Lady Luney #2
He didn’t even stop, just kept walking like he hadn't said anything.
A minute later, Porscha stomped toward me, holding my bag. She threw it on the ground in front of me and cracked her knuckles.
“There’s your stuff. You leave. You know, you think you’re so special, but my cousin told me you’re probably being passed around by their whole lil’ crew. You know they’re known for pimping girls out. I shouldn’t be hanging with your ass anyway, fucking troater.”
I snatched my bag off the ground and smiled evilly at Porscha. How quick they forget.
“You’re the same girl who sucked up half the freshman basketball team last year. The same girl who begs Turkey to tell her what Auty has that you don’t–what? You think because he doesn’t clown you publicly, that no one knows? That lil’ hot pocket got hella miles on it, Porscha,
and I know it eats you up inside that I’m cool with the same niggas you on your back for, and I not only didn’t have to do shit, but I couldn’t care less.”
“Bitch, fuck you! And you better hope I don’t pull up on you and that weird ass sister of yours before school’s back in!”
I laughed at her back, before it dried up and made my way to the Corolla to await my fate with someone who I actually was scared of.
Seeing Rico was in the passenger seat, I got in the back, and Tyree, who was driving, sped off as soon as I closed the door.
“You sure you want me to wait?” he asked Rico as we zoomed toward the looming towers in the distance.
“Yup. Nan went back to Belize yesterday, so she’ll be straight there until we get back,” Rico replied, drumming his fingers on his lap.
“What you tell Nutty?”
“He know Turkey would kill that nigga if anything happened to Autumn’s sister, so he chilling.”
“That nigga do too much over her ass. You know we got down in the locker rooms over her once? All ‘cause we was paired up in class.”
“You deserved it, prolly.”
“Yeah, well, he ain’t the only one doing too much over a female.”
I hung onto their every word, but Rico didn’t reply. Tyree just laughed, and pulled into a drive that took us to one of the Towers of the Birch.
I’d never been here before, and I was scared shitless. I shouldn’t have poured out my drink before getting in the car, because liquid courage was definitely needed.
It was people milling about, even at the late hour. People of all ages, even kids kicking a deflated kickball.
“Why are we here?” I asked, but no one said anything. Rico got out of the car, and opened mine.
Without even asking, he grabbed my arm and hauled me out of the car, slamming the door and walking us inside.
“Rico–”
He swung me around in front of him, and the rest of my words died on my lips.
Rico was pissed.
The last time I saw him like that was after we hung out at the mansion, when I said I’d hang out with another guy.
Did he hear what Porscha said? Did he think I thought the same things she did? Did he think I told her the things he told me?
He let go of my upper arm for my wrist and I let him pull me into the belly of the beast. We went up a few flights of pissy stairs, then down a hallway, before stopping abruptly at a door across from one with caution tape.
He banged his fist on the door twice, two times. The locks disengaged, and a short boy with braces grinned at Rico before gasping at me.
“Damn, baby,” he mouthed, biting his fist.
Rico mushed his head so hard he stumbled back into the house. He gestured for me to follow, and I was too bewildered not to obey.
Set’s brother Rahshad sat on the floor, typing on a laptop, when he looked between me and Rico and pushed up his glasses.
“Sincere here?” Rico asked.
“Nah. Just us, these beats, and some America’s Most Wanted,” Braceface replied, taking a seat next to Shad.
“Aight. She finna sit with y’all until I get back. I’m sure you know Shad through Set. That mannish muthafucka is Sean, my lil’ homie.”
Sean grabbed his soda off the floor and winked at me. “I go by many things, Freckles. But you can call me your future.”
Rahshad shook his head. “Don’t use that in this song.”
I turned toward Rico and stretched my eyes, but he wasn’t having it. He took a step into my space. “You sit that ass on that fuckin’ couch until I walk back in here or on my mama you gon’ fuckin’ hate me like you been should.”
I gulped like a cartoon, easing back until my calves hit the couch and my butt plopped down.
“Casey with you?” Rahshad asked.
Rico’s jaw clenched. “Nah. Come walk me out, Baby Nitemare.”
My eyebrows furrowed, until the smile wiped off Sean’s face and he walked with Rico out of the house. He came back a moment later, locking every lock I didn’t notice on the door, and going back to sit next to Shad.
They sat there for a while, playing bits and pieces of songs that were popular and songs I hadn’t heard in a long time.
There was a notebook in front of Sean, and sometimes he’d write something.
Sometimes Rahshad would take it and hum something.
But most of the time, Rahshad was showing Sean something on his computer.
