Page 91 of Not My Type (Not My Type #1)

Zara

Nickoi parks the car and we get out just in time to see Nicki coming with her friend.

Nicki is wearing a long blonde lace wig.

A short white dress with nude Gabardine prada shoes.

Dem shoes deh cute eeeh! The girl in my head shrieks.

I look at her friend and she’s wearing a denim jeans, red tank top with Bridget slippers.

You wouldn’t believe seh dem a big woman. “What a way yuh stay good,” she smiles at me after hugging Nickoi. I smile.

“Periodd,” I do the pinch gesture, saying ‘Clock that.’

Nickoi chuckles. “You and Zara can par enuh, cause unuh love clothes the same,” he says, and I look away from him, returning a smile to Nicki.

“A so it fi go,” she points at her friend. “This a mi friend though she name Marsha.”

Marsha beams. “Nice to meet you nice girl.”

“Nice to meet you too,” I say and Jordane walks over to us.

“Mommy dem want yuh in a the kitchen enuh.”

“Arite mi go link unuh later,” and with that, she walks away with her friend. She looks at Nickoi alottttt. Mi glad she gone. Nosahhh.

“Wah gwan, bredda?” Jordane nods at Nickoi after greeting me.

“Deh yah enuh,” Nickoi responds then he asks. “When unuh fawud?”

“Mommy lef out 12 o’clock so we deh yah early,” Jordane tells him. If mi never know say he’s in grade eleven me would a think seh him is a big man.

“Pepper shrimp, Pepper shrimp any shrimp,” I look around once I hear that. Did I just hear shrimp? I walk over to the man and he smiles when he spots me. “Nice girl mi have pepper shrimp and a few weh nuh spicy but everything yasso hot,” he says showing me the shrimps.

I eye the shrimp for a moment. “Mi nuh want no pepper shrimp,” I tell him. He picks out a bag of shrimp, hands it to me, and I pay him without saying much. “Thanks,” I mumble, walking away. I can hear him saying something, but I just keep moving, tuning him out.

“You want one?” I ask Nickoi when I reach to him. He shakes his head.

“No mon,” he says, holding my hand and leading me inside.

The moment we step in, I feel this weight settle on my chest, and then I hear it—the soft, familiar strains of Brandy’s Missing You.

Damn, that song hits different. It’s like the floodgates open, and before I know it, I’m bawling, tears streaming down my face, no matter how hard I try to fight it. Right..

“You were my sister, my strength, and my pride, only God may know why,” a brown lady sings, gently shaking Aden as he cries.

“Who is she?” I ask Nickoi.

“Gina mother,” he responds. Damn. I spot Rick at the side smoking. I can tell he’s broken. He isn’t crying but I can see the pain… he’s hurting.

“Mi a go talk to Rick,” I say, popping a shrimp in my mouth. As I walk over to him, I start hesitating. He looks up, then smiles. Him strong eeeh?

“Wah gwan?” he greets me.

“Just a eat shrimp,” Jesus mi nuh know wah fi say to him. “You want some?” I offer and he shakes his head.

“That good man.”

“Yuh nuh have no appetite?” I question.

“Yeah man.” Okay...

“I can only imagine how you feel losing your significant other,” I start.

He doesn’t say anything. “I don’t know exactly what to tell you cause mi cya find the right words but just know I care.

I didn’t get the chance to know her... I don’t even know how she looks but my friend Aden says she’s pretty like me so I’mma go with that,” he chuckles when I say that.

“Respect, man.” His smile is sad, heavy. I hate that he has to go through this. I glance over and spot Nickoi, smoking, eyes glued to his phone, lost in his thoughts.

“Mi soon come back,” I tell Rick before I walk over to Nickoi. He’s got his eyes glued to the screen, scrolling through an app showing delivery times and routes. A the drugs business. So a this him always a do pan him phone?

“Nickoi?” I say and he looks at me. Him not even have on the screen protector again. It’s a different phone Zara.

“Mi know yuh seet,” he speaks nonchalantly.

“Babe mi already know,” I playfully shrug.

“Know what?” he smiles, trying to play smart.

“The business,” I whisper and he taps his lap. I sit on him.

I watch him for a minute and it clicks. He’s got everything under control through that phone. He’s deciding the routes, timing the deliveries, calling the shots without lifting a finger.

“Babe where is the business?” I’m curious.

“In due time I’ll tell you,” is his answer. Ooop. I don’t earn that yet. A sigh slips out. I look away and spot Rick again.

“He’s really hurting enuh babe,” I share.

“Mi know,” Nickoi’s gaze on his best friend.

“Why you nuh talk to him?” I narrow my eyes.

“Rick is better when he’s alone... talking to him only make him hurt more,” Nickoi explains.

“When I was talking with him he didn’t seem like he was hurting,” I point out.

“Cause a that him wah yuh think,” he states dryly. “When him isolate himself him a wul meds him soon come around back.”

