Page 25 of In the Safety's Zone
TheDesperadoswere division rivals with one of the New York teams and clearly he was rooting for the wrong one. I chose my words carefully because I didn’t want to insult the man who was making my food.
“Can’t guarantee that at all, sir.”
He laughed again while ambiguous just stood next to him taking orders and being a bitch. He was clearly trying to get a way to speak to Aphrodite again to shoot his shot.
And now I gotta show my ass.
“Should’ve known. Call me Leo, I own the place so this one’s on the house.” He pointed behind him at bags being prepped for us to carry out.
The gesture was nice, but I knew this shit was going to run him a bill at least. With the way my life got screwed up over technicalities, I had issues with people giving me anything I hadn’t earned.
“Can’t let you do that.”
He gave me that chuckle that all elders had in their arsenal when they felt like the youth was getting too out of hand. Like I had him fucked up but he was going to let me make it.
“How you gonna make me take your money in my establishment? Pose for a picture and we’ll call it even. Even though that shit is probably gonna jinx our entire season.”
He called somebody out to take a photo of the three of us before we gathered up the rest of the things that Aphrodite wanted. Ignoring his claim that it was on the house I put ten twenties in the tip jar on the counter and nodded my thanks before taking the large shopping bag that contained all this shit she’d ordered plus a pizza box. They’d stuffed all kinds of shit inside like they knew she was going to eat somewhere close by and I wondered if she did this often.
Before we could get out the door, ole boy tried his luck.
“See you soon, Aphrodite.” His ass shot her a wink and all and now I was gone have to show him that shit was a step too far.
I turned back, and on instinct Aphrodite grabbed my hand. I gave her a smile before looking at the muhfucka who was disrespectful.
“I get it, bruh. She fine as fuck and she's got a good heart. But don’t wake up dead playing ‘round with me. You hear all this southern in my voice and you think that make my ass soft? My ass is from fucking Nawlins’, baybeeh. Ain’t an ounce of bitch in my blood so if you don’t want yours spilled throughout this muhfucka learn some fucking respect. I would tell you to shoot your shot next time, but I ain’t even gone give you the chance to step into a spot meant for me. Thanks for the hospitality, Leo.Sorry for cussin’ in your place. You’ll be seeing us again.” I gave him a head nod and he just grinned like he fully intended for me to show my ass and he was thankful that all I did was use my big boy words.
I took Aphrodite’s hand and walked her out of the bodega silently, patting myself on the back for not nuttin’ up the way I wanted to.
“You carry cash.” She finally spoke up and that wasn’t where I thought she was going at all.
“Sometimes. Bad habit of mine. It ain’t enough for somebody to waste their time over. But you ain’t got nothing to say about what just happened?”
She bit her lip looking conflicted before she confessed. “Honestly? I didn’t realize he was being flirty until that last bit and then I thought it was hella disrespectful. We always chat and stuff since he got hired here but he was rude to you and I don’t like it. Now, I wouldn’t have let you fight him but cursing him out was good.”
I dipped my head acknowledging her words and I was grinning like a fool. Aphrodite ain’t know that she was doing something dangerous. For her to be okay with my crazy meant that it was gone come out a lot more when it came to her. Damn, does that mean I’m going to try to keep her around?
Fuck yeah.
“We grabbed up all this food and it smells good as hell. Where we gonna eat it at?”
“Stop worrying. I know a place. It’s a short walk from here I promise.”
The place ended up being the steps of the Brooklyn Museum. It took us a minute to get there but the walk was nice. This is a side of the city I never would’ve seen without her being my tour guide. I wasn’t from the area so I wasn’t even aware that Brooklyn had a museum. I’d heard about all the big ones inManhattan but this shit looked just as big as them. It looked like a mix of the Parthenon and Capitol Hill. I glanced around and folks were still out and about so I assumed it was okay if we posted up here.
“How do you know about all these places?”
She walked to a bench that was near some trees and sat down like she did this all the time. Again, I went to scan our surroundings but people were out here minding their business so I relaxed slightly.
“I grew up across the river so every time you had a field trip you came into the city. Then it was interviewing coaches and shopping and photoshoots and brand shit and you just find places you like. I have been able to see places up close or in the car and I always came back to see them. Plus, my algorithm is very local so I see all the places people talk about and check them out when I get a second. And when I was younger I got hung up on that showGossip Girlso I would dress up and wander around sometimes to the places they’d gone.”
She delivered this part of herself while she was pulling stuff out of the bag and setting it on the bench between us. We’d grabbed drinks from the cooler and I opened up a water and chugged down half of it.
“You living on the edge.”
She grinned like it was a compliment and now I was gone be stressed about this girl walking around the damn city like she wasn’t a celebrity wearing a tutu and carrying baguettes in a purse.
“Not really. More like trying to find a place where I belong.”