My bladder was about to burst when the tv finally got to infomercials and Sean turned it off. He stood up and stretched before turning to me. Gone was the flirty gleam that I didn't expect to see in a pipsqueak, but he still had a playful smirk as he peered at me.
“Can I rap you something and you be honest with me, Freckles? Ain’t no tellin’ when Luney finna come back, and you might as well be useful.”
“Well dang,” I mumbled, before wiping my palms on my thighs. “Sure, I guess.”
“Fasho. Play it, Shaddy.”
Rahshad pushed his glasses up before typing a couple of commands, and a beat began to filter out of his laptop.
Sean rapped low at first, until he glanced at Rahshad who motioned for him to project his voice. He nodded, and began to rap louder, grabbing his notebook to glance down if he forgot the words.
Thirty seconds later, Rahshad cut the beat off, and they both looked at me.
“Ummm,” I began, mashing my lips. “Look, you gotta have more confidence. What happened to the boy who was about to get at me when I first came? Your words are good. The beat is really nice, and most of these new rappers are hot garbage. But they make it look good, and you gotta do the same thing.”
“I do, most of the time,” he complained, dropping to the floor. “When it’s the fellas, I’m straight. But we had a talent show at school, and… I choked.”
“Badly,” Rahshad added.
Sean mugged him. “Nigga, you weren’t there!” He flinched at him, before shifting his gaze back to me. “New people make me freeze, Freckles. Picturing ‘em naked don’t help. I don’t know what to do.”
He looked so down, and it pulled at my heartstrings.
“Like I said, your flow and words are good. You just gotta believe in yourself. You gotta believe you’re that nigga. You’re the best, and everyone else sucks. You can’t picture them naked because it helps you, but they’re naked because they’re lame, and you’re lacing them with game.
And fuck whoever thinks differently.”
“You never talk this much at Turk’s house,” Rahshad remarked, a small smile on his face.
I shrugged, standing before I peed on the couch. “You don’t either. Can I use the bathroom?”
Sean’s head was deep in his notebook, but he still nodded and pointed toward the hallway. “The only door open. Make sure you wash your hands, Freckles. We working on my stage presence when you get out.”
My eyes popped open as I was lifted off the bottom bunk in Sean’s room. Soap and my favorite cologne caressed me as I wrapped my arms around Rico’s neck, and let him carry me out of my new friends’ house.
I quickly learned that flirting back with Sean made him nervous, which broke Rahshad out of his shell even more.
I knew he was smart, but the way he dissected songs at his age was genius level.
For hours we all went back and forth, helping Sean fine tune his verses and having him practice.
They even helped me write my very first verse, tucked away in my back jean pocket.
I added them on MyRoom, tickled when Sean put me in his Top Five, and after I yawned for the fifth time, I promised Sean and Shad–he insisted I called him that–I’d keep in touch and promote their songs to my following.
I had a better time with them than I ever would have had at the kickback. I didn’t know what that said about them and their company, or me, but I didn’t go too deep into the rabbit hole as I dozed off curled up in the bottom bunk Sean said was reserved for “guests.”
Just how many people were stashed there by an angry Rico? Who knew.
“You spending the night with me,” he rumbled, walking deeper into the hallway before going into another apartment.
He set me on my feet in the middle of the living room, sighed, and ran his hands over his fuzzy plaits.
“You hungry?”
“Where’s your Nan or Fredo?”
“Fredo’s in his room, sleep. Nan went back to Belize yesterday to look at the house she been building since I was born.”
My lips quirked. He’d mentioned he wanted to go back, but there wasn’t anywhere for them to stay.
“And why aren’t I going home again?”
“Because, Snow,” he sighed. “The block is too hot. We staying indoors for a while. And don’t act like you got somewhere to be, since I made you quit that bullshit job where they was recruiting you to marry they son.”
“Look,” he said, in my face again. “I’m still beyond mad at yo ass. Go shower; your bag is in my room. I’ll heat up some chicken for you so you won’t be hungry when I’m chewing you out.”
He dismissed me without so much as a look back, and I rolled my eyes hard, stomping off to do what he says.
“And stop stomping, Snow. We respect our neighbors ‘round here.”
I couldn’t even focus on being in Rico’s room, because his words loomed over me.
Grabbing my bag from his chair, I went to the bathroom, noting how clean it was and the fresh towels on the sink.
The tub was wet, telling me he showered before he got me, and my mind couldn’t help but wonder what he’d been up to, that he needed to shower before getting me.
What was he and Peanut doing at that party?