Spin, p.23
Spin, page 23
“She not. She stressing herself out about Brook getting a car. I still got time to make my mind up about it though,” my aunt said.
“Well, whatever you decide to do, just put me up on game before you do it. What’s up with you though? I hit you last night, and you didn’t answer,” my mom released.
“I think she got a boyfriend. She been acting sneaky lately. Last night, after we ate dinner, and stuff, she told me that she had to get something out of her car in the parking garage. She was gone for about ten minutes, and when I called her to see what was taking her so long, she told me that she would be up in five minutes. I went in her room a couple of times this week, and every time that I go in there, she has the phone glued to her ear, smiling, and laughing. See if you can get it out of her ma because she won’t tell me,” I said, straight up snitching on my aunt.
I knew that a lot of men tried to holler at her. Hell, whenever we would go out together, someone new would try to ask her for her number. I watched her turn down a lot of men, so the fact that she looked like she might have been dating someone, and entertaining them, I wanted to know who it was. I wanted to see my aunt in a relationship because I’ve never seen her in one before.
“Girl, who you messing with? I talked to you every day this week, except for last night when I called you, and you didn’t mention nothing to me. Who is he? We know him?” my mom asked, just as messy as me, so I knew that she would immediately start firing off question after question.
“It’s not too serious yet. We’re still in the early stages of it,” she said, blushing while she said it, not even able to control herself and keep a straight face. That caused me to giggle because I really did love that for her. My aunt was such a successful woman, beautiful as ever, with a pure heart, so if she was dating someone, and if he was making her happy, then she deserved it.
“Who is it? You answering everything but that,” my mom kept going, searching for the truth.
“You know, Steel? The retired boxer?” she asked, and I didn’t know who he was. If it wasn’t a rapper, I would be very out of touch with anyone else. However, I could tell that my aunt knew who he was because her eyes got wide.
“The one who was married, and they ran his wife off the road a few years ago? That’s who you talking about?” she asked.
“Yeah, him,” my aunt responded.
“The nigga is fine sis, so I completely understand. How is that though, dating a man that was once married? He has a son, right? Damn, I don’t know if I could do it. That nigga might fuck around and tell me that I’m doing something that his wife used to do, and knowing me, I’ll spazz out,” my mom shared, and my aunt kept a straight look on her face.
“The whole time that him, and I have been talking to each other, a conversation about his ex-wife was only brought up once, and it was me that brought it up, and I only did that because I couldn’t be around him and choose not to even address it. I just offered my condolences to him, and that was it. We never spoke on her again. He does have a son. His name is Zayne, and he’s five,” my aunt replied, releasing things that I didn’t even know about.
“You met his son?” my mom asked a question that I wouldn’t have mind knowing the answer to as well.
“I have,” she said, shocking us both.
“Damn, so it’s serious then. Why you trying to downplay it?” she asked.
“I’m not downplaying anything. What we’re doing is still in the beginning stages. I feel like if I never met his son the way that I did, he probably would have still kept him away from me. Remember when I had to help at the youth football event at my school? That’s how I ended up meeting his son for the first time. Oh, and you don’t have to worry about me having him around Brook. I’m just as overprotective of her as you are,” she concluded.
“T, I trust you with any move that you make. If that day ever comes where you want the two of them to meet, I know you’ll make that decision solely based on your gut. I’m not tripping off that. I want to see you happy, and in love, sis. You’ve devoted so much time into pouring into others, busting your ass off in your career, writing books, and everything else that you have going on, so I hope that what you’re doing with him takes off, and it grows to be something beautiful. If anyone deserves to be loved, you know it’s you sista,” my mom said, reaching her hand out for my sister to grab it, and she did just that.
Visitation lasted another twenty minutes or so, and I always hated the part where we had to leave. Just like any other time, when I had to watch my mom get into a single line with the rest of the inmates, I started crying. My aunt was there for me though, wiping my tears, and walking with me as we checked out, and we left.
Once we were back inside of the bus, I was quiet, not saying anything. I still had the paper in my hand with the drawing, and I was clutching onto it, like my life depended on it.
We made it back to the car, and before my aunt started it up, she wanted to know if I was okay, and I assured her that I was.
When we came for these visitations, we wouldn’t go inside with our phones, so she went through her phone, looking to see any missed calls or text messages that she had, and I did the same. I had a text message from Sergio. Ever since that night he had to drop me back off at home from the skating rink, we’ve been off, and on texting, but the texting isn’t that consistent.
It’s crazy because when I saw my cousin bent over in the parking lot like that, doing what she was doing with two men, I never brought it up to her. It’s like I didn’t have the gut to say it. By the time I made it home, that’s when she started blowing my phone up, and I eventually answered for her, telling her that I’d already made it. She kept saying how sorry she was, and after that day, we never really brought it up.
