Halo
Me, my brothers, and our cousin Blake walked inside Lazy Daze dispensary. This was our spot to get the best weed in the city. We never had to turn our IDs in because of who we were, the Stone brothers and that name carried a lot of weight.
“Hey, welcome to Lazy Daze. What can I get you?” An unfamiliar face welcomed us from behind the counter.
“You can get me those two big titties snuggled around my dick tonight.” Golden’s answer had Greek and Blake look at him fast and laugh.
I dropped my head, shook it, and laughed. Golden was blunt but he was sleek, so it worked for him.
“Do not come in here bothering my new employee.” Dallas came from the back room joking and warning Golden.
But the way the employee looked at Golden made what Dallas said seem irrelevant.
“I ain’t bothering nobody, am I sugga?” He asked the employee.
She giggled, “No, not at all.”
“Don’t fall for his game Vina. He’ll hype you up with passion and persuasion. The next thing you know, your legs will be touching the ceiling. Just ask Aspen!” Dallas may have been laughing but she was speaking facts.
Aspen was her cousin. She worked at Lazy Daze too. Golden and her hooked up a few times.
“Don’t listen to them sugga, I stay real about my shit. That passion and persuasion was for Aspen, over and done.” He gladly told Vina.
All she did was continue flirting, “Well, what do I get?”
“Shitttttt, you get mimosa and missionary.” He smiled and leaned over the counter then whispered something in her ear.
You gotta love Golden, he’ll make you laugh from his uncontrollable ways. I went over to the edibles. Those were my favorites.
“Hey Halo.” Dallas came over to the side of the store I was at.
“What up, my bad about Golden. You know how that nigga is.”
Dallas laughed, “No need to apologize, he’s harmless. Aspen will be mad when she finds out he’s pushing on Vina. But she’ll live, I warned her about trying to lock him down.”
“A supreme judge couldn’t lock that fool down.”
We joked a little about Golden, and she told me about the new edibles they had.
“Brownies, cookies, and sour gummy bears. All high THC, I took these yesterday and it felt like I was floating for six hours.”
What she said was hilarious and I loved everything sour.
“I’ll get two packs of the gummies and one pack of the sugar cookies. Good lookin’ Dallas.”
“You know I’ll always look out for you.” She let me know with a wink.
I followed her to the register where my brothers and cousin were.
“Dallas, you and your friends need to swing by my birthday party on Saturday.” Blake took out a flyer and handed it to Dallas.
“You rented the entire Scream club out! I know this about to be a scene!” Dallas passed Vina the flyer.
Blake gloated, “You already know it is! But keep that flyer because you can’t get in without it. It’s ‘invite only and plus three.”
“Make Aspen ya third.” Golden added. He did not care that Vina was right there.
“You going Halo?” Dallas questioned me.
“Yeah, I’ll be there.” I answered and handed her my debit card.
“Then I’ll make sure to be present too.” She told me and handed me my card back.
“On everythang, I will be knockin’ Vina and Aspen back at the same time Saturday night. Two sets of big titties bouncing all around the room, that’s a niggas dream!” Golden announced when the four of us got outside from the dispensary.
“You a walkin’ toxic condom on a stick! Swear I’d pay big money to see the day when a woman locks you down.” Blake decreed like she always did.
Me and Greek agreed with her and vocalized it as well. We got into Greek’s Navigator truck. Golden got in the front, and I got in the back with Blake.
“I tell y’all all the time that the only way a bitch can lock me down is if she cuts my feet off! It’s too much pussy out here for me to be resting in one.”
I opened my gummies and put two in my mouth while I laughed at my brother.
“Blake, you stay talkin’ shit about me, but you dip ya’ strap in all kinds of different bitches!” Golden cracked us up when he said that including Blake.
“Fuck you cuzzin! And that’s not even about to be my M.O. anymore.”
That got my attention, “Who you on?” I needed to know because Blake was a female version of Golden. If she is switching it up, then I had to find out more.
Blake rubbed her hands down her long zig zag braids. She had long hair just like us, but she was a ginger. Blake was our father’s niece and there were a few gingers in his family. Her father, dad’s brother, was a ginger as well.
Blake was light caramel skin like her mother and without me sounding like a hillbilly who is into their cousin. Blake was pretty with a nice shape, but she loved women and was a tomboy her whole life. She used to run around with us every summer and we loved her like a sister.
