Chapter 11
brOOKLYN
I’d been planning this trip since I told her it would be our first one.
Delta drivers picked us up from my house and took us to the airport.
Instead of us going through the front with everyone else, they drove us straight to the plane.
They handled our bags, passes, and everything.
Bri was sitting next to me on the flight, anxious as hell because she didn’t have an inkling of an idea as to where we were going.
“Baby, my stomach is doing flips because I just know you booked our flights through Spirit Airline.”
I started laughing before I knew it. “What type of man do you think I am? Did you realize you didn’t go through an airport, or bump into anyone, but you are already on the plane?”
“I did but you know you, you’ll hold someone at gunpoint, in a minute. You got this damn blindfold on me, and I don’t know what’s going on around me.”
“Again, what type of man do you think I am? My family taught me a lot, including what you just added, but this time, I ain’t have to do none of that. You can take your blindfold off and—”
She didn’t allow me to finish my sentence before she was snatching it off her face.
“You happy now?”
“I’m not but they need to get this show on the road.”
Shaking my head at her, I sat back and watched her look around, still trying to get an idea of what’s next. Thirty minutes later, Bri finally heard where we were going and side-eyed me.
“Don’t tell me this is your Bronx and Brooklyn takes New York idea?”
“It is and you better love it, too, now sit back and enjoy your flight.” The entire two-hour flight, I prayed that every plan I made really went well. Either it was going to be all good, or just like Bri said, I should have asked for her help.
Sin and Zoo called themselves helping, and from the looks of things, we were going to have a fucking ball, but we shall see.
The Smith family had houses all over, and the house that Bri and I were staying in this week was one of them. My plans were halfway wrecked once Bri started saying everything that she always wanted to do when she came to New York. First thing was our asses walking in Central Park.
“Baby, don’t frown up like that, this is a beautiful scene. Every movie I’ve watched that was bases in New York, shows a glimpse of Central Park. I’ve always wanted to go running like I see them doing in the background of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.”
“You think I came here to go running in a damn park?”
“You came here to enjoy yourself with me and that’s what I want to do.” Bri pouted.
“Maan, at least give me some head, first.” The stale face she did give me, also gave me my answer to that. “I knew I should have asked Zoo and PJ to come,” I mumbled under my breath.
“Don’t be an asshole. After this, and us going to Brooklyn Boulders to climb a twenty-two-foot rock wall, we can do whatever you have planned.”
“Whatever you say. Just know if that shit is lame as fuck, and I break a sweat one time, we are done.”
“Break a sweat for me now, and I’ll break one for you later.” Knowing what that meant, I fumbled through my bag and pulled out the hottest clothes that I could find to run in. I needed to be drenched in sweat ‘cause she’d owe be some ass all night for this shit.
“Keep up!” Bri yelled, and I ignored her. This was her fourth time going around this big-ass park, and I wasn’t about to do this shit again.
“Bri, I quit man. Keep the head, keep the ass, just let me go back to the house so I can get some sleep. This is supposed to be a vacation to take your mind off everything that’s been going on. Not us training for a fucking marathon,” I spat back at her.
“You don’t have to be a jerk about it.”
“I’m not, but have you thought about allowing me to do anything that I had planned to make you happy and enjoy yourself? If I planned the trip, then that mean I made plans, too. You got us out here running, and we could have done this shit at the crib.”
When I finished going off, she stood there with tears in her eyes. “The fuck I do now, Bri?”
“Nothing, it’s fine.”
“Nah, if you are crying then it’s not fine. Talk to me.”
“You are up here saying how you had plans but all I wanted to do was burn off some of these thoughts of my brother so we could enjoy ourselves later. Ever since he passed this crying switch is something that turns on whenever it feels like it. Me running was helping me, mentally. It’s not always about dates and having a trip filled with place after place to visit.
You said this trip was for me, and I want to clear my head.
I wanted to run. I wanted to go rock climbing to blow off some damn steam, that’s it.
We are here for a four days and whatever you have planned, we still have plenty of time to do it. ”
Feeling like shit, I stood from the bench and walked over to her. Bri’s tears fell faster than the raindrops that had started to come down. “Tell me what you want to do?”