Sergio was texting me, wanting to know what I was doing tonight, seeing if I wanted to go to the movies, and dinner with him. I knew for a fact that my aunt would trip if I asked her to go out with him, especially since he was older, so I declined, telling him that we could try for a weekend when I’m at my grandma’s house. He was cool about it, and then he switched the subject, wanting to know what I was up to. I texted him back, letting him know that I was leaving from visiting my mom, and then I locked my phone, putting it in my lap. At the same time, my aunt was pulling out of the parking spot.
“I swear I don’t feel like driving back home. I may get a hotel for us,” she said. We were in Tallahassee, with seven hours left to be in this car.
On the ride here, I stayed up for the last two hours of the trip. We’d left super early, getting on the road at three this morning. I don’t see how my aunt would take this ride back and forth on the same day, but I guess it would be because she loved her sister. My grandma didn’t come to visit my mom in prison. When she got sentenced, she made it clear that she wouldn’t come and visit her, so she was only holding up what she’d threatened her with.
“Why you never let me drive? I can at least push it for the first few hours, so you can rest, and then you can take it back home,” I offered, and she looked at me like I was crazy, while she pulled out of the parking spot. I knew how to drive on the main road, but I wasn’t experienced yet with the highway.
“Let’s just go get something to eat, and by the time I get some food in my system, I’ll be ready. I can get us back home,” she shared.
All I know is that once I eat, and I get back in this car, I was going to knock out, leaving her up by herself, so she should have taken the offer that I’d given her, so that she could at least get a few hours in to sleep.
FOURTEEN
ZION ‘STEEL’ PERKINS
“Steel, I’m not catching nothing. I’m about to give up,” Toni whined to me. That little whine that she had been doing, upset that I’d brought her out here to go fishing, and she wasn’t catching anything, that shit was making me weak in the knees.
I hit her this morning, wanting to know what her plans were for the day. She was telling me that she was taking her niece to her cousin Karina’s house today, and that she would be spending the night over there, so she was niece free. She did tell me that she wanted to catch up on reading over the edits that she’d just gotten back from her new book that was getting ready to come out, and how she still had a few papers left that she needed to grade, but she told me that she was free to be with me this evening.
I was still feeling Toni out, learning the things that she liked, and didn’t like, so I asked her how she felt about being outdoors because I knew a lot of women didn’t like to be outside. Toni told me that she didn’t mind being outdoors and wanting to know what I had in mind. That’s when I asked her if she’s ever been fishing, and she told me she hadn’t, but it was always something that she wanted to do. I couldn’t talk all this shit about that nigga that tried to put her on a yacht for brunch, so my next question was me asking her about being on a boat for us to go fishing together, and she quickly let me know that she was down, and she wanted to do it.
My pops used to take me fishing all the time, and I was repeating history, doing the same thing with my son. My pops had me driving boats for our fishing trips since I was a little boy, so I’d rented a center console bay boat for us this evening, and I took us out, bringing all the necessities that we were going to need for our fishing outing. Because I already knew where Toni lived by this point, I pulled up on her around four, and she shocked me when she came out, holding an insulated portable cooler bag. I did my running around today, making sure that we had everything that we needed to go fishing, and Toni had come out, doing the same thing. She had subs for us, chips, drinks, candy, and everything else that we were going to need.
“Come here. You gotta be gentle with that shit, T. Fishing is a waiting game. You gotta wait for the fish to take the bait, and when you feel the weight of the fish on the line, that’s when you start reeling it in. Come here. Let me show you,” I suggested, putting my hook down, so that I could help her out.
I had a cooler behind me with about eight fish inside that I’d already caught, and she hadn’t caught any. I fucked with her dedication to learn though. For Toni to be so fuckin pretty, I thought that she was going to be one of those women that was too afraid to touch the worms, and add them onto the hook, but she didn’t mind getting her hands dirty and putting her hands on worms. It’s like everything that she did was a turn on, and she kept me on my toes.
She walked over to me, and I was smiling as she made her way over. She was in a pair of light blue denim shorts. The shorts were short, but not to the point where she had her ass cheeks out. Even if she did decide to leave the house like that, I wouldn’t trip because it was just me, and her out here, secluded, ducked off in our own little area of the water. She was wearing a navy-blue crop top shirt, and it exposed her flat stomach, that was toned up, showing off the four pack that she was working with. Her short cut was styled perfectly like it always was, and there wasn’t a peace of make-up on her face. There were blue, Christian Dior slides on her feet to match the top she was wearing, and about three thin chained anklets on her left foot. I could stare are her pretty ass all day. I swear I could.
She walked over to me with her hook, and I had her stand in front of me, turning around, so that she could face the water. I was right up on her, and I wrapped my arms around her, only so that I could help her with holding the hook. I put my hands on her wrist for a second, so that I could shake them.
“You gotta relax your wrist. Loosen them up a little bit. Where you’re going wrong is looking for the fish, when you supposed to let it look for you, and find you. Think about how it is when your fuckin, right? When a nigga crawl up inside you, and he start digging, he gotta take his time in looking for that spot. Can’t just climb up in that shit and think that you going to give a woman that nut that she desperately needs without taking your time first. Gotta go slow, and find it,” I shared, and as I was talking to her, I could see the hairs that started standing up on her arms, as well as her neck. I probably should have used a different comparison, but it was the first thing that had come to mind.
