Flashback
"You's supposed to be a Gangsta! Gangstas don't cry even if the world end! So you gots to stop cryin' from now on aiight?" Riley chastises me over my tears from my first breakup at 13. "Real niggas get even." He states as he leaves.
Flashback end
Since I wanted to be a real Gangsta I never cried after that. I didn't cry when I broke my arm, I didn't cry when I got rejected by boys, and I especially didn't cry when my parents fought. Then the divorce happened. I had never wanted to cry so badly but I held it in. I walked over to the Freemans' and listened to Snoop dog and Gangstalicious with Young Reezy, I didn't tell him nothin' jus acted like everythin' was fine. I don't think I coulda held in the tears if I talked about it so I didn't. I headed upstarts to the bathroom and on my way out heard a door slam. "Boy we need to talk," I hear his Grandad say before I go down the stairs. I stop and hide to keep from interrupting the family moment. Huey sees me and I gesture for him to be quiet as he quirks and eyebrow at me.
"About yo lil' blonde baby, you need to be careful with her right now." Crap! I don't really want to talk about that with him…
Huey must have seen the panicked look on my face because he whispers, "you can either interrupt Grandad to tell him first or you can let him feel distrustful of you and run. You don't have much time to choose."
"Why is that?" Riley asks his Grandad.
"Because her parents just told her they're getting a divorce… Wait she didn't tell you?"
"We finally spent time together today. She's been away for a few days on vacation then spent some time making up sleep. I spent some days with Dyneisha too." Riley answers.
Dyneish? Who the fuck is Dyneisha?! I look to Huey but he shrugs and says "probably some ho-"
"Hold up! Are you telling me he was with some whore and didn't tell me?!" I say a little too loud and Riley hears.
"She ain't some ho! She a G! Someone who actually talks to her homies." Riley tells me.
Great if he's saying she's not one then he got a girlfriend without telling me after he told me he'd never want one. Granted that was four years ago, but.. Hearing Riley's response is the last straw. "Well then I guess spending time with me was a waste, I should let you get back to her." I spat at him before getting out the house as quickly as possible, running into Jazmine by accident.
"Woah girl you okay?" She asks me, and I can't answer or the one thing I've been avoiding will happen. I might have just lost my best friend… "Let's go to my house okay?" I nod as we head in. We sit down in her room and I just breathe for a while. Jazmine hands me a glass of water. I stare at it in my hands for a while before guzzling the entire thins. "Do you wanna talk about it?" She asks me.
"If I do I'm gonna…" I stop myself just as my voice cracks.
"It's okay to cry ya know." Jazmine tells me.
"Gangstas don't cry like babies." I reply, getting up to get ready to go somewhere.
"I won't tell anyone." Jazmine looks up at me sweetly, I still have a few inches on her.
"I can't. I haven't since I was 13 and I am not going to do it again," I tell her. Her eyes widen.
"Wait. You aren't still going off of what Riley told you when that jerk dumped you, are you?!" I look away. She huffs in frustration. "He only told you that because he had no clue how to make you better! He's absolute shit with crying girls!"
I think back for a second, "that may be straight, but since I may not see him much anymore anyway, I might as well go by it." I tell her, getting up to finally leave. I can lock myself in my room. Maybe they won't try to talk to me today… "Thank you for everything homegirl, I think I need some time alone."
"Oh, okay. Call me any time you need me. I will always be free." Jazmine's eyes follow me worriedly as I leave, nodding at her.
***Jazmine's POV***
After Cindy left, I kept getting madder. That idiot is going to have a piece of my mind! Maybe at the same time I'll find out what happened. I stomp over to the Freeman residence, knocking viciously on the door. Huey opens the door to me tapping my foot and crossing my arms. "I need to see your brother." I tell Huey slightly annoyed.
"Okay, but before you do, this time it wasn't all his fault."
"It's more his fault than either o you know, I'm assuming, but then again Cindy won't talk to me about it because of your idiot brother telling her something 3 years ago!" I feel like I should have steam coming out my ears. Recognition comes to his eyes.
"Riley I told you so," Huey yells back to his brother. Riley comes down.
"Nigga you tell me a lotta things, doesn't mean I listen. What is it this time?" Riley scratches his head and looks at me finally. "So what's wrong with C-Murph?"
"I was hoping to ask you that. She won't talk, but it's obvious she's really sad, so what happened?" I ask, trying not to give away too much. After Riley and Huey explain what happened, I start to understand most of why she's upset. Now if only he had showed her that mural he painted of her, there would be no problems! "So if Dyneisha's not a ho, who is she?" I ask, hoping to end this soon.
"She's a hobo he hangs out with near Cindy's face." Huey answered.
"Nigga why you gotta tell her about that?!" Riley demands.
"Please, like it's not obvious to everyone but Cindy that you want to get married and have mini gangsters." I tell him, inspecting my nails so I don't stare at Huey too obviously.
"Anyway, Huey what was you tellin' me 'I told you so' for?" Riley asks, then me and Huey exchange looks.
"You know what, we'll tell you right after you go talk to her," Huey states before starting to leave the room. "For starters, she's expecting you at your painting of her, I just texted her from your phone to meet you there." Huey hands him his phone with her reply on the screen.
