Still

25.

Chapter Twenty Five

Zakari walked up to the driveway to enter the home that he'd come to visit. He hadn't been to the home in a while and he was pretty excited for the reason that he was coming. His favorite cousin and touted best friend, Cedric, was currently in town visiting. The one thing that he always did when he came into town was made sure that he not only visited his mother, but he had to see Zakari.

Using his own key, Zak entered the home. "Ayooo!" He called out, knowing that it always got on his aunt's nerves whenever he did it. Because of that, he always made sure that he did it.

"Boy, stop all that racket!" His auntie, Shannon, said as she entered from the kitchen. Her short stature had him looking down to her. Wiping her hands dry with the kitchen towel, she walked over to her favorite nephew and wrapped her short arms around his waist.

Zak returned the hug, leaning down over her. "Hey Auntie," he said, cracking out a laugh.

"Yerrrrr!" He heard from the kitchen, already knowing that his loud mouth ass cousin was right where he always could be found. His mom's food was his favorite thing in the world and he made sure he always got him a plate before anything else.

"Ceddy Ced! My man's!" Zak released his aunt and went right into the kitchen where Cedric was. The two dapped one another, before Zakari took his place at the kitchen table across from Ced.

"What it do, my boy? Ya hair gettin' long and shit," Cedric commented.

Zakari looked up to his dreads. Today, he was letting the lay down without much regard to how it looked. "Slight work," he told him honestly. His hair was growing at a rate that he stopped even caring about at this point. He was just trying to make sure the shit stayed healthy.

"Moms told me you got a promotion?" Ced said, looking down at his iPhone.

Zak chuckled a bit. "Again, slight work."

"Humble ass. That's one thing we always liked about you, man. You could flex on this whole ass family and still won't."

Growing up, Zakari was aware that his circumstances were so much different than everyone else's in the family. He had so many odds against him that success was the one thing that he felt he couldn't play with. He wanted to put himself in a position where he could repay his aunt for all the sacrifices she made for him. He was the first kid she ever had to raise and he wasn't even hers.

"How's Chicago been? Ain't y'all in like thirty inches of snow?"

"Don't fuckin' jinx us, nigga," Ced griped, rolling his eyes.

Shannon threw a shoe in his direction. "What have I told you?" She asked the rhetorical question that they both knew the answer to already. "I don't care how old you are, stop all of that cussing in my damn house!"

Zak snickered, just as he did when they were younger. "You stay in trouble."

"Shut the fuck up," he mouthed once his mom had turned around. "I'm sorry, Ma."

Chuckling, Zakari faced the kitchen area, smelling the food that she was cooking. He couldn't pinpoint exactly what she was cooking, but whatever it was smelled delicious. One thing about Shannon, she could throw down in somebody's kitchen, but she preferred her own. "What you cookin', Auntie?"

Shannon stirred the contents of her large pot. "Just a roast and potatoes, collards, mac and cheese, yams, and cornbread. It's how y'all kids say?" She asked, having both of her boys looking at one another. "Slight work."

Ced rolled his eyes and stood to his feet. "I'm not stayin' here and listenin' to this, man." He grabbed ahold of his jacket from the back of the kitchen chair that he was sitting at. He nodded for Zak to come on with him to start their traditional walk.