Concrete Rose (Norminah)

Eleven

" And I was like girl fuck You I ain't paying you that much money just to braid my two hand fulls of hair " I listened to Lex go on and on about something I could careless about. I shifted on the hard store step to get a better look at the mysterious person that was standing so carelessly against the brick wall. "Ladybug are you listening to me? "

" Of course " I answered while still keeping my eyes on the figure " You know you weird as fuck right " I took her words in but yet still not answering her " I know you hear me talking " she tapped me on the shoulders causing me to shift my eyes towards her " You need to learn how to ignore them hoes back at the house like you're ignoring me right now " she spoke causing me to slightly roll my eyes.

I turned my attention back towards the brick wall just to catch the taller girl stuffing her hands into her pockets. " Just go over there " I heard a voice speak from beside me but I couldn't take my eyes off her.

It was something about her that I couldn't put my finger on. I was infatuated By her mysterious demeanor, the way she stood in a large crowd but still seemed to always stand out. The way she gave demands with only a look never once opening her mouth, She reminded me of my mother. Quite but yet so powerful.

I slipped my hand into the right pocket of the jacket she had given me a week ago, slightly wrapping my hand around what was in it " Mani I know it's a little windy out here today but the sun is beaming bright as hell. So why do you have that big jacket on " Lex spoke gaining my attention this time around.

I turned to face her to see her already eyeing me closely as if she already knew my response before I even thought it " I thought we talked about this already " she lowered her hand down closely towards me, but before she could even grab my arm I stood up from the step " I'll be back " I lowly mumble while pulling at the bottom of the jacket sleeves.

Her eagerness to want to know things kicked up my level of confidence to finally walk over to the group of people standing on the other side of the street.

I pulled my bottom lip between my teeth slightly biting down in hopes of reliving some of my nervousness. As I got closer my heart beat got louder signaling to me that my anxiety had kicked in.

As I approached the group of people everybody went silent. I watched Jabari lightly tap Dinah on her shoulders as everybody else eyed me like I was fresh meat.

I felt a hard gaze on me causing me to look back into her direction. Before I knew it she had my arm in her hands pulling me to the side of the building " Alright young sir watch it " I heard Lex shout from across the street " What you doing around here? " She looked at me asking " I just came to- "

" Don't came around here anymore " she spoke sternly causing me to slightly flinch " No don't be scared of me I'm just trying to protect you from them " she tilted her head to the side where the group of guys were.

I watched as she searched over my face like she always done every time we come into contact.

She nodded her head as if she was pleased to see that everything was the same as before mark free. Only if she examined more she was see that was a lie.

We stood there in silence a few more seconds before I finally remembered why I had actually came over here " I believe this is yours " I reached into the pocket pulling out a bundle of money that was secured by a rubber band. But before I could pull it out I was stopped " Don't do that, these junkies out here will crack your head open. If they knew you were walking around with that in your pocket "

" well what do you want me to do with it " I asked out of frustration " keep it " I looked at her puzzled " keep it, spend it on yourself "

" I don't need your money Dinah " she looked down at me with her bottom lip between her teeth" Spend it save it just keep it, its yours " she tossed her hands back into her pockets while still eyeing me closely " Don't worry it's not pity money " she finally spoke " I don't need it so just keep it " she looked up before looking back down at me " it's about to get dark, you don't need to be out here while it's dark " I tilted my head to the side wondering why she always felt like she's needed to always tell me what I needed " what makes you think you can tell me what to do? "

" This " she leaned in closer towards me. Staying just like that for a second before pulling her chain from underneath her shirt. I watched her pull her pendant between her fingers blocking me from seeing what it was until she reached for my pendant placing it against hers.

I looked up at her just to see her eyeing me already " I don't want to get ahead of myself but I have to protect you, this right here is a sign that you were made for me " I looked from her eyes to down at our matching half of shaped pendants " Please get off the streets before it gets dark " I looked back up at her to see that her hard exterior was finally gone " okay " I lowly mumbled still lost for words.

Okay, just in case no one remembers. Normani got her pendant from her mother before she died. Dinah got hers from her father before he was killed.