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“Yeah!”
“What’d she do?”
“She won’t go out with me, says because I’m renting this place from her, I’m business and she doesn’t mix business with her social life. You believe that bullshit?”
“Uh, bruh, didn’t you basically say the same thing?”
“Not to her!”
“Okay, okay, but peep this, you thought it. So did she. She just happened to come on out and say it.”
I sat down and rubbed my forehead. “What am I supposed to do, man? I can’t stop thinking about her. And I know she’s feeling me. I know it.”
“Tell her how you feel. Plead your case with her.”
“I ain’t begging her to go out with me, KC. You know that’s not my style. I ain’t never had to beg a woman for shit in my whole life.”
“Who said anything about begging? I said, tell her how you feel. Talk to her. Be real with her. Damn, that’s really a foreign concept to you, isn’t it?”
“How can I do that if she won’t go out with me?”
“Shit, man, you live right next door to her. You don’t have to go out with her to talk to her. Be friendly, take her some coffee, ask if you can sit down and talk to her for a minute. Am I really having to explain this to your grown ass right now?”
I sighed. “Okay, I’ll try that. Thanks, man. Sorry for yelling in the phone and stuff.”
“No problem. You really like her, huh?”
“Yeah, I really think I do.”
KC chuckled into the phone.
“What’s funny?”
“You! After all these years, you finally met someone who makes you lose your cool. That must be some kind of woman. Damn, I wanna meet her.”
“Man, whatever.”
13
My parents lived in a humongous, white Cape Cod-style home with navy shutters flanking the windows. The front door was also navy. They’d purchased this house when I was in seventh grade, Nicky was in fifth, and Renee was a senior in high school, and it still looked as good as it had the day we moved in. As I unlocked the door that led into the kitchen with the key I still possessed, I smiled faintly. Coming home always felt like traveling back in time. The decor was largely the same. Even me and my sisters’ bedrooms held the same furniture, but the personal touches we’d all added—posters, pictures, knick-knacks—were missing.
I called for my mother as I closed the door behind me, heard a distant reply, and figured she was upstairs. A minute or so later, she entered the kitchen wearing a smile, her graying natural hair in a closely-cropped afro. Mama was beautiful, elegant, and youthful in appearance. Although she was sixty, she could’ve easily passed for forty with a figure that matched mine and a face she shared with Renee.
She pulled me into a tight hug. “Mm, maybe I need to start planning monthly parties since this is the only way I get to see you and Nay. You two avoid this house like the plague and I can’t get rid of Nicky.”
I laughed as we sat across from each other at the table. “I’m sorry, Mama. I’m gonna do better. Just been busy.”
“I know. You’ve been putting out a lot of videos. I really liked that ‘Outfit of the Day’ one you did last week. You should do more of those.”
“Thanks, Mama. I’m trying to branch out and be a little more creative. Only so many twist-out tutorials I can do. So you still watch my videos, huh?”
“Sweetie, I love watching your videos. I’m so proud of you. You live on your own terms. Takes courage to do that.”
“Thanks, Mama. What have you been up to?”
She shrugged, and a cloud seemed to settle over her face. I instantly regretted asking that question, positive that Daddy was still on that same old bullshit. At that moment, I thought about my own loneliness and realized hers must’ve been exponentially worse. “Nothing new around here. Where’s the food?” she replied.
“In my trunk. You still got that rolling cart? I don’t wanna have to carry it in.”