“I want to go home.”
“Then, we’ll go home. Maybe this trip was too soon for you.
I just wanted to take you away from that environment, thinking that it would help clear your head just as much as it would do mine.
I’ll cancel everything and book our flights back out of here.
We’ll make this trip up another time and the next time, I’ll make sure I ask for your input. ”
“You sure?”
“It’s whatever you want.” She stood there, wiping the tears and raindrops from her face.
“We can stay. I don’t want to ruin your plans. I’ll be fine and hopefully, what you have planned is the stress relief that I need.”
“You trust me, right?”
“Absolutely!”
“Then know whatever I do for you will always be beneficial to your mind, body, and your soul. I’ll never put you in harm's way, and if any comes just know I’ll protect you before I protect myself.
” Leaning in, I kissed her cheeks then held on to her hand.
“I’ll race you back.” Bri took off running while I jogged behind her.
If running away the pain works for her then shit, let me turn into a track star for my lil’ baby.
“Baby, waaait!” I’d finally found something that I was better than her in. A nigga ain’t never ice skated before but once I caught my groove... and balance, I was good. Meanwhile, she was over there with her legs looking like a newborn calf. I wasn’t an expert at this shit, but I hadn’t fell yet.
“You talked all of that shit how you were going to act like you were on Roll Bounce, now look at chu.”
“Shut up and come hold my hand.” Doing as she asked, she got the rhythm and started slowly going around the circle with me still holding on to her. There were kids skating around us like professionals.
“I ought to trip they lil’ ass up. Trying to show out in front of you like that.”
Bri’s mouth dropped open. “Oh, just in front of me, huh? It’s cool, I may not be perfect at everything but I still have ball and I know I’m great in that.” Stopping for a second, she became lost in her thoughts. “At least I used to be. Still great at coaching, though.”
“You still are. You just need to get that confidence back. Playing ball and being great will always be in you. Strutting the sidelines in heels and a bad-ass outfit is not the only thing that's out there for you. You need to get back to where you can play if you choose to because your fear of getting hurt no longer gets to you or you can let it continue to limit your success. Coaching is great—I’ll never take that away from you at all—I just want you to be at your full potential with that too.”
“One day, I’ll get back out there to at least play but for now, I’m good with yelling at Mimi, PJ, and the rest of my girls.” I heard everything Bri said, and I already knew what I had to do, starting with one of the things Sin and I came up with.
“You ready to go or you want to stay here a little while longer to let these kids skate in circles around you. I do have something planned for tonight but we gotta be back at the house, ass washed and ready to leave out the door by 6:30. We can leave here and grab something to eat and then go back to get ready.”
“Did you really plan something for everyday while we are here?”
“My cousins and I worked extra hard on this. Zoo was on Google, Sin was on TripAdvisor, and I was making reservations, buying ticket after ticket for things. I wanted to make sure you did everything that was to do here.”
“And tonight?” she asked, trying to be nosey.
“Tonight, you’ll just have to see. My mama told me to spare no expense and Mama knows best, so.” I shrugged the rest of my statement off.
Leaving out the indoor ice-skating rink, we headed to The Greens at Pier 17 just to do something light and fun.
After we ate, played a few games, and had drinks, we both were ready to go.
Seems like ever since we got there, we had been on the go.
From running to skating, a nigga need a nap ‘til it was time to go back home.
“Baby, you really out did yourself with this trip, and we are only on day one. Do you know the last time I went to a basketball game just to enjoy it? It’s been so long, so this night right here, is for the books.
And the Knicks against Golden State Warriors was better in person than it would have been if we were watching it on TV. ”
We were now lying in bed, and Bri hadn’t stopped talking since we left out of the arena.
The skybox seats were dope as fuck and a smile was plastered across her face the entire game.
I lost count as to how many times she told me thank you.
To me, a thank you wasn’t needed because it was my job to make sure a smile remained on her face forever.
I may have fucked up a few times, but I knew better now.
“I’m glad you liked it.”