A Hood Nigga's Blues

CHAPTER TWO-1

CHAPTER TWOMarquan, Apocalypse, and Adele spent the remainder of the day eating and mingling among family and friends. By the time the sun had set, everyone had left except Marquan, Apocalypse and a few stragglers. The best friends found themselves standing in between their respective cars chopping it up and holding plates of food wrapped in foil.

“Hahahahahahaha!” Apocalypse doubled over laughing while holding the plate of food.

“Hahahahahahaha, nigga, that s**t had me rolling on the mothafucking floor. For real for real,” Marquan wiped his tears of laughter with his curled finger.

Apocalypse came down from his laughter and looked at his Rolex watch, seeing that he had to run. “Yo’, man, I gotta get up outta here to go see this fool Popeye. I’ma get up witchu later on, cuz.”

“Fa sho’.” He dapped up his main man and hugged him. He then stood by his car watching him walk around his own vehicle to get inside. “I love you , cuz.”

“I love you too, my nigga, from the womb ‘til the tomb.” Apocalypse tapped his fist to his chest and his homeboy returned the gesture. He then hopped in behind the wheel of his whip and pulled out. His car was waxed so shiny that Marquan could see his reflection on it as he backed out of his parking space.

Marquan watched the back of Apocalypse’s ride as he drove away. He threw up his hood and Apocalypse responded by throwing it back up outside the driver side window. Afterwards, Marquan turned back around to his Chevy and sat his plate of food on the roof of it. He then fished his keys out of his pocket and stuck the key inside of the slot of the driver’s door. He was about to turn the key to open the door when he saw someone in the reflection of the driver’s window. His eyelids stretched wide open and his heart thudded. Swiftly, he pulled his gun and turned around fast. He held his gun sideways as he mad dogged whom he believed was trying to creep up on him. His jaws were throbbing and the vein at his temple was bulging.

“Oh s**t!” the formally dressed woman was startled by the appearance of the gun in the man’s hand. She threw up her hands and stood frozen in her tracks.

“Yo’, cuz, who the f**k is you?” Marquan spat at her.

“It’s me, nigga, goddamn!”

“Who the f**k is me?”

“Jah!”

“Jah, as in Jahleysa?” his face soften as he matched a face to the name inside of his mental rolodex.

“Yeah.”

“Oh, my fault,” He tucked his banga at the front of his sagging 501 jeans. He then approached Jahleysa and gave her a loving hug. When he pulled back, he looked her over since he hadn’t seen her in a while. “Long time no see, stranger. I haven’t seen you in a while. I got a hold of yo’ moms and sent out an invite and shit.”

“Yeah, I know. I had some s**t I had to do back at the office, which is why I’m here so late. I’m sorry about that. I was really looking forward to catching up witchu and getting me a plate, too.”

“Today is yo’ lucky day, big head, ‘cause I still got one on deck,” he turned around and picked his plate up from off the roof of his Chevrolet and passed it to her. She looked to be surprised when she saw it. Right after receiving it, she held the plate up to her nose and shut her eyelids as she inhaled the delicious aroma.

“Mmmmm, this smells bomb, you sure you want me to have it?” she asked as she hoped he’d say yes. She was a social worker and she’d been working long hours lately. She’d been so engrossed in her work that she’d lost track of time and forgetten to eat. So, it was needless to say that little momma was as hungry as a hostage.

Although Jahleysa was from the hood, she hadn’t gotten quoted on to the gang like Marquan and Adele had. She also wasn’t out in the streets as much as them either. She had strict parents and a curfew. She had to sneak out of the house to go to parties that the rest of the kids in the hood would attend. Her old man and old lady made a vow to raise her. They weren’t about to let the streets parent their child.

Jahleysa’s mother and father stayed on her ass about her studies because they wanted her to become something more in life than some hood nigga’z baby momma or a stripper. They were determined to make sure that she became something that they both could be proud of, and she had.

“Yeah, I’ve been eating barbeque all day long up here. That plate is just what was left over after everyone else took plates home. You know how niggaz do, niggaz gotta take a plate home for the night and the day after that, too.”

“Shiiiit, you ain’t never lied. Thanks, Quan.”

“Don’t wet it; you know we go back, so I hadda look out.”

There was a long, awkward silence between them and then she broke the ice.

“Soooooo, how’s little man and the misses?”

“They, uh, they straight, junior is getting big and looking more and more like me every day, I swear to God my baby boy is the spitting image of me.”

“Last time I saw ‘em he was a baby. How old is he now?”

“Hold up,” he opened his car door and ducked down inside of his vehicle, plucking something that was wedged in the display that housed the speedometer. When he came back out he was holding a picture in his hand, which he handed to her. He watched her observe the picture with a small smile etched upon her face.

“He’s cute, real cute. Looks just like his daddy,” she smiled broader and tried to hand him the picture back. He wouldn’t accept it though. He held up his hand and shook his head no.

“Nah, you gone and keep that. That’s all you.”

“You sure?” she raised an eyebrow trying to make sure.

“Yeah, keep it.”

“Thank you,” she said, dropping the picture inside of her purse.

“You welcome, slim.”