“Y’all so damn nosey but if you must know. It’s this chick name Siren. I been feelin’ her for a minute and we finally talked more at Inferno Rollers. She came with her homegirl, and I invited them to my party.” Blake had a spark in her eyes when she talked about Siren.
“You sound bout’ dumb as hell right now cuzzin. Me and you party hard and have been since we were fourteen. Now you wanna give it up for a certain piece of pussy. You can’t go out like that.” Golden protested.
“Gotta grow up bro, not everybody wanna keep stickin’ they dick in random pussy.” Greek included his say.
Golden waved him off and put some of his edibles in his mouth. “I ain’t tryna hear that. Blake, you can have the best of both worlds. Get’cha bitch you want and keep ya other bitches on the side.”
Blake laughed, “I’m not about to get married tomorrow cuzzin’ damn! All I said was I wanna see about a chick I like.”
While they continued talking and joking around, I looked out the window as Greek drove. I had a lot on my mind like always, I needed a hit job for us to do so I could silence my thoughts.
Blake’s confession of her being interested in someone had me wishing I could be like her. Even when we were younger, she walked in her truth and never had shame. I’ve admired Blake for years, but she did not know that.
“Bro are you cooking tonight?” I asked Greek.
“Please say you are because I need to eat a cooked meal.” Golden said.
Greek groaned, “I gots shit to do, y’all need to get in the kitchen and cook ya’selves.”
Once we all started complaining at the same time, I knew Greek would give in. He could cook like he was born in the kitchen.
When we were little, he would stay in the kitchen with our mama and cook with her. At first, dad hated it but that was a battle he constantly lost with mama. It did not stop with cooking. He could bake just as well.
“A’ight damn! Shut the hell up, I’ll cook tonight. But y’all coming to the market with me so I can get what I need. And I’m making everybody’s plate to got damn go!” He snapped at us, but we did not care.
I know I didn’t, if he was cooking then I would have been good. Plus, he did not mean what he said. Anytime Greek cooked for us me and Golden normally stayed the night. Extra’s went home but he knew we were staying.
“Halo, you need to knock back Dallas box already. You on sum bullshit.” Golden bust out and said when Greek pulled into the big grocery store parking lot.
I turned my nose up at him, “Why you worried about what my dick needs to do?”
“Cause Dallas is fine and she been throwing her pussy at you for a while now. You keep blowin’ past her.”
We got out of the car and Golden spoke first, “Chill the fuck out on him Golden.”
“Don’t tell him, all he about to do is piss me the fuck off.” I angrily admitted.
Golden thought it was funny and he held his hands up. “You know I love you brother. All I’m tryna do is point you in a guaranteed direction.”
We went inside the store. Greek grabbed a cart and so did Blake. I walked towards Golden ready to turn this store out. Blake stepped in between us with her cart.
“Halo you come with me, I gotta grab some stuff for my house. Come on cousin.”
“He’s a damn lunatic!” Golden shouted out behind me.
Blake made sure to push me in the opposite direction of him.
“You stay with me because I do not have time for you to out Golden through the floor and get arrested.”
“Fuck that nigga, he talks to much.”
“We all know how he can get. It comes from love. Golden looks at life like something that can end at any moment. He just wants us to live and be happy in what we do. Gettin’ money, not worrying, and doing what we want.”
I opened the freezer door to grab me two bags of Arby’s curly fries. I liked making those in the oven and melting shredded cheese on them. Then I add sour cream and bacon-bits on top.
“He does but out of the three of you, we all know who’s switch flips on faster. Since we have been little Halo it’s hard to pull you back when you flip out. You don’t need to be catching another charge cuzzin.”
I chuckled because she was right about me flipping out.
“That’s my brother, I’d never hurt them or you. He just presses on my nerves with all that damn talking.”
Greek and Golden turned down the aisle we were in. Golden looked at me and he smiled then I did too. We ended up dabbing each other up and he kissed the side of my head. Dad used to do that to us, so we just kept it going.
Greek got everything he needed for the dinner and dessert. He decided to make smother chicken thighs with seasoned onions and peppers. He was serving it over homemade mash potatoes, southern string beans with his homemade buttery biscuits.
I had no idea what he was making for dessert, the ingredients were hard to figure out. All I knew was it involved vanilla ice cream. Blake asked Greek and he said he was making honey bun glazed brownies with vanilla ice cream on top.
I never heard of that in my life, but my stomach was ready for it all. Greek dropped us each off at our own cribs and we agreed to be at his place at seven that night. I was fine with that because I needed to get me a little sleep in since I did not get any last night.
**