Page 65 of Girl, We Go Together
Come enjoy the life
Baby, take a ride
I just wanna vibe with you, you
Baby, you and I can have a good time
Tell me what you like, ooh, ooh
“Now, listen, I've been single for a while now, and I've been kinda lonely.”
She said that part with her chest, so I knew she felt that part. I quickly looked away from her when her eyes shot open, and then she looked in my direction.
“You thirsty?”
“Umm, yeah.”
She stood up from the couch and walked to the nearby kitchen. When I saw a roach crawl out of the sofa and crawl up the arm of that shit, I stood from my seat and followed her. Ciara still lightly sang in the background as I watched from the entryway of the kitchen. She stood in front of the refrigerator with the door open.
“What you got?” I asked.
I peeked over and looked into the refrigerator. She had a bunch of shit in there. I just chalked that up to her getting food stamps or something. She took a Minute Maid carton out of the refrigerator and shook it before pulling two cups out of the upper cupboard.
She turned on the kitchen sink and rinsed both cups out before pouring juice into them. That eased me because I didn’t need any extra additives in my damn juice like a dead roach or something. She handed me one cup and then led the way back to the couch. Again, she sat comfortably, but I knew it was a roach somewhere on that muthafucka, so I just sat on the edge. If Ihadn’t known her since high school, I would have parked my ass on top of the chair back and had my feet in the seat cushions like I was seated at a damn park bench.
“How is your grandmother?” she randomly asked.
Back in the day, my nana used to love herself some Cayla. She was smart as hell in school and didn’t take any shit. Nana said that Cayla reminded her of herself when she was a little girl. Ma used to say the same shit before she died. Cayla was a miniature version of my nana growing up.
“She is doing good. Nana be at the house chilling. She used to travel a lot before her legs started bothering her. She was just in Texas last year.”
“What the fuck is in Texas besides good barbecue?”
I laughed a bit because that was the same thought I had when my Nana told me that she had booked her flight.
She was a retired nurse. As soon as her retirement paperwork was in, she started traveling her ass off. I was her only grandchild, and I didn’t have any babies, so there was honestly no need for her to sit her ass down in one spot. I loved that she lived her life. Whenever she was home, though, she would heavily express that I wasn’t getting any younger and that I should consider giving her a great-grandbaby. Her ass would be quick to tell me that she would like to see a great-grand before she was in the dirt. Once her legs started troubling her, she sat down, and now she wanted a great-grandchild because she feared that she wouldn’t be around to see the baby grow. When she started talking that death shit, I got the fuck out of dodge. I got out of my thoughts and engaged back in conversation with Cayla.
“That’s the same shit I said.”
A moment of silence lingered between us. On the slick, I kept giving a side eye to my right to make sure that damn roach didn’t make another appearance.
“You good?”
“Who me? Yeah. Shit… I’m chilling.”
She must have sensed my on-edge behavior. I didn’t have OCD or anything like that, but I just kept my crib a certain way. Cayla never struck me as the dirty type, so I was sure the whole roach shit was from the boxes she had scattered about.
“You moving or something?” My curiosity had to ask.
She took a sip from her juice and stared off a bit before she responded. I didn’t want to intrude on her business, but the curiosity in me wouldn’t pass up a chance to ask. Shit, honestly, I felt for her, so I wanted to know all there was to know about this new Cayla. I knew her back in school, and that was almost twenty years ago. I didn’t really know the woman who was seated next to me. What I did know, though, was that she seemed to be going through a rough ass time, and I wanted to help her. Most niggas would have seen all her problems and run for the hills, but I wanted to take that shit and toss it on my back for her. It seemed like life had been beating her down lately. I was sure she didn’t deserve that shit.
“I actually just moved back in.”
When my face held an expression of confusion, she finished speaking.
“The smartest thing I did when my mom died was sublease this apartment right here. The dumbest thing I did was not save the damn extra money I was getting monthly from the tenant. I would do dumb shit like go to clubs and be in sections, spend it on clothes and shit, jewelry. I should have been banking his paper and stacking mine. Anyway, when Oriana’s dad and I broke up, I ran so far from his place and came here. It must have been perfect timing because my tenant had moved out of state, so this place was available for me to move back.”
I sat back further into the chair as I listened. That was a lot to unpack, and I appreciated that she felt comfortable enough to share that with me.
