Chapter 6 #2
“Why are you still up?” My eyes did a quick sweep of the room before landing on him.
As normal, this motherfucker was junky as hell.
Then, in the middle of all the chaos of his room, Karsyn’s lil ankle biter was balled up in his bed, knocked out on his back.
That was fine with me though, as long as he wasn’t trying to climb into my bed.
“Tournament, Pops. Are you good?”
I nodded. “I’m straight, you?”
He nodded as well. Junior didn’t really come to me about his feelings, not like the way he’d open up to his moms, and lately, Karsyn. He tried to put up a front for me even though he didn’t have to. I respected it, but he didn’t have to.
“Aight, good night. Don’t stay your ass up too long and stop being so loud. Don’t nobody wanna hear that shit.” I pulled back, closing the door.
“Aight, Pops, I got you.” He laughed then I could tell he unpaused the game because before long I was hearing shooting again.
When I made it to my bedroom, I smiled at what awaited me.
Karsyn was sprawled in the middle of my bed with her notebook and pencil, probably having fallen asleep during a sketch.
My assumption was confirmed when I grabbed her notebook.
She was in the middle of sketching what looked like a long ass dress.
Karsyn was talented as fuck, like she really had that raw talent.
I’d seen her draw something countless times then bring it into fruition. Simply fucking amazing.
I stared at her for a moment, licking my lips before I went into my closet to grab something for my shower.
When I returned, she was in the same space, eyes closed, looking peaceful and angelic.
Karsyn had always been beautiful to me, even when I was telling myself I had to leave her alone.
She had this rich chocolate skin that was always moisturized and smelled edible.
Her beauty was natural. She only wore makeup for special occasions, most of the time she was bare.
I loved it, from those dark brown almond shaped eyes to the full, thick set of lips and little ass nose on her face.
I was high key obsessed with everything about this woman and had been for a while.
My baby was thick as shit, the typa thickness that sat in all the right places like she went to the gym every day and did squats for a living when we both knew she just ran on that lil treadmill in her living room three to four days a week when she had time.
The way I stood over her, admiring every piece of her, was like some creepy stuff out of one of those movies, but I couldn’t help it.
With everything going on in my life right now, the only thing I could think of was getting back here, to her.
She expelled pure peace from her soul, naturally calming everyone in her space, even though nine times out of ten she didn’t want to be bothered.
She stirred, probably feeling me staring at her. The next words from her lips definitely confirmed it.
“Why are you staring at me like a creep? Come to bed.”
I grinned. “Because I really wanna let you sleep, but I also wanna eat that motherfucker.”
Those thick ass thighs of hers opened immediately. “Okay.”
I laughed, dropping my stuff onto the chair next to my bed and approaching the foot of the bed.
I maneuvered up the mattress until I was hovering over her.
I then leaned down and peeled the silk pajama shorts that barely covered anything down, straightening her leg momentarily to free my favorite place in the world.
Her shorts were tossed across the room while I took in the supple wetness inviting me in.
Every morning I opened my eyes after my uncle died, I was reminded in a different way that he was no longer here.
It was like some cruel trick being played, forcing longer grief and providing no understanding of why things happened the way they did.
Lowkey I was a little lost, trying less to make sense, but putting more effort into getting through everything.
I was in a deep sleep when Karsyn got up to go to her shop. She offered to take Junior to practice so I didn’t have to get up. That I was grateful for more than she’d ever know. Honestly, the fact that she was able to get him to go to practice was what got me, but nah I wasn’t going to question it.
I was headed to work at the restaurant when I saw my grandmother out in the garden. The old woman was talking shit about the squirrels stealing her cucumbers and the weeds invading her other plants.
“What are you out here doing, Ma?” I asked, turning to go toward her instead of the garage where I was initially headed.
“Harvesting and preparing for my next growing phase.”
I smiled and nodded. When it came to the garden, Grams always had this motherfucker decked out for every growing season except when the ground was too frozen to do anything. Even then, she had seedlings and shit started in the house.
“No matter how you leave this world, the only thing that mattered was the time. I know you’re hurting, and I am too, but it was his time, baby, something I’ve already accepted.
Something you too have to accept. On this earth we don’t have some promised time capacity.
When it’s over, it’s over; so you do all you can while you’re down here is fulfill what you can. ”
I looked over at her and could see in her eyes that she had been studying me. The crazy thing was I understood my grandma’s words and resonated with them but they didn’t help make this pain any easier.
“I hear you, Mama. Do you want me to rake this up for you?” I motioned toward the pile of scraps and cardboard.
“Naw, baby, I’m laying down my compost for the fall vegetables. And please tell Karsyn thank you for the breakfast this morning. She is so sweet.” She smiled.
I was unaware that she had made them breakfast as well. She didn’t have to, but she did. That made me smile because her heart was one of the most beautiful parts of her.
Grams and I talked for a little bit longer as I helped her where I could before I headed toward the restaurant.
I still needed to put up the rest of the drywall.
I had been lowkey prolonging it even though I knew I wanted it to be open.
I had this sentimental feeling about it.
All I had ever known was the streets, so the idea of actually stepping into another realm kind of made me feel like I was turning my back on what I knew.
Was I? I didn’t even have a name for the restaurant, but the whole movement and idea of it was an indication that it was something different for me.
It was nothing like the event spaces and corner stores Killah and I invested in when we first started making money.
Shit, this was bigger, the first piece of myself that I felt like was more.
Killah understood because that was what his gym was for him.
Even though he inherited it from an absentee father, it still gave him something other than the streets.
I made it to the restaurant that sat on the cusp of Watertown and Lower Briar by a quarter to nine and began moving around to get things together.
I got into the zone, blasting Jeezy for a while, then my phone vibrated in my pocket.
I kept my phone on me because Junior would be calling at some point to tell me he was ready to be picked up.