HER AND I, HIM AND HER, HIM AND I

NOT SO BAD

Weeks had went by and Twan and I kept our deal to be cordial around Sabrina. She had been admitted into a 90 day treatment program. Her family, Twan and I had researched different treatment sites until we settled on this one. The site seemed to be able to cater to her specific needs and the cost was not too expensive. Her family and I had went to drop her off while Twan decided to not come due to some scheduling conflict. He was probably out selling to some others. When we dropped Sabrina off she was so hopeful that she could get the help that she needed and I wanted to believe that she would complete the program successfully. She had given me a big hug right after she checked in and promised to stay in touch if she could while being treated.

When I arrived back home I picked up my son from my mothers house and drove home. I arrived home cooked my son and I some dinner and chose a movie to watch. Of course my son ended up going to sleep so I put him in his bed and came back out to the living room. Just as I was about to sit down the door bell rang. I went to the door and looked out the peephole and saw Twan. Why was he showing up here unannounced? Why was he showing up here anyway?

I opened the door just a little so that he could see my face.

"What you doing at my door?"

"I was hoping to talk with you for a moment if that is cool", he said.

"Couldn't you just have got my number from Sabrina or something and called me?"

"I wanted to talk with you face to face, man to man."

I thought about it and then decided to let him in. I sat down on the couch and he took a seat on the chair.

"What do you want to discuss?", I asked taking a sip of my beer.

"Well I want to first off thank you for keeping our deal. I know it took a lot for you to do this. I have slept with a few people who were committed in my past but this situation I had no idea who you were until you showed up that night."

"So you took it upon yourself to still fuck around with her even after you knew about me? Well that just makes you a punk ass bitch."

He stood up and so did I. He balled his fists but then began to calm down. I must admit seeing him mad was kind of sexy.

"Lenny, I do not want to do this with you tonight. I just came over to speak my piece on the situation and hopefully clear up any confusion."

"There is none. You have spoke your peace now you can leave", I said as I got up and pointed towards the door.

"It does not even have to be like this man but I guess I understand that you still in your feelings about what happened", He said.

He was walking out but then noticed the bottle of liquor on the counter.

"You got the limited flavor of this Vodka?! I been looking all over for this. I know we ain't cool but I will buy if off of you. How much?", he asked.

"Not for sale. You were heading out so let me help you by showing you the way out."

"Aight listen, I know you mad and all but I am agreeing to purchase this liquor for double what you paid for it."

"Twan it took me a while to find this as well and as you can probably see it is not open so I have not even tasted it yet."

"Well how about open it now? You can finally taste it and I can get some shots out of it. I will even pay you."

I thought about it for a moment. I did not have to work tomorrow and I really had no reason to save it plus he was offering to pay for it. At the same time I did not want to give him the satisfaction of taking his offer to give me some money.

"I will open the damn bottle", I said reluctantly.

"That's what I am talking about. You got some shot glasses?"

"Yes. I will go grab them from the back cabinet."

I grabbed two shot glasses and looked over to the table to where Twan had taken a seat. He was so excited to try the drink that he was showing all his teeth. He had a nice smile on him. I made my way to the table with the bottle and the glasses. I poured myself a shot and he poured one as well. I could not believe I was sitting across from this dude sharing my bottle of liquor. Being honest with myself I honestly wanted some company tonight.

"Damn, that's good", he said after downing his first shot.

I downed my shot and then poured another for myself. He looked at me across the table and I poured him one. Before I was about to take a drink he connected his glass with mine in the manner of a toast. I just looked at him for a second and downed my shot.

"So Twan how long have you been dealing drugs?", I asked.

Kind of taken by surprise by my question he looked at me puzzled before asking, "What you wearing some type of wire or something to just out of the blue ask me some shit like that?"

"No, I just wanted to know since you kind of started off as my ex's drug dealer."

"Naw I feel like you trying to set me up."

I do not know what made me do it but I pulled up my shirt to show him that I had nothing under it such as wires. He stared at my stomach a little longer than I expected. I did not pay it that much attention and I also unlocked my phone and showed him that it was not recording. I then explained to him that I did not even know that he was coming so why would I try to set him up.

"I started dealing when I was like 16. First to some students at the high school I attended. When I got kicked out I then started selling to others on the streets. It is not the best living but it pays the bills. I came from nothing, grew up poor in the worst part of the cities. One day I was just tired of the lights being cut off at my moms house and so tired of her worrying about feeding us. I linked up with this man who put me on the game and I quickly became the breadwinner for my household. I know you probably want to judge me like some others do but at least I was and am still able to provide for my family. Nothing like seeing your family eyes light up when you are able to put food on the table, pay for car expenses, rent and other bills", he said.

Hearing him tell me so much with just really conversing fully with me for the first time kind of made me see him in a different light. Yes he was a dealer but he still had the human need to want to provide for his family. I continued to listen to him talk about his life to me. We took a few more shots and then ended up playing some games on the playstation. I looked at the clock and did not even notice that it was getting so late. I started to realize that he was not so bad. He was even somewhat charming and it became kind of easy to see why Sabrina took a liking to him. We finished our last game and we decided to exchange numbers. He had explained to me with Sabrina gone to the treatment facility he really did not know what to do with his free time and suggested we get some drinks and hangout sometime.