Can't Be Friends

War

~Avery~

"You sure you want to do this? You know this ain't no Fortnite."

"I'm positive. I want this nigga dead G. He put his hands on my sister! I want to do it myself!"

"You're thinking irrationally youngin. Think about how your sister will feel if you get locked up, or worse, someone wants revenge. He out here, too. And just like you, he got some bloods on his back. This here would definitely start war between us. This ain't just about killin and gaining respect. The hood got politics."

Avery sat in silence. He knew that everything he was hearing was true. He couldn't just going around poppin niggas. Instantaneously a chain reaction would occur. "Man look A, go home. Calm down. Sleep on it. And if tomorrow morning your feelings haven't changed about the situation, call me. Until then, please, don't... do... shit. I got you. And trust, he will get what's comin."

"Iight." Avery hung up the phone and gazed out of his car door window at the children playing on the playground. He watched as Dana and LeSane emerged from the building and hugged before Dana returned inside. LeSane picked up his phone to make a phone call. Avery's phone rang. "Yea?"

"Where you at?"

"Lookin at you big bro"

LeSane looked up directly at Avery in the parking lot and began to walk over and proceeded to get in the passenger side. "I know you know. I saw you walk out. I don't want—"

"Look man, I'm already knowin, I ain't on no hot shit... yet. But what you gon do?"

"I won't be stationed far. And I ain't leaving her again. I haven't seen her cry like that in a long time, and it angers me so much to see her hurt."

"Don't beat yourself up about it. She grown. She makes her own decisions. But from here, we gotta step in. I refuse to see my big sister in a casket because of some dope fiend."

"What you doin tonight?"

"Shit, wassup?"

"We gotta get her out of the house tonight."

"What's the plan?"

~Dana~

"You want me to do what?!" Dana wasn't sure about this plan.

"Look, just say your friends begged you to go out tonight and that you couldn't turn them down. Y'all goin to get a few drinks. Dance. And that's it. Then when you're—"

"It's not that. Do y'all understand? He's most likely already high off that shit. He's not going to let me go. Even if I was going with my girls and only my girls, he would think of some crazy scenario of me linking with some other nigga. He'll definitely beat me."

Avery clinched his fist to the thought of Bishop lifting his hand to his sister.

"Trust me, it'll work"

"Hey baby."

Dana's heart dropped to her stomach. Knot in her throat.

"Damn girl, you really did your thing here." Bishop walked up to Dana and kissed her cheek. "For you my love." He brought out a bouquet of pink roses from behind his back.

"Thank you. They're beautiful. I thought you said—"

"You know I wouldn't miss this day for the world baby. You care so much about this rec center, almost more than you care about me. I see why. Look at all of these beautiful kids. Make me want us to have some of our own girl."

Dana smirked a nervous smirk, "Umm," she looked at Avery as he hinted to her to spill it out, "my girls are taking me to dinner to celebrate the opening. I haven't spent time with them in a looooong time and they're dying for a girls night out." Uh oh.