9. Gemini Black
Gemini Black
My workday just ended not too long ago. Here it was, a little after seven at night, and we were headed to the laundromat.
The laundromat was directly across the street from the truck stop, so the plan was to park the truck, and Amina and I would be able to carry a hamper with our dirty clothes inside so we could wash our clothes.
Amina was in the back, sleeping. She was fighting a hangover.
I wasn’t surprised that she spent most of her day in bed.
She drank a lot last night. Let loose like a motha fucka, and now she was feeling that shit.
Last night was special to me, man. I let that girl convince me to get on stage and do karaoke.
Granted, I’ve never been shy, and I didn’t mind having a good time, but I’ve never done anything like that before. I enjoyed every second of it too.
If it wasn’t that that I was thinking about, then it would be the kiss.
I can’t stop thinking about the kiss. I know for a fact that if Amina wasn’t drunk out of her mind last night, that I would have fucked.
I had this beautiful woman in my ear, begging me to fuck her.
My dick was inside my shorts screaming, but I couldn’t.
I couldn’t cross that line. Too many things could go wrong.
She could have woken up the next day, not remembering any of the things that she was doing, and accused me of taking advantage of her.
As I was driving, thinking about that, my phone started buzzing in the cupholder. I picked the phone up, seeing that it was my stepdad calling me. His name was Darnell. I smiled, seeing his name flash across the screen.
I went ahead and answered it, placing the phone in my lap, so I didn’t have to drive with the phone to my ear.
“What’s good, pops?” I answered for him. I didn’t refer to him as Darnell. He was dad, or pops to me. He played that role, so he deserved that title.
“Nothing much. I’m in the kitchen cooking dinner with your mama. What’s up son?” he asked me.
“Hi my baby. I miss you so much,” that was my mom that I heard. All I could do was shake my head. I was a grown ass man. 35 years old to be exact, but she still carried on like I was a baby.
“Here you go. You be ready to start. Ma, what’s up? I miss you too,” I let her know.
The feeling was mutual. Even though I loved what I did, and I don’t think that there was anything else in the world that I would want to do to make money, I do miss my family when I’m away.
I had a close bond with my family. The bond I had with my mother was beautiful.
Because she was so wise, I could go to her about anything, and she always had the right words to say.
Gianna and I had the kind of bond where you would think we shared the same womb at one point.
I was close as hell with my sister. She sent me prayer messages every morning, telling me to stay safe on the road.
She made sure that she checked in with me every night too.
Darnell was the realest nigga that I ever met in my life, so our bond was just as strong.
“I’m not going to start. I’m just letting you know that I miss you. Are you still working or you’re finished for the day?” she wanted to know.
“I’m finished. I’m headed to the truck stop, and then I’m going to go across the street to wash some clothes,” I let her know what my plans were. When I revealed that, I heard her chuckle.
“How is Amina holding up? I still can’t believe that bougie ass girl got her ass on that truck with you,” she went on to say.
Everyone knew how bougie Amina was. I still get shocked sometimes seeing her on the truck with me. I really had her out here doing things that I know she never in a million years thought that she would be doing.
“She kinda getting the hang of it now. She don’t complain about anything anymore. She in the back sleeping right now,” I shared with her.
“Okay, that’s good. How are the two of you getting along?” she wanted to know. That question made me smile. Shit, we were getting along just fine. We damn near fucked last night. That’s how well we were getting along.
“We’re good. We made it out of survival mode,” I let her know.
“Okay. That’s good to hear. I know Gianna was telling me that the two of you were having a hard time getting along with each other, so I’m happy to hear that.
I’m going to pass the phone back to your dad, so the two of you can finish talking,” she said.
It was natural for her to refer to Darnell as my father.
She never even brought Rome up. You would think that the nigga didn’t exist.
“Baby, Ima step outside to talk to G. The food should be ready in about ten minutes. I’ll be back inside by then,” I could hear Darnell saying to my mom.
I heard her in the background, letting him know that that was fine, and for a few seconds, all I heard was shuffling.
I could tell that he’d made it outside because the sound of the wind was coming through the phone.
In a second, I heard him clear his throat.
I had a feeling that we were getting ready to have a deep talk.
That would be the only reason why he left my mom in the house, so he could come outside and talk to me.
“Aight. I’m outside. Your mama in the house. It’s just me and you, son. I want to know the real, uncut version. What’s going on with you and Amina?” he asked me, getting right to the point.
I chuckled, while shaking my head, knowing that he has never been the kind of person that you could get over on. He was wise. He saw a lot of things that the average person didn’t.
“Ain’t nothing. We on this truck together, chilling. Getting to know each other,” I said.
“What does that look like? Chilling, and getting to know each other?” he pressed.
I didn’t say anything right away. If anything, I sighed, thinking how I should answer.
I knew that the conversation that I had with my pops wouldn’t make it to anyone else.
He knew how to keep a g code and keep our deep talks between us.
I’ve confided in this man about things over the years that never made it back to anyone else, so I could trust him.
At the same time, I wanted to be mindful of Amina too.
I think back to that evening at my grandma’s house, and how adamant she was about not wanting my grandma to know that we’d kissed.
She felt like my grandma would pass down judgement on her.
I’m sure she would feel the same way if I started telling my pops shit about us.
“You on that truck with a beautiful woman, son. For days at a time. You eating with her, talking with her every day, and ya’ll sharing the same space that isn’t so big.
You can’t tell me that feelings aren’t involved.
That’s how I fell for your mama in college, man.
Being around her every day, sharing the same space, having the conversations that we had, it didn’t take long for me to fall in love,” he went on to say.
My mom and Darnell shared a beautiful love story.
Both went to FAMU, and they met senior year.
Granted, when my mom went to college, the last thing that she was looking for was love.
She already had a four-year-old son back in Miami that her mama was raising for her.
Too much was on the line for her too. She promised my grandma that she would come home with that college degree.
She went her first three years of college without getting with any of the guys.
My mama was beautiful, and she’s told me that the dudes would try to holla, but she wouldn’t budge.
Senior year, she started working at the bookstore on campus.
Darnell worked there too. I learned from both of them that they never really talked to each other in the beginning.
As time went on, they became somewhat cordial.
Cordial turned into friendship, and friendship turned into feelings getting involved.
My mama didn’t want to act on those feelings though.
She felt like getting a boyfriend would be a distraction.
She gave Darnell the runaround for a while.
Did everything in her power to get that man to stop liking her.
She told him about the son that she had back at home, and everything.
He still didn’t care. He still wanted her.
He told her how he would treat her like a queen when he got her too.
She gave him a chance and they started dating.
He lived up to his promises. Weeks before graduation, he was able to reach out to my grandma, wanting to get her blessing on proposing to my mom.
Because my granddad was no longer in the picture, he had to go through my grandma.
She approved of it. Gave him her blessing, and right after graduation, he proposed to my mom right there on the spot.
Talk about a nigga that was intentional and standing on what he wanted.
They both moved back to Miami, started working in their careers, and got an apartment together.
They raised me like I belonged to both of them.
The way they were in love with each other, it didn’t take long for my mom to get pregnant with Gianna.
Not even a year after they graduated from college, my mom was already pregnant with my sister.
Their love story was one that I didn’t mind hearing over and over. I knew it by heart. That’s how many times it’s been told to me.
“I don’t want to feel like I’m exposing her, you know?
She’s worried that people going to judge her for catching feelings for me, especially since it hasn’t been that long since things ended between her, and her fiancé,” I said.
When I said that, I heard him suck his teeth on the other side of the phone.