In Due Time

Del Amo

I get there and see Stacey through the window. She's sittin' with Lyrical, drinkin' refreshers. I walk in.

"Hey, welcome to Starbucks, want a free sample?" A lil white boy asks me, I shoo him off.

"Lyrical, go find somethin' to do." I say, staring straight at Stacey. She looks scared and confused.

"Stacey, you betta get yo nigga. Who the fuck he think he-"

"Lyrical, go." That was Stacey that time.

Lyrical get's up, mumbles some shit under her breath, then walks out.

"Cal, what's up? You look mad."

I sit down, try to control my anger. "Craziest thing happened at the job today."

"What happened, baby?"

"This woman calls, she sounded restless, was talkin' weird."

"Okay."

"Then she tells me this story...About her man cheatin' on her, been fuckin' another woman behind her back."

Her body shifts a little, not a lot, but enough to make me feel uneasy.

"Probably had the wrong number."

"Yeah, probably. But why wouldn't she stop telling me after she realized I was a stranger...Wanna know why?"

She pauses, sips her drink, pulls at her hair, looks away from me.

"First, let me ask you a question, Stace."

"Let me get you a frap, you love those, with the caramel in it."

"No, sit." I say. She sits back down and taps her foot. "What happened to your eye?"

"Play fightin' with my cousins." she says, looking away still.

"Which cousin? I've met your whole fam."

"I don't remember, we was all just wrestlin'."

"Oh word?"

"Yes, Cal." she sips her drink, her hands are shaking.

"Did you punch em back?"

"Nah, I let my uncle handle that."

"He whoop 'em?"

"I don't know I think he did, I heard my lil cousin cryin' after-"

"Skip the bullshit, you know a nigga named Cairo?" I ask.

When I said that name, her face changed.

"Where are you going with this Cal?"

"Know a woman named Arizona Medulo?"

"Where is this going?!"

"Because she knows you. She knows your name, where you go to school, about your eye. She says she's the one who popped you, is that right?"

"That's not what happened."

"She told me that her boyfriend broke up with her cause he was fucking you, that's crazy, right?"

She doesn't say anything, doesn't move.

"Explain this shit to me, Stacey."

Silence.

"Who the fuck is Cairo?"

Silence.

"Fuck this." I get up and walk out, she's right behind me.

"Cal, it was a mistake!"

"A mistake that the girl called me at my job, or that she hit you in the eye?"

"No. He was a mistake, Cal."

"Well explain to me what's going on cause I don't fucking understand this shit."

"I mean...Me and Ro... We just took things too far."

"Ro? What is that? Some kinda pet name for this nigga?"

"Cal."

"Explain it to me."

"He just...we just..."

I nod, tired of her stuttering and bullshit, I walk off. She grabs my arm. I don't pull away cause I don't want to make a scene in public.

"How long you been fucking him?"

"Cal, I mean for the past year, we-"

"You been fuckin' this nigga for a year?"

"No...Cal... Let me finish. For the past year, we have been distant. We barely see each other. I'm in Malibu, you're in Torrance. We have busy schedules..." She goes on and on.

"Fuck that. Yes or no, Stacey. Did he, or did he not, stick his dick in you?"

"...I mean you work all the time and I'm at school. You don't call me as often as you used to..."

"I ma take that as a yes. You fucked that nigga."

"It was stupid. So so stupid, Cal."

"Was it something I did to make you go to him?" I rub my neck "Something I didn't do?"

"Cal, calm down."

"How long you fucked him?"

"Not long."

"How long is not long? A week? A month?"

"Not long." she repeats.

"Long enough to give him a damn pet name." I scoff. "How many times?"

"Cal, stop."

"How many?"

"I'm so sorry, baby. It's over with him."

"It's over?"

"It's over, done, finished."

I swallow. "You love him?"

"No, Cal. Baby, I love you."

"Would you leave me for him?"

"I would never leave you."

"But you would leave me to go put your pussy around that niggas dick, though."

Silence.

I look at her. I used to look at her and see myself. We were one in the same. Now she was looking at me, and I was looking at a lying, cheating piece of shit. I walk off. This time she doesn't come after me.