When me and Ari landed in Cali, I get this excitement out of no where. I don't feel any type of anxiety now that the flight is finally over. After we left LAX, Ari called an Uber. We waited about an half hour and my patience is running out. "We should just catch a cab, there's one right there" I pointed to one that's straight across from us with no passengers. "Yeah but I mean, this is Cali. They always have heavy traffic, especially in the Downtown area when it's rush hour" Ari explained. "Hughhh!!" I pouted. "You'll get used to it" "Maybe..." I am not a patient person. I never had been. It's an Aries thing I guess.
While we waited, a whole bunch of paparazzi came out of nowhere huddling around a celebrity who's face I can't see. "Hm, I wonder who's that" I said trying to get a better view without moving out of my spot. "Me too, wanna go over there and try to get a close up?" Ari asked. "No I'm good". After the hurd of paparazzi left along with the celebrity who swept away with them, our ride pulls up. "Oh, Chey that's us!" she said tapping my arm.
We get in after putting our bags in the trunk and I get a strong wiff of marijuana. "What up doe, sorry for being late" the driver apologized. Me and Ari spoke back, "Hey, and it's ok". "Um, is that weed we're smelling, sir?" Ari asked carefully. "Yeeh, I rolled one while I was on break but I'll crack the windows for y'all". He lets down our windows and I stick my nose out to breathe in fresh air. I hate the smell of weed. My neighbors across the street from me stay smoking that stuff. Welcome to LA Chey, it's gonna get worse.
We leave the airport and the driver starts a convo, "So where y'alls from?" he asked. "We're from Detroit Michigan" Ariana answered. "Ayee! one of my boys grew up there, he moved here some years ago" the driver said. "How do you know that we're not from here? Cause you asked us where we were from like you knew exactly we're not from here" Ari asked. "I can tell by the way y'all are dressed. You don't see many people with that type of style here ya know what I mean? Even my mans from Detroit didn't look like no ordinary Californian when we first met" "Damn, so technically we're sticking out like a sore thumb, aren't we?" I asked. "Well I mean, I wouldn't say y'all stick out, but people can easily tell that you're not from the west coast by how you dress and how you talk etc. For example, I could tell my mans wasn't from here because he said pop instead of soda." I squint my eyes, "Really? But it's the same thing tho" "Yeeh but you just never hear anyone say pop over here. Most folks say soda" "Great, now I have to change the way I talk" I sobbed. "I mean you don't need too, to be real with ya tho, I like the uniqueness from people who aren't from Cali. That's probably why me and my dude are so close"
It became silent for a few seconds. "So what city or area do you live in?" I asked him. "I live in South Central LA." "Cool, what's it like there?" I asked wanting to know more. His shoulders tense up a little. "Uh, well for starters, certain neighborhoods in the area aren't good to be living in. The crimes stay constant. That's all you hear on the news." "That sounds familiar" I said thinking about all of the crime that's happened in Detroit. "How often y'all get crime?" he asked. "We hear it all the time too, but we live in North West Detroit, not much crime happens in our neighborhood but there be a lot of crackheads hanging around outside of restaurants, gas stations, and be walking on 8 and 7 mile" I explained. "6 mile too" Ariana added. "The east side of Detroit is pretty bad tho, the west side is too with all of the abandoned houses and hardly no street lights on in those areas" said Ari. "But not all of Detroit is bad tho, we have nice neighborhoods too" "True, I wish that we lived in those nice areas but where we live at is okay. Not terrible nor perfect" I said.
We've talked all while heading to our aunt's house. It's nice of the driver letting me and Ari know some of the things to be aware of and what's it like while being in Cali. He even brought up the whole traffic thing like what Ari explained to me about earlier. Imma have to remind myself not to go anywhere when it's rush hour cause that's when traffic be backed up like a clogged toilet.
