Chapter 11 #3
I laughed, not remembering what he was saying I said. The thing was, when I was in one of those deep sleeps, nothing mattered. I would tell a motherfucker anything they needed to hear just for them to leave me alone.
“Aight, go get your toothbrush and clothes.”
“I brush my teeth, see.” He cheesed in my face and once again I was laughing.
“Aight. Let’s go get you something to wear, I know your mama laid out some bullshit.” I was on my feet in seconds.
“I wanna wear this, Rennix.”
I shook my head. “Nah, you gotta get fly. Not wearing your Spider-Man suit out in the streets.”
“Spider-Man is fly.” He pouted and crossed his arms across his chest.
I shook my head and moved toward the bathroom to brush my own damn teeth.
There, while I took care of my own hygiene, I’d probably come up with a better excuse of why he needed to come out of this suit.
By the time I was finished with everything and moving toward the bathroom, he had the Spider-Man mask on, iPad propped up, and the fucking theme song on.
I just stood there watching him do the poses and dancing before I stepped into the room. I hoped the argument I had compiled in my head was compelling enough, because if not, on my mama, he was going out in this fucking suit. I’d beef with Caya on the back end later.
“Aight, so look, you know how Superman, Spider-Man and Batman have to hide who they are to the world to keep the people they love safe?” I asked, peering down at him.
He nodded.
“You can’t be letting the world know your true identity just yet. You gotta keep it concealed, Lil G.”
“What’s a identity?”
“It’s who you are. You can’t be having everybody knowing all your business.”
He looked at me for a while, looking just like his mama, deliberating on if what I said made sense or not.
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous that whole two minutes.
The last thing I needed was to be walking around with him in a fucking Spider-Man costume.
“Oh. That’s why my mommy doesn’t let me wear it outside. ”
“Yeah. She tryna help you. Now let’s go in here and get you something else to put on. We’ll hang your suit up. So nobody comes at us.”
“Yeah. I don’t wanna have to fight Venom in front of Mommy.”
“Yeah aight, I’ll fuck Venom up,” I said before I could catch myself.
Adonis laughed, which meant I was in the clear.
We left, moving toward his bedroom with a quickness.
When I turned the corner and looked at the BS Caya had laid out, I wanted to curse her ass out.
The fuck she lay some plaid shorts and a salmon T-shirt out for?
Who was wearing this? Cause damn sure not him.
I went through what was left of his closet and found something, reminding myself to grab him something.
She wasn’t about to keep having him dressed like a proper lame.
“Put this on.” I handed him the lavender Nike shorts and a white T-shirt. At least she didn’t play about his shoe game. The pandas she had on the dresser went perfect even though I planned to also get him more shoes.
Once I was finished helping him into his clothes, I left him with his iPad and moved to get myself together. After we grabbed something to eat, we would be stopping by Jade’s and then I guess I would see where the wind would take us.
I was dressed and grabbing my stuff when Caya’s worrisome ass called. I knew she’d be calling at some point. It was in her to be all over.
“Yeah.”
“How is he? He isn’t too much of a bot?—”
“Stop worrying, man. We straight. My real problem is with your ass.” I cradled my phone between my ear and my shoulder as I exited the bedroom.
“What? What did I do?”
“Leave them proper lame ass clothes. You can’t pick his clothes out no more. The stuff you be laying out has me thinking he needs to take some self-defense class because motherfuckers are gonna bully him and have us up at that fucking school.”
She laughed. “You keep talking about his clothes. I don’t see anything wrong with them. He looks preppy.”
“Exactly my fucking problem. From now on, don’t pick anything else out. You got him dressing like he inviting motherfuckers to try him.”
By now she was damn near crying on the phone and I was dead ass serious. “Whatever. How did you get him out of his Spider-Man costume?”
“Cause I’m a G, baby. I got this.” When I reached Adonis’s room, I stood in the doorway, watching him before I told him to come on. “Grab your charger too,” I reminded him.
“I left his booster seat in the living room. All you have to do is set it in the seat and cross the belts. I can wal?—”
“Yo, I got this. Trust ya man, baby,” I assured her as I leaned down and grabbed the booster seat.
We exited the house through the garage where my truck was backed in.
I listened to Caya go on and on about whatever the fuck she wanted to talk about while I got Adonis set up in the back.
Once he was buckled in and preoccupied, I made sure the doors were locked before pressing the button to lift the garage door.
