Thinking About You

Chapter 14

Three days later I get a call from Chris over at the dealership.

"What's up, man?" I answer.
"Ayo, bro! That was fucked up what your pops did, I been meaning to tell you that."
"It's whatever, it's over. I'm not talking to the man."
"It is definitely over, Jac, I taped that shit."
"What?"
"I saw y'all arguing and by the time I got my phone out he slapped you, that shit looked brutal. I got it on my phone and showed them. They about to fire ya pops, man! If you still want the job you can have it. There may even be a spot open for you in management. Don't tell 'em I told you this, though."
"Th-thanks, Chris."
"No problem. Ya dad's a dick anyways."

"We here, little man!" Alex shouts out loud to his cousin Mario in his arms.
"Yaaaaaaaaay!"
I decided to tag along with Alex as he spent some time with his three year old cousin.
"Uncle Alex, can I get on swing?"
"Sure thing."

He carries him to the swing and sets him in the seat. The park is small but crowded. We are definitely in a more urban area. Music was blasting down the street, teenage girls were walking around, swinging their hips in front of grown men. There were kids everywhere. Most of Alex's family lives around here.

"Higher!" Mario yells.
"Any higher and you falling out, boy," Alex laughs.

I walk around some. This park had these annoying ass wood chips on the ground. I kick some around until I heard someone approach me from behind.

"He's getting on the slide," Alex says.

I nod and follow them over. We stand back and watch him slide down. The kids began taking turns pushing each other, one by one, down the slide. Then they did the pile up game at the end of the slide. Alex was laughing.

"Remember that shit?" He asks.
I chuckle in response.
"Yeah, but I was too busy plotting on beating ya ass."
Alex makes a beat box sound.
"Nigga, there you go. I should have seen right through your crushing ass back then."
I double over with laughter.
"Your ass was crushing hard."
"Maybe," I shrug.
He looks at me with a look that read: Stop playing!
"Maybe my ass," he mutters.

Mario runs up to Alex and Alex catches him and swings him around. As if on cue, I grab his legs while Alex had his arms and we swung him back and forth. He squeals loudly and laughs. I laugh along with him and Alex. Then he was in Alex's arms again.

"I'm dizzy," Mario says.
"Awww, he's so cute," a young, light skin girl says.
She walks up to us along with her two friends.
"Thank you," Mario says.
The girls laugh.
"I think she was talking about me, fam," Alex tells Mario.
Mario gives him a doubtful side eye, too grown of a look for a three going on four year old.
"Nuh uh."
We all laugh.
"Y'all cute too," one of the other girls says to Alex and I.
"Is he yours?" The light skin one asks.

She indicates to Mario, asking if he was ours. I cock my head to the side and glance over at Alex who was cheesing, unphased.

"Yes," he answers.
"Awww, y'all all so cute," the third girl says.
I nod thanks. They then walk away. Alex was looking at me in disbelief while trying to hold in his laughter.
"We make such cute kids, Jac."
I laugh out loud.
"They really thought..." I let the sentence hang.
We had started to walk away.
"That he was ours," Alex finishes.
"Is it that obvious that we fucking?"
Alex laughs so loud a few kids look our way. Mario had run along in front of us. Alex throws his head my way and shrugs.
"Maybe."

Mid summer had crept up and my days were filled with Alex. It felt like we spent more time together than we did back in junior high. We even forgot about Linc sometimes but he knew what was up and just brushed us off.

"Y'all got a lot of making up to do, I see," he'd say.
He was understanding.

I decided to leave the dealership even though my dad was long gone and I haven't heard from him since that day. I get the sense that maybe I never will again. Sounds extreme but it is what it is. I didn't want to be in that environment anymore after what happened that day.
I did end up at another dealership because I still wanted to do that and I immediately got offered a management position. The same day this happened to me was also Alex's 25th birthday.