by Tiece
Gwen took a second to think about it then she said, “Because you’re just not supposed to.” She told him.
“What age were you when you started doing drugs?” Marc asked, and then pulled the blunt like he didn’t give a damn.
Gwen peeked around the house to make sure that Nina wasn’t coming. She didn’t want to have to fight Nina for jumping on Marc, because that’s exactly what would happen if she caught him smoking weed.
“Well,” he asked as he cut his eyes up at her.
Gwen frowned not knowing what was wrong with him. “What’s your problem?”
“I don’t have a problem.” Marc said, “But everybody else around me does.”
“What do you mean?” Gwen asked. At that moment she started to feel bad for him, because clearly he was bothered. She kneeled down and sat on the ground beside him. “Talk to me.” She said patting him gently on the leg.
“Things just haven’t been the same since my daddy got killed.” He said with a sad shake of the head.
“It’s gonna be alright.” Gwen said to try and comfort him.
“No it’s not. My sister isn’t the same. Macy cries all the time in her room. I know she thinks that I don’t know, but I can hear her. My mama ain’t been the same since. It was bad enough when it first happened and she’d found out that my dad had gotten killed, but lately she’s been on something else. She ain’t herself. She had stopped drinking at one time, but now she’s making up for it.” He said thinking about how Nina has a glass of vodka on the rocks for breakfast. “She even smokes like a chimney now.”
Gwen gave him the side eye. “What you know ‘bout somebody smoking like a chimney?” she questioned with a frown on her face as her eyes followed from his face down to the blunt that he was holding. “Well, if I’m gonna sit out here and let you cry on my shoulder…”
“Nobody’s crying,” Marc quickly cut in like he was too old for that.
“Like I was saying,” Gwen continued as if he hadn’t said a word. “If I’m gonna sit out here and talk with you then you may as well let me join you. I won’t tell if you don’t.” she said with a cheesy smile on her face while showing off her chipped front teeth that came from hitting the crack pipe.
Marc shook his head. He knew Gwen’s struggle with drugs, but if she wasn’t going to tell then he sure as hell wasn’t either. He passed Gwen the freshly rolled blunt. She stared at it for a few seconds.
“Where you think I get this weed from?” he questioned. “I got it from my mama. She got a cigarette box full of them. They’re already rolled. I just took two of them and left the house.”
“Yo mama gon’ kill you if she find out you been in her shit.” Gwen said still studying the blunt like she was unsure if she should hit it or not. It sure smelled good as she sat there stumped in her feelings of getting high.
“She’s not gonna find out.” Marc said as he looked over at Gwen. “You gonna hit that or what?”
“Damn right,” Gwen said. “Don’t be rushing me with yo young ass.”
“My young ass is the one with the weed.” Marc bluntly stated like he was a grown man. Gwen looked at him and shook her head. He was every spit of his daddy.
“Fuck it,” Gwen said and inhaled the sweet tasting marijuana. She sucked in the smoke like a vacuum cleaner. Without taking a breath, she inhaled the smoke again and held it for as long as she could. As she attempted to let the smoke back out, she nearly coughed up a lung off of the good green. “Daaa—aaamn! That’s some good shit!” she said.
“Tell me about it.” Marc said.
Gwen shot him the side eye. “Is this your first time smoking?”
“Nah, this is like my sixth time I believe.” He coolly said like it was all good.
Gwen looked over at him. Clearly he was going through some things; one being the untimely death of his father. She hit the blunt again feeling like she needed this hit just as bad as he did. “Look,” she started. “Smoking weed isn’t gonna make you feel better about anything that you’re going through. It’s only going to keep your mind in a fog.”
“Maybe I want my mind to be in a fog,” Marc said.
“No you don’t. You’re too young to know what you want. You’ve been through a lot. Your family has been through a lot. Right now, you’re the man of the house. You have to be alert and ready to take on that responsibility. Your mama needs you. Your siblings need you. You don’t have time to be sitting outside sneaking around smoking weed. You need to be making sure that your house is in order. I’m not saying to over step your boundaries with your mama, but you definitely need to step up to the plate and show her that you’re becoming a man in your own rights.” Gwen said pulling from the blunt again. She let out the smoke as she continued. “You want her to see you as a man don’t you? That’s the reason why you’re out here smoking, right? You think you’re grown.”
Marc didn’t say a word. He sat quietly in his thoughts as the sporadic emotions inside of him continued to build up.
“Talk to me,” Gwen said. She could tell that he was about to break down.
“I miss my daddy.” He said as the tears started to fall.
Gwen quickly reached over and hugged him. “I know you do,” she said. “I miss him, too.”
“I know that he wasn’t the best dad to have, but he was still my dad.” He said as Gwen continued to hug him.
