DeLante gasped as he nearly slammed headway into the stiff and serious Derrel at the top of the steps. He froze and stared up at the grim figure, wearing a big black tall tee and dark, dark blue denim shorts that cut off strictly below his mid-calf. He had on black Adidas, the kind with Muhammad Ali drawn on the flap. He looked menacingly hot, with his dark reddish black hair, almost burgundy in the sun. It was in gooey curls toppled on his head, and a small gold chain was thrown strictly around his neck. Add in the tight line of scarlet red lips, and you had yourself a straight up goon.
Krispy and I remained silent as DeLante mumbled something about, "Sir, I did NOT see you, and I swear on the Good Lord that gave me life that I-" his terrified speech was cut short buy Derrel's smooth deep voice.
"Shut up DeLante," Derrel said, moving him to the side. He came up to Krispy and did the handshake, the solemn, two pat on the back handshake, and then nodded to me. I had never hugged Derrel; it'd just be too weird. I silently nodded back and gave him a small smile.
DeLante came over to me and we awkwardly waited for a while to see what Derrel would do. Finally, he spoke. He turned directly to me and said, "Did you get my messages?"
I swallowed hard and said, "Yeah, but I didn't understand..." He turned away and began to talk to Krispy about something.
DeLante turned to me and mouthed angrily, "WHAT messages?"
I mouthed back, "They were nothing!"
"Nothing?!" DeLante silently yelled back.
"I didn't get no damn MESSAGES."
"Don't trip, Lante, it's not a big deal," I mumbled.
"WHAT I CAN'T HEA-...READ YOU!" DeLante mouthed confusedly.
"I SAID don't trip Lante," I whispered fiercely.
"WHAT?!"
"I SAID DON'T TRIP!!" I accidentally shouted. Derrel and Krispy turned and looked at me in a shocked manner. DeLante played cool, saying, "Well, I'm right here. Dang, girl whatchyu yellin' for?"
I was about to punch him in the arm when Derrel suddenly spoke. "So what do you guys wanna do today?" He didn't really ask, it was more of a statement.
DeLante jumped up suddenly. "There's a raffle at Pookie's corner store. He said the winner gets a Flat Screen TV. I mean I already got one but..Aha," DeLante said, popping his collar.
"You know Pookie's a crackhead, man. He probably lying bout that," Krispy said, with a wave of his hand, as if dismissing the matter.
"Yeah, probably," DeLante said quietly. He looked into his pocket and took out his iPod. He always got so down if the guys (Krispy and D) would ignore him, or dis him. I felt really bad whenever that happened. He was my best friend next to Nay-Nay, and I didn't want to see him like this.
Derrel obviously noticed too. He shot me a glance and said, "I feel like gambling today anyway," he said, taking out a couple of bills from his pocket. "Let's go to Pookie's," he, nudging DeLante. Krispy nodded obediently.
DeLante smiled and shrugged, acting like he didn't care. "I do wanna win a new TV," I said, putting my arm around his shoulders. "Mine always takes like six minutes, JUST to turn on," I said. DeLante and Krispy laughed and Lante put his arm around me protectively. He gave me a smile as if to say 'Thanks' and then I turned away.
As I was looking to the side, I saw Derrel give me a look. He looked...No it couldn't be. Did he...Was he..Jealous? Well, he was so angry what else could I expect?
That was weird, I thought, as Derrel angrily brushed ahead of us.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We turned the corner on Burkley Avenue and came into view of Pookie's small corner shop. It was actually named "Da Corna' Sto", but everyone called it after the wacky (and suspected crackhead) owner, Pookie. We went inside of the small rectangular shaped store and automatically saw the huge line of people inside.
"Oh God," I mumbled. "I hope this isn't one of his crazy jokes. Or else Monty's gonna beat his ass," I joked. We all laughed as I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around to see DeeJaNay (And yes it was spelled with all of the capitals) standing behind me. "Nay-Nay, what's up girl?!" I said, giving her a small hug.
"It's all good, but I finna get me a damn Flatscreen TV! Pookie goin' hook me up!" As she jumped up and down excitedly, I saw DeLante blush. He had liked Nay-Nay, possibly the most attitudy and sassy girl on the block, ever since he had moved to Cedar Gardens two years ago.
"Wasup Nay-Nay," DeLante said, putting his arm around her. Nay-Nay gave him the look down and I shook my head.
"Boy, I know you did not just put yo Vanilla Ice ass up on me!" She said, throwing his hand off of her. 'Why are you frontin' Nay,' I thought. She had liked DeLante since forever too.
"Baby if I'm the Vanilla, you could be my chocolate," DeLante said, giving her one of his corny catchphrases again.
I could see the blush and the kind of twinkle in Nay's eyes as she tried her best not to smile. "You better get yo' pasty ass off a' me, fore I smack you!" she called out.
DeLante rolled his eyes and took his arm off of her. He walked up to the counter and started up a conversation with Pookie. if you could describe Pookie in one word, it would definitely be 'crazy'. He had a small gray afro that looked incredibly shiny, as if he had just sprinkled sequins on his hair, he had a small white mustache that was died bright green at the tips, and always wore this crazy bright yellow jumpsuit, that had the words "Pookie's Corna' Sto! Get here QUICK while the prices are LOW!"
I giggled a little as I saw his tall, skinny frame jump up and down and talk excitedly to DeLante. He often did little things like dance all of a sudden, or get up and start doing jumping jacks. But he was still a beloved friend to one and all. My logo is "Ever have a problem; ask Pookie."
Nay-Nay blushed and said to me, "Damn, Lante lookin' finer and finer every time I see his little scrawny ass! Mmm, mmm, mmm, mmm, MMM!" She said, with a snap of her fingers.
"Then why don't you just ask him out, you know he like you too," I said, giving her a little push in his direction. She shook the thought away with her head furiously and said, "Aw HEEEEELLL NOO! Baby boy wanna ask ME out, then Ill be happy to say yes!"
I rolled my eyes and said, "Let's get in line."
We got in line and bought our tickets. As we came up, Pookie smiled brightly at us and said, "What's down with it, young ladies?"
He often said crazy and weird things too. We giggled and said, "Not much Pookie but-" We were suddenly cut off by a loud voice behind us.
"Pookie, hurry the hell up!" It was a low, grumbling voice, and we knew, by the way it sounded like it was coming from mountains, that it was none than Monty, the neighborhood maintenance man.
