A Slum Love Crime. (A$AP Rocky Story)

Part Trentanove

WARNING: THIS IS NOT LAST CHAPTER, MORE TO COME!

The buckle of the wheeled suitcase tickled the bottom of my heel as I lie in bed, fully dressed and waiting. I wasn’t only waiting for the guys to give me a cue that we were ready to leave, but waiting for things to pick up like I’ve always been. I was waiting for my mother to come back and tell me that she wasn’t involved in the feud, and waiting for my father to tell me that it was all a joke.

Essentially, I was waiting for nothing.

Nicole was across the room, putting the finishing touches on her latest painting. Now I could tell what it was—a young boy with a backwards New York Yankees baseball cap on, with an oversized t-shirt and baggy pants. He looked like someone from my neighborhood. It was a nice, relatable painting if you asked me.

When Nicole caught me staring, she stopped and grinned a bit, as if waiting for me to compliment. But I had something different to say. “I’m sorry about your boyfriend,” I said lowly, “Marquees.”

Her expression changed only slightly. I was beginning to notice that Nicole didn’t show much emotion often. She looked away, as if to rid herself of the sadness she might have been feeling from hearing Marquees’ name, and then looked back at me with her grin from before. “Don’t be sorry. I’m over that, anyway. If I was still mad, that whole mob out there would have gotten their asses beat.”

I laughed delicately, since I knew Nicole’s tone was playful. But maybe she was serious, too. Maybe, if she was still upset, she would get Danny to punish the mob.

“Can I ask you something, though?” I paused, and she nodded. “Why did Danny bring you to Guyana to begin with? And is he really your uncle?”

Nicole laughed and shook her head. “Nah, he ain’t my uncle. It’s a long story to explain.”

“I know everything now.” I said matter-of-factly. Nicole looked at me, surprised.

“Well then, here it is. I’m not an Aldo or a Mayers. But I’m close friends with both families—especially Danny. He always treated me like a daughter, though he hated the fact that I was dating Marquees. Anyway, when Danny was leaving for Guyana, he wanted to take me with him so I won’t be left unsupervised in Harlem and get caught up in the feud, which could still be ongoing up there. We came here because we wanted to leave Mango alone, since we didn’t want to be feuding anymore.”

I could tell she was truthful. She had no reason to lie. I nodded, and almost said ‘thank you’ for telling me the truth, but then stopped myself. I should just leave it at that. There’s no more to say. Now I at least know Nicole’s side of the story before going away.

I glanced back at the painting and noticed that Nicole had drawn a heart at the side that read N+M inside. Then it clicked. The painting was of Marquees.

A knock came on the door and someone opened it without waiting for approval. It was Rakim, of course. He nodded to Nicole, who left to give us privacy. He closed the door behind him and sat down next to me. I refused to look at him. There was a long pause of silence, which I kind of enjoyed, since I wanted him to know that I was ignoring him.

He spoke up finally, though. “I heard you tried to kill yourself.”

Remembrance of that night flooded back to me, the emotions I felt and the look on Dom’s face when he caught me. “Only because Momma died and I didn’t have you.” I admitted.

“I’m sorry about your mom, I really am,” He grasped my hand. “I’m sorry I couldn’t be there for you. But I’m here now, Tremaine.”

I looked up at him and saw my everything—my rock, my brother, my diary, my boyfriend. I knew what we had was real, because I could never stay upset at him. As soon as I looked into those brown, smiling eyes, I couldn’t help but smile too.