Dirty South

Reunions & Old Flings

8:30 pm

"Damn, we out of weed. You tryna get some more?"

Kaysen and Lex were lounging on the front porch, the warm night air swirling around them as they passed a fat blunt back and forth. It was their way of celebrating the end of high school, a moment they'd been waiting on for years.

"Yeah, we can," Lex said, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a crumpled-up $20 bill. She handed it over with a grin, her eyes half-lidded from the high.

"Nah, you good. Zo finna push up on us," Kaysen replied, shaking her head. Zo was her "boyfriend"—though she hated to admit it. She preferred to call him her sneaky link, keeping their relationship undefined, just how she liked it.

Lex, on the other hand, had been single for the past three months. She wasn't actively looking for a relationship, but who knows? Being with her wasn't for the faint of heart.

A few minutes later, Zo pulled up in a black Nissan, two of his homeboys in the car with him. One was riding shotgun, the other in the back. Zo was one of the Northside Bloods, a crew that ran the northern part of town. Though Kaysen lived on the Northside too, their territory sometimes blurred into the Southside, where rival crews roamed.

"What bitch got you driving around in her car?" Kaysen asked, rolling her eyes as she stepped off the porch.

"What, jit?" Zo flipped his dreads out of his face, giving her a confused look. "This my sister's car. I told you my car in the shop getting wrapped."

"Whatever," she muttered, taking the small baggie of weed he handed her.

"Wassup, Lex," Zo nodded at her.

"Yoo," Lex replied, trying to see who else was in the car. "Who all in the car?"

"Uh, just Ace and Nico."

"Wow, Nico didn't even get out to speak to me today?" Lex smirked, pulling out her phone and dialing his number.

"Wassup, Kay," Nico answered.

"Nigga, get y'all ass out the car."

With that, both doors swung open, and the two boys climbed out, laughing. Nico had always been goofy, but Lex hadn't seen Ace since ninth grade after he got caught up stabbing a Southside boy in the hallway.

"When Ace got out?" Lex leaned over and whispered to Kaysen.

"He been out for a lil minute, but he had to go to an alternative school...something like that," Kaysen nodded.

Zo, Kaysen, Ace, Nico, and Lex had all grown up together, from sixth grade until Ace went to juvie in ninth grade. Nico was Zo's stepbrother, so they hadn't met him until seventh grade.

"Yoo, wassup, Lex," Nico greeted her with a hug.

"Nic, we saw each other earlier," she laughed.

"Ight, fuck you too, jit," he threw up the middle finger, making his way over to Kaysen.

"ACEE!" Lex squealed, running over to him and nearly knocking him off his feet.

"Yoo, wassup with you," he smiled, picking her up slightly and setting her down to take a step back and look at her.

Ace didn't look like little ol' Michael anymore. He had tattoos all over him except for his face, gold teeth, gold chains, a fresh line-up with his hair pulled back, and he smelled good.

"Can y'all niggas stop flirtin' and join the group," Nico joked, though there was a hint of truth behind his words.

Back in middle school, Ace and Lex had shared what could only be described as 'puppy love.' He introduced her to everybody after her family moved to Florida from Philly. No one really knew what they had going on, and neither did they, really. All Ace and Lex knew was that they really liked each other, right up until Lex started dating Trayvon, a Southsider. A week later, Ace was in juvie.