Page 29 of Adonis Gates
“Women.” I chuckled then began scrolling through the GoodEatz app naming the different restaurants they had to see if she’d choose any of them.
“Ou, what about Midnite Snack?”
“They not open yet.” Her shoulders slumped, pulling a laugh from me. “What you wanted from there, Jru?”
“Either the shrimp bowl or wings.”
“I named Seaside and Wingin’ It.”
“I don’t want either of those.”
“Aight, what about Lombardi’s? They got wings.”
“Oh, yes. I could do their buffalo wings.”
“Aight, that’s progress.” I said as I went to their menu. I was about to ask her how many wings she wanted but didn’t want to bother with her indecisiveness, so I ordered eighteen for her. That way she’d be able to put up what she didn’t want for later. “You want pizza too?”
She nodded. “Ultimate pepperoni with extra cheese.”
I nodded and added it to the cart then paid before asking what kind of snacks she fucked with. I remembered some of the shit from when we were younger, but I knew that my taste buds had changed since then, so I assumed hers had too.
After she ran her list down to me, I ordered our shit then she asked if I wanted to watch a movie. I declined because I didn’t want to waste time with that shit, I wanted to talk to her and catch up on all the shit I’d missed out on over the last eight years. She still turned on a movie after the food arrived, I guessed for background noise because I wasn’t paying the shit any attention.
“I want to go to a drive-in movie,” she randomly said. “Sorry, this scene reminded me that I wanted to go to the one in Olympus Peak.”
I glanced at the T.V. to see she was referring to the opening scene in Poetic Justice.
“I ain’t even know we had one of them shits.” I admitted. “Why didn’t you go?”
She shrugged, taking a bite of her ranch drenched wing.
“Derrick didn’t really prioritize dating,” she said, covering her mouth with her hand while she spoke. “He was always so busy…”
“Nigga’s pitiful.” I mumbled, shaking my head. “What about Geri? I know she would have went with you.”
“I know, but Derrick was… he just didn’t really like me doing things without him, so…”
“So what? That nigga wasn’t ya fuckin’ pops and you’re not a child. You can go out with ya fuckin’ sister.”
“He was always too worried about what I could be doing when he wasn’t around because he was a piece of shit.” She shook her head. “But I don’t have to worry about that now because I’m free of him.”
“And because you got me back in the picture.” I grinned before taking a bite of my pizza. “Nigga not gon’ fuck with you or say shit with me around.”
“How’s it been raising Apollo?” she asked switch gears on the conversation.
“Hard as fuck.” I confessed. “He a good ass kid, but at times I be thinkin’ I ain’t doin’ enough, or shit, that I may be doin’ too much.” I shook my head. “It just depends on the day to be real.”
“That’s understandable. Parenting doesn’t come with a handbook, and just like he’s young, you are too, Adonis. You’re learning as you teach him.”
“Yeah, I know.” I nodded. “So, where you goin’?” I pointed to the suit case that was still open over by the closet.
Her eyes followed my finger before she shrugged. “I haven’t decided yet. I’m just going to…. go for a little while?”
“Little while?” I frowned and repeated. “Yo’ ass owe me a date. Fuck you mean a while?”
“Not anything permanent, Adonis.” She giggled. “I just need some alone time to reset and refocus. I’ve spent so much time worrying about someone else and catering to them, I neglected myself in the process. I need a hard reset. Do some new things, meet some new people…”
“What new people? I hope not a nigga…”