𝐃𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐬 | 𝐃𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐄𝐚𝐬𝐭

4. || Dyckman + Declined Blessings

Zuri Aniyah Banks
FOUR WEEKS LATER
HARLEM, NEW YORK

"Hey, grams?" Zuri called out as she walked in her grandmother's bedroom, laughing when Erin straight faced her.

"Be back by one. Love you." Erin said, waving Zuri off before she changed the channel on the television.

"Welp. Okay. Love you too." Zuri laughed, closing the bedroom door, and she walked out of the house, locking the door behind her.

She shyly smiled at the black truck that was parked in front of her house as she walked to it, looking down when she could feel Amazi staring at her despite the tint on the windows.

Opening the door, "Hey, Mazi." She greeted, getting in the truck as she smiled.

"Wassup." Amazi returned the smile, watching her put the seatbelt on before he pulled off to go to their intended destination.

"Aight, you been on my ass about takin' me somewhere fa two weeks now. Where is we goin'?" She asked, looking at him.

"A basketball game." He chuckled, looking at the road, and she smiled.

"You fa real? I'm excited." She laughed, clapping her hands in a rhythm as she danced in the seat.

"And I'm playin' in it." He added, sitting his gun in his lap as he stopped at a red light.

Zuri looked at the gun, looking around to make sure there wasn't anything strange going on before she looked at him and proceeded to talk.

"That's why you dressed like that? Wait— you play basketball?" She chuckled, turning in the seat to be in his direction.

"I did when I was younger, but some shit happened. I still play it in the streets and in Dyckman though." He informed her, running the red light since it took an undesirable amount of time to change. He hated red lights because of the paranoia they caused and toll on his patience.

"So where the game at?" She asked, going in her bag to pull out her camera, and she took a quick picture of him while he drove.

"Dyckman— you brought ya camera?" He smiled with furrowed his eyebrows, repeatedly glancing at her.

"Yes. I'm doin' what I do best by capturin' the movement." She laughed, taking another picture of him when he held up his set.

"How are we best friends, but don't know a lot about each other?" She asked, looking at the pictures that she had taken of him.

"What? So we're best friends now?" He asked as he smiled, looking at her for a brief moment.

"Yelp. Look, Mazi." She smiled, showing him the pictures, and he nodded his head in approval.

"That's fire, shorty. Ayo, send them pictures to me when you can." He chuckled, and she laughed, examining the pictures again.

"Mazi?" She called out, looking at him.

"Huh?" He responded, keeping his eyes on the road, and having his gun on standby since they were in Dyckman.

"You do this hand signal a lot in pictures. What it mean? Crip?" She asked, feeling dumb that her street smarts did not measure up to her book smarts.

"Yeah. You don't know a lot about the streets or life in general. Ima have to teach you." He said, parking the truck in the parking lot.

Amazi and Zuri stood close to one another as they walked to the area where the basketball game would be hosted at, unintentionally holding hands.

"You've been lookin' like a caveman fa two days now, East. It's time to get yo hair rebraided." Zuri laughed, looking at his messy ponytail.

"You gone braid it for me?" He asked, looking down at her, and she shook her head.