17. Renza Mensah #2
Mecca got up not long after that to go speak to somebody she knew near another section, and Blaqson walked with her ‘cause he said he needed to hit the bathroom anyway. Once they left, Reni shifted closer to me without actin’ like she had done it on purpose.
“You been good?” she asked, keepin’ her voice low enough that I had to lean toward her.
“I’m straight. You?”
“I been good,” she replied. “Work been gettin’ on my nerves, but other than that, I can’t complain.”
I nodded and took another drink while she watched me. There was more she wanted to say, but Reni had always been the type to work her way toward shit instead of comin’ straight out with it.
After a minute, she looked toward where Mecca had disappeared. “I rode with Mecca tonight.”
I turned my head and looked at Reni.
That ain’t have nothin’ to do with what we had been talkin’ about, and both of us knew it. She took another sip from her glass and kept her eyes ahead like she had only thrown the information out there for no reason.
I rubbed my thumb along the side of my cup before askin’, “You ridin’ back with her too?”
She turned toward me slow. Her eyes moved over my face before lockin’ with mine.
“Is that what you want?” she asked.
I looked her up and down, takin’ in the dress, her legs and the way she had leaned close enough for her perfume to sit between us. Then I brought my eyes back to hers.
“I asked you a question.”
“And I asked you one back,” she replied without lookin’ away.
That was Reni throwin’ the door open without bein’ the first one to walk through it.
I sat here holdin’ her eyes while the music moved around us and everybody in the club kept doin’ whatever they came to do. I could’ve shut the shit down right here . I could’ve told her to ride home with Mecca and left the shit alone.
Instead, I picked up the blunt from the ashtray, lit it again and passed it to her.
Reni took it from me, and her fingers dragged across mine before she brought it to her lips. She took a small pull this time, then leaned close enough to blow the smoke away from both our faces.
“You stayin’ out here after they close?” she asked.
“I ain’t thought that far yet.”
“Mmhmm,” she murmured like she ain’t believe me.
I put my hand on her thigh and rubbed it once before lettin’ it rest there. Reni looked down at my hand, then back at me without tellin’ me to move it. Her body softened into my side after that, and whatever space had been left between us disappeared.
Blaqson and Mecca came back a few minutes later, and neither one of ‘em said shit about how close me and Reni was sittin’. Blaq looked at my hand on her thigh, then cut his eyes toward me with the smallest smirk before reachin’ for his drink.
I ignored his ass.
The rest of the night moved smooth after that. Reni stayed tucked against me while we smoked and drank, and every now and then she would say somethin’ near my ear so I could hear her over the music. Her hand rested against my chest when she laughed, then stayed there longer than it needed to.
By the time the lights came up a lil’ and the DJ announced the club was closin’ soon, everybody had started movin’ toward they last decisions for the night.
Mecca grabbed her purse and looked toward Reni. “You ready?”
Reni glanced at me before answerin’ her. “I’m not ridin’ with you.”
Mecca looked between the two of us, then nodded like she had already known that was comin’. “A’ight. Text me when you get home.”
“I will,” Reni assured her.
Blaq leaned toward me after Mecca walked away. “You slidin’?”
“In a minute.”
He looked at Reni, then back at me before laughin’ under his breath. “Yeah, I see.”
“Mind yo’ business, nigga.”
“I am,” he replied as he stood. “Yo’ business just sittin’ right beside you.”
I dapped him up and shook my head while he walked away. Reni was smilin’ when I looked back at her.
About ten minutes before the club officially closed, I finished my drink and stood. Reni grabbed her purse and stood beside me, then slipped her hand into mine while we headed out the section.
I ain’t know what tomorrow was gon’ look like, and I wasn’t tryna turn tonight into somethin’ deeper than it was. All I knew was I had spent weeks thinkin’ about a woman who ain’t called me once, and I was done sittin’ still behind somebody who kept choosin’ distance.
Reni walked beside me as we moved through the club, and I kept her hand in mine until we made it outside.
I was drivin’ to Reni’s crib with one hand on the wheel while the other rested on the gearshift.
The club was behind us now, and the music from inside had been replaced by the low sound of whatever was playin’ through my speakers.
Reni sat in the passenger seat with her body turned toward the window, but every now and then I could feel her lookin’ at me.
