Page 13 of Typa
“Man, why you talking like you finna die? You ain’t going no fucking where!”
“Nigga, if I have to pop Seven, I’m going to die. Ain’t no getting around that shit. Like I said earlier, it’s me or him, but not both of us.”
FIVE
MAUI
“Oh my God! Maui!”Aunt Chasity yelled.
I giggled as I nodded at Mr. Ali. He smiled and went to sit in the chair near the door. I had just gotten to the office with my lunch kit and satchel, ready to work. I was so happy to be here, and I couldn’t wait until Ashanni got back to town. She ran to me and hugged me tightly.
“Are you here to work? You’re back?”
“Yes, and yes. My parents had a sit down with us yesterday, and Mythic understands how badly I need to be around my family.”
She hugged me again and waved at Mr. Ali. When she released me, I went to my old desk. Seeing all my pictures and personal effects were still there made me smile. They hadn’t written me off. They were waiting for me to come back. After I set my things down, a sudden wave of nausea hit me. I took off for the restroom and regurgitated my insides.
“Maui? Are you okay?”
I wiped my mouth with toilet paper and flushed the toilet, then went to the sink to rinse my mouth. When I opened the door, Aunt Chas was standing there. I lowered my head for amoment then looked up at her. “I’m pregnant. I told my parents yesterday.”
She smiled big. “Congratulations, baby.”
I smiled back and thoughts of the baby had me thinking about how Mythic didn’t come home last night. My smile dimmed somewhat. I called him a couple of times, and he didn’t answer. I was so worried about him. I called Epic, because I knew he talked to him the most and he said he’d talked to him earlier in the night. He called him for me, only to suffer the same results. After talking to PJ, he told me that he was okay, but his mental was tearing him up. I didn’t know what that meant. When I asked for clarity, he said it was something I would have to talk to Mythic about.
After sitting at my desk, the bell rang. I rolled my eyes, but Aunt Chas said, “I got it, Mommy.”
I smiled as she went to the front. When I heard her laugh loudly, I knew it had to be family. While I wanted to go up there, I was still somewhat timid about being around everyone. However, when I heard her say, “Shylou, you make me sick!” I stood and went to see him.
I hadn’t seen him in a while. When I got up there, my eyes landed on Shaydon. I took a deep breath and released it. He was Mr. Shylou’s son and had a thing for me. He’d been trying to be with me for the past couple of years. He was like two or three years younger than me and had become a model for their family business. Last I heard, he was taking on more of a creative role as well, starting his own clothing line. I was twenty-four, so he couldn’t be any older than twenty-two. He had his shit together just like Mr. Shylou.
“What’s up, Maui?” he said and licked his lips, then smiled.
His smile lit up the room, and I couldn’t help but smile back. “Hey, Shaydon. How are you?”
I hugged him loosely, then went and hugged Mr. Shylou. He was Uncle Kenny’s best friend and had been before I was even born. He was practically family. We didn’t see much of him these days, because he was always traveling and busy with their clothing lines, but it was like time meant nothing when he did come around. He was talking to Aunt Chas about some type of marketing, getting her expertise on the subject.
I turned to make my way back to my desk, but Shaydon grabbed my hand, halting my forward progress. I looked up at him, and he said, “You look beautiful as usual. When you gon’ let me take you out?”
I smiled slightly. “I have a boyfriend, Shaydon.”
“Oh, my bad, baby. I thought you wanted a husband.”
I had to be blushing. He always came on strong when we were around each other. My face was hot as hell. I gave him the side eye. “Shaydon, there are levels to this. Mythic will definitely be my husband one day.”
“Mythic? Mythic Semien?”
“Yeah. You know him?”
He released my hand. “How can I not? That shit threw me way off. I didn’t think that was your typa nigga. No wonder you keep shooting a nigga dine,” he said in his H-Town twang.
“We just became a couple like two months ago, Shaydon.” I cleared my throat and lowered my head. He put his hand to my chin and gently gripped it, tilting my head back, forcing me to look up at him. “Shaydon?—”
“Naw. I don’t give a fuck about that nigga. You don’t deserve to be in fear for your life. You deserve a soft life, being comfortable in love. I can provide that, Maui. You know I can. I’m young, but I make my own money. I have plans A through E sewed up. I bet you didn’t even know I went to the police academy and got a criminal justice degree. I got all kinds of options, girl. I can take care of you physically, emotionally,mentally, spiritually, and financially, although I know you don’t need me to.”
I backed away from him. “Spiritually?”
“Yeah. I pray for you, girl. God probably tired of hearing me say your name.” He stepped closer to me, closing the space between us that I’d created. “I love you, girl . . . ever since we were kids. I know it won’t take no time to fallinlove with you. You gotta give me a chance though.”
