one of her girlfriends about a year ago. Second, Toni’s a straight arrow, and that meant that Mary Jane would not be allowed onto the estate under any circumstances.
And “she” and Omar have been tight lately.
Toni always wondered why Brian and I still hung out with Omar, and that incident strained my relationship with her for a few months, too. To be honest with myself, I had been asking
myself that same question for the past year.
It was hard to put my finger on it, but we’ve been boys for a decade, through thick and thin.
“That’s a negative, B, you know that Toni wouldn’t go for it anyway,” I told Brian, trying to tie up my boots. “I’m gonna need you to keep this on the low, too, bruh. As a matter of fact, it’s all on a need to know basis right now.”
“You know this shit is foul, D,” Brian stated flatly. “We’ve been boys for too long with all this cloak and dagger shit whenever we go out without him.”
“So, what do you suggest, B?” I confronted. “Hey, O, we’re doing a set out at Mr. Richton’s estate, and we can’t have you roll out with us because Toni’s gonna be there and you’re still persona non grata as far as she’s concerned, so, we’ll come by and scoop you another time?”
I heard Brian exhale over the phone. “Yeah, I forgot about the shit that went down with him and Samantha. Do you think that Toni’s still hot about that?”
“You should know the answer to that question, bruh,” I coldly replied. “So, need to know, got it?”
“Yeah, I got it, D, but sooner or later, Omar’s gonna feel like the third wheel and shit,” Brian explained. “If you don’t find a way to let him down easy, then this shit will snowball out of control, and even you don’t have the skills to stop the flood once the dam’s broken.”
I took Brian’s words into account, and I realized that he did have a valid point. Sooner or later the hammer’s gotta come down, and it was better that he sees it coming than to get blindsided by it.
I was upset that I was the one that had to do it.
What pissed me off more than anything was that Brian didn’t want any parts of being the heavy.
I wasn’t cool with that at all.
Didn’t surprise me anyway; Brian’s always been a punk when it came to confrontations. It was almost to the point where you had to push him to the point of no return before he snapped.
I had my limits, too, but they weren’t anywhere as high as his tolerance level. I think my problem had become the fact that I’d been enabling Omar’s habit instead of being a real friend.
As far as I was concerned, I didn’t abandon my boys, no matter how low things may get with them, because I wouldn’t want them to abandon me when it counted the most.
There had to be a way to keep from losing Omar.
I just hope I could find it before it was too late.
~Cori~
“ Did I wake you, Cori?”
I wasn’t about to admit to being tired, even if I was up half the night trying to come down from the high that I was on. I selfishly clung to the covers as I sleep-walked through the conversation with Derrick, trying to get final confirmation about the party later on today.
“No, you didn’t wake me… well you kinda did, but I’m awake now.” I answered him, not caring if he was going to be perturbed or not. I take my beauty sleep seriously.
“Well, I called to make sure that you and the ladies were going to make it out,” Derrick kept the conversation trite. “I really do hope that you all can make it.”
I woke up slightly because for a minute there, I thought that he was showing a little bit of nervousness that we might not head out there.
“No, we’re still going to be there, I just need to know if it is going to be a pool party or something else. I may need to go shopping for something, and the girls might want to know so they can dress appropriately.”
“Well, swimsuits are optional; the atmosphere is laid-back, so just come in something sexy. I’m
Learning to Kill: Stories