BLK JUPTR

ix. the ironing board

This wasn't a light I wanted to see Dot in, but I couldn't help it since this was the one he chose to project. It was too bad, because I didn't come with shades or an umbrella to block it out either. He merely stared at me and patiently waited for me to answer the question of whether he could explain himself to me or not. This was indeed, a lose-lose situation: if I let Kendrick attempt to explain why he had a girlfriend I'd be irritated, but if I shut him down before he could tell me what was going on I'd be both irritated and left with questions in my mind. So, there was no real perfect conclusion to this nonsense.

"I don't want to hear whatever lame excuse you have to say."

He continued to talk anyway, and like the ridiculously tolerant person I am, I listened. Kendrick explained that Samantha was actually his ex girlfriend from high school and she was not only visiting him, but attempting to rekindle their relationship. When I asked him about his latest Instagram post he quickly insisted that she posted that without his knowledge. I stood and watched as he explained the whole Samantha ordeal to me, in attempt to gain my empathy when it came to the situation. He told me that when they dated in high school, Kendrick wasn't known at the "King of Woke" like he is now. In fact, he was the sleeping opposite, constantly spewing colorist views and only being interested in light skinned and mixed chicks. Not too long into his self hatred parade he met Samantha, and she showed him a way into the right path, surrounding him with revolutionary peers and the Black Lives Matter agenda. In a way, she had saved his life and stopped him from a road of self destruction.

He said he felt like he owed it to her to at least be her friend and support whatever she did. However, they still somewhat had feelings for each other and weren't completely opposed to the idea of getting back together. In fact, Samantha planned to transfer as soon as she could to spend more time with him, which I thought was stupid. Why reshape your entire college experience to cater to a guy who you weren't even in a committed relationship with? I rolled my eyes, not really caring enough to vocally give it my precious energy. If people wanted to make ignorant decisions it wasn't my job to stop them. Kendrick and I made small talk before returning back to the concert. By the time we got back, Duckwrth was surfing the crowd and rapping his heart out into the mic like a rockstar. His vibe was a whole lot different from the person who had just went before him. Duckwrth really didn't care about the audience's energy at all, because he was gonna have fun regardless and there was nothing you could do about it.

"Aye!" he yelled to the audience as he got back on stage. "Who got a blunt?" As soon as he said that one of the concertgoers quickly lit a joint and handed it to him, initiating puff puff pass. While I was immersed in the performance in front of me, I was also beginning to zone out due to so much going on at the same time. Even though I hadn't smoked anything I was pretty sure I had inhaled enough chemicals that if I took a drug test I would fail. I squinted my eyes, holding on to Joey for dear life. At first I think he was convinced I was trying to get closer to him by holding his hand but then he began to realize something was wrong when my eyes got watery and I started blinking excessively. Before I knew it, my head was pounding and I was getting sweaty everywhere. Joey must've sensed that my body needed more support, so he wrapped his arms around my waist to make sure I didn't fall down. He knew that if I fell in an area this crowded I'd be down for good.

I was just beginning to regain my balance when I suddenly heard the music stop and everything go silent. There was a sound that sounded like marching getting closer and closer to us as it went on. I asked Joey what was going on, and he must have figured it out before I did because the next thing he was doing was grabbing my hand and dragging me away from the concert. He told me don't turn around to look at what we were running away from, but I disobeyed, rotating my head and disbelieving what I saw. White men in all black clothes and matching tall boots were walking through the concert with a specific chant, "The blacks will not replace us! The Jews will not replace us either!" Some brandished rifles while others carried tiki torches. Who knew I'd ever be witnessing Charlottesville 2.0 right in front of my face? Joey was pulling me so fast down the street and I was thankful for that, because if he didn't I probably would've stayed to watch in shock. I was not fully recovered from all the contact with smoke tonight. He pulled out the car keys and opened Vincent's car for us to get in, and as soon as we closed the doors I went into a state of panic. I couldn't lose two more people like I lost Diana before.