King of Queens (a Nas Story)

THIRTY FOUR

Gia | April 1995

"Trust nobody. Even my closest friends did me in." Tupac said with deeming eyes through our television set as he was interviewed from prison. Nasir's legs were interlocked with mine as we were spread out on the couch.

"That's fucked up, yo." Nasir said as he swung his leg over my knee. "I didn't know Pac was facing all of this." He added as he scratched the side of his head that was growing. He was in need of a haircut but didn't feel like going to see his barber just yet. His waves were still deep, but not lined up.

Tupac was sitting in prison over a set up. Some girl that Pac met through a guy who had a reputation introduced him to a woman who claimed assault. They charged him with the crime. Nasir told me that Big warned him about "Jack" and what he was about. Nasir steered clear of him after hearing Big's warning. But, Pac didn't listen.

It hurt Nasir to watch someone he considered to be a friend stray from him and disrespect his friends at the same time. Pac didn't know who to trust, so he came out the gate in his prison interview with guns blazing. Understandable from his point of view, but heart wrenching from the view of my boyfriend.

Nasir turned the television off with the click of a button on the remote.

"This shit is not right." He said, still scratching his growing waves. 'I know' was the only thing I could say back to him. Nasir was deep in thought and would never fully express it to me in words. I knew it would come out sooner or later in a song and I'd have to hear about it with the rest of the world.

The house was quiet for once. Destined was with my mom for the weekend and Nasir wanted it to be just us. No studio sessions. No bookings on my end. No beepers sounding off every five minutes. He wanted to bask in my presence. It had been a while since we had been together like this and I didn't want his mood to be dampened with sorrow from Pac's words looming over his head like a dark cloud.

I watched his expression change as he sighed heavily. Leaning his head against the arm rest of the couch and looking directly at me. "I just want to squash this shit, you know?" He said as he smoothed his waves with the palm of his right hand. His elbow bent outwards and sideways as he did it.

"We should be getting money together, our kids should be having play dates. We shouldn't be going at it like this, you know what I'm saying?" Nasir stared at me as if he was hoping the find the answers in my eyes.

"I hear you, baby." I said expressively as I ran my hands over his exposed knee. He was comfortable, sporting mesh basketball shorts and a cotton tank top that was red to match the color of his shorts. His thin, Turkish gold link necklace decorated his collar bone beautifully. I admired his physique as he continued to speak to me.

"I don't want to see nobody get hurt, that's all I'm saying."

"I don't think it'll get that far." I said as I continued to rub his soft skin. "I'm sure once he gets out, you two can smooth things over." I conveyed as diplomatic as possible. Nasir nodded his head as he continued to stare into my eyes. "No doubt."

"I just don't want you to stress out over no petty shit. We've been through way too much already to let a few disses stop what's going on, you know?"

"I hear you, ma. Ain't gon' be no petty shit. Nobody gon' get hurt. My word is bond."

I lifted his leg up and over mine. I repositioned myself over his torso with my knees between his legs as I closed in on his face.

"Your word is bond, but what about theirs?" I poked my acrylic nail into his chest while looking into his eyes. "You know what you're going to do, but you don't know their next move. What their intentions are." I said to him sternly.