Tupac

"I'm sorry if I interrupted you guys." Adrienne says, walking over to my desk and sitting in the chair in front of it.

"I didn't know-"

"Its igh, she wasn't talking about shit anyway,

Why you here? I thought you'd need some time alone after last night." I say, sitting down in front of her and opening my check book.

"You were gone when I woke up, just wanted to make sure you were okay." She says, resting her elbow on the desk and her chin in her hand.

"I'm igh, you?"

Adrienne just nods. "I was thinking about buying a house." She says, "My apartment is starting to feel kinda small, especially since you come over alot. And I'm sure you wouldn't mind having extra space."

"Where at?" I ask, but she shrugs.

"I don't know, I haven't started looking yet and I'm not really sure how to go about it ya know." Dri's tone is still soft and careful with me, I miss her vibrant and loud self, but I get it. And I'll wait as long as it takes for us to be normal again.

"Well. If it's more space that you need.. you could move in with me, just until you find a place." I suggest, she looks at me, her brown eyes hidden behind thick lashes.

"You sure? I know you probably like having alone time-"

"Nah I don't mind at all.. It'll be nice to have somebody in the house."

"Okay.. well. Friday?" She asks, "I have a few things to do this week so It'll work best for me."

"Whenever you're ready is igh." I say, writing her check and ripping it from the book. I try to hand it to her by she waves it away.

"I didn't even work last week.. just keep it."

"Nah, it's yours.."

Our eyes meet, she has a small smile on her face. And I can't help but think we're both reminiscing about the first few times we met.

Adrienne takes the check from my hand and folds it before putting it in her bra.

"You coming to work later?"

"Maybe."

My mom called this morning, frantic and crying about how my brother showed up on her doorstep with needle marks in his arm and shaking uncontrollably.

I'm not concerned.

He always does this.

That's partly why I decided to stop by BC, to kill time and let the hype die down before I go to my mom's house.

I knock on the door, it doesn't take long for my mom to open it. Her eyes are red and her lips are tucked in between her teeth. She's clearly frustrated.

"Hey mom." I say, and get no response.

She closes the door behind me and there he is, my older brother, the screw up.

"Hey." He says, from his seat on the couch. I look at him, and then look away.

"Hey."

"How's it going?"

Well, my best friend is missing, doing God knows what with God knows who. I just found out my boyfriend is a serial bank robber and occasionally offs people when he has to, and my drug head brother just showed up on my mom's doorstep.

"Great." I say.

"Sit down Adrienne, I'm about to make lunch for the both of you, then we can all talk over something to eat." My mom says, before disappearing into the kitchen.

"So. How much money did you ask her for this time?" I ask, folding my arms over my chest.

Andrew looks at me, his eyes are bloodshot and sunken in. This is not my brother.

He doesn't answer my question, so I pull my check from BC out of my bra and place it on the table. "This should be enough to get you back to wherever the hell you came from and keep you there for another year." I say.

"I'm not here for money, I'm here for yall." He says, making me scoff.

"Bullshit."

"You don't have to be an asshole to me Adrienne. I'm your brother, and you didn't even hug me when you came in."

"Why the hell would I? Only God knows who's beds you lay up in to get your fix and I'll be damned if I catch something from you." I spit, narrowing my eyes at him.

"Wow." Andrew says. "I don't know what you got going on right now, but it's clear that this attitude you have isn't just because of me, so I'll let you have it this time."

I just roll my eyes, turning away from him.

I stab my baked chicken with my fork, not having an appetite at all.

"So I was thinking about moving down here, to be closer to you guys." Andrew says, making mama drop her fork.

"And where would you live?" She asks.

"I don't know. I'll find a place." He says, making me and mom exchange glances.

She changes the subject.

"How's your waitress job going Adrienne?"

"Its good. Business is smooth as usual." I say.

"That must be why she tried to bribe me with that check. All those zeroes. I didn't know being a waitress paid that much." He says, looking over at me.

