"I'on get it."
Brooklyn shrugged, walking through the aisle in Target with Ja and Nana. "Hey, I'm with you. Fuck that nigga."
"Y'all know how that girl is." Nana shook her head, gripping her cane. "Got too much damn heart. If it was me I would'a told the Mama and him go straight ta' hell."
"I can't just get her like a chain or a fuckin'..." Ja looked around Target feeling a little weird. "A pair of shoes or sum'?"
Brook stopped in the candle aisle. "That's impersonal. She's sad, Ja. Pampering her with expensive presents isn't gonna do anything to make her feel better."
"Who you tellin'?" Nana said, scoffing. "You could buy that girl a god damn can of soda and she would jump for joy. Hell, when she graduated and her Daddy bought that Mercedes, she ain't act like she want it."
Ja thought about all the stuff Malia liked. "She like those stuffed animals... what they called?"
"Squish-mallows. But their like $15 a piece." Brook explained, putting a candle in the cart. "Or, like any big stuffed animal."
Malia wasn't depressed or anything but she wasn't feeling that great. She felt silly that after Devon put her though hell, she felt sad about him dying. Even after he'd beat her to near death about 7 times, Malia was sad about it.
Ja wanted to do something to make her feel a little better. He hadn't been the best guy during the process because fuck Devon but because it made Malia so sad, he had to show her he was there for her.
"Aight. We ca' get that." The point guard blew out of breath. "She like Starbucks. She like them weird ass glasses with the clear frame. She like... what's her favorite thing? I'on know. Malia just be workin' for real."
Nana patted the guards shoulder. "You ha' favorite thing, child."
Brook laughed, pushing the cart along. "That's very true."
"Nah. She like cooking." Ja said, smirking with a subtle flash of the grills in his mouth. "And me. But, she like cooking."
Malia's grandmother took note of the grills in Ja's mouth. "You got them damn diamonds in ya' face and Malia got them damn braces. Y'all be kissin' like that?"
This was only his second ever time seeing Malia's grandmother but Ja quickly came to realize that she was going to say whatever was on her mind. She didn't care how crazy or personal it was, if Nana was curious then she was gonna ask.
"Umm..." Ja chuckled, sharing a look with Brooklyn who was intrigued as well. "We'on really be-"
"You a damn lie." Nana cut him off, looking at a set of towels. "I seen ha' neck when we was on that damn Zoom. Unless you was beatin' on ha' like that otha' one."
Brooklyn shook her head. "FaceTime, Nana."
"What that is?"
"The app Lia called you on is called FaceTime." She explained. "And Ja, everyone knows you and Malia are more than friends so lying is pointless."
Ja smirked, swiftly changing the subject. "She like them soft blankets, too."
The point guard didn't want to overdo it because Ja didn't want her to think that he was giving her a gift. Gifts were celebratory.
Ja didn't mind celebrating Devon dying but Malia did. So, he bought her a bunch of small stuff and Brook placed it into a very small storage container.
"Malia." Ja called, walking into the apartment.
Her soft voice came from her bedroom where she was on her laptop. "I'm back here."
Malia looked up from her laptop, when she heard him enter the room. He had a small box of items in his arms, confusing her.
