The Price ࿊f Peace

☮️:005

Somewhere in Oakland

Elijah was late.

He wasn't extremely late, but still, much to Keisha's dismay, he was late.

He knew his... sister in law..? Well..he didn't exactly know what the correct term was for her, seeing as she and his brother were no longer together. Maybe just 'the mother of his niece'.

That one wasn't too complicated.

He was getting off topic.

Elijah knew Keisha was touchy. And by touchy, he meant anxious. And she hated when people were late. He also knew that she already didn't like him and that Keisha had always been desperate for the approval of his mother.

But what was new? Almost no one liked him in his family.

He wasn't feeling bad for himself about it, though. He knew the only reason he was so easy to hate was because he didn't care enough to correct or change opinions of him. That shit went out the window by age 8.

The reason why he was late in the first place was because his mother loved to make an entrance. She was always just a tiny bit late, not to throw off the program, but because she was the matriarch.

Long story short, he wasn't trying to be there for that little reunion.

He occupied his time with his second blunt of the day smoked peacefully on his porch, watching his plants. Then, the drive over there.

He had already gotten a gift for his niece. It was already delivered to Camarro's address and he was hiding it in Keisha's backyard until it was time to open her presents.

His phone was playing an R&B playlist, but he wasn't really focused on it. He was a high, but not too high. He was just high enough to get through an evening of carefully inconspicuous passive aggressive jabs passed by his 'not sister-in-law' and his mother.

It was mostly his 'not sister-in-law' throwing the jabs, but she loved to throw them into conversation with his mother in front of him so it looked like he was just tweaking if he said anything.

Was it mentioned that he was a hothead?

Those two blunts were necessary. Right now, there wasn't much that could blow his high. He probably wouldn't even notice them.

Hopefully he wouldn't notice them.

Fingers crossed, for their sake.

Abir had previously notified both Ron-Ron and Hooty that he was on his way. They were already on their way as well.

Some Summer Walker song that had been stuck in his head for a while came on and he turned the dial. He was calm and he needed that.

Elijah was never a hardbody type of dude and his music taste wasn't limited. He enjoyed R&B a little more than rap as it calmed him down when he was prone to flashing out.

The song was Riot and he had forgotten the name of it for a while, but the sound of the guitar behind her calming tone was stuck in his head for weeks.

He committed the name to memory as he looped it for the last five minutes of his drive.

Surprisingly, as he sat in the parked car, sparking his third blunt of the day, just to, he wasn't too tripped about going in. He just made sure to focus on Nylah. That's who he was here for.

He finished off his blunt, staring off through the windshield of his Mercedes-Benz Truck as he placed a pre-rolled behind his ear, willing himself to get out of it.

He let another car pass before finally opening the door and hopping out. It was best to get the bullshit over wit', he was just trying to see his niece, on real.