My words took her a little off guard, but she eventually got it together, loosened up her wrist like I’d offered her to do, and while she stood there, relaxing, letting the fish search and come to her, I was behind her, head buried into her neck, watching over her shoulder. It took about a minute, and she screamed.
“Steelllll, it’s something on the hook!” she screamed out, happy, doing a quick jump.
“Reel it in but be careful with it. Come on. Let me see,” I said, rushing to get my phone, so that I could record her, and she could have the footage of her catching her first fish. The entire time that she was reeling it in, she was jumping up and down, screaming, happy at what she was doing. The shit she was doing was contagious, so I found myself smiling, and laughing, while recording her, and within a few seconds, she pulled out a nice size snapper.
“Steel, lookkkk,” she cooed, holding the hook up, showing me her win.
“I see it, baby. Hold on, let me take a picture,” it’s like that shit just slipped right out of my mouth so naturally to call her baby. I’d never said it before, but I was tempted to say it, especially this week alone because we’ve been doing a lot of talking on the phone, and I pulled up on her twice at home, but both times were at night, while her niece was there, so she would just meet me out in the lobby.
When I called her baby, the smile that was on her face became even brighter, and that’s when I snapped pictures of her. I helped her to get the fish off the hook and place it into the cooler with the rest of the ones that I’d caught.
Toni was so happy with her accomplishment that she wanted to give it another shot and see if she could catch another one. This time, I didn’t have to assist her with getting the worm on the line because she’d done it herself, and when she went to throw it into the water, she relaxed her wrist, wasn’t so eager to go searching for the fish, and within about a minute or two, she was screaming again, letting me know that something had caught onto the line, and she gently reeled it in without my help, and there she was again, pulling out another snapper. She took it off the hook this time on her own, examining it, and she placed it inside of the cooler with the other fish.
For about another hour straight, she was able to catch four more, and I’d gotten three. It was perfect out here right now because the sun was setting, and that view was fuckin amazing. I loved the reflection from the sun that it was making to the water. Toni came with essentials for us to wash our hands with, so that we could eat the food that she packed.
Now, the two of us just sat down inside of the boat, and I was opening the packaging for the sub that she’d passed to me. I looked inside of it, just so that I could see what it entailed. I feel like even if it had something inside that I didn’t eat, I probably would still bust it down because I didn’t want her to feel like she’d fucked up with the sandwich, but to my surprise, it was a ham, and turkey sandwich, housing all the different toppings that I liked, like my banana peppers, tomatoes, lettuce, and the yellow American cheese that I would get.
“Let me find out that you spying on me. How you know how I like my subs?” I joked, and she giggled, while she opened a bag of original Lays, and she started pouring the contents out onto her napkin that she had folded, where her sub was.
“No, I remember after Zayne’s football game the other day, and we all went out to eat, and I overheard you telling your Goddy ma the way that you liked your subs, so I just made a mental note on that. That’s it. No stalking over here, love,” she responded.
After Zayne’s game, he wanted to have dinner at The Cheesecake Factory, so everyone that had attended his football game had come out. His lil ass was so happy to have everyone there, but I don’t think anyone other than Toni made him the happiest with her presence. He sat between the two of us, but he mainly talked with her the entire time, just like he’d done that afternoon at Hooters.
“Speaking of stalking, what’s going on with your student that we saw at your place?” I asked her, right after taking a huge bite into my sub, and then I finished chewing it down. When I asked that question to her, she took a while to answer it. It’s almost like she had to think on the way that she wanted to respond.
“That Monday, he didn’t come to class. Wednesday, he came, but he was late, and that isn’t like him at all. The front seat that he usually sits in, someone was already there, so he sat in the back, which was weird too because there were still other seats in the middle that he could have chosen to sit in. He’s been in class, but he’s been sitting in the back, and not participating. The other day during my lecture, I directed a question at him to answer, and he wouldn’t answer it for me. He walked out before class ended, so I didn’t get a chance to pull him to the side and see what was going on with him. I’m not sure. The whole situation is weird,” she shared with me.
“He saw you with me, and now he not fuckin with you no more. I’m telling you, he got a crush on you,” I stated, and when I said that, she just waved me off.
We ate our food, talking about a little bit of everything. I shared with her that I was leaving for Georgia in a couple of weeks, so that I could take my son to see his family that he had there on his mom’s side. His grandmother had been calling me, on my ass about seeing her grandson, so I’d booked us a flight to go there in two weeks. The only reason why it was so far out is because Zayne’s team was having their celebratory banquet next weekend, now that the season had come to an end, and the following weekend, it was track try outs, that he didn’t want to miss. When football season is over, he would run track, and still be in the gym, doing his conditioning with boxing. My son was an all-around athlete.
“Can I ask you something?” Toni asked, pushing away from her food, that I think she was finished with because she’d placed her napkin on top of her half-eaten sub.
“Ask me anything,” I encouraged her to do so.
