Southern Comfort

by La Jill Hunt

  Southern Comfort

  by La Jill Hunt

  © Copyright La Jill Hunt 2011

  Published by Kingstowns Publishing at Smashwords

  Kingstown Publishing

  1038-5 Dunn Avenue

  # 30

  Jacksonville, FL 32218

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without prior consent of the publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.

  This is a work of fiction. Any references or similarities to actual events, real people, living or dead, or to real locals are intended to give the novel a sense of reality. Any similarity in other names, characters, places and incidents is entirely coincidental.

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  1

  I hate this place. I hate these wannabe, thug ass niggas. I hate these wannabe fly, ghetto ass girls. I hate this cold ass weather. Everybody wanna be somebody important and really ain’t shit. I hate New York and I just wanna go home. I wanna go back to Atlanta, where people are courteous enough to speak and man enough to look you in the motherfuckin’ eye. Where you don’t gotta have the same blood running through your veins to be considered family; just being true to who you wit makes you a member. I wanna go where it’s hot in the summer and winter. I wanna go home.

  Sydni looked at the words she had written in her journal a little over five years ago. She was only fifteen years old then and she had been miserable. Her mother had decided to move back to Brooklyn after Nana Brown, Sydni’s great-grandmother, had passed away. Her mom sold Nana Brown’s house, packed Sydni, her twelve-year-old sister, Miriam, and her sixteen-year-old brother, Aaron, and they relocated. Sydni’s father was from New York and even though he was long gone, Sydni felt that her mother thought she had a chance of running into that sorry bastard if they headed up to Brooklyn. So far, they hadn’t. The move didn’t really bother Miriam or Aaron as much as it did Sydni. They both seemed as comfortable in the Big Apple as they were in the Peach State. Aaron excelled in sports and Miriam in socializing, so neither had a problem fitting in. But Sydni was shy. She kept people at a distance and made no effort to befriend anyone, even though people often commented on her beauty. She was continually mistaken for Puerto Rican, and she hated that fact too.

  “’Sup, Mami? Tu eres ta bella!” one guy yelled from the passenger side of a car as she walked home from school one afternoon. She tried to ignore him, but he was persistent.

  “What?” She turned to face him.

  “I’m sayin’, yo. What a brother gotta do to get wit a fly mami like you?”

  “I don’t have any kids, so I’m not anybody’s mommy, yo!” She rolled her eyes and kept going. Suddenly, the guy jumped out of the car and ran to catch up with her.

  “I’m sorry. I thought all of you Hispanic chicks liked to be called mami.”

  “Well, guess what, stupid? I’m not Hispanic. Everyone with light skin and long hair ain’t from Puerto Rico, so I don’t speak Spanish. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a life to get on with.” She eyed him from head to toe and brushed past him again.

  “Damn. If that accent wasn’t so sexy, I would be pissed at you and your bitch ass attitude. But I guess a brotha gotta take the good with the bad. What’s your name, Shorty?” He was walking next to her at this point, matching her swift stride. She tried to speed up, but he stayed right next to her.

  “What do you want? Can’t you see I got somewhere to go?” she asked without looking at him.

  “Come on, D, let’s roll. Leave that trick alone!” The driver pulled beside them and yelled out of the window. Sydni rolled her eyes at him and bit her tongue instead of cussing him out. No home training. None of these niggas got home training.

  “I’m saying, yo. I just wanna know your name.” The guy, whose name she assumed was D, continued.

  “Just leave me alone. I ain’t bothering you, so you don’t have to bother me.” They got to the corner and to her disappointment, they had to stop for traffic. She was two blocks from her house and she was not trying to put up with D’s company the remainder of the way. She pushed the button on the light pole several times, hoping the WALK signal would light up so she could keep moving.

  “That ain’t gonna help. You still gotta stay here with me a few more minutes,” the tall, lanky figure said sarcastically. Sydni turned to face him, preparing to cuss him out, but as she looked at him, she paused. He was dark as hell and his skin was smooth as silk. Sydni was almost attracted to him, but then he continued to be harassing as hell and anything she remotely felt about him diminished instantly. He was a typical broken English, every-female-wanna-get-wit-me, I’m-hard-cuz-I’m-from-New-York-and-that-makes-me-a-gangsta hoodlum.

  “Look, I ain’t playing wit you. Leave me alone, or else!” she yelled as the light changed and she crossed the street. Her anger seemed to excite him.

  “Or else what?” He laughed.

  “Or else you gonna have to deal wit me. Now leave her alone!” The voice came from behind them. Sydni turned and was secretly relieved to see Aaron standing in the middle of the sidewalk. He approached and stood beside her like he was her bodyguard.

  “Who the hell are you?” Sydni’s follower squared his shoulders and asked Aaron.

  “None of your business. Now leave her alone.”

  “Nigga, fuck you. I don’t have to do shit. I was just asking your girl what her name was. She the one that got a bitch ass attitude.”

  “Then leave her the fuck alone and you don’t have to worry about what kind of attitude she has.” Aaron took a step toward him. Sydni put her hand on Aaron’s shoulder in order to stop him.