My mom furrows her eyebrows.

"You tried to make him leave?" She asks, making me suck my teeth. "For fucks sake don't act like you want him here." I say, raising my voice a little.

"Adrienne." My mom says, a disapproving tone in her voice.

I get up from my seat. "I'm not gonna sit here and act like I care. Bye ma, thanks." I say, before grabbing my keys off the table and leaving the house, slamming the door behind me.

I'm so sick of Andrew's shit. We see him once a year, and it's always the same. He comes home pretending like he wants a fucking relationship with us and like he wants to get better, and then he takes mom's money and leaves her heartbroken.

I refuse to keep playing his sick game.

Tupac's offer for me to live with him made me feel uneasy. I'll have to see him everyday, even when I don't feel like it.

His house is huge so it's not like I'll have to be in his face all the time, but still, I'm not entirely too sure about it.

A part of me is excited about it.

Maybe it'll help me get over this whole situation that happened, and we'll have more time to bond and to feel normal again. Either way it'll take time, I just don't wanna rush it.

When I get to my apartment, I close the door and lock it with a heavy sigh. Lately my head has been so foggy and I haven't felt like myself at all. I just wanna take a nap under a warm blanket and watch a lame, romance movie but Lesane probably wants me to come to work.

I look over at the clock above the living room couch.

I have time for a nap, I guess it won't hurt.

"Aye wassup. You been off the scene alot lately man." Shock, my homeboy says as I sit down on the couch next to him. There's a girl dancing on the table in front of us.

He watches her with lustful eyes, but I want her to get her ass off my table.

"I been handling business." I say, taking a sip from my cup.

I look down at my Rolex, Adrienne should be here any minute if she's coming.

"Heard ya boys got locked up, they both got twenty, no parole." Shock says, I just nod. "Is what it is."

"But it got me to thinking, how they in there, and you out here? Must've pulled a helluva string not to get ya ass busted. Huh?" He chuckles. I narrow my eyes at him but don't say anything. That's when I see Adrienne come into the club, my eyes follow her before I get up from my seat.

"Igh man." I say, dapping Shock up before heading to my office.

When I get in, Adrienne is putting her purse at the top of my closet and taking off her jacket.

"Hey." She says, "I was just about to head back downstairs."

"I didn't think you was coming." I say.

"I wasn't. But I got some good sleep and felt like coming in afterwards." She says, flipping her hair over her shoulder. Adrienne walks past me, placing a hand on my chest briefly before leaving my office.

I follow her, watching as she ties her apron as she walks down the stairs. My gaze drops to her ass, making me think about last night, and how I could've had my way with her.

I wanted to.

I really wanted to.

But it ain't feel right. She's not herself and we're not okay. That would've set the tone for the rest of our relationship, if we even have one.

The rest of the night I just sat around and watched my surroundings, it's been awhile since I've done this instead of sitting in my office the whole night. I get up from my seat to go into the kitchen after noticing that someone had been waiting for their food for too long.

"Aye what the hell going on in here?"

My mouth drops open when a huge fire blazes over the oven. All the girls scrambling around tryna put it out. I look around, tryna find Adrienne but I don't see her.

"Go out the back!" I yell, before pulling the fire alarm so everyone can evacuate.

The building starts to clear out and I grab the fire extinguisher off the wall and put the fire out.

Fuck.

I look around the kitchen at the smoke damage. I knew I shouldn't have hired that dumb ass nigga.

After a few minutes, I go outside behind the building where all my employees are and tell them to go home and that I'll let them know when we'll be open again. I'm gonna lose atleast a week of business to get this kitchen fixed.

Where the hell is Adrienne?

The the loudness of the fire alarm makes my head pound as I walk back into the club, locking the back door behind me.

It's only eleven, maybe she went home early.

I go upstairs to my office, and that's when I see her. In the corner of the room with her knees to her chest and her hands covering her ears.