𝐆𝐄𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐈

𝐭𝐰𝐨

      I sat in the car, arms crossed, eyes on the road, feeling the cold wind blow through the open window. The only sound was Brent Faiyaz's "Been Away" playing, with Gemini singing along "I know I been away, I'm just tryna get my paper straight, don't give my shit away."

   He glanced over, placing a hand on my chin, "You hear this nigga, Solem? Don't give my shit away."

I laughed at his goofiness. He continued singing, tapping my leg "Don't ever have time, but I can make time for you" - "That's what I'm doing right now" he said with a smile.

   I couldn't help but smile back at him, he was so handsome. I watched as he guided the steering wheel, and I thought, "Could this man get any sexier?"

   I closed my legs a bit, and he noticed, laughing and massaging my legs slowly and gently. "Mhm, stop, whatchu know about Brent?"I asked.

He then pulled into a random parking lot, confusing me. "Girl, stop it, you know I listen to Brent" he said sarcastically, but I knew he was lying. He only knew of Brent's music because of me.

    He was like my daddy, always listening to back-in-the-day artists like Tupac, Nas, Eazy E, and Andre 3000 - he was a die-hard fan of them too.

   He put the car in park and looked over at me. "I thought we were getting something to eat?" I asked, and he reminded me. "We are you still aint told me what you want yet girl"

"Plus, I want you to come over here" he patted on to his leg. He leaned the seat back, making space, and I rolled my eyes, but deep down, I was excited.

"You always want me to come over there"

"And you know you want to too."

   I did, and I wasn't going to decline. I took off my seatbelt and reached over, getting on top of him, face forward.

   I tried to get comfortable on his lap, wrapping my hands around his neck. "I hope my legs don't start hurting, Gemini" I said, and he placed his hands on my lower back, gently feeling around.

   "Solem, you gone be straight, I ain't finna keep you in this position for long, I just wanna hold you real quick" he said and I nodded.

   His hands moved up and down my back, then he gently cupped my hips. Pulling me closer, he showered my neck and chest with gentle kisses.

  "Whatchu want to eat?" he asked, his hands roaming under my shirt. I tilted my head, trying to catch my breath. As he continued, he suddenly stopped and asked, "You ain't hear me?"

I replied, "Oh, I heard you, I can't concentrate when you're doing all that."

He laughed and said, "I'm done doing all that now, my ass is hungry."

"Well, okay then, what do you want to eat?" He shrugged, "I don't know, that's why I asked you." He looked up at me.

"Gemini, we both can't not know, how we gone eat then?"

"Shit, we finna starve then" he said, before burying his head in my chest. Not wanting to let me go and honestly, I didn't want him to let me go either.

   I began playing with his hair, curling it into circles with my fingers. I leaned in to kiss his ear, slowly sucking and nibbling on it. Only he could bring out this side of me.

  He lifted his head, looking into my eyes, making me nervous. I looked away, and he said, "Stop." He placed his hand on my chin, massaging it. "You're so beautiful, you know that, right?"

I nodded, "Mhm, you tell me every day." He always made sure to remind me and it always made me shy, like it was the first time he'd said it all over again.

   I paused, looking into his eyes. "I've missed you, Gemini. I feel like we don't do this enough anymore"

He joked, "Oh we can do this more" he moved my hips against his, grinding us together, and I flicked his forehead.

   "You know what I mean, stop" I said, serious. He looked up at me. "Nah, I know, and that's my fault too. I'm trying to keep you away from the life I'm living now until I can escape it."

Gemini was deep in the streets, running with people he called his homeboys, but I never saw him hang out with them in real life.

   He worked for one of the biggest drug lords in town, which explained how he could afford all the nice things. He always had the latest gear, and whenever we saw each other, he offered to buy me or Isis something.

  His goal was to move his grandparents and brother out of their neighborhood and into a better one.

Gemini still lived in our old neighborhood, where we grew up. We had moved to a much better area, thanks to my dad.

   My daddy turned his life around after getting shot. He worked hard to earn the money to open a tattoo shop just to move us out of that neighborhood. He owns three successful tattoo shops now.

"How much longer are you gonna be doing this?" I asked. He shrugged. "Not too long. Shit I got the money to move us out, I just wanna stack my bread up a little more ya feel me?"

   I nodded, liking the sound of that. Once he's out, I can hang out with him without feeling like a damn target was on my back.

   A peaceful silence fell, and then Gemini asked, "You ready to go eat tho?" I nodded my head "Mhm, but we still haven't decided yet"

"We gone figure it out on the way there, come on get up" He tapped on my leg, for me to get up. I stood up and climbed over to my seat.