Under the Radar (COMPLETED)

The Other Side

"Let me do one nice thing for you. Maybe it'll help you see I'm trying to change." Dre says. As soon as my mom left for work, he showed up here. He's always incognito now, since he doesn't fully trust his boys anymore. "What you mean?" I ask. "Here. I know you still need some stuff for school. Ain't no point in digging into what Mase gave you." He hands me a hundred. He can't buy me. I roll my eyes and walk past it. I haven't even had a chance to make breakfast, he came so early. "Just let me do this one thing." He says, following me into the kitchen. I'm really craving some waffles and eggs. "You want some food?" I ask, ignoring his plea. "Uh, yea thanks." He responds. He just sits in silence, while I cook. 

I finish cooking and put the plates out on the table. "Orange juice or Apple Juice?" I ask. "Orange." He answers and takes a seat at the table. I finally take my seat and pray, before digging in. "Preciate it," He says, before he eats. "You're welcome." I say simply and eat. All I can think about is there has to be another way to get him out of this shit with Mason. "What's on your mind?" Dre interrupts my thoughts. "You." I say too fast. "Wait, I mean you and your situation." I'm pretty sure my face is bright red. He laughs. "I'ma be alright, Maya. I'ma figure this shit out." He stuffs his face. It really would be nice to see what the other side of Dre really is about. The one that cooks salmon in his nice three car garage gated house. D'Andre. 

After eating, we chill for while, watching movies in my living room. Once again, time passes us by. "Damn it's one o'clock already?" I ask. I wanted to get some school supplies and more things to decorate my room. We stayed in our actual dorms' building, for orientation, so I know how my room is going to be set up. "What you got planned today?" Dre asks. "Just gonna get some more stuff, for my dorm." I answer. "Let me take you. We can go to my real side of town." I hesitate to say anything. It seems as though when we hang out, I lose track of time. "I promise to get you home before your mom even get off work." He says, reading my mind. "She's normally home by 6." "Bet, we got 5 hours. Go get dressed." 

We head out, around 1:30. "The Nissan?" I ask surprised. It's one of the newest models but he's always in his Cadillac. "Can't let these folks see me with you." He says, rushing into the car. I laugh a little. It's funny to see him like this but it's also sad that he has to do this. We drive all the way to his lil hidden city. Everything looks way better over here. I can see why he would rather live here. Nothing is run down and dirty. We pull in to Walmart's parking lot. "Not a piece of trash on the ground." I turn up my nose. "Yea, ya ass need to come on this side, when you done with school." Dre says. I immediately think about how much time we could spend together, if he actually got out of all that drug stuff and I moved out here. "Mmm" is all I say. 

"All y'all girls make y'all dorms pink and grey and shit. So unoriginal." Dre says, as I eye some pink and grey comforters. "Well what color should I get then, since you know everything?" I ask. Come to think of it, now I want to know how many other girls he's done this for. See, he's bullshitting me. "You like blue right? Why not switch it up and get like light blue, silver and black?" Dre asks. That actually goes well together. I'll question him later. "Yea that actually sounds nice. Now I'm wondering what the rest of your house looks like." I say out loud. Before he could respond, someone interrupts. "Hey, D'Andre! Good seeing you, buddy!" A white man, in a full suit says. "Good to see you, too Mr. Cooper. How's Lyla?" Dre answers. "Oh much better. Just got out the hospital last week, thanks for asking." Mr. Cooper says. "Who's this beautiful young lady?" He asks. "This is Maya. Maya this is my next door neighbor, Mr. Cooper." Dre introduces us. "Nice to meet you, Mr. Cooper." I smile and shake his hand. "Oh you're always so formal. Call me Andy." Mr. Cooper says. "It's good seeing you, D'Andre. I'm gonna head back home, before Lyla thinks I'm abandoning her, in a time of need. Women." Andy jokes.

"Wow. Even your neighbors are polished." I say. "Shut up." Dre laughs. "Mr. Cooper...Andy has been real cool, since I moved in. A lot of neighbors judged me cuz I'm a young black man. He never did that. The first community meeting I went to, I proved to them that I'm not just some dumb young nigga. I got a degree and I worked damn hard for it. You know how hard it is to run these streets and secretly attend class and shit?" "No but I can only imagine." I say. "I can't wait for all that shit to end." Dre shakes his head. Emotions start going through my head and I say the unthinkable. "I'll do it." I blurt out. "Do what?" Dre asks. "I'll get cool with Mason, so you can do whatever you need to do. I just want you be able to live the life you want and I want Mason to pay for leaving us like that." He stops in his tracks and smiles a little. "I appreciate you, Maya. I know you don't fuck with him, so I know that took a lot. But I promise I'ma make sure no one knows you even helped me. After it's all said and done, you can see any part of my house you want to." He laughs. "I'm holding you to it." I laugh. We're really doing this.