Chapter 13
Greystone City
It was Friday night, and me and my bitch, Yunique, was chillin’ at this lil’ hole in the wall spot that only real muthafuckas knew about. It wasn’t nothin’ fancy or nothin’ you’d take pictures of and post like you was somewhere important, but that’s exactly why I loved it.
The music was loud in that way that made your chest feel it, them old-school soulful records mixed with that bounce that had everybody two-steppin’ without even thinkin’ about it.
The floor was a lil’ sticky, the lights was low, and the air smelled like liquor, sweat, and good food, and somehow, all that shit together just worked.
Outside, right off to the side of the buildin’, they had a food truck posted up with a line wrapped around it, sellin’ hot links, fries, loaded nachos, and everything else you knew was gon’ sit heavy on your stomach but still have you goin’ back for more.
Every time the door opened, I could smell it driftin’ in, mixin’ with everything else inside, and it just made the whole place feel alive.
I had a drink in my hand, my hair done, my outfit sittin’ right on my body, and for the first time in a minute, I felt like myself again.
Being back in Greystone for over a month had put me back in my rhythm.
I wasn’t dependin’ on nobody, I wasn’t sittin’ around waitin’ on nothin’, and I had my own shit goin’ again.
Kay’Lo had handed me fifty thousand in cash before I left, and I still ain’t even touched most of it.
I bought me a lil’ cash car, somethin’ simple to get around in, and I had been stackin’ the rest while I looked for me a place.
Right now, I was still at Grandma Glo’s house, and I loved her to death, but I was tired of wakin’ up and seein’ random muthafuckas in the kitchen like they lived there.
I was tired of tellin’ grown folks to get the hell out the fridge like they ain’t know better.
And Grandma Glo wasn’t never gon’ change. She been like that all her life, lettin’ people come and go, feedin’ everybody, takin’ care of folks that ain’t got nothin’. I respected it… but I needed my own space. I needed to close a door and know it was just mine.
On top of that, I had just got hired at this lil’ call center, and I was startin’ Monday. It wasn’t nothin’ crazy, but it was mine, and I was proud of that shit. I ain’t ask nobody for it, ain’t need nobody to put me on, and that alone had me walkin’ a lil’ different.
“Bitch, come on!” Yunique yelled, grabbin’ my hand and pullin’ me back toward the floor.
I laughed, lettin’ her drag me back in with her, and before I knew it, we was right back in the middle of everything, movin’ to the music like we ain’t have a care in the world.
Yunique was cuttin’ up like always, her ass shakin’, her hands up, singin’ along like she was on stage, and I couldn’t do nothin’ but match her energy.
We danced through song after song, sweatin’, laughin’, bumpin’ into people and not even apologizin’, but just livin’ in it. Every now and then somebody would slide up, tryin’ to talk, but we wasn’t on that tonight. We was in our own world.
After a while, we finally made our way back to the table, both of us breathin’ a lil’ heavy while we reached for our drinks.
“Bitch, I’m tired,” Yunique said, fannin’ herself. “They need to slow that damn music down.”
I laughed and grabbed my phone, checkin’ my notifications outta habit more than anything, and that’s when I saw Kelli’s name.
I frowned a lil’, openin’ the message and readin’ it again like I had read it wrong the first time.
I’m in your city…
I stared at the screen for a second, then read it again, my brows pullin’ together like maybe I missed somethin’.
“What the hell…” I muttered, standin’ up from the table.
“Where you goin’?” Yunique asked.
“I’ll be back,” I said, already walkin’ toward the door.
Soon as I stepped outside, the noise from inside dropped down to a muffled hum, replaced by the sound of people talkin’, the food truck sizzlin’, and cars passin’ by. I hit Kelli’s name and pressed call, holdin’ the phone to my ear while my heart started beatin’ faster for no damn reason.
He picked up quick.
“Yeah.”
“Kelli, what the hell you talkin’ about you in my city?” I asked, my voice a mix of confusion and excitement.
“I’m in Greystone,” he said, calm as ever. “Told you I was gon’ pull up.”
I let out a short laugh, shakin’ my head. “I know you said that, but I ain’t know you meant like… right now.”
“Where you at?” he asked.
“I’m at this lil’ hole in the wall spot,” I said, already typin’ the address and sendin’ it to him. “I’m sendin’ it to you now.”
“Alright. I’m on the way.”
I ain’t even hang up. I just stayed on the phone, walkin’ back and forth while I waited, my nerves doin’ somethin’ I wasn’t expectin’. It had been a minute since I had seen him in person, but that ain’t mean we had been outta touch.
