Another Man's Treasure (Joey Bada$$ Story)

Part Diciotto

When Joey told me to leave his apartment, I willingly went out of rage. But as I carried Latara on my left arm and our bag on my right, I realized that I shouldn’t have. There was nowhere else to go. I wouldn’t accept being homeless again.

I walked to CJ’s house and stood outside, weighing my options. Someone was always in there, so that wouldn’t be a problem. The difficult part would be facing CJ with enough pride to ask for a place to rest my head. An even bigger disaster would be to go inside and discover that CJ and other boys were there. At that point, I wouldn’t even ask. I’d just use the ‘I forgot something at your house’ excuse and pretend to look for it for a few minutes and then leave. I sighed, walked up the steps, and rang the doorbell.

A light on the second floor came on. After just a few seconds, CJ opened the door, still in a pair of pajama pants and no shirt. His mean glare softened when he saw that it was only me.

“Oh, hey girl,” He rubbed his eyes from tiredness. “What you doing here so early?”

“I didn’t know it was that early.” I laughed uneasily. “I can totally come back later.”

“Wasn’t I supposed to come see you guys, though?”

“‘You guys’?”

“Yeah. Joey sent me a text saying to meet him in the park. I just told him I’m on my way and he said he’s already there. So how come you’re here?”

I didn’t know what to say to CJ. There was no use in telling him why I really came by. An epiphanous look came across his face just as I prepared to come clean, to be honest about why me and my child and our belongings were here and what we desperately needed him for. But the expression on his face showed that maybe he’d beaten me to it.

“You guys had a fight, didn’t you?”

I sighed. At least he’d only figured out that part. “Yeah. I stormed out; that’s why I have my bags and stuff.”

“And you wanted to stay here for the day so you wouldn’t have to deal with Joey, right?”

He didn’t know that my intention was to stay for at least a month or so, and know he really didn’t have to. I only smiled and nodded.

“Yeah, you’re right.”

“Follow me,” He opened the door for me to come inside. All of his lights were off, indicating that he was a late sleeper, and that when he told Joey that he was on his way to meet him, he was probably still half asleep. CJ sifted through a bucket of keys and rings that he kept in the living room for when he needed to run out quickly. I turned on the light for him to see better, and he immediately found the pair of keys he was looking for.

“Here.” He handed them to me. “These are the keys to his apartment; we have spares to each other’s cribs in case of an emergency. Take these and go in there. He’s not home now, so it’ll be fine.”

I took the keys and put them into my pocket. “Thanks, CJ. You’re great.”

“You’re fam. It’s cool.”

“Oh, and by the way,” I stood over the threshold of his front door. “What do you think Joey wants to meet up with you for?”

CJ laughed and shook his head. “Nothing serious. Probably just to vent. I’ll show him a cool time so he’ll be cooled off by the time he gets back home.”

“Thanks again.”

I let the door close behind me, and carried Latara back to the apartment. Back home. It was all just a false alarm.

                                                    ---

It felt good to be at the apartment by myself. I cleaned up the place, made some food for Latara and I, and then relaxed. It felt good to pretend that this was a place of my own, that I wasn’t necessarily rich but well-off enough to have my own apartment with my own furniture, paying my own bills with my own money. I picked up a book from the small selection in the bedroom and read most of it during Latara’s nap. When she woke up, craving for milk, I fed her and then sat her on my lap, reading the rest of the book to her.