As I suspected, I arrived to his house before he did. I rolled down my window and reached my hand out to punch in the code that opens the gate. I watched the tall, black gate open up before me and slowly drove up the cobblestone driveway.
I left my car at the base of the steps that led to the front door. When I made it to the entrance, I tried to push the door open like I usually do, but it was locked because he obviously wasn't here to open it beforehand. I looked around the giant double door, until my eyes locked with another keypad that looked like the one outside of the gate. I decided to punch in the same code, and heard a small click where the door handle was.
I pushed the door open and walked into the pitch dark foyer, the sound of my footsteps being absorbed into the laminate flooring. I took a few more steps inside the house, and overhead motion activated lights began powering on. It felt a little scary to be the only person in this massive house at 2 in the morning.
Now thinking about it, the only places I had been in this house was right here at the entrance, the kitchen, and the basement. I had been in one room down the hallway off the foyer where Nas showed me all of his grandma's memorabilia, but I had long forgotten what the inside of that room looked like.
I fished in my bag for my phone and found his contact name, opting to send him a text letting him know I was inside his house so he wouldn't be surprised when he got here. I put my phone back in my bag and hesitated before going up the left side of the huge set of twin staircases that led to a second floor.
When I was at the top, more motion lights flicked on, revealing another lounging area with a pool table, couch, TV, and other typical living room-type furniture. I started down another long hallway off of that lounge area, only peeking inside the rooms with open doors. At the end of the hallway, there was a room with a smaller set of double doors, and it was slightly open. Peeking in, it looked like the primary bedroom.
I fought with myself for a moment, debating whether or not I wanted to invade his privacy or just go back downstairs and wait, but my body made the choice before my mind did, opening the door all the way and stepping onto the carpet. There were no motion lights in here, so I had to feel around the wall for a way to illuminate the dark room. I felt with my palms up and down the walls where a switch would normally be, until my hand hit something square—a screen. I tapped on the screen and it lit up, displaying two simple options ON and OFF. I pressed ON and the room brightened behind me.
The room was so much larger than I anticipated. It was comparable to the size of my entire apartment. Looking around, the aesthetic fit him perfectly—mixes of blacks, grays, and whites decorated the room, with pops of brown leather here and there. I walked past the massive bed to a set of floating shelves on the opposite wall I came through. There were little trinkets on the shelves. I picked up a little stone bird which I recognized as a streamertail, Jamaica's national animal. Next to it was a small, black picture frame. I picked it up and held it closer to my face: a picture of a toddler Nas, sitting in between the legs of an older woman who was braiding his hair into cornrows. The woman had a big, beautiful smile on her face, while Nas was reaching for someone off camera, tears coming down his face and trying to maneuver out of her grasp.
I let out a low chuckle, imagining what he would look like with this same long hair as an adult.
"I'm still just as tender headed. That's why I cut my hair off," a voice said. He startled me, making me jump and almost drop the picture but I caught it before it hit the ground.
I turned and saw Nas in the doorframe, leaned against it. I quickly put the picture back on the shelf and walked over to him.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have been in here without letting you know."
