Page 3 of Arris, Jayme & Dyani
As close as I was with Darryl, I’d never met Dyani. He was the older of the two and had dipped out on their parents when he was young. He’d been a runaway when he made his way out here to Diamond Falls and fell into the gang. The two of them hadn’t reconnected until a year or two ago when he’d flown home for his mom’s funeral.
I was actually shocked that she was out here to see Darryl at all.
I snatched my phone from my cup holder and gave him a call to see if I could get him to either describe what she looked like or give me her number so we could decide where we were actually going to meet. The call rang until it went to voicemail. I hung up, sighed, and let my eyes scan the walkway again. I tried to call Darryl a second time. He didn’t answer so I went to our text thread.
Then I did a double take when someone tapped on my passenger side window. I looked over. It was a woman that I assumed was Dyani. I wouldn’t say I saw the family resemblance but she and Darryl had the same brown hair that looked lighter while the sun was hitting it. I lowered the window.
“Hey.” She gave me a quick little wave. “Are you Arris?”
“Yep.” I gave her a single nod then climbed out to help get her bags in the car. “Nice to meet you.” I offered my hand as soon as I was close enough.
“Nice to meet you,” she echoed.
We shook hands and I took that chance to really take her in. She was pretty. She was an inch or two taller than Jayme with deep brown skin and eyes and microlocs about three or four inches longer than shoulder length. She had them halfway pulled up in a little bun at the back of her head and a pair of glasses clipped to the front of the T-shirt she wore.
I opened the door for her and loaded her bags into the trunk on my own.
As soon as I pulled off, Dyani was shifting in her seat.
“You good?” I checked.
“Yep.”
“Alright.” I glanced in my rearview mirror and switched lanes. “Darryl said there was a good chance you’d want to get something to eat. You have any idea what you want?”
“Not a clue.” She scoffed. “Do you have any recommendations?”
“If you know what kind of food you want, I’m sure I could pick out a place that has it.”
“I’m always down for steak and I’m always down for seafood.”
“Alright.” I paused and thought carefully about the choices between the airport and D-Ville. “I know a good steakhouse near your brother’s spot if you’re up for it.”
“Sounds good. Let’s do it.”
“Alright. Let’s do it.” I yawned as I switched lanes again and got ready to merge.
“Thanks again for picking me up,” Dyani said quietly.
“Yeah, man, no problem.”
“So,” she shifted in her seat, “How do you know Darryl?”
“We uh…” I licked my lips and looked briefly from the road to Dyani and back. “We live in the same apartment complex,” I finished lamely.
Dyani snickered.
“So you’re in the same gang?” she guessed and didn’t wait for me to respond. “Good to know.”
I didn’t confirm or deny that. I didn’t know what Darryl had or had not told her and I wasn’t getting in the middle of his family’s business.
“So, what are you doing out here? Just visiting for a few days?”
“I’m actually planning on hanging out for a few months, at least two,” she clarified. “I’ve been thinking about relocating for a while now and Darryl thinks here may be a good fit. So I’m going to hang out, get a vibe for the city, and look at apartments.”
“Oh shit. That’s what’s up. Well, I hope you fuck with the city.”
“Thank you. Thank you.”
