Page 81 of Anything Goes

“You do that,” she replied before pushing me out of the door and closing it in my face.

I had to stop for a moment and reposition myself. My shit was hard as a rock, and it didn’t feel like it was going down anytime soon. Thankfully, I was able to gather my thoughts and get my mind on something else while I was on the elevator. The last thing I needed was Keyon to see me at full attention. I would never hear the end of it.

Before I got in the car, I made a quick call.

I was hoping to get Maxine on the phone, so we could schedule a time to sit down. Hopefully, she would agree to do it this evening. At least then, I could return to Alauni’s with some good news.

Clearly, that was wishful thinking on my part.

I tried to get ahold of her several times, but all I ended up getting was her voicemail. “Hey, Maxine, this is Law. I was just calling because I wanted us to sit down and talk. Call me back when you get this message. I just want to keep things peaceful. I don’t want any problems between us.”

Ending the call, I shoved my cell into my pocket and hopped into my car.

“It took you long enough, Unc. I thought I was going to have to come up there and get you.”

“Man, shut up! It didn’t take that long.”

“Mmhmm.”

My cell went off in my pocket, and I quickly pulled it out.

It was Maxine.

I glanced over my shoulder to see what Keyon was doing. I didn’t want him to hear my conversation. Thankfully, he’d returned his earbuds to his ears and was back to scrolling through his phone.

Hoping that Maxine would be on some good vibes type of shit, I cleared my throat and answered the call. “What’s up, Maxine? Thanks for calling me back. Can we talk?”

26

Law

Cheers filled the gym as Ashlynn wrapped her arms around Keyon after answering yes to his prom proposal. From the way everyone was acting, I almost thought it was a wedding proposal. These kids went overboard about everything.

Knowing how much Keyon was feeling her, I was happy to hear her say yes and even happier that my little trick didn't come back to bite me in the ass. After giving her the balloons and flowers that he'd bought, Keyon met me on the other side of the gym.

“Aye Unc, thanks for your advice. I mean, not that I really needed it.”

“Wow, okay,” I said, laughing. “I’m glad you got your girl.”

“Yeah, me too. I was thinking, maybe you can help me pick out a tux. She wants to do black and gold.”

“No problem. Just tell me when you want to go, and I’ll take you.”

“Cool.”

“In the meantime, y’all need to go get changed and run a few laps before practice this afternoon.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah,” I replied, looking him up and down. “This is an athletic period, not a free period. I gave you enough time to do your little prom thingy. It’s time to get back to business, so tell everyone to go to the locker rooms and get changed. Coach Jeffers should be out here in a few. I need to step out for a bit.”

“Step out? Where are you going?”

“None of your business,” I said. “Just go do what I told you.”

I wasn't thrilled about having to leave school to meet up with Maxine, but she didn't give me too many options. It was either go now, and meet her in a public place or be forced to talk with her alone, later. I definitely wasn't getting suckered into talking to her without other people present.

“Hey, you good?”