The Life of Jessie: Thug Life?

Befriending the Enemy

As the day went by, I laid in Juniors bed resting. I had got a few text messages from Luis, asking if I was still up to going out. The guys begged me to sleep, to rest and to meet him up another night, but I was done laying things off for another day. I got up from the bed and headed to Miguel's room to grab some clothes, that I would leave, when I would sneak out and spend the night here. Walking in, I could smell Miguel's cologne everywhere. Coming in here would always make me miss him, but it helped in some way for me not to forget him. I felt like he was slipping away slowly and it was heart renching to even think that. I was willing myself not to forget, to not let him go and little by little it was happening. Shaking thoses negative thoughts away and placed it by a positive one...I will not forget him...

As I went up to the closet, to grab my clothes I winced from the pain in my sides. I heard a knock on the door so I quickly adjusted myself so nobody would see how much pain I was in. I turn to see Junior standing there looking around the room.

"I haven't been in here since the funeral," he was looking at a picture of all us at a cook out at his mother's house, "ha, I remember this, this is when we all finally met the mysterious Jessie," he said with a smile.

I couldn't help but smile, that day was so special and nerve wracking for me. It had been the first time I met his family and some of his friends. Their mother looked so young, long brown hair that stopped just above her waist, big grey eyes that had brown spicks in them if you looked hard enough, tan skin, she was just beautiful. When Miguel introduced us I was so nervous, I couldn't help but start to fidget. She had the softest voice ever; it was hard to imagine her yelling at the boys when they would get into trouble. Junior cleared his throat to grab my attention.

"That day I couldn't believe my little bro brought a girl home. It was the first time ever, and since that day, we all knew it was serious," he took a deep breath, hunching over a little, "I thought he was kiddin', that he was just scared to be a part of this, but no, he found something better."

He looked up at me with a small smile but that wasn't all, he was crying. Tears were running down his cheeks, his chin was quivering from not wanting to cry out. I could see all of this was torturing him, that he was carrying all of this on his shoulders. I wanted to go and hug him, to comfort him as he did for me on day one but, I couldn't move I just hugged my clothes tighter to my chest. Junior took a step towards me but I shook my head for him to stop.

"Please, Junior don't come near me because, if you do I promise I'll break and I'm barely hanging on," I barely could say above a whisper but he nodded in response.

"I need to get ready, "I said, as I wiped the tears that deceived me, from my face roughly.

"Yeah...okay," was all Junior could say as he turned to walk out the room, shutting the door behind him.

I just stood there, staring at the door in a complete daze. When was all this just going to end I thought to myself.

******

I had got the text of where I was supposed to meet Luis at. The guys insisted that Omar should go with me but, I told them all no, I had to do this all on my own. As I got in one of the cars Inks let me borrow, I noticed all the guys waiting by the house door. I waved them good bye as I backed out of the drive way. As I zoomed down the street, with my music cranked up to the max, I couldn't help start to wonder how this night would go.

When I arrived at the place I had to meet Luis, I was surprised it was an abandoned parking garage. My heart started beating faster than normal, maybe I should have let one of the guys tag along. As I stepped out of the car I saw Luis walking up to me. I leaned against the car, and the whole time I could feel his eyes all over me. I looked up at him to see him smiling down at me and his eyes glassy.