Page 13 of Not My Type
“Yuh feel man ramp?” I pull out my other phone.
ZARA
When we got home, Mr. Perry didn’t wait for our fares, but I promised I’d give it to him when I saw him again. Sigh, the man was that scared— scratch that, we’re all scared; but before we could go inside, we needed to get in character. Cause Mama notices everything.
“Gavin?” Sash’s voice grabs our attention as we amble towards my
house. Gavin is still on edge. He looks at her quizzically.
“We can just sleep here? because me fraid bad,” she pleads. She’s nineteen, the younger sibling of the two. On a regular day Gavin would bend to her every whim anyways.
“Alright,” he pulls the grill.
“A almost 10 o’clock, a wah happen?” Mama asks from the living room. They both look at me.
“We cyaa’ tell her,” I whisper yell. Dem mad?! Like dem forget who Miss Sandra is.
“Mi a go lie then,” Sash smiles confidently. That’s her thing.
“Mr. Perry old car did bruck down,” she starts. Mama leans on the wall staring at her— she’s not convinced at all. As expected. It doesn’t hurt to try though. Sash is the type of family member who nobody believes because of her track record of lying over the years. Gavin sits on the chair and takes a deep breath. “Yes, yuh wah see wi a help him fix it,” he adds. Mama nods before her eyes finds me.
Actually, she’s studying me. She narrows her eyes, places her hand on her hip, then she speaks. “So how Zara seem so scared?” I swear there’s nothing in this world I could possibly hide from her.
“She just a fret a talk bout how curfew pass and we ago get lock up,” I hear Gavin say. Inwardly, I smile. Mama looks at him before she chuckles.
“Hush baby, you look like you would a faint,” she pinches my cheeks, something she’s done ever since I was a child.
She walks inside and Gavin looks at me. I widen my eyes dramatically with pursed lips. Sash giggles. Gavin laces his arms around our shoulders and we walk inside.
“I brought some of the food for you Mama,” I place the box in front of her.
“Thank you,” she smiles and open the box. Then she faces Gavin, taking a bite.
“This chicken taste good. A this unuh take too?” I walk to my room. Mi cyaa’ bother.
“Dem food eat good,” Mama kept going.
“But it cost an arm and a leg!” Gavin tells her. Mama laughs out. I’m so happy he’s here because I could never pretend like everything is good when I nearly witnessed murder and possibly be a victim too.
An exhausted Sash comes in the room shortly after. “Yuh nuh have no clothes that can fit me?” she questions and I glance at her slim figure.
“Of course, member other day I was like this,” I joke even though I feel horrible inside. She giggles.
“Give me it mek mi go bathe,” I hop off the bed, digging through my closet. I grab a t-shirt for her and a pair of biker tights. I always have new packs of panties in case I have visitors. I pull out a lace thong and hand everything to her. She smiles and walks into the bathroom, closing the door behind her.
I pick up the remote, searching for a movie to watch on Netflix, and stop scrolling when I spot Perfect Guy. You know how long mi wah watch this? I made myself comfortable in my bed to watch the movie, but then someone knocks.
Gavin comes inside. “Jesus” he breathes.
“Is she sleeping now?” I look up and he jumps on the bed, beside me.
“Yes,” he says happily. “Mama love ask question,” he whispers. We laugh out.
“Har ears clean too so mine she hear you,” I warn.
“She would a just run me out,” he giggles.
As soon as our laughter dies down, his eyes find the Tv screen. “Which show this?”
