Page 4 of He Thugged Me First

She sighed and rolled her eyes to the ceiling. “I’ve been around. More so here.”

I nodded my head. “Never thought to look me up?”

“Don’t do that. Remember how we left things? Let’s lea—” Emotion filled her expression as if things had transpired yesterday and not years prior.

I screwed my face up. “Fuck outta here. You didn’t even give me?—”

“Gayze, your fiancé is on hold. He said it’s an emergency.” I looked up and the nurse from earlier had stuck her head in the room.

I watched Gayze rush from the room just as the word fiancé registered in my head. She was finna marry some busta ass nigga. I didn’t even know the nigga, but I was pissed because that belonged to me. I thugged it first.

LOVE

“What you know ‘bout love?”

I loved him. Quari and I had come a long way from the day we saw one another in my dorm, then we met at my friend Mecca’s house. I could say it was love at first sight, but then it would be lying. I purposely stayed away from him because of my brother-in-law and Ozzi. They were overly protective and said he lived a life I didn’t need to be in. I believed them, but then the magnets in the earth did some shit, and now here I was.

“What the fuck you mean you don’t know? Love, it’s up there. You already live with me and I?—”

I rolled my eyes. He only heard his voice at times because I wasn’t as outspoken as him. “Quari.” I interrupted his mannishass wording. Glancing over at the pregnancy test on the counter, I cursed the day I got off birth control. I cursed the hell out of the day I let him tell me, “Let me put the tip in.” I knew it was something serious in his eyes when we were at his sister’s wedding two years ago and he talked about babies. I just fucking knew it. I was in my last year of school, and that was by the stripes of God alone. Now how the hell was I gonna do it pregnant?

“What? Are you scared about school? You know I got you. You finna finish that. It’s one semester, Love.” He looked so concerned, like I was gonna get rid of the baby. He walked up on me and just pouted. “You ’ont wanna have my baby?”

My first instinct was to laugh, and that’s just what I did. He was a different person here with me than in the streets. Here with me, Quari was a spoiled ass man who hated to hear the word no. He was warm and loving here, but out there, he was cold and calculated. After four years, you’d think I was used to it, but I wasn’t. He was like an onion; each time you peel a layer there’s another.

“You know I don’t believe in?—”

“Then you’re giving me a baby.” He didn’t let me finish.

I just looked at him. Could I tell him no? I mean, really, could I? I couldn’t even tell him no when I knew I shouldn’t have been around him.

“Why are we here?” I glanced over at Mecca.

“Because we need to chill out. Midterms are tomorrow, and we’ve studied enough,” Mecca said, parking her car and looking over at me.

I shook my head. This was the craziest thing I’d ever done. When I came out here, I told my mama and sister I wouldn’t do anything stupid. This was stupid, and I knew it was. We were at a house party in a neighborhood I knew nothing about.

Once we got out of the car, she walked around and looped her arm into mine with a smirk. “You do know you gotta have some type of play time, right?”

I shook my head. What the hell was play? I didn’t do that. I worked and took my ass home. Then I babysat all my nieces and nephews. I was content with that. What was wrong with that?

When we walked into the house, the music was blaring, and I was sure it was packed to capacity. She unhooked her arm from mine and grabbed my hand as we maneuvered through the tight space to the backyard. Once we got to the back of the house,, I was able to breathe, but suddenly I felt self-conscious. I was definitely overdressed compared to all of the women here. Where I was wearing a pair of high-waisted distressed denim jeans and a white crop sweatshirt, the women here were wearing significantly less. I was dressed to go out to eat and take my ass back to my dorm, and they were dressed for weather unlike what was outside.

“Lighten up. You look good as fuck. If I was into splits, I’d fuck.” Mecca laughed and winked at me as we walked over to a crowd of men.

I shook my head. Mecca was Mecca. Once we reached the men, I couldn’t help but feel a set or a few eyes on me. After Mecca introduced me to her brother Mazz and some dude named Kasair, whose name was definitely familiar, I pulled my phone out and focused on it. I wasn’t really the social type. I didn’t know how long we were there, but I was definitely ready to go when I found myself sitting alone and Mecca said she was running to the washroom about twenty minutes ago.

“Do yo’ people know you here?” I smelled him before I heard him.

I looked up, and my eyes were playing tricks on me. This was the dude from move-in day. “Nope. You gonna tell them?” I smirked.

“Nah, but I know this ain’t the space for you.”

I shrugged. “You’re probably right.”

Before I knew it, he took a seat in front of me. “Then why are you here, Love?”

“Came with a friend.”

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