Page 3 of U + Me

“Treat her grown like how?”

“Shit, she gon’ have to earn her keep up in this bitch, that’s how.”

“Her focus is school and not a job. Long as her chores are done that’s earning her keep,” my mom defended. “I know what you need.” My mom smirked as I rushed out of the kitchen and headed back into my room.

I quickly combed out my wrap and as I was grabbing my Hilfiger mini backpack, I could hear the headboard in my mom’s room knocking. They nasty asses was up in there fucking with the hard on he got from looking at me. Talk about diabolical. Since I was leaving out, I turned my Beats speaker off because I didn’t want either one of them to have a reason to come into my room while I was gone. I made sure all my things were put away then grabbed my keys.

I didn’t have a cell phone anymore because my mom had taken it from me as a punishment back in my freshman year. I was pretty much the only person in high school without a cell phone. After closing my bedroom door, I could really hear my mom and Todd having sex in the hallway as I headed to the front door. As soon as I closed and locked the door, I scurried to Darius’s all-black, matte Dodge Magnum. I could hear R. Kelly’sR&B Thugplaying and the bass from the music rattling on his trunk. I hopped into the passenger seat then secured my seatbelt, and I tried my hardest to plaster a smile on my face and leave the bullshit going on at home… at home.

“You straight?” Darius asked as he turned the music down. I shook my head to indicate I was fine. “I can’t hear you?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

“You sure cause you lookin’ like you ain’t.”

“Cramps giving me the blues. Once I eat, I’ll be good.”

“My treat. What you tryin’ to eat?”

We decided on Burger King because I’d been craving a whooper with cheese and bacon. Darius didn’t get Burger King. He went next door and got a sub from Subway with a fruit punch Gatorade. We stopped at the corner store so I could grab a peach Clearly Canadian, a hot pickle and peppermint stick which was my go-to craving when I had my cycle.

By the time we pulled up to the park, I had pushed the peppermint stick through the pickle and was taking my first bite.

“Shit ’bout to turn my stomach.” Darius smirked, causing me to laugh.

“Don’t knock it til you try it,” I rebutted, and he started laughing.

My friend was fine as fuck, and he knew that shit too. The ladies loved him, and he loved them, and the fact that he was a star football player that was also raw as fuck on the basketball court and a beast at wrestling made things worse. Darius was cool peoples, but he didn’t see me as anything but a friend so once he had friend-zoned me, I could only look at him as a friend. Plus, way too many females lusted over him for me. Niggas rode his jock or envied him because he was so popular. I couldn’t keep track of how many times females would think he and I was fucking around but we’d never crossed any of those lines. He was like a big brother to me that looked out for me.

Bitches would try to step to me, and he stayed keeping them in check. Darius knew I had shit going on at home, and he looked out for me because he knew I didn’t have anyone else to do it, and in a way, I looked out for him too. I was a listening ear whenever he needed and would do just about anything for him, too. I would always have love for Darius but just hearing him talk about all his lil rendezvous was enough of a turn off for me to not desire being in a relationship with him.

Hardly anyone was at the park, so we went back to his mom’s house. Darius’ room was in the basement, and it was like he had his own private place; he just didn’t have a kitchen down there. There was a living room area with a large-oversized couch, sixty-five-inch tv, a large closet, a bathroom, his bedroom, and the laundry room. The only time I would see his mom was when she would come down to the laundry room to wash her clothes. Other than that, she never disturbed Darius. She gave him his privacy. Hell, she seemed to need more privacy from him than he needed from her. His mom lived her best life unapologetically.

While Darius was showering and changing his clothes, I was watching reruns ofGrowing Up Hip Hopon TV.

“I gotta go see a bitch about a cat,” Darius said, coming into the living room area looking and smelling like he was about to go get into some good trouble.

“You gotta do what?” I chuckled.

“What’s that saying, y’all ’bout to go see a man about a horse? So, I’m ’bout to go see a bitch about a cat and get some pussy, ya feel me.” Darius laughed, causing me to laugh at how corny he sounded.

“Welp, time for me to go.” I chuckled.

“You ain’t gotta leave if you not ready to go back to the crib. I ain’t putting you out. You know you can stay as long as you like, just don’t go upstairs if you can avoid it. She up there wit company so you know how that go.”

“Thanks, but I’ma head home. I need my heating pad and pillow.”

I would’ve stayed if he was going out to making money in the streets but for him to go and trick off with a female, I wasn’t about to be sitting at his house like that. I really didn’t want to go back home but I would just lock my door and do my best to avoid Frick and Frack at all costs. Even though Darius lived around the corner and two blocks over from me, I could’ve walked home but he insisted on driving me. When he pulled up in front of my house, he grabbed my hand before I got out of his car.

“You sure you gone be straight?”

“Yeah, I’m good. I woulda stayed at your place if that wasn’t the case.”

“I’ma call you before I go to bed.”

And just like he said, later that night just after eleven he called me right before I fell asleep.

KIMBERLY “KK”

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