“How long unuh been best friends?” I really have to ask.

“From mi know miself,” he answers. “At first he was just a close friend, had another best friend at that time.” Eeeh. I don’t say anything. Instead, I look around at everyone.

Some people are talking about random stuff while you see a few seated, wiping their tears as they listen to the sad songs.

The younger people are outside playing their own music.

Mi nuh wrong them. Music blasting, girls whining on their man, some just sipping liquor, lost in the vibe.

I keep watching, taking it all in, until the darkness pulls me under.

“Mami?” Nickoi’s voice pulls me from my slumber. I blink my eyes open and spot Gina’s mom standing in front of me.

“Yuh nuh see wifey sleepy, Nickoi?” she teases, smiling as she hands me a cup of soup. I take it, even though I really don’t want it.

“Thanks,” I return her smile.

Nickoi chuckles. “Mi probably affi cut soon with har mon.”

“She can sleep inna the room enuh,” she tells Nickoi. His face says it all—he’s not feeling that idea one bit.

“Yah… good,” he simply says. When she walks away I sip the soup and cringe. I hear Nickoi laughing to himself. I nudge him with my elbow.

“Stop laugh after me.”

After a while, everyone gathers outside, sharing funny stories about Gina.

While they’re all out there, I stay on the veranda with Aden, watching them.

I don’t have the energy these days… I just wish I could stay home and sleep all day.

I watch as Nickoi stands beside Rick, telling him something that makes him laugh.

The others catch on, and soon, everyone’s laughing.

He looks up, and our eyes meet. Watch the staring match.

We stare at each other until he looks away.

Aden has his iPad in his hand, watching YouTube and laughing. “Wah sweet yuh?” I ask, resting my chin on his head as I look at the screen. Mummy pig finally pregnant again? I giggle.

Nickoi comes over after a while, handing me some food while taking Aden from my lap. As soon as Aden is lifted, he starts crying, his little hands reaching for me. “Hey bwoy… stop eh’ noise.” lawddd him ruff.

“Baby don’t ruff him up so,” I softly say. Nickoi chuckles.

I try to move my legs, but they’ve been in the same position for too long, and now my feet are aching. Nickoi walks away with Aden, and I groan, rubbing my legs to ease the pain. Like you old already mon.

“You alright?” Janel asks. She looks even prettier in person. I nod.

“Yes mi legs just hurting,” I tell her and she helps me up.

“Thanks,” I smile as she scrolls through my IG.

“Yo, you deserve way more followers. You’ve got that influencer vibe.

” She laughs, and somehow, the conversation shifts.

How we got here, I don’t even know, but now she’s telling me about her fight with her uncle’s wife.

As she vents, she rubs my legs. “Do you feel better now?” She asks and I nod.

“Yes a lot... thank you,” I smile.

“Where you guys going... hotel with Junior and Gutta?” I feel like she likes Gutta.

“Nope at bae’s home,” I say, brushing off her little crush. She doesn’t seem to like Anna. I can see why. Gutta is handsome as hell too, stout, around bae’s height with really long plaits.

“Okay... mi a come too,” she says excitedly. “Mi already tell mommy.”

“Arite,” I say.

Nickoi comes in after a while. “Ready enuh,” we both spring up.

“Mommy gone already?” Janel asks Nickoi. “And your friends?” If I cackle, I dead in yah.

“No,” he says before walking out. We follow him. Before I get in the car, I stop for a moment to talk to Gina’s mom and Rick. I wind the windows up because it’s so cold outside—and it’s not even December yet. That mi a seh too.

Nickoi gets in, placing a bag on the armrest. “A the printed shirt dem yer,” he tells me.

“Janel you a drive with us or mommy?” Nickoi’s eyes on her.

“I want to come with Zara,” she says, and I smile. She gets in, and Nickoi honks the horn before reversing the Jaguar out of the yard.

“Yuh nuh rate yuh bredda?” he says after a while, and I laugh as he goes on. “A Zara yuh a come for?”

“Yuh still on that babe,” I tease.

“Yah,” he says, driving, and I rest my head on the window with a smile.

When I wake up, I hear Nickoi on the phone talking to Rick. “Bredda, today yuh fi stay strong enuh… just stay strong fi Aden man, cause even though him young him understand wah gwan yuh zimi?”I smile to myself.

“Yea, mi a go try man,” he says. “Dem all wah mi go talk, a dat a guh hard enuh,” he tells Nickoi.

“Just nuh pree people bruh… just dweet and get that over with,” he advises.

“Bredda mi nuh wah go look weak enuh,” Rick admits with a sigh.

“Yah cause when dem see man cry a that them seh but just wul it and if yuh really need to let it out, do that... doh do like me cause when yuh bottle it in it overwhelm yuh. Member a one family wi seh enuh suh the wul a the dawgs dem deh wul it out fi yuh,” Nickoi says.