Page 50 of Falling Into Gravity

“Ay, my boy, you gotta talk lite to that one,” Lunar tried to pass Kamari off to Ahvi but she wouldn’t take him.

Malik’s hands were shaking and his chest was rising and falling fast. “I’m out here trying to breathe, tryna build shit…real shit, while you sittin’ up in a safe ass house with folded towels and salmon croquettes, acting like I ain’t have to damn near die to walk in this bitch unarmed!” he said to Aku.

Aku reached for him again. “Malik?—”

“No! Don’t fuckin’ touch me!” he snapped, stepping back.

Her hand dropped.

His eyes flicked to hers and softened for a split second—but it wasn’t enough. “I asked you not to put me in situations like this,” he said, voice trembling now because he was so mad. “I told you - I told you this shit ain’t a game to me.”

“It’s not like that?—"

“Then what the fuck is it like? You know what this means where I’m from. You know how many of my homies never made it past twenty ’cause they walked into the wrong color at the wrong time?”

Tears spilled down Aku’s face now. “I wasn’t tryna hurt you.”

He kissed his teeth. “You don’t even know me!”

Everyone just watched it unfold, like a car crash they couldn’t stop.

Malik pinched the bridge of his nose. His hands were still shaking as he turned toward the door. “I’m walking home,” he muttered.

“You not walking all the way back—” Aku started.

“I said I’m walking.”

He didn’t slam the door or look back. Malik just left ’cause it was a blessing to walk away with his life.

And with him went the rest of the morning.

Malik cursed himself as he trekked out the yard and through the well-off neighborhood. Last night would be one for the books. Today was a reminder that him and Aku were just too different to even be friends. She didn’t understood hood politics because if she did, he’d be eating brunch instead of ordering a rideshare to pick him up from the nearest gas station with murder on his mind.

chapter 10

. . .

“Zaire in the back?”Aku asked one of the production assistants, who looked like he wanted to melt just from being in her presence.

She’d just gotten there and was already in work mode.

“Y-yea, they setting up the hoop shot now. He’s already in wardrobe.”

Niah smirked at how awestruck Zaire’s assistant got whenever Aku showed up. After working with her for the past month, you’d think he was used to it by now.

They were in Crescent Park at the last shoot for Zaire’s Nike campaign and Aku kept looking around to see if she saw Malik.

It had been a week since the brunch fiasco and Aku thought about him regularly. However, she wasn’t too pressed to reach out to him. She’d come to terms with her fate that love just wasn’t in the cards for her, at the moment, and she was okay with that.

“Good,” Aku said, sliding past him and adjusting the clips on her stylist belt. “Tell ‘em I’m on deck.” “Niah, did you make sure his sweats were steamed and not pressed?”

“Yes,” Niah walked fast behind Aku. She’d been at the shoot for the last hour making sure all the pieces were there.

Thanks,” Aku hummed, pulling her phone from the front pocket of her apron to respond to Noodle. They were still in recovery mode from the brunch incident.

Once Malik left, Bu had some strong words for her and Little Lunar was pissed to. Noodle went off on her new husband and shut everything down ’cause Aku was free to date whoever she wanted and no color came before their family. Safe to say, Bu was now on board. Too bad, Aku and Malik had fizzled out before they could really ignite a match.

Aku moved like water—flowing and untouchable, her phone in one hand and iced matcha in the other. Crescent Park wasn’t her turf, but she walked through it with grace every time she found herself there. French taught her she was good on any boulevard and if her daddy said it, it was facts. That and she had a je ne sais quoi about herself that made people stop and stare or open doors because she deserved it. It was her energy. It was how she entered a room without asking for permission and made it hers anyway.

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