  “Forget him, Aaron. Let’s just go.”

  “Aaron, Aaron Johnson?” The follower blinked.

  “Yeah, that’s me,” Aaron answered, ready to rumble in case something jumped off.

  “Man, Coach Sheppard been talking mad shit about you. He said you got hella game. You supposed to be trying out for the team, right?”

  “Yeah.” Aaron relaxed a bit and soon the two boys were talking about basketball as if nothing had ever happened.

  “Hey, this is my sister Sydni.” Aaron pulled Sydni by the arm and she jerked away. She was undoubtedly pissed. Here Aaron was supposed to be knocking this nigga out for harassing her, but he was acting like they were boys from way back.

  “This your sister, for real?” He looked from Aaron, tall and darker than him, to Sydni, short and as light as any mixed chick that he had ever dated.

  “I get my color from my dad,” Aaron told him.

  “I see, but y’all do look alike once you get past the color. What’s up, Sydni? I’m Darrius.” He held his hand out for her to shake, but she looked at it as she turned to walk away. “She like that all the time?”

  “Yep. Sometimes worse,” Aaron told him.

  “I can’t imagine.” Darrius watched the beautiful girl storm off and could not help picking
with her some more. “It was a pleasure walking with you, mami. Yo quiero ser tu hombre.”

  “That will never happen, pendejo,” she turned and yelled back at him.

  That was the beginning of Aaron and Darrius’ friendship, and now, five years later, Sydni still hated Darrius. She had never liked him, especially today, at this moment. She loathed Darrius and the friendship he had with Aaron. If they had never been friends, this day would not be happening. She closed her old journal and picked up her latest one, turning to the next blank page. She wrote the date at the top and began her entry.

  Today, we are burying my brother.

  2

  “Syd, can I come in?” she heard the soft voice ask. Sydni had just changed out of her navy blue suit and was pulling on a pair of sweatpants when she heard the knocking at her door.

  “Yeah, Magic, come in,” she told her sister. Magic came in Sydni’s room, closing the door behind her. She sat on the side of the bed, her eyes stopping on the program with Aaron’s picture on the front, lying on Sydni’s pillow. Sydni looked at her sister’s fatigued face and quickly grabbed her T-shirt and pulled it over her head. She sat next to Magic and rubbed her back.

  “It’s a lot of people downstairs asking about you. You coming back down?” Magic asked.

  “Yeah, I just wanted to get outta these clothes. I’ll be down in a minute. Where’s Mama?”

  “She’s still down there. Mister Joe is clinging to her arm like it’s gonna fall off if he let go. You know he’s just trying to put on a good show,” Magic informed her. They both disliked their mother’s boyfriend of the past year. He was controlling and opinionated, and Sydni didn’t like the way he looked at her, especially when she was at work. He was her boss at the dry cleaning shop where she was the cashier/bookkeeper. That was actually how he and her mother had met. She’d come in to see Sydni one day and he invited her to lunch. They had been dating ever since. The only reason Sydni stayed at the cleaners was that he grossly overpaid her and he was only there on Wednesdays and Fridays to pick up the deposit for the bank.

  “I’ll bet. How you holding up, Magic?” Sydni looked at her sister. She hadn’t really said anything. She’d hardly cried during the funeral and Sydni was worried. Magic was usually the most emotional person in the family. While Sydni kept all of her emotions in, Magic had always been the ultimate drama queen, always overly dramatic about any issue, happy or sad.

  “I still can’t believe he’s dead, Syd. I’m waiting for him to come home and cuss me out about my grades or some guy Mama told him about me seeing. I’m waiting for things to go back to normal.”

  “I know, Magic. It’s gonna take some time.” Sydni didn’t know what else to say. She was still in shock in some ways herself.

  “Now, what are you gonna do? I know Aaron was getting the money for you to go back home.”

  “I don’t know, Magic. I don’t know.”

  Another knock at the door caused both sisters to jump.

  “Who is it?” Sydni called out.

  “It’s me, Sydni. Byron,” the baritone voice answered.

  “It’s your boyfriend,” Magic whispered teasingly. Sydni was used to the teasing about Byron. It had been going on for years. It was no secret that he had been infatuated with her since high school. He was sweet and smart; what Nana Brown would call well-bred, from a good family. He was easy to talk to and Sydni could appreciate his intelligence. Byron was attractive as hell, too. He stood five feet eleven, one hundred eighty-five pounds and he had the most perfect teeth Sydni had ever seen in her life. There was only one problem: Byron was white, very white, and Sydni had never, would never, could never roll like that. No, sir. She made certain that he always knew that, and he respected it. He seemed content to be a part of Sydni’s life in whatever capacity she would have him.

  “Come in, Byron,” Sydni said, giving Magic a look of warning as the door eased open.

  “I just wanted to make sure you guys were okay.” He had a concerned look on his face. Magic stood up and gave him a hug. She liked Byron. He was really cool, and although she knew that Sydni wasn’t feeling him because of the obvious, she thought he was at least doable. He smelled so good and his arms felt strong; like a man. She closed her eyes and enjoyed the moment. When she reopened them, Sydni was looking at her funny.