“If you’re gonna cry let it all out now and don’t cry for this same reason again,” she said. Hearing him cry made her feel mushy inside and feeling mushy wasn’t in her vocabulary. “Just let it out.” She said rubbing him on the back with one hand and holding tight to the blunt with the other hand.
Marc cried in Gwen’s arms for a good ten minutes. He was hurt, but unbeknownst to him Gwen would be the one that was going to set him back on the right track. After he’d gotten it all out, he wiped his tears while continuing to listen to Gwen as she advised him that doing drugs was not a good idea and that the quicker he came to reality with what was going on the sooner he’d be able to deal with it.
Gwen stood up and grabbed Marc by his hand, pulling him up off the ground. “Now, you need to get home before your mama starts looking for you.”
No sooner than she could get that out, they could hear Nina’s voice from a couple of houses down. “MARC, ARE YOU OUT THIS DOOR?!” She yelled out.
“Speaking of the devil,” Gwen said with a shake of the head. “You better get to going.” She said not wanting to deal with Nina at the moment. It was already bad enough that the moment she’d gotten to smoke some of the best weed ever, she couldn’t fully enjoy it because of the circumstances.
“Let me get my blunt back,” Marc said as he reached out his hand.
Gwen frowned. “Boy, didn’t you say that you stole two blunts from your mama? You better get yo ass back home before I tell on you.”
Marc shook his head with a slight smile on his face. Gwen had without a doubt made him feel better. “A’ight.” Marc said, but before he could run off Gwen stopped him.
“And when you smoke that blunt you better be done! Don’t let me catch you again or I will tell on your ass for sho’.” She assured him.
“I’m not even smoking it. I’m gonna put it back in her cigarette box.” Marc told her. “Thanks Gwen,” he said and took off running towards his house.
Gwen smiled, and then quickly looked down at the blunt. On the ground she saw that Marc had left his lighter. “Yesssss,” she said. She picked the lighter up off of the ground and quickly lit the blunt. As she pulled it, Anton stepped from around the house. He’d been standing there almost the entire time. Hearing Gwen give Marc such decent advice made him proud of her. Even though she went about it in Gwen’s own way, he could tell that it made a difference to Marc.
Gwen let out the smoke while humming a happy tune in her mind. With her eyes closed she danced in circles feeling pretty good, but as she turned and her eyes opened she jumped. “FUCK!” She squealed out after seeing Anton standing there. “H
ow long have you been out here?”
“Long enough,” Anton answered almost wanting to laugh at her. “Let me get that.” He said reaching for the blunt.
“Come on, Ant.” Gwen begged. “It’s just reefer.”
“I know, but it might trigger something else.” He said.
“Nah, the only thing it’s gonna trigger is my hunger for some food.”
Anton just stared at her, and then he said, “Come on, Ma. Give it here.”
“You sho’ know how to fuck up a wet dream,” she said with a serious pout. She quickly pulled the blunt again like a fat kid trying to hurry up and eat the chocolate chip cookies before her parents could catch her in the cookie jar.
“Ma,” Anton called out trying to reach around her and grab the blunt. “Gwen,” he calmly said. “Give it here or I’m gonna tell.”
“Damnit man,” Gwen said. “Get this shit.” She hesitantly handed over the blunt with a disappointing shake of the head then she smiled at him. At that point, she was buzzing like no other. “I’m hungry. See, what I told you.” She grinned. “Now, come on and cook your mama some breakfast since yo ass up being fucking nosey this morning.”
Anton laughed out loud. “It’s a good thing that I was up being nosey or you would’ve sucked this blunt down your throat in no time.”
“I don’t know how you know.” Gwen stated with a light chuckle. “Now come on.” She said as Anton followed her inside the house. He didn’t mind cooking her breakfast since she gave up the weed without resistance. However, he was sure to give her some of the same advice that she’d given Marc in hopes that she’d also take it in stride and leave the drugs alone.
***
Meanwhile, on the other side of town, Scarlett lay in the bed next to Troy. He was smitten just to have her be with him. He felt that they had a very close relationship, and that they were open with each other about everything. He leaned over and kissed her softly on the cheek.
“Good Morning, babe,” she said with a smile on her face.
“Hey beautiful,” he spoke smiling back at her.
She looked at him with a slight frown of curiosity on her face. “What’s up with you? Why are you looking at me like that?” She questioned.
Troy smiled while staring in her face. “Well, I was thinking.” He said, but she quickly cut in.
“You were thinking what?” She inquiringly pondered.
“I was thinking that since you’re now two months pregnant and we’re engaged that you should move in with me.”
Scarlett blushed. “Are you serious?”
“Why wouldn’t I be?” he questioned. “You’re going to be my wife someday soon and you’ll be having my baby.”
“Weeeeeell,” Scarlett said with hesitance in her voice.
“Are you still thinking about Luke being the father?” He asked knowing that for the past two weeks they’d been back and forth about her just coming clean with Luke and getting it over with.
