her head then swiped the front of her pants. “Your father will be here any minute. After pulling that double, you know the kind of mood he’s gonna be in. He’s gonna wanna eat right away. Come in and wash your hands.” She looked my way again, ducking her chin. “Jas, there’s plenty for you.” Her gaze fell away.
“Nah. I’m good. I got a stop to make before curfew.” I had no idea what made me look at the kid, but when I did, I saw the disappointment in Nicholas’ eyes, something I believed he was too damn conversant with. Scratching beneath my nose, I pushed myself emotionally. If there was something I’d learned last weekend, it was I had to start being honest with people about my lifestyle. Even if I couldn’t share the complicated details, I could at least be transparent about the basic shit likeI’m not broke and posted up in my moms’ crib in Harlem. Years ago, I gave up on giving a shit about what my father thought of me, so what I was preparing to do had nothing to do with that man. This decision wasn’t for him. But I’d do it for Nicholas. “But check this.” I swiped my nose. “Tell the old man I’mma call ‘im. It’ll be dope if you guys can come by the crib. Maybe dinner or something?”
She blinked hard. “Uh—okay.” Her bright eyes turned to Nicholas and she laughed in a shocked way. “I wasn’t expecting that!”
Nicholas’ face lit up like the damn Fourth of July sky. His shoulders lifted and chin dipped, but different from his mother a minute ago. His smile, now more sincere, was still cheesy. I needed to work on my baby brother’s confidence and swag. He was too good of a kid to be so damn awkward.
I called him over with a swing of my neck. Nicholas took no time to obey. Quickly pulling him into an armlock, I ruffled his pretty ass, wild and mildly woolly hair. He laughed with a closed mouth. “You hit me up any day…any hour. Ya heard?”
When I tightened my grip, a playful yelp pushed through his dry lips. “Yeah! Yeah! I will, bro!”
Chuckling myself, I released him and started down the dark driveway for my ride.
“So, what happens after you break up with a dude? You do some type of cleansing process?”
Standing in my walk-in closet, I felt my face lift and brows meet. Peering over my ceiling-to-floor shoe cabinet, I asked, “Cleansing?” Using myAirPods, I was able to cross my arms and wait for an explanation.
“Yeah. It’s the shit y’all women are on nowadays,” Sergio claimed. “Like when you sit on some type of bucket filled with a potion and have a balloon around you while…excreting toxins from your pussy. Well, I’m guessing.” He laughed. “A girl at the club showed me a picture of her doing it a couple of months back.”
“Well…” My eyes perused my shoes until I thought to look in the closet of my guest bedroom. “I’ve done none of that and won’t be. Sounds so fucking exhausting.” Exactly how I felt. I was not in the mood to go searching for myAsè Garbsnow boots in there. So, instead, I tossed my throbbing body onto my bed. “Uhhhh…” I exhaled miserably, yet relieved to crash into my plush bedding.
“What was that all about?” Sergio must’ve heard my expressive cry.
“Nothing. Just finally on my bed. It’s been quite a day—in fact, a year. It’s been a damn year for me.” I yawned, “But it’s nothing a vacation won’t cure.”
“You’re going away again?”
With my eyes losing focus on the ceiling frames, I answered, “Uhn-huhn.”
“Damn, girl. Your frequent flyer points must be popping.”
“That’s the plan.”
“When do you plan to leave?”
“In a few days. Shizu’s touring a property and invited me out of pity.” I rolled my eyes.
“Where?”
“Alaska.”
“Where in Alaska?”
I mentally froze, my lips pushing out to a poke. “I didn’t think to ask. She mentioned it on Monday, and I told her to say less.”
“Say less?” He scoffed.
“Yup. No need for unnecessary details.”
