Love Is Not Just A Verb (A Kendrick Lamar Story)

Chapter 9

Thursday, October 17, 2002

Yn's POV

    As soon as I woke up, I got out of bed and walked over to Dylan's room. Surprisingly, he was up, reading. . . a bible. He looked up at me and I leaned against the door frame.

    "Whatchu readin'?" I asked.

    "Psalms 23," he said, quietly, then looking back at the bible.

    "Dylan?" I said. Courage Level - 99%. . . 99.5%. . .

    "Yeah?"

    100. "I forgive you." I started trembling. Ok, this is getting weird, I thought. I stood there awaiting a response from him. He looked up at me with a bewildered look on his face. Then he looked back down at his bible. He closed it and got out of his bed, then walked over to me slowly. We stood face to face.

    "Thank you," he said, with a small smile on his face. I grabbed him aggressively and gave him a huge bear hug. He then gave me a nudgee. It's been a minute since we were able to play around like that. It was nice to have that back.

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Saturday, October 19, 2002

Kendrick's POV

    I looked into my full length mirror. I put my hands in my jeans' pockets and examined myself. I wore a white t-shirt with a light blue sweater. I also had on dark blue baggy jeans and a pair of black converse. I wasn't sure what kind of party we were going to, so I decided to go casual.

    I grabbed my house keys and ran downstairs. "Momma, I'm going to a party with Yn!" I yelled as I made my way through the house.

    "Ok, Kenny! Have fun and don't do anything stupid," she replied as she was washing the dishes. I walked over and gave her a hug.

    "I won't." I kissed her on the cheek and walked towards the door.

    "I love you, Kenny!"

    "Love you, too!" And with that, I walked out the door and started walking to Yn's house.

    I arrived at about 6:55. I walked up the steps and knocked at the door. The door opened and a guy stepped out and stared me right in the eye.

    "Who are you?" The guy asked with a blank expression. He looked strangely familiar.

    "Uh, I'm Kendrick. I'm here to pick up Yn."

    "Oh," he said. He yawned and said, "You takin' her to Roscoe's party?"

    "Yeah."

    "Oh. Well, take care of Yn. There's gonna be some crazy hoodrats there."

    "No problem," I said.

    He nodded his head and turned around. "Yn!" he yelled. "Kendrick's here!"

    "Coming!" she yelled.

    "Um, excuse me, but who are you?" I asked.

    He turned towards me and said, "Dylan. I'm Yn's cousin."

    Yn rushed to the door and said, "Hey." She flashed her beautiful smile at me. I smiled back.

    "Hey, you ready?" I asked. I reached out my hand.

    "Yeah," she said. She grabbed my arm and we went on our way.

    "Y'all have fun,  ok?" Dylan called.