"So you and Insane huh?" Kiada says, as I grab an order for a table off the counter.

"That's not really any of your business." I say.

She follows me, making me roll my eyes.

I sit the plates down on the table in front of a couple. They look a little older than me, maybe late twenties.

"Y'all let me know if you need anything else, okay?" I raise my voice over the music. They nod, and I turn to face Kiada.

"He's a liar. He's already lying to you." She says, as we walk back to the kitchen.

"About what?" I fold my arms, not believing anything she says. She's just jealous. She said it herself.

Dada hesitates and her light complexion turns a little pink.

"I can't tell you.. Its not my place."

"Girl bye." I wave her off, walking away from her.

I'm sick of this little game she thinks she's playing. We're not friends anymore, so nothing she has to say is relevant, especially if its about me and Tupac.

Just as I'm about to go into the kitchen, I see Tupac standing at his place on the balcony, He's talking to someone, a guy I've seen around the club before. He's a little taller than him and he's light skinned.

The conversation looks stressed, just as I'm about to look away, Tupac looks down and waves at me.

I wave back.

~

When I get home to my apartment, the first thing I do is get in the shower.

I have to figure out how I'm gonna get Jamie out of that house.

How did she even meet this DeVante guy and where the hell did he come from. Whoever he is, He's definitely a little off and he's not someone Jamie would normally be around.

I should've went over there sooner.

Maybe I could've prevented this.

After rinsing off, I turn the shower off. I can hear Tupac coming in.

I wrap the towel around myself and walk across the hall to my bedroom.

"Hey." Pac says, kissing my cheek.

"Hey."

"Can I use your shower? Would've went home but I figured you'd be sleep by the time I went there and back." Lesane says.

"Yea sure." I say, still facing my mirror. I see him start to take off his clothes, I quickly bring my focus back to myself in the mirror.

"You quiet." He says, standing behind me, putting his chin on my shoulder.

"Sorry. I just got a lot on my mind." I say, turning to face him, his black basketball shorts making his print visible. I trace a tattoo on his forearm that I've never noticed before. Its a crown, with Kiada's nickname below it.

Lesane sucks his teeth before taking my hand off the tattoo and kissing my knuckle gently.

"Ima get it covered up." He says.

I just give a soft smile.

No wonder that bitch walking around like everybody gotta bow down to her. I knew they were serious at one point, but a tattoo? That's seriously serious.

"Go get in the shower so we can lay down." I say, nudging him a little.

Lesane kisses my cheek again before going into the bathroom.

After putting on lotion and a T-shirt I fold Tupac's clothes into a neat pile and put them on my desk.

I sit down in my pink desk chair, my eyes narrowing on a piece of paper. The list I wrote of reasons I thought Pac was apart of the bank robberies. Is that what Kiada was talking about?

He wouldn't lie to me about that.

The shower water turns off and he calls my name.

"What?" I say, getting up from my seat and walking closer to the bathroom.

"Go to my car and get my clothes. I left em." He says.

"Are you asking me or telling me?" I laugh, Tupac comes out the bathroom, my eyes roll down his soaking wet body.

Oh my God. He's naked.

I shut my eyes.

He pushes me against the hallway wall, a smirk on his face.

"I mean I can sleep naked. Its up to you." He says.

I squeeze my eyes shut.

"Where's your keys?" I ask.

"Living room table."

I keep my eyes closed until I hear the bathroom door shut. I chuckle to myself a little as I get his keys off the table and go outside to his car. My fluffy house shoes echoing on the concrete.

When I open the door, his car is everything I expected. Shiny leather seats, the smell of weed with a hint of his cologne, and gold accents on the door handles.

Very Lesane-ish.

I reach into his back seat and grab the clothes, when something catches my eye, his gun. Or one of them rather. I pick it up, it's weight heavier than I expected.

The light from the car reflects on its gold surface, Tupac is the only person I've ever seen with a gold plated gun.

I turn it over in my hand, there's blood on it.

I put it back where I found it quickly.

Maybe its not blood.

What else would it be Adrienne?

I shake off the bad thoughts and grab his clothes, locking the car back.

"I feel like I don't know anything about you." Adrienne says, as we lay beside each other in the bed. No lights on, no TV on. Just the moon shining through her window.

"Well what you wanna know?"

She's quiet for a while.

"You remember that night in your office.." She trails off a little. "You told me you aren't a good person, why did you say that?" She asks.

"I don't remember. I was drunk, and high." I say.

But I do remember, and I meant it. I'm not a good person. I've done shit that I would take back if I could.

