Thinking About You

Chapter 5

I couldn't keep up with them. They race to the candy in the pumpkin basket all at once.

"Whoa! Take one each," I direct. My dad was laughing it up with the parents. Mr. Morrell being one of them pats me on the bicep.

"Thanks again, Jaquez for that Chevy deal." I grin back.
"No problem."

Eight o'clock on Halloween night. It was about time to close up shop. We had a little trick or treat event for the kids and parents that was winding down. At about 8:50 Linc, Damantaé and Cruz showed up.

"Aiight dad, I'm about to head on out."
"Okay son, good work today."

I was back on schedule. With the month of October over I had managed to sell 14 cars. I was on a high.

"You looking real shiny, nigga! Had fun at work?" It's a cool night and we start walking away from the dealership.
"Yeah, I did! How was work for you?" Linc raises his head and gives me a side-eye look. I chuckle. I wonder if this look had anything to do with Damantaé.
"I know we ain't going straight home. Let's hit up a strip joint," Damantaé suggests.
"Fuck outta here! Treese would cut my dick off."
"You'll be aiight, nigga!" I look at him like he's crazy.
"Not without my dick I won't be."
"Speaking of ol' girl," Linc starts as we make our way into the downtown area. "We double dating, I got this double date lined up."
"With who?"
"Some fine chick I met last week. You down?"
"Sure."
"Y'all just want to go grab some drinks?" Cruz asks.
"That's what I been thinking about."

We decided to treat ourselves and head over to LIPS. It was a pretty pricey Hookah Lounge bar. We grab some seats and begin lighting up. A waitress comes over to take our drinks.

"Can I get a Hennessy?" Damantaé starts.
"Nigga, don't start!" Cruz smiles.
"Tell 'im what to do, Cruz," Linc nods and we all laugh. We all ended up doing shots... and reminiscing.

"It was each and every year, though, Dam!" Linc shouts.
"Since Kindergarten," Cruz adds.
"This is what we came for? To gang up on me and shit?"
"We just saying, nigga. We don't understand how you didn't understand anything after the 5th time."

Cruz sips his drink. I sat diagonally across from him and next to Linc. It seemed like we would always steal glances at each other and catch each other doing so. I guess things still felt off between us and it hasn't been the same since those summer days.

"Y'all keep bringing that shit up and I'm over here getting flashbacks of my parents beating me." We all die laughing.
"Oh shit!" Cruz throws his head back laughing.
"Y'all know what I remember?" Damantaé asks while I loosen my North Face jacket. "When Cruz and Jac had their own little secret club and get aways."

Cruz almost spits up his drink in response. I was too drunk for this, I set my glass down, my heart starting to race. Linc leans back and to the side like he was trying to get a better look at me, also squinting his eyes Cruz's way.

"Yeaaaahhhhh..." Linc was thinking. "I do recall that. What was that? Eighth grade? Seventh?" Linc looks back at me.
"I swear y'all went months not talking to nobody," Damantaé went on. I sneak a glance at Cruz and he has his head hung low, idly smoothing out his waves.
"That shit wasn't right! Maybe I wanted some of Cruz's mama's cooking too! Why you had to hog that shit, Jac?" Linc asks.

Having nothing to do, I simply take a sip of my drink. I don't know if I was being paranoid or what but I could have sworn Damantaé was giving me an odd look. He knows something.

"Y'all real quiet," Linc observes, still looking back and forth between us.

Cruz finally looks up and his face looked flushed.

"You right, you got us," Cruz starts. "We ate all my mama's food from y'all." Linc shakes his head.
"Cruz was also tutoring me," I threw out there with a shrug, despite the fact he didn't start tutoring me until 10th grade.

My eyes land on Cruz after I mention that and a flashback of him came back that made me squirm and put my drink back down.

"Oh yeah, that's true," Linc nods it off.

It seemed to have blown over but there was a slight look of skepticism on Damantaé's face. I sigh.

"Can we get another round?" He calls out to a waitress. I was the quietest among us to say 'no'.

Cruz had an issue with his car and wanted me to check it out. It was a blazing November day. Being under the hood was the only shade I was getting. Cruz came out of the house with two glasses of lemonade.

"Thank you."
He leaned on the side of the hood.
"No problema. ¡Es hace jodidamente calor!"
"I heard 'fucking'," I say while checking out the car. I hear him laughing.
"You stayed remembering your swear words."
"That was the fun part." I look over at him.

His smile falters a little and he hesitates, probably getting my double meaning. I didn't really mean for it to mean that. But he shrugs.

"It was." It's quiet.

I bet the memories were heavy on his mind like they were on mine.

"About the other night, at LIPS," he mentions.
"That shit was weird as fuck." I look back down at the car.
"Yeah, I don't know where that came from."
"Did you see Damantaé?" Cruz pauses then shakes his head.
"Why? Was he acting funny?"
"Exactly." Cruz eyes me over his glass.
"You think he knows?" He asks quietly. I stare off down the street.
"Maybe."
"Well," Cruz looks down and plays with his band bracelet around his wrist. "They know about me, Jac." He eyes me. I exhale and stand straight, closing the hood.
"I think you need a new starter, you said it's stuck?" He nods.
"That's what I thought too."

I had stayed a little longer at Cruz's and silently played video games with him. We hardly spoke, just played mindlessly. Despite his mom baking us some cookies she still gave me her usual hard glares. I was used to it and never looked back for long at her. She never says a word to me.

I thought about our silence and Cruz all the way back to Treese's place. I didn't like how things were between us but at the same time I didn't want to bring the past up.

I found Treese in her bedroom. She gave me a spare key to the place. I'm glad we had this level of trust built up. I'm happy that things were working out for us.

"How was your day?" I ask. I was removing my light jacket when I notice how still and quiet she was. "What's up?" She looks up at me and smiles, though I can see it doesn't reach her eyes, which looked almost sad.
"I'm pregnant, Ja."