Quinton B. James is an eccentric rebellious young man who finds himself in an awkward position when an old fling re-enters his life. While Quinton attempts to wrap his mind around the situation, he is also faced with other everyday life obstacles wi...
I sat in the parking lot of Target in my Green 1997 Toyota Camry. I had my mind go knows where when I noticed that across the parking lot was a group of boys. Just the typical athletes, nothing special.
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Just then, I heard a knock on my driver's window. I looked up and saw that it was none other than Steph. Steph and I have a little bit of history and a nice chunk of it was us not talking to each other.
Immediately, my face went from calm to pure disgust. We hadn't talked in some years, so what the hell does he need to say to me? We After he saw the look on my face he took a deep breath and began to grow impatient.
"Come on, bruh," he said in an irritated tone. I was contemplating on wether or not I should even give him the slightest shaving of my attention. I mean we haven't had a full conversation since October 2016. We haven't even acknowledged each other since December 2016. There is literally nothing for us to talk about. But my super duper kind and loving conscience intervened and helped me go along with my better judgement. I rolled down the window midway and kept my eyes foreword. He didn't deserve my eye contact.
"Aye," he said, suddenly getting more relaxed, "I know we ain't talked inna minute, but I just wanted to ask if you was busy." I turned to him, confusion filled my face. Is he really asking me if I was busy after years of pretending that the other person never existed?
"You're kidding, right?" I said swiftly. "You must think I'm some brainless bimbo or somethin'. First, you talk about me BEHIND MY BACK. Then, you ghost me and act as if I fell of the face of the Earth for years. And now you thought I was just finna act like we is buddy buddy?" I chuckled a bit. He must be smoking wagons of LSD. I grew tense and began to think about how long it would take me to slug him with my car door and blow his large intestine out of his chest with my candy studded grenade launcher in my trunk before he even noticed I knocked him to the ground.
He took on a farcical expression. I wanted to dig my nails into his eyes but he began to talk again before I got the chance.
"Talk behind yo back? You cap than a muthafucka," he said in disbelief. So now we lying?
"Yeah, I bet you didn't think I knew what you was tellin' Dejon. 'Oh I think this nigga like me and its pissing me off.' Yeah muthafucka, I knew. So don't even try and lie you way out of it," I retorted. I reached to roll up the window but he stopped me. He looked into my eyes and pressed his lips together. I hate when niggas do that.
"Aye, I was trippin' back then. I ain't know what I was sayin'. But whatever we got between us, I'm willing to drop it if you are?"
I squinted in thought. Normally, I'm not the one to hold grudges for long periods of time. Then, I had to remember who I was talking about. This is Steph. The closest thing I've had to a first kiss. The person that made me laugh countless times. The person I've known since elementary school. The person that taught me how to walk past somebody and put on a facade that they weren't there. I looked back into his eyes. I could see a twinkle of sincerity in them. I really do hate my Brobdingnagian heart.
"Fine," I said with a heavy sigh. "But I swear on every warrant I have, if you start actin' weird or try to fuck me over in anyway I will have you settin' your heart on never steppin' within 50 feet of me again!" His eyes lit up and he was all smiles. I reclined back into my seat and thought to myself. I hope I made the right decision.
"I promise you, we cool," he said cheerfully. "I asked you if you was busy because I wanted to know if you wanted to smoke." I glared at him and nodded my head. I unlocked the car doors as he bade farewell to his friends and made his way to the passenger side.
He got in the car and shut the door, looking at me with a alluring grin. I shook him off and started up the car. I searched through my Musi and put on 90Mh by Trefuego as we pulled off.
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"Where you wanna smoke at" I inquired.
"I'm down with wherever you wanna go," he replied. He slipped his backpack off his shoulders and began to look through it. I went back and forth in my mind trying to decided where we should go. Finally I settled on Lakeridge Park, which had a drop-dead gorgeous view over Castro Valley.
