16. Legend
Legend
“ W hat’s up with you and old girl?” Courtland asked, plopping onto my couch. He grabbed my remote and flicked on the TV.
“Aye, you got half?”
“On what?”
“That damn cable bill and electric bill, nigga. How you just gon’ come up in my shit, grab the remote, and turn on the TV like you pay bills up in this bitch?” I asked, snatching the remote out of his hand and flicking the TV off again.
“Damn. Somebody’s in a mood. The fuck wrong with you, nigga?” Courtland asked, snatching the remote off the table where I had set it.
I snatched it back and flared my nostrils with my lip curled. “The fuck is wrong with you? What part of this is my shit don’t you get?”
“I always run up in here and turn the TV on. You don’t ever say shit about it.”
“Well, I’m reserving that muthafuckin’ right today.”
“Damn. What she do to you?”
“Why it’s gotta be a woman?”
“I know it ain’t work. Everything is good on that front, especially with the new annex project on the hospital we just won.
” He held out his fist to dap me up, and I met his fist, but it was a light bump.
“Nigga. That shit was lame. If that don’t have you happy, I don’t know what will.
Talk to ya nigga. What’s going on, Legend? ”
I dropped onto the couch and propped my feet on the table. I wore socks but no shoes. I rested my hands behind my head as I stared at the blank screen on the TV. I sighed.
“Nigga, I don’t know what the fuck I was thinking.”
“’Bout what?”
“Getting involved with another broad. They come with too many problems.”
“Why the hell you think I’m still single?”
I turned my head sideways and looked my best friend up and down. “’Cause you’re you, nigga. Ya ass stay chasing broads away.”
“Get outta here. These hos stay on these nuts.”
“Yeah, whatever.”
“Okay, back to future baby mama.”
“Shiiid. That shit ain’t happening. That’s part of the problem.”
“She’s talking about settling down and starting a family?”
I nodded.
“Lemme guess. That shit was like a scared straight program to ya punk ass.” I leaned up and punched him in the arm. “The fuck? What’s wrong with you? You wildin’ over some lame ass pussy, nigga,” he accused.
“That shit ain’t lame. It’s the best pussy I’ve ever tasted or dipped my stick into. But, nah. I’m not tryna settle into marriage and have another shorty.”
“Did you tell her why?”
“In so many words.”
“Listen, I’m not judging you, man. I get why you’re gun-shy about relationships, but that ain’t you, Legend.
You were happy to marry and settle down.
It was all you ever wanted. So, while I know you went through hell and back, and she fucked over a nigga’s feelings, .
. . I still say she needs to have the brakes beat off her ass, and that nigga needs a cap in his.
But still, you gotta move on. You always wanted marriage.
It didn’t work out with Kali’s ass, but that doesn’t mean your forever one ain’t out there.
And the way you are with li’l G, you deserve another little jit or two or three.
Give Kayson’s bad ass some competition.”
“Aye, watch that shit. My bad ass li’l nigga ain’t bad.”
He side-eyed me. “Whatever. Either way, nigga, give this girl a shot. Other than her throwing the panties at you when you first met her, she’s a good girl. I haven’t been around y’all too many times, but I’ve seen her in the building. She’s like a genuine sweetheart.”
Courtland always visited whenever I hosted a sports night for my friends, and Legacy had been here on a few of those occasions. They seemed to have hit it off pretty well.
“I don’t know, man.”
“What’s the other part? You said that children and marriage were only part of the problem. What else can I knock off that list for you?” he asked, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees.
“She’s acting de-lu-lu. Fucking showed up at the café the other night when I was there with Kali.”
“What other night?”
“Last Friday. Flipped her muthafuckin’ wig and didn’t give a nigga a chance to say shit.”
“Did you try? I know how ya ass gets in your feelings and shuts down. You’re not the most forthcoming person when you get in ya feelings.”
I sucked my teeth. “Nah, I didn’t tell her, but that wasn’t the time or the place. She was supposed to trust my ass.”
“Oh yeah? Why’s that?”
“’Cause, I’ve never given her a reason not to.”
“Have you spoken with her since?”
“Hell nah. Why should I?”
“Nigga. Call that girl.”
“I’m not doing it.”
“Have you seen her around the office?”
“Nope. I’ve been going out of my way to avoid her.”
“Like arriving at six in the morning and then leaving midday for meetings the rest of the day on Monday, and then working from home yesterday and today?”
“Shit, if it works, why do I gotta go through the hassle of the bullshit?”
“Because you owe that girl an explanation. If you shut down on her like I know you can, ya coldhearted ass probably hurt her feelings.”
“Hers and her sister’s.”
“Nigga. You showed out in Cisaro’s Cuisine?”
“She started the shit.”
“What did Kali do?”
“Nothing. She watched that shit and then broke down crying as soon as I got her out of there.”
“Yeah. I can bet that was too much for her at that time.”
“It was.”
“You could’ve made it easy if you had explained yourself to Legacy, though, man.”
“I could have, but like I said. It wasn’t the time or place for that. Besides, if she wanted a relationship with me, she would need to learn to trust me. I wouldn’t go up in somebody’s business showing my ass on her without giving her the benefit of the doubt if I caught her with another nigga.”
Courtland turned his head and glared at me before he got off the couch and took a seat in my recliner.
“The hell is wrong with you?” I asked as he kept mugging me.
“I’m just counting the seconds till God strikes ya lying ass with lightning for telling that bold-faced ass lie three days after and four days before Sunday.”
I grabbed the pillow on the couch beside me and threw it at him. “Nigga, shut the fuck up with all that shit. Ya ass don’t even step foot in a church. Don’t start acting holier than thou.”
“Don’t mean that I don’t believe in God. I rock with that nigga. It’s how I’ve gotten this far. Hell, I couldn’t be an equal partner in this business were it not for His guidance.”
It had been a dream come true to start an architecture firm five years ago, two years after graduation, with my best friend and another friend of ours from college.
We worked in a large firm for two years, learned as much as we could, and then struck out on our own with our savings and signing bonuses.
In the last five years, our small firm had grown exponentially, and our client base and revenues were nothing to sneeze at.
But it could get lonely as hell when you had no one to share all that shit with. I thought it was gonna be Kali and me forever, but she and God had other plans. I just couldn’t fathom walking that road again.
But that Gemini in me kept my ass indecisive about what I wanted to do, nervous about grasping hold of something that had the potential to hurt me, and always in hot water because I wasn’t too good at expressing my emotions.
It was always easier for me to show how I feel.
But in the situation that I was in with Kali that day and Legacy popping up, it wasn’t easy.
I’d shown the anger and fury in me at her popping up and the need to protect both Kali and me at that moment, but I had failed at protecting Legacy.
That shit ate me up like no one’s business.
What I had failed to do that day and in the remaining days since was to show Legacy what she really meant to me.
Her behavior at the café with her sister was just one more sign that it wasn’t meant for her and me to be. Then why the fuck was I hurting so bad inside?