There was another moment of awkward silence between the ex lovers. Jahleysa looked around aimlessly and whistled while Marquan rubbed the back of his neck and looked at something he imagined was on the ground.

“Well, listen, I better get going. I gotta few errands I have to run before I go back inside of the house.” She claimed as she pulled her car keys from out of her purse.

“Lemme get cho number so I won’t have to harass ya mom’s the next time I’m tryna get a hold of you.”

“Cool. You gotta cell?”

“Yeah,” he pulled out his cellular and it was dead. “f**k, my s**t dead.”

“What a coincidence,” she stated looking at the screen of her cellular. “My phone is dead, too.” She raised her eyebrows in surprise and showed him her cell phone’s screen. “You gotta ink pen and a piece of paper?” she inquired as she dropped the cellular back inside of her purse.

“Nah, I probably gotta napkin or something you can write it on, though.”

“Bet. Get that. I should have an ink pen or something inside of my briefcase.”

“Alright,” he dipped inside of his car and opened the glove box. He found the napkins he had in mind and came back out of the car, outstretching them towards her. She’d just closed the door of her Honda when she’d turned around to him. She took the napkins and jotted her name and number down on one end of it. Once she was done, she wrote down his information at the opposite end as it was relayed to her. Finishing, she tore off the end that had her info on it and gave it to him. Afterwards, she folded up the rest of the napkins and stashed it inside of her pocket.

“Alright, lemme gone and get up outta here,” she kissed him sweetly on the cheek and gave him a hug that lasted just a tad bit too long for it to be friendly. When she pulled back she found herself staring deep into his soft brown eyes. At that moment, the love they’d shared was rekindled and they found themselves being slowly drawn to one another, like a moth to a flame.

Realizing that he was about to kiss Jahleysa and totally disrespect what he and his Adele shared, Marquan turned his head away and rubbed the back of his neck. Jahleysa looked saddened by his refusal to kiss her and cleared her throat, acting as if something didn’t just almost occur between the two of them.

“Heyyy, well, uh, I got cho number. Maybe I’ll hit chu up sometime and we can get lunch together or something.” Jahleysa said as she slowly stepped back towards her car, twiddling her car keys in her hands.

“Fa sho’, I’m looking forward to it.”

“Okay, bye,” she waved at him timidly.

“Bye.” He waved back at her, and then stashed his hands inside of his jeans. He watched as she jumped back behind the wheel of her whip and backed out of the parking space. She waved to him one last time and took off, with him waving to her as she drove off.

Once the back brake lights had disappeared into Los Angeles traffic, Marquan looked down at the number that Jahleysa had written down. He smiled as he looked at her beautiful, girlish handwriting. It had been several years since he’d seen her handwriting on anything. Seeing it now brought back memories. He recalled all of the love letters and poems she used to write him back in the day when they were together.

Marquan didn’t know what it was that told him to turn over the piece of napkin, but he went ahead and turned it over. What he saw made his eyes light up and a smile spread across his lips.

I Still Love You…was what was on the back of the torn piece of napkin that Jahleysa had jotted her number on. When Marquan seen this, he found himself looking back and forth between the torn napkin and the area that Jahleysa’s car disappeared in.

Marquan kissed the napkin and shoved it inside of his pocket. He jumped in behind the wheel of his car and pulled out of his parking space. Afterwards, he threw his ride into drive and peeled out of the parking lot.

Although he had every intention of linking back up with Jahleysa and catching up over a hot meal, there wasn’t any way in hell that he was going to rekindle the old flame that they’d once shared.

Although he chose Adele over Jahleysa he never stopped loving her…never. He always wished that it was her he laid up with that night and created Antonio with. Truthfully, if he could do it all over again, he would have chosen her and co-parented Antonio with Adele. He knew within his heart that she was the perfect woman for him, but wanting his son to be brought up in the same household as him derailed their love affair.

Marquan and Jahleysa were one another’s first loves. They used to kick it real tough. In fact, you rarely saw one without the other. The love they shared was hood knowledge. There wasn’t a soul that didn’t know about the couple in the ghetto. They were a match made in heaven and their romance was the stuff fairy tales were made of. It seemed too good to be true, and it was…Marquan’s infidelity proved that.

Jahleysa lay on the couch with her silk scarf wrapped head propped up against her French manicured hand. The blue illumination from the television screen shined on her face as she flipped through the channels with the remote control.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

The rapping at the door drew her attention. She looked to the door with a wrinkled forehead and then she looked at the clock on the wall. It was 11 o’clock at night and she wasn’t expecting anyone, so she wondered who it could be at that hour. Curious, she sat the remote control down on the coffee table and got up from the couch. She was in a tank top and boy shorts that her buttocks peeked out of every step that she took.

“Who is it?” Jahleysa called out as she advanced to the door.

“It’s me, baby,” Marquan answered.

A smile graced Jahleysa’s face hearing that her man was at the door. She had been so caught up in her studies that she barely had time to speak with him over the phone, so she was really happy to see that he’d showed up at her house.

Jahleysa was about to unchain and unlock the door until a thought went across her mind. b***h, what are you thinking? You can’t let cho man see yo’ ass looking tore up from the floor up.