Me and Kelli talked damn near every day since I left, whether it was quick check-ins, long late-night calls, or them random texts he’d send just to make sure I was good.
He always kept his word with that too. If he said he was gon’ call, he called. If I texted him, he answered. It never felt forced or one-sided. It was just natural like we had fell into a rhythm without even tryin’.
I’d be tellin’ him about me workin’, about lookin’ for a place, about my family gettin’ on my nerves. He’d listen to all of it like it mattered, then turn around and tell me what he had goin’ on like I was part of his day too.
So, yeah, we talked all the time… but standin’ out here waitin’ on him to pull up still felt different. Hearin’ his voice in my ear wasn’t the same as knowin’ he was really about to be right in front of me.
Thirty minutes felt like an hour, but eventually I saw a black Mercedes-Benz S-Class glide down the street and pull up smooth.
I smiled before I could stop myself.
Soon as he parked, I hung up and walked toward the car, my heels clickin’ against the pavement while my chest tightened just a lil’. The door opened, and when he stepped out…Yeah.
He looked good as hell.
His white hair sat perfect on his head, with his curls lookin’ soft with a tapered fade on the sides. His tattoos ran all down his neck and arms, peekin’ out from under his shirt like they was part of him, and not just ink. He smelled just as good as I remembered too.
“Kelli…” I said, my voice softer than I meant it to be.
I ain’t even think. I just walked right into him and wrapped my arms around him tight, pressin’ my face into his chest like I needed to make sure he was really here.
His arms came around me just as quick, holdin’ me just as tight while he rocked me slow from side to side.
“I missed you,” he murmured.
“I see,” I mumbled into his chest, but I was smilin’ hard as hell.
For a second, everything about this felt like Trill-Land again, like I had stepped right back into that part of my life that I wasn’t even ready to let go of yet.
I finally pulled back, grabbin’ his hand without even thinkin’ about it. “Come on.”
We walked back inside together, and I already knew how this was gon’ go the second we stepped through that door.
It didn’t take long for heads to start turnin’ and conversations to slow down while folks looked at us like they was tryna figure it out without askin’.
It wasn’t even subtle either, but just straight up stares, like they ain’t never seen nothin’ like this before, and honestly… they probably hadn’t.
A white man in a spot like this was already rare, but me walkin’ in with him, holdin’ his hand like it was regular? Yeah… they was lookin’. But I ain’t give a damn.
We made it back to the table, and soon as Yunique saw him, her whole face changed.
“Bitch…” she whispered, sittin’ up straighter. “That’s him?”
I smirked. “Yeah.”
Kelli pulled out the chair and sat between us, calm like he ain’t notice nothin’, and that just made it worse.
Yunique leaned in a lil’. “Hey… I’m Yunique.”
“Kelli,” he replied, givin’ her a small nod.
“Boy, you fine as hell,” she said, smilin’ just a lil’ too damn hard.
I looked at her out the side of my eye. “Aye… relax.”
“I’m just bein’ friendly,” she shot back.
“Be friendly over there,” I said, nudgin’ her with my knee.
Kelli let out a low laugh, leanin’ back in his chair like he was enjoyin’ it.
The night picked back up after that. Drinks kept comin’, mostly ’cause Kelli was buyin’ them, and I found myself leanin’ into him more than I meant to, my arm brushin’ his and my thigh pressin’ against his like it was nothin’.
Every now and then, he’d glance at me with that same calm look in his eyes, and it did somethin’ to me I couldn’t even explain. It was the type of feelin’ that just sat on me without me tryna break it down or question it.
I felt good in a way that went deeper than just havin’ a good night, like everything around me had finally slowed down and lined up right where it was supposed to.
As I sat with Kelli, laughin’, drinkin’, and enjoyin’ the night, I couldn’t help but think about how I ain’t want this to be no quick pop-up or one-night type of thing.
The way I felt sittin’ with him made me want more than that, and I found myself hopin’ he’d stay a lil’ longer… longer than just tonight.
Kelli had been in my city for four days, and when I say a time was had, I meant that shit in every way you could think of.
It wasn’t even just what we was doin’, but instead, how it felt bein’ around him.
Every time we linked, it felt easy, and he took all of it in like he liked it here.
We had hit different restaurants where the food came out lookin’ too pretty to eat but still tasted like somebody grandma was in the back cookin’ it.
We stepped into lounges where the lights sat low and the music wrapped around you. We hit up clubs where the floor was packed, and I found myself dancin’ more than I planned to just ’cause Kelli was right there watchin’ me like I was the only thing in the room worth lookin’ at.