4. Riot St. James #3
I made it inside the house, and it was as if a tornado had struck in here.
Before I’d walked out of the house, there had been so many people standing, and sitting around, but the house had cleared out.
The few that were left inside, you could hear them screaming and panicking from what just took place.
So many things inside the house had spilled over.
The lamps, the dining room set, and there was glass all over the floor, which I’m sure was from all the floor to ceiling windows that surrounded the house.
“Bean! Beannnn!” I could hear Ari screaming for me. I walked through the house, and I found her coming down the stairs.
“I’m right here. Where is everyone else?” I asked, and when she saw me, you could see it in her eyes that she was relieved.
“I told Janiyah, and Zaria to go. They just left. I was looking all around for you. What the fuck! Girl, you scared the shit out of me because I couldn’t find you.
Come on. Let’s get the fuck out of here,” she said, pulling my arm, and before I walked away with her, I turned around, and Dolo had made his way back inside the house.
He was still holding his gun in his hands. There was an angry mug on his face. The two of us locked eyes for a few seconds, but neither one of us said anything.
I ran out of the house with my sister, and the aftermath of the front of the house was even worse than the inside.
Seeing the way the bullets had torn up the front door, shot up a lot of the cars that were parked in the driveway, and just damaged the property was crazy.
So many people were standing around the front of the house.
You could hear women crying, and I was looking around, trying to see if there were any bodies laid out on the ground, but I didn’t see any.
Ari parked her car on the next block, so we walked through darkness, quickly getting to it, and as we were inches away from the car, she pulled her keys out, unlocked the doors, and we quickly got in.
She barely gave the car the right amount of time to start up before she was pulling out, speeding out of the community, going through the communities gate, and before I knew it, we were out onto the main road.
Two seconds later, her phone started ringing, and I saw Zaria’s name appear on the dashboard. Ari reached over, answered the call, and it connected through the speakers in the car.
“I found her. We just left,” Ari let her know.
“Where the fuck was she? And who was those niggas that was shooting?” Zaria screamed from the other end of the phone. You could hear the fear, and the panic all in her voice.
“I don’t know. Let me call you back. I need a second to process this shit. You and Janiyah need to go the fuck home. Don’t go to no after party, none of that shit. Please, just go the fuck home!” Ari snapped.
Zaria assured Ari that she was going to drop her sister home, and then she would head home herself. After that, Ari hung the phone up, and she released a sigh, as we pulled up to a red light.
“Where were ya’ll when the shooting was going on? Still on the couch?” I asked after a few minutes of silence had gone by.
“No. We were upstairs in the bathroom. Zaria had to go, so we all went upstairs with her. Literally, as we were walking out of the bathroom together, that’s when the shots rang out.
I tried to go down, but it was niggas on the steps, blocking, not letting us down.
Once the shots stopped, I made Zaria, and Janiyah leave.
I checked all around the house, and I didn’t see you.
I went out back, and I didn’t see you, either.
That’s why I went back upstairs. Damn Riot.
That shit scared the fuck out of me. Where did you go? ” she asked.
“I was out back. On the side of the house. I tried to get in, but Dolo tackled me to the fuckin ground, and he wouldn’t let me up.
I’m freaking out, trying to get to ya’ll, and the whole time, ya’ll were upstairs.
Shit,” I fussed, just thinking about the many fucked up ways that this shit could have ended.
Not only was I thinking about how terribly this could have ended, but I was also thinking about that interaction between Dolo and I. That shit was cinematic. Something straight out of a movie.
“I didn’t know you knew Dolo,” Ari responded, choosing to respond to that, versus everything else that I’d said to her.
“I don’t,” I let her know.
“And he tackled you to the ground, saving you from some bullets? That’s tea,” she said, and I just shook my head.
I had a question right there on the tip of my tongue to ask her, but I didn’t want it to seem like I liked him, so I was hesitant. I really wanted to know the answer to the question though. Feeling bold, I just went ahead and asked it anyways.
“What you know about him? All I really know is that he hustles, and he’s a part of MBM,” I said it in a way that wouldn’t have me looking like I was checking for him, when I really wasn’t.
It’s like Ari could see right through the question that I asked her because she snickered, as she took her eyes off the road for a second, just so that she could turn her head around, and look at me.
“In other words, you want to know if he has a bitch?” she asked.
“No. You know that’s not what I’m asking you!” I snapped, getting defensive. My reply caused her to giggle again.
“That’s exactly what you’re asking me Bean, but you’re not going to flat out say it.
You have never in your life questioned me about a nigga and wanted to get the inside scoop on one of them.
From what I know, Dolo doesn’t have a girl.
Him, and one of the bottle girls at the club that I work at do fuck around off, and on though.
Her name is Jazelle. Real pretty bitch too.
She not prettier than you though. Me, and her don’t really speak to each other.
We just say hi and we keep it pushing,” Ari started, and I was turned in my seat, with my eyes on her, hanging onto her every word, waiting to hear what it was going to be that she said next.
“From the little that I do know about Dolo, I’ve never heard of him having a girlfriend.
Just rumored hoes that he fucks around with.
The only reason why I know that him, and Jazelle are fuckin around is because I overheard her one day in the locker room, bragging about the money that he gives her, and shit like that.
Plus, he’s been to the club a couple of times, and I could tell by the way the two of them interact with each other that they fuck around,” she finished, and like this news meant nothing to me, I just nodded my head, leaving it at that.
“You like him?” she asked me.
“No, and I really wish you would stop insinuating that. I was just asking a question. Wanting to know what you knew about him,” I snapped, hating that I even asked because I felt like I showed that there was a piece of me that was just a tad bit interested in Dolo.
“Riot, your human. It’s okay to admit that you saw a man, thought he was attractive, and that you’re interested in getting to know more about him.
That’s how life works. Shit, that’s how being a girl works.
Even though your ass wants to run around, and act like a nigga, your still a girl, so your feelings are valid to think that he looks good.
His ass is fine as fuck, actually. You act like a bitch going to put handcuffs on you and send you to jail for admitting that a nigga looks good,” she shot, and I just picked my hand up, waving her off, not wanting to engage anymore.
“Call me crazy, but I see the vision. You and him. I can see ya’ll together for some reason,” she went on, and that’s when I rolled my eyes.
“Man, gone on. Get the fuck out of here,” I shot. Even she knew that she took the shit too far, and that’s why she started laughing.
I’ll admit that Dolo was handsome. Probably the most handsome dude that I’ve ever seen in my life, but the plan wasn’t for anything to come out of this. I just wanted to admit that the nigga looked good and then go on about my day.