"Nigga how you get my phone?" Riley demands to know as he snatches it back from him. "Fuck, I'll get you when I get home." Riley states, running out the door.
"How'd you get ahold of his phone so quickly?" I ask Huey.
"I was about to give him a lecture on putting his shit away when you knocked on the door, and it happened to be something I picked up," Huey smirks.
"I hope you know what you're doing," I tell Huey.
"When have I not?" Huey rhetorically asks, walking back up the stairs before looking back at me. "You coming?"
"Coming," I tell him, a giant smile on my face. I really hope this works.
***Cindy***
I reach the meeting place only to be astonished. It's my own face looking back at me. If there was anything that could make me feel better, it was this. Looks like he feels the same. But then who's Dyneisha?
As soon as I finish that thought, me phone rings Riley's ringtone. "Hey, what's good?" I ask jovially.
"Is this Cynthia McPherson?"
"Yes," I hesitantly respond. This is definitely not Riley.
"This is Malia Peterson from White Crest Hospital, Riley got into a car accident." A high-pitched voice squeaks.
"Which room is he in?" I demand to know as I bolt to my car, already having the keys in the ignition.
"Well he's in room 104-"
"I'll be there in 5 minutes," I tell her, cutting off my phone and driving like a bat outta hell. God I know how dangerous he is when he shows off in his car, what if he dies? What if he's in a coma? I panic as my mind flips to all worst scenarios. I barely turn the car off before I'm running at full speed into the hospital. I dodge 3 security guards on the way in there, I need to be sure he's okay, then everything else can take its shot at me.
I get there to see his Grandad lecturing him before his eyes turn to me. He's sitting down on the physical table and Grandad's pressing into a bruise on his arm. Then his eyes turn to me.
The room falls silent as I try to speak "I-I-I thought… The doctor said you were in a car accident… I thought..." I trail off in disbelief, and find myself having a harder time speaking past the lump I have in my throat.
Grandad speaks up "I'm going to get that big bootyed nurse's number," as he leaves the room, taking the hospital security with him. There's silence for a second as I can't find the words to speak and he seems to be waiting for me to say something.
"Yeah the other guy demanded I go to the hospital. He really overreacted huh?" Riley remarks with a light shrug and a sheepish grin.
"I-I… So you're okay?" I ask, still confused at the sight of him fine.
"You know me Imma real G, it would take a bomb to knock a nigga out and I'd still get up to ask for mo'." Riley brags, falsely cocky.
I collapse onto my knees in relief. His eyes go wide in shock. "Cindy?" He panics for a second, getting up and coming over to me on the floor.
"I-I thought you were dyin' or in a coma, or somefin'." I trail off as my vision blurs, I thought your ass would be on the table and we'd never talk or play video games or you let me braid your hair, or you stroke my head, or… Even my thoughts trail off as I dissolve into quiet sobs getting louder when I start to talk again. "I haven't done this in 3 years, so much for bein' a real G huh?" I sniff, with a small reprieve before he speaks and puts his hands on my shoulders.
"Is this why you've been not telling me about the divorce? You's jus' tryin' to keep it real? I was 13 when I told you that, and even worse, I was jelly ova the stupid nigga you wuz cryin' ova. Real Gs are afraid of nuthin' even a little waterworks. Shit gets real sometimes." She breathes for a second. "So you wanna tell a nigga 'bout it?" He asks seriously, pulling me onto his lap this time.
Now that I can breathe, everything starts to spill out. "Well for one, I was told last week they'd be splittin'. I was told today I'd be going with my dad and wouldn't see my ho mama anymo' cuz she wudn't even gonna ask meh she wuz jus gon' leave and see us on holidays. She didn't even want meh. I'm stayin' with my dad in White Crest." I take a deep breath before I ask him the next thing on my mind. "So if Dyneisha's not a ho, then who is she?"
"Well," Riley begins, "sh met while I was out," he stops for a second and then seems to reconsider. "I met her when I painted that pic you saw."
"…" I had no reason to be jelly it seems.
"So Imma guess you wuz cray cuz you thought she wuz my boo?"
"Well with everythin' else goin' on, I couldn't deal wif my ride or die wantin' some other G." I took a deep breath after this and prepared to get out of his lap in case I was wrong.
"Wait, your ride or die? What you tryin' ta say?" He asks, a little surprised by my sudden confession.
"Imma tryin' tah say you had betta not make me cry no mo' cuz Imma be wit you fo' life even if you won' let me 'that way'. I wanna be wit you and only you." I tell him not expecting what comes next.
He puts his hat on my head, gangsta style and kisses me. "Girl, you always been my ride or die, now you's jus also my Boo." I am completely out of tears now.
"Love you Riley," I tell him wrapping my arms around him. He almost blushes.
"Why are you on the floo'? Act like you have some sense, get yo asses off the floor we're headin' home, " Grandad gets his staff from the room and heads to the front desk to check Riley out of the hospital.
"Love you too Boo." Riley kisses me on the cheek before helping me up and putting my hand in his pocket with his hand, leaving my white face to turn strawberry.
