URBAN

TWENTY THREE

Ashanti

"Yo," I heard a voice in the room. It wasn't Keem. I opened my eyes and saw he'd already left the bed. "How long do you sleep, bruv,"

I frowned, knowing it was Levi.

"Mm," I answered him.

He chuckled. "Yo,"

"What?" I covered my head with the duvet. "Where's Keem?"

"Keem's gone out." Levi told me. "So man's babysitting,"

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Keem's in some shit,"

I got up.

"It's not deep. Obviously man wasn't around when shit happened cah I was in pen. So I'm not involved in the beef. That's why I'm staying here. With you,"

I looked at my phone. "When did he leave? Is he okay?"

"Yeah, don't worry about that shit, Keem's good," Levi reassured me. "He's in a 'meeting'," he put emphasis on meeting.

"With who?"

"Arabs," Levi said. "Man's said too much already," he started to leave the room. "Hurry up, yeah? I'm bored as fuck,"

I called Keem but he didn't answer.

"He's good, you know," Levi said. "I don't think you've ever seen your man in the field. No one ever gets him,"

I got out of the bed and walked to the bathroom slowly, still calling Keem. I brushed my teeth and everything then went downstairs feeling a bit shit.

How can Keem just leave without saying a thing? Or texting me at least?

Wow.

I sat at the kitchen counter scrolling through Twitter. Black twitter always lifts my mood.

"Yo," Levi said, shutting the fridge. "What do you wanna eat, still?"

I put my phone down. "What, do you wanna make my food?"

"Man's bored, I'm not your servant for the day, don't get shit twisted," Levi frowned.

I grinned. "Say no more," I thought about what I wanted to eat. "Make me pancakes,"

"Calm," he scoffed. "Man's a chef, you know. Passed GCSE Catering with an A,"

"Yeah, you're full of shit," I laughed. "Make my food then we'll see,"

He looked at me with a raised eyebrow. "We'll see,"

He washed his hands then got out all the ingredients for pancakes and mixed them all together in a big bowl.

"So..." I dragged.

"Wagwarn?" he asked, getting out a frying pan.

"... Why did you go to prison?" I asked.

He didn't say anything for a couple seconds. "I walked in on my stepdad tryna force it on my marj. He was drunk and everything. Not even a bad guy. But I nearly stabbed him to death," he said in a monotone.

"... oh," I started. "I'm sorry, I didn't think, I don't mean to-"

"Nah, it's calm, he's a dickhead anyways. Man didn't wanna let go of his life," he laughed a little. "He finally fucking died last week."

I looked at Levi frowning. "Did you-"

"Nah, I didn't finish the job. He died in hospital. OD," Levi shrugged. "He was always an addict. Even when I was a yout,"