Loyalty Lies (Volume One)

Chapter 3

"Hey Bonita, glad to meet ya/  For the kind of stunning newness, I must have foreseen ya"

                                                                       Bonita Applebum, A Tribe Called Quest

Faye sat on the black leather couch, and looked toward the clock Only thirty minutes had passed. She was bored. Feeling shy and scared something was going to go wrong, she sat stiffly, wishing she had made her friends drop her off at school.

A few minutes ago, the guy she was sitting next to said, "Aye, toss me a 40." Along with the beer, came a reply of, "catch, Blood". It confirmed what her friends wouldn't confirm. She was in a gangster's house.

After a few swigs, he turned to her. "What's your name, again?"

"Faye."

"Right, right." He took another sip, "I'm Sudain."

Faye smiled nicely, wondering if the blunt he puffed on made him forget that they'd been through the introductions already. And, what kind of name was Sudain anyway? Was it a nickname? Faye was curious, but wasn't comfortable enough to ask.

"So why you so quiet?"

Faye shrugged, "I don't know what to say." She answered honestly.

"That's cool." Sudain took another sip, "I can dig it."

Faye looked at him, wondering what was cool about not knowing what to say. Sudain took his eyes from her and went back to focusing on the video game he was playing. Faye sat patiently, as the next few minutes passed by with him encouraging and cursing at the players on the game. She noticed both a Sony PlayStation and a Sega Dreamcast. Why they needed both, she had no idea.

Sudain paused the game and cracked a smile in her direction, "You wanna get in on this?"

"Do I want to play?" She clarified.

"Yeah, you want to?"

Oh...no, no thank you."

"You sure?"

"I'm sure."

"You bored though, right?"

Faye nodded.

"Aiight, well, what you wanna do?"

Faye shrugged.

Sudain un-paused his game. "Aiight, then, think about it. And when you come up with something', let me know."

A little peeved that he put the ball in her court, she looked over to Karma and Cherise, sitting at the table having a good time, playing spades and grooving to the music. She watched them confidently take tokes of the blunts in rotation, and wondered what their response would be to Sudain's offer. Both of them had cups filled to the top with Malibu and pineapple juice. Karma called it lightweight, but Faye still declined.

Faye looked across the room, Kevin and Deja were hugged up, touching flirtatiously. The only thing to be heard from them was slight laughter at some personal joke from time to time. Feeling like an intruder, Faye looked away, hating the fact that she couldn't loosen up.

"Look, since you not comin' up with nothin', let me help you out."

"Okay." Glad for this, but trying to keep it cool, Faye hoped the relief wasn't evident in her voice.