In My Brother's Arms

Chapter 11

Frankie

I hope I didn't do anything wrong, I repeated over to myself. I replayed everything back in my head. Before I left for the bathroom, Marley was smiling and having a great time it looked like.. I come back and his face is as blank as a brick and we're in his car driving away from the party we were just in. I checked my time and it was only 10:30 p.m. I mean, we coulda stayed a little longer. But the way he's clenching his jaw, I don't think so. I can't even lie, he looked so cute like this. But I was afraid of saying anything that would tick him off so I stayed quiet. A few moments went by and I decided to break the ice anyway.

"Are you good?" I asked.

He shrugged.

"Sayless, take me home." I shrugged.

I looked out the window as he cleared his throat. I really didn't want this night to end so soon, but it's whatever.

"I wanted to take you somewhere else.. if that's okay with you." He said as threw his phone in the cup holder.

Yes! This night isn't ending so soon, I thought pleasantly to myself.

"Where to?" I asked, concealing my excitement.

"My friend is having a little hotel party." He said.

"Sure, I'll go." I nodded.

"Look, I'm sorry about what happened back there. I know you were having fun. But I just lost my cool for a second." He apologized.

"Well, what did happen?" I asked.

"Don't worry sweetheart." He blew it off.

"Okay." I dismissed it.

Everything went quiet again.

"I ain't know you could dance like that ma." He grinned a little.

"You know it's something light." I laughed. "I just really love to dance." I smiled.

"I see. I gotta get to your level." He laughed.

"I could teach you." I offered.

"You could teach me anything you'd like." He smirked.

He's such a flirt, but at least he's smiling again, although it seems a little off, I'll take it.

₪₪

About 20 minutes later, we're in the lobby of a nice hotel on a little side street. I held onto Marley's arm as we stepped into the elevator and I stayed on his arm. There was a mirror in the elevator as I examined my appearance, I was suprised that my hair was still intact and I didn't look a mess. "We look good together." Marley said. "Just a little." I joked. We reached our floor as the doors slid open, we stepped out and slowly walked down the long hall. "Now look, if my friends ask you any questions you don't want to answer.. you don't have to. They're probably gon stare at you," he chuckled. "Don't mind it." He assured me. "Okay." I nodded.

We reached the room as Marley tried the door handle, it was open. We walked in as everyone stopped to look at us. Marley closed the door behind us. "Well niggas? What y'all staring at?" Marley asked. I nervously waved as Marley put his arm around my shoulder.

A brownskin guy, about 6'2, with a nose piercing and amazingly perfect eyebrows walked up to us. "Are you Frankie?" He asked.

Oh, so Marley be talking to his friends about me already huh? I thought to myself.

"Yes, and you are?" I asked. "I'm Quintonn. Q for short, my boy Mar was telling me about you. You're pretty as hell." He dapped Marley up and whispered something in his ear. They both started laughing almost instantly.

Feeling left out, I decided to go over to the rest of the people that were there and introduce myself. It seems to me that we'll be here for a while.

It didn't take long at all to feel like I belonged. Music was playing, weed was being lit, stories were being told, laughs were being shared. It was pretty fun.

Marley and I were sitting next to eachother on the couch talking and laughing as his friend Marko started speaking to Marley. "Where did you find her at bruh?" He laughed. "The Verdana, I got lucky that morning." Marley laughed. "You thought my boy was cute?" Q asked. I looked at Marley and nodded. "More importantly, do you have a sister or something?" Marko asked. Marley laughed as he leaned on me, I ran my fingers through his soft hair. "You always tryna get you some, Marko." Steven said. "I'm just glad my boy found someone. I ain't have no hope for his ass for the longest." Q admitted. Marley flipped him off as everyone laughed.

Marley and his friends seemed to be a tight-knit group of friends who valued the importance of friendship as if it was a brotherhood. Marley was the chill one, Q was the ladies' man, Marko was the clown, and Steven was the responsible one. It was great to see how well they all got along.

₪₪

We all continued laughing and talking as time went by. "You look tired, ready to go home?" Marley whispered to me. I nodded. Without any further words he grabbed our coats and got me up off the couch. "Y'all leaving?" Q asked. "Yeah nigga." Marley said as he helped me put on my jacket. "You gon.." I heard Steven start. "Nah, chill." Marley laughed. I had missed the joke yet again, as I watched Marley put on his jacket. "Nice meeting you guys and girls." I smiled and waved goodbye. They waved back as Marley said his goodbyes as well.

₪₪

"Thank you for this wonderful night." Marley smiled as we pulled up in front of my building. "No, thank you." I smiled. "Would you like to spend the night?" I asked suddenly. "Are you serious?" He asked wide-eyed. "I mean if you don't want to, you don't have to.." I said quickly. "I'd love to actually." He laughed. "Where can I park?" He asked. I was so excited as I directed him to the parking garage for my building. We got out as he retrieved his sweats from the trunk and swung them over his shoulder. "Lead the way." He said as I did just that.