17. Sha’nelle Harper #3
The island was beautiful, but it had a completely different feel from Trill-Land.
Amiri looked calmer and more spread out.
Clear blue water wrapped around long beaches, and there was green hills with homes and buildin’s mixed into ‘em. Some areas looked expensive as hell with resorts, restaurants and shops close to the water, while other parts looked quieter with private homes tucked away from everything. It wasn’t some tiny island I could land on and expect to see Renza walkin’ down the street either.
There was enough there for that nigga to be anywhere.
“Damn,” I mumbled while scrollin’.
“What you see?” Toni asked.
“This shit big enough for me to get out there and still never find his ass.”
“That’s what I was thinkin’.”
I zoomed out on the map and looked at how far Amiri was from Greystone before searchin’ for flights. When the results loaded, I sat here lookin’ at the prices with my brows raised high as hell.
“Bitch.”
“What?”
“The cheapest flight I’m seein’ is twelve hundred dollars just to get there.”
“Damn.”
“And that’s the cheap shit. Soon as I start changin’ times and lookin’ at the flights I would actually wanna take, the shit keep goin’ up.”
“Then don’t book nothin’ yet,” Toni said. “Find out what everything else gon’ cost first. You still need somewhere to stay, and you don’t know how long you gon’ be there.”
I switched over to my bank app and looked at the money I had saved from work.
It wasn’t like I ain’t have nothin’. I had been puttin’ money away, and I could afford to make the trip if I was careful, but this was damn near everything I had to myself.
Renza could get on a plane and never look at what the ticket cost. I wasn’t livin’ like that.
“I might just quit my fuckin’ job and go,” I said while starin’ at my account.
“Now why the hell you gotta quit?” Toni asked, and she sounded more concerned than anything.
“I’m tired of that damn job anyway, and I don’t know how long I’m gon’ be gone.”
“Then at least figure out the trip first before you make another decision. You already on edge, and I know how you get when yo’ mind start runnin’. At least know what you doin’ before you start throwin’ everything away.”
I knew she was right, but my mind was movin’ faster than I could keep up with it.
An hour ago I ain’t even know Renza left Trill-Land, and now I was lookin’ at flights to Amiri while thinkin’ about walkin’ away from my job and spendin’ most of the money I had saved.
If anybody else told me they was doin’ some shit like this, I probably would’ve asked if they lost they damn mind.
“I don’t even know what I’m doin’,” I admitted. “I’m really sittin’ here thinkin’ about flyin’ all the way out there when I don’t know where Renza stayin’. What the fuck I’m gon’ do, walk around the island yellin’ his name?”
Toni laughed. “Bitch, please.”
“I’m serious. What if I don’t find him?”
“Then that’s somethin’ you gotta think about before you spend the money,” Toni said.
“You can’t control whether you run into Renza once you get there, but you can make sure you ain’t stranded if you don’t.
Find you somewhere nice to stay and make sure you keep enough money to take care of yourself.
That way, if it take you a minute to find him or you don’t find him at all, you ain’t out there fucked up. ”
I looked back at the pictures of Amiri and let myself think about that.
If I treated the whole trip like it only mattered if I found Renza, I was settin’ myself up to lose my mind the second shit ain’t happen the way I wanted.
I could go ‘cause I wanted him and still make sure I had a plan for myself.
Amiri was beautiful enough that if everything went wrong, I could sit my ass on a beach, cry if I needed to and come back to Greystone knowin’ I tried.
“That’s what I’m gon’ do,” I said. “I’m gon’ find somewhere I would actually wanna stay even if I don’t see him.”
“Exactly. And don’t be pickin’ no raggedy shit just ’cause you tryna save every dollar. Keep in mind you by yourself somewhere you ain’t never been.”
“I know. Help me look.”
“Send me what you find.”
I started searchin’ hotels while Toni did the same on her end, and before long we had moved from me bein’ ready to jump on the first flight I saw to actually puttin’ together somethin’ that made sense.
We looked at different parts of Amiri and checked which areas had enough around ‘em that I wouldn’t be stuck dependin’ on one hotel for everything.
I wanted somewhere nice enough that I could enjoy myself if Renza never crossed my path, but I wasn’t finna spend all my savings on some room just ‘cause it had a pretty view.
Every time I found somethin’, I sent it to Toni.
“Nah, I don’t like that one,” Toni said after lookin’ at one of the hotels I sent her. “The room cute, but look how far it is from everything else you was just lookin’ at.”
“You right. I ain’t pay attention to that.”
“And this other one look better anyway. You got places around you, and you ain’t gotta spend a damn fortune just to stay there.”
I went back to the second hotel and looked through the pictures again. “This one got a beach too. This also seem like an area Renza would be in. I know that nigga well enough to know this got his name all over it.”
Toni laughed, and said, “Exactly. I think so too.”