When the door was closed behind us, I tuned back in and pulled off.
“What did you say, baby girl?”
“I asked where y’all were going.”
“To eat, see Jade, and probably slide by a mall, ’cause you really got me fucked up.”
“How? Adonis likes the outfits I pick out for him.”
“Hell nah he doesn’t. That’s why he don’t be wanting to come out of the costume.” I laughed at my own joke.
“Whatever, Rennix. I have a great sense of style.”
“I never said you didn’t. I love your style on you. But him, not too much.” We talked for a while longer, going back and forth before her client showed up. By that time me and Adonis were set up at a breakfast spot near Jade’s place.
While Adonis had pancakes, eggs, and sausages, I got a scramble and we ate. Like any kid he babbled back and forth, but for the most part he ate his food and watched videos on his iPad.
My phone vibrated, breaking my thoughts. When I looked down, I saw Reminisce calling me. That prompted me to look around the café, because nine times out of ten, any time he was calling me, his ass wasn’t too far away. Just like I expected, he was walking into the restaurant, eyes on the table.
He slid in on the other side of Adonis and his eyes were on me. “You moving like the opps now?”
I laughed, eyes finding Adonis who was playing with the sausages on his plate. “How, Reminisce?”
“I came by the house and your funky ass wasn’t there. What y’all doing eating without a player?”
“Hi, Reminisce,” Adonis greeted, eyes on Rem briefly before they went back to his food. He had been around my brother a few times seeing as how Rem had no problem popping up.
“Yo, what’s up Lil G? Where is your costume?”
“Shhh. I’m keeping Mommy safe by keeping my identity a secret.” He put his little fingers to his lips and looked around before looking back at Rem.
It took everything in me not to bust up laughing because he was so serious and Reminisce’s expression was fucking priceless.
We ate and talked for a while longer before I decided to call Jade and see where she was. When she told me she was on her way to her shop, I was immediately glad I called. I didn’t want to get to her spot and she wasn’t there.
After Rem’s greedy ass ordered enough food for three on my tab, we closed out and left. Reminisce ended up riding to Jade’s shop with us.
“So you on some stepdaddy motion, huh?” I felt his eyes but kept mine ahead, cutting every so often to see what Adonis was doing in the back seat.
“Nah. Ain’t no step nothing. That’s me. Ol’ boy better not even think about it.”
Rem laughed. “Never saw the day you’d gangster a nigga’s kid and baby mama, but I’m proud of you.”
“Don’t be too proud yet. Just wait till I get what I’m working toward.”
He looked confused, eyes going from me to the back seat. “What? Is sis pregnant?” Of course he said that part low.
“Nah, not yet.”
“Not yet? What do you mean? I wasn’t under the impression that you wer?—”
“Things change, Rem. Life changes. You go from thinking about obsessing over one thing to seeing just how big the world outside of your brain is. We’ve done some off the wall shit and lived through situations we’d never utter a word to a soul about.
But what’s after that? I used to be fine coming home to complete silence after the stuff we did, then it’s like my mental chemistry changed.
The jobs became too much, so I changed my life, right? ”
He nodded. “I’m following.”
“For a while that change was enough, at least that’s what I thought.
Life got too quiet, I was spending too much time at the club, clinging to the noise that ultimately shut down at the same time every night.
I fucked up that day I went to G’s house and stayed over there because it was there where I realized what I was missing. ”
“What? Kids, nigga?”
“No, the peace of mind and place of belonging that makes every fucking thing we do worth it.”
“I hear what you’re saying but I know where my peace of mind and sense of belonging is. Mine sits with the direct deposits and safe deposit boxes.”
I couldn’t help but laugh at his stupid ass. “Then Caya, I swear she caught me by complete fucking surprise and ain’t pay me no mind. First time I asked for her number she gave me the Chinese restaurant’s digits. Baffled the fuck out of me.”
He chuckled. “I’m glad you found your peace of mind and whatever the fuck else you just described with sis, but can we handle all this bullshit out here before you get too comfortable being peaceful? Get violent and put an end to the bullshit?”
I laughed. “Yeah.”
The rest of the ride we just listened to music, both of us lowkey finding ourselves trapped in our own minds.
When we pulled up to the mall Jade’s second location was inside of, I parked in the garage and got out to get Adonis. Once I got the hang of his booster seat it was easier and easier to get him out of it.