I kept my eyes on the road…
It wasn’t no awkward shit between us ‘cause me and Reni had too much history for that. I had driven this same route more times than I could remember, and there had been a time when leavin’ Drahma Town with her felt like part of my regular life.
I knew which turn led toward her condo, which gate she preferred us to use and where she usually wanted me to park when we got there.
The difference was, back then, neither one of us had to wonder what the night meant.
Tonight, I wasn’t tryna put no meanin’ on shit.
I was grown, she was grown and both of us knew why she left her best friend at the club to ride with me.
Reni ain’t come out and say what she wanted, but she ain’t have to when she looked at me the way she had been lookin’ all night.
The liquor loosened her up enough for her to make the first move without makin’ it obvious, and when I put my hand on her thigh, neither one of us pretended we was only catchin’ up.
Reni adjusted herself in the seat before lookin’ over at me again. “You quiet.”
“I’m drivin’,” I answered while changin’ lanes.
“You know how to drive and talk at the same time.”
“I know how to do a lotta shit at the same time,” I replied, glancin’ toward her before puttin’ my eyes back on the road.
She smiled to herself and looked away again.
Reni turned toward me after that, but I ain’t look over ‘cause I already knew what kinda expression was sittin’ on her face.
She had always been good at takin’ somethin’ simple and turnin’ it into whatever she wanted it to mean, especially when the two of us was alone.
Her mouth had started plenty of arguments between us, but it had also been part of what kept us tied together longer than we should’ve been.
Tonight, I wasn’t in the mood to play guessin’ games with her though.
I also wasn’t in the mood to sit around actin’ like I ain’t know what I was doin’.
I had left the club with Reni ‘cause I wanted to. There wasn’t no promise behind it, and I ain’t owe nobody some deep explanation for why I was headed back to a woman I already knew.
I had needs like any other nigga, and I wasn’t finna keep denyin’ myself while life kept movin’ whether I was ready for it or not.
I drove another few blocks before pullin’ into the lot of a store that stayed open late. The bright lights from the buildin’ spilled across the windshield as I parked near the front.
Reni looked toward the store, then back at me. “What you stoppin’ for?”
“I need somethin’,” I told her while reachin’ for the door handle. “You want somethin’?”
She shook her head. “No.”
“You sure?”
“I’m sure, Renza.”
I nodded and got out without sayin’ nothin’ else.
The night air hit me as I crossed the lot and headed inside.
There wasn’t too many people in the store this late, and the cashier barely looked up when I walked through the doors.
I went toward the coolers first and grabbed a bottle of water.
Then I stood here for a second, lookin’ through the glass like there was somethin’ else I needed before turnin’ toward the other aisles.
I already knew what I came in here for.
When me and Reni was together, condoms had never been part of our relationship. We had been reckless with each other from the beginnin’, and that was how she ended up pregnant in the first place. And I wasn’t makin’ that same mistake twice.
I grabbed a box from the shelf and looked down at it before addin’ it to what I had in my hand.
A part of me wondered what Reni was gon’ say when she saw ‘em ‘cause I knew her ass wasn’t gon’ let that shit slide without a comment. She knew we had never used no damn condoms, and I could already hear her askin’ why tonight was different.
It was different ‘cause shit was different.
I wasn’t walkin’ into her condo like we had just got back together. I wasn’t about to fall into the same habits we had when she was my woman, and I damn sure wasn’t riskin’ another pregnancy after everything that happened the last time. Whatever tonight turned into, it was gon’ stay tonight.
I carried the water and condoms toward the register, paid for ‘em and declined the bag. The cashier put the receipt on the counter, and I left it there before walkin’ back outside.
Reni was still sittin’ where I left her, lookin’ down at her phone. She lifted her head when I opened the driver door, and her eyes went straight to what I had in my hand. I set the water in the cup holder, then dropped the box into the center console without makin’ no announcement about it.
Her eyes followed the movement before she looked at me.
I started the car. “What?”
Reni leaned back against the seat. “Nothin’.”
She looked toward the console again, and I knew the question was sittin’ right on the tip of her tongue. Reni had never been good at lettin’ somethin’ bother her quietly, so I waited for her to say whatever she had to say while I pulled out the lot.
She lasted about thirty seconds.
“You bought condoms?”
I looked through the windshield. “You saw me put ‘em down.”
“Yeah, and I’m askin’ why.”
“You know why people buy condoms, Reni.”
Her head turned toward me. “You know what I mean.”