  “Thanks, Byron. We’re okay. I just wanted to change into something a little more comfortable,” Sydni told him as he released Magic and reached for her hand. She knew he was genuinely concerned, but she also knew that Magic was hot in the tail. Her promiscuity was one problem she and Aaron had with Magic. Aaron had had to beat down more than one guy who she had lured into the wrong place at the wrong time: in other words, their Mama’s house when she thought no one was home. Sydni hoped that it was just a passing phase, but it had been years and Magic was still wide open.

  “Did you eat anything?” he asked, looking at her sad eyes.

  “Not yet.” Sydni sighed. “It’s too many people down there right now. I’ll eat something. I promise.”

  “You need to eat, Syd. Come on. I’ll fix you a plate. I’ll even protect you from the masses if you need me to.” He pulled her toward the door, smiling. She glanced over at Magic, who watched.

  “I’ll be down, Byron. Just give me a few more moments,” she told him.

  “If you’re not, I’m coming back up here and carrying you down myself,” he warned. He opened the door and stepped into the hallway, bumping into someone unexpectedly. “Oh, sorry.”

  “Yeah, it’s okay,” Darrius murmured. He briefly glanced at Byron as he made his way past him. The door to Sydni’s room was slightly open and he slowly eased it open. He waited for a signal or sign of some sort from Sydni to let him know that it was okay for him to come in. When there wasn’t, he cleared his throat.

  “Hey, D. You can come in.” Magic motioned for him. He slowly walked into the neat bedroom, trying not to be obvious as he looked around. There were various pictures on the wall, mostly of Sydni and Magic, some including Aaron and their mother, all of them smiling. His heart began to feel heavy as he saw a few that even included him. They had become his second family and he loved them, including Sydni.

  “Your moms told me you all came upstairs. I just wanted to—”

  “Just wanted to what? Let me guess, see if we were okay? Well, Darrius, we’re fine. We would probably be doing better if we hadn’t had to bury our brother, but he decided to hang with you last weekend and wound up dead, remember?”

  “Sydni, that’s not fair!” Magic hissed. “It wasn’t his fault!”

  “Don’t you think I feel just as bad, Sydni? I mean, I lost my best friend,” Darrius retorted to her. He looked at her. He was used to the look of disgust when she looked at him, but the look of hatred she held deepened his pain.

  “If he was your best friend you wouldn’t have had him with you when you made your so-called run to the strip club,” Sydni spat at him. He knew she was hurting. Aaron was her heart and soul and they were closer than any brother and sister he had ever seen. Aaron would do anything for his sister. When he came home last week for Spring Break, all he could talk about was getting dough for Sydni to go back to Atlanta. It was one of the reasons he wanted to take that ride to the club with D that night. He wanted to talk to Dax about flipping some money.

  But D kept that bit of information to himself and just let Sydni vent. If he told her Aaron’s real reason for going with him that night, she might feel guilty, and he didn’t want that. He knew the weight of that guilt and wouldn’t want to wish it on anyone. He looked at Magic, who put her arm around his shoulder. The two sisters were so opposite. Sydni with her long, silky hair, oval face, eyes the color of jade and skin the color of wheat. She was a dead ringer for that singer Mya, just a little thicker. He remembered the first time he saw her and mistook her for a Puerto Rican chick. He had never had a female so mad at him. He almost cussed her ass out until Aaron stepped in that day, too.

  Ever since then, h
e and Syd had never clicked. Whenever he stayed at the house, she made it known that she didn’t like him and he made it known that the feeling was mutual. She was so fucking stuck-up and he hated that. She always referred to him as a thug or a bum and that shit got old. Granted, school was not one of his top priorities once he blew his knee out his junior year and hopes of a basketball scholarship diminished, but he did graduate and had a job on top of that. Shit, he had dreams just like she did and she wasn’t the only one hurting because of Aaron’s death. But Sydni was Sydni whether Aaron was dead or alive.

  Magic was his homegirl. It took both him and Aaron to watch out for her hot ass. The girl seemed to have men on the brain. Every time he looked, there was a different one in her face. In some ways, he couldn’t blame them. Magic was a beautiful, darker version of her sister and was by far, sexier. Both girls had shapes any nigga would want, but Magic had sexy in her walk, in her talk, in her laugh, and in her hazel eyes. They both shared the same thick lips, but Magic knew how to lick hers just right, and he constantly had to remind himself that not only was she a young girl, she was his best friend’s sister. That fact alone kept his libido in check when it came to Magic.

  “We’re okay, D. We’ll be back down in a few,” Magic told him. He looked like she felt: lost. She was used to seeing him in jeans and Timbs. Today he wore a gray, four-button suit. It was the first time she had seen him really dressed up. He looked good.

  “Cool, I’ll check you when you come down,” he told her. He turned to leave, pausing as he passed Sydni. He opened his mouth and murmured something.

  “What? What did you say?” she asked defensively.

  “I said you ain’t the only one that loved him. I did too.”