“It’s not so much about thoughts of him being the father. I just don’t want to continue to make mistakes in my life. I want to do right by our baby.”
“And you will,” Troy said like he wasn’t the least bit concerned. “I trust you to tell him about the baby and that just be it until we find out the paternity. I’m not concerned with Luke or his feelings for you. I trust you and that’s all that matters.”
“You should, because I wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize what we have. I honestly love you. I love what we have. I wouldn’t trade it for the world.” She assured him.
He leaned over and kissed her passionately on the lips. “I love you, too.”
“So, I think that once I tell Luke about the baby and we can put that part behind us then I’ll happily move in. It’s nothing like I want to be with him anymore. He is my past, but if this baby is his then we’ll have to let him be a part of his child’s life.”
Troy smiled with a nod of his head. “I can agree. I would certainly want to know if someone had a child out there by me. There is no way that I’d keep a man from his child if he wanted to be a part of his or her life.”
“That’s why I love you. You are heaven sent. No lie.”
Troy smiled. “When you’ve taken losses like I have it humbles a man. I think more clearly now about life and what I want out of it. I want you to make the right decisions. It makes me respect you more as a person. None of us are perfect, but that doesn’t mean that we have to dwell on our imperfections. I also believe that anything in the past is what it is. We don’t always make the best of decisions, but as long as we learn from them then that’s all that counts.”
Scarlett smiled. “Did I mention that you were heaven sent?” she teased.
Troy nodded his head with a playful smile. “You sure did.” They laughed as he sat up and leaned in toward her stomach. He lifted her night shirt and kissed her stomach. “Your mommy is silly.” He said making Scarlett blush even more. She was indeed in love with this man and it would take something seriously extraordinary to turn her attention away from him.
Chapter 11
Sheila woke up and rolled over right over into Mike’s arms. She cracked one eye with a perplexed look on her face. Oh shit, she whispered. What the fuck did I do? All she could remember was inviting Mike over and getting drunk as a skunk; next thing she knew she’s waking up with him in bed with her.
“Mike,” she called out as he grunted a little bit, but kept on sleeping. “Mike!” she called out again.
“Huh?” he said in a very sluggish and tired tone.
“Wake up,” she said shaking him.
Mike finally cracked his eyes open after a few more seconds of her shaking him. “What babe?” he questioned looking in Sheila’s cute face.
“We didn’t fuck last night did we?” She questioned with a clueless expression.
“Damn babe. You got that fucked up?”
Sheila rubbed in her head. She’d certainly been having her share of drinks to the point that she’d damn near pass out. “Just answer the question, Mike,” she said with sarcasm.
“Uh let me see,” he teased with her. “We played cards last night.”
“High card, low card is hardly a card game,” Sheila said remembering that part.
“Oh it’s a card game that I certainly count; especially if I won.” He said with a handsome smile spread across his face.
“I think you set the cards up so that I’d always pick the lowest card and have to take a shot.”
Mike laughed out loud. “Woman, you were the one that mixed the deck up every single time.”
Sheila laughed a little. “Damn, my luck is just that bad, huh?”
Mike pushed her long bangs out of her face and with a sincere smile he said, “Nah, it’s not bad at all. You’re just going through a rough time right now.” He said since knowing all about her and Jay breaking up and the reason behind it. “But, the Sheila I know will bounce back. She always does.”
“What if Sheila ain’t this strong person that you think she is?” she asked speaking of herself in third person.
“From what I can tell she’s even stronger now. You just gotta believe it.” He said, and then leaned over and kissed her softly on the lips. “And before you ask again, no we didn’t have sex.”
She lifted the covers to look at what she had on. True enough she was dressed in a long white silk gown, panties and all.
“I’m not gonna say that I wasn’t tempted when I was helping you get out of your clothes and putting your night gown on. Lord hammercy!” he teased making her laugh. “Your ass is even sexier now.”
Sheila blushed. “The old Mike I used to know would’ve taken full advantage of me.”
“Yep, the old Mike would’ve. The new Mike is more on a chill mode now. The new Mike wants to settle down and have something real. Running the streets have played out.”
Sheila frowned not knowing this Mike at all. “Say what now?”
“You heard me.” Mike said. “When you left me for g
ood it hurt like hell. I was so used to you taking me back that I never thought about the realization of losing you for real. But, when you left me that last time and I knew that it was over, it hurt. It made me sit back and think of where I’d gone wrong and I beat myself up for the mistakes that I had made. I hurt for the times that I hurt you just thinking about it. It was like I needed that wakeup call or something.”
Sheila was taken aback as her eyes widened. “Wow, you have changed.”
“I’m trying to tell you and I’m making this change in hopes of getting you back someday.”
Sheila lay in bed quietly for a moment. She looked over at Mike with a serious facial expression. “I won’t even lie to you. Had you said these things to me some months back, I would’ve never left you.”