I've killed people, stole from people.

But every time I try to turn my life in another direction, this thug life just chase me down.. So I stopped running from it.

Its who I am.

My mama hate me for the life I chose. She disappointed in me, and that's a burden that ain't easy for a son to bear. Disappointment.

Thats why I opened Black Cotton. I thought it would make her see that I'm doing something right.

"Where'd you grow up?" She asks.

"East Harlem, me and my sister and my mama. Just the three of us." I say.

"New York. Where was your dad?" Dri turns to face me, I face her too.

"Don't know."

"I was born in Chicago, I came down here for college and decided to stay. My brother stopped coming home one day and my mom was by herself all the time. I asked her to move here and she did." Adrienne says.

I furrow my eyebrows, even though she can't see me.

"Is your brother okay?"

She sighs deeply. "Who knows. We see him every blue moon when he needs money." She says.

A silence falls over both of us. I listen to her breathe. She shifts a little closer to me.

"This is the first time I've heard you talk about your mom." Adrienne says.

I chew on my bottom lip.

"We don't really talk." I say. "I think she would like you though."

"Really?"

"Yea."

"Did you play any sports in highschool?" Dri asks, I chuckle a little.

"No. I was more of the nerd-poet type." I say, making her laugh too.

"I still got just as many honeys as the varsity basketball team though."

Adrienne sucks her teeth. "Yea yea. I bet you did."

"Lemme guess, Track?" I take a guess.

"I did every sport my mom would let me. Volleyball, track, basketball. She never let me be a cheerleader though. She said it was too dangerous."

"Well you ended up in a short skirt anyway." I say, making both of us laugh. She nudges me playfully.

"Haha. So funny." She says, sarcasm in her voice.

I yawn.

"You never talk about your mama either." I say.

Adrienne clears her throat.

"We're not as close as we used to be. She has this expectation of me that I'll never be able to live up to." She says, a little sadness in her voice. I pull her closer to me, she buries her face in my chest.

This girl makes me feel so many different emotions at once. She makes me want to tell her every thing. Things I've never told anyone.

Adrienne yawns and her breathing slows. I know she's gonna fall asleep soon.

"Lesane?"

"Yea?"

"Why do you like me?" She asks sleepily, barely above a whisper.

I hesitate, not knowing what to say.

"You're like a breath of fresh air. Every time I see you, there's this light around you that makes everyone around you feel happy."

"I love the way your eyes light up when you watch people dance at BC, or when you study my face to see if I'm okay and you think I don't notice, but I do, I always do."

"I love that you help people.. You help me just by being around. Adrienne you make me wanna change my life, for the better."

The sound of A light snore makes me chuckle.

I been talking to myself this whole time.

When I wake up, Adrienne isn't in bed. I shift, pulling the covers off of me.

Then I hear her on the phone in the living room.

"You don't have to come get me Dri, I'm fine. You just came at a bad time." Jamie says.

"It didn't look like a bad time. It looked like you were outta your damn mind and he was perfectly fine. Who the fuck is that and where did he come from?" I ask, rubbing my right temple.

"I met DeVante at a club a while back. We're just having fun."

"Jamie. Do not lie to me. Is he hitting you?"

"Oh fuck no. Girl you know I would never allow that." Jamie says, raising her voice at me a little.

"Well he seemed a little off to me."

"We both took a few things he was probably just high. Its not that serious Adrienne, you gotta stop worrying about me. I'm grown."

"Grown people fuck up too Jameria!" I yell, she's silent on the other end. She knows that when I use her real name I'm serious.

That didn't look like fun.

It looked like he doped her up and she was in outer space at three o'clock in the afternoon.

"Well its whatever. I'm good. Worry about you." She says, before hanging up.

I groan, slamming the phone down on the hook.

"You igh?" Pac's voice makes me look over my shoulder.

"Yea." I say, getting up from the couch.

"You sure?"

"Yea, me and my best friend aren't seeing eye to eye right now." I say.

Lesane just leans against the door frame.

"And that is why I don't have friends." He says, making me laugh a little.

"Yes you do."

"No I don't. I have business partners and associates." He says, folding his arms over his chest.

"I'm your friend." I smile.

"Do all your friends eat your pu-"

"Okay okay just be quiet." I interrupt him, making him laugh. I stare at him for a while, studying his milk chocolate features.

There's something about Lesane that's just different from other men I've dated. I just feel so much different with him. Our connection is almost effortless, its strange.

"You should take a picture. It'll last longer baby." He says, before going into the kitchen.

"You got a camera?"