Page 29 of This Is Law 3

My pops was cool when it came to us talking to him about girls.

Shit, I been talking to him about girls since I was in daycare.

He knew that I was girl crazy, and I loved beautiful women, and because of how close our bond was when it came to that, that was another reason why he was so caught off guard when that shit had gone down with Vivian.

“Where ma at?” I asked him, after he took the lounge chair that was right next to me.

“Knocked out. Damn near in a coma,” he said that shit like it was funny. If this wasn’t my pops, I would have knocked him out because I knew what he was trying to imply by saying that my mama was in a coma.

“Man, watch out with that,” I said, standing up, about to make my way back to the bar, so that I could grab another virgin daiquiri.

My pops knew that comment he made was going to aggravate me, and that’s why he sat his ass there laughing, as I was walking away. Shaking my head, I headed for my drink, trying to forget that I just got turned down by some fine shit.

Hours later…

We spent hours outside today. After chilling on the beach with our pops for about an hour, my mom finally made her way down, so that we could do some excursions as a family.

My favorite thing that we did today was going down to the dolphin cave.

I loved animals, so we got to interact with the dolphins, stingrays, and whatever other marine animals that were out there.

I wasn’t surprised that my mom sat that excursion out, and chose to just have her phone out, recording me, Legend, and our dad because her ass was scary as hell.

All she wanted to do was find, and book all the excursions for us to do, but once it was time to get there, and do it, she chose to just watch and capture all the fun.

Legend and I were back in our room, chilling. After being out exploring all day, we came back to the room, took showers, and he was in his bed knocked out. I couldn’t sleep, so I was on my phone, browsing social media.

A few minutes into that, my phone started ringing.

It was Quay hitting me. I haven’t spoken to him in weeks.

Ever since me, and him exchanged words, after I called him out on the way that he was living, and how I didn’t agree with it, I was cool off him.

I accepted the fact that me and him were on different paths right now.

Because I was close with my pops, I shared with him our last interaction, and we had a long talk about it. He knew that it would hurt me if I had to walk away from a childhood friend, but he saw why I would have to do it.

I still had love for Quay, and I didn’t want anything bad to happen to him.

Because of the love that I had for him, that’s why I couldn’t ignore his call right now.

I didn’t know if he was in some trouble, probably just wanted to talk, or whatever the case was, and that’s why I slid the bar across on my screen, answering the call for him, and placing the phone to my ear.

“Yo,” I answered, no malice or anything dripping from my voice. I talked to him just as I would any other time that we would have spoken before in the past.

“Shit, what’s good with you? Not even on no gay shit, but I miss you nigga,” he replied, and I found myself laughing at that.

“Soft ass. Bitch what you mean you missed me?” I asked in a joking kind of way. My question made him laugh. I really was just playing with him. I didn’t think it made him soft for telling me that he missed me.

“That’s why a nigga can never be vulnerable because ya’ll take me for a joke.

I really do miss you though. When me, and you chopped it up the last time, I was in a fucked up spot.

I had just gotten kicked out of school, and my mama kicked me out the crib too.

I didn’t have a stable place to lay my head, so the last thing that I needed was you trying to preach to me.

I know that when you get on me about certain shit, that you’re only saying it out of love, but sometimes, the timing just be off.

That’s all man,” he voiced. I could hear it in his voice that he was being sincere.

It was rare that Quay ever opened up like this, so to hear it, I knew that it took a lot for him to even do it.

“When I come at you like that, I swear I’m not doing that shit in a negative light.

I ain’t trying to preach to you when I do it because trust me, I hate when people try to preach to me.

You’re my best friend, and I just want what’s best for you, you know?

We grew up together, and as small kids, we used to talk about a lot of our dreams and shit, but it seems like the older we get, the more you’ve shifted away from that.

You used to talk about football, and how you wanted to go to the NFL one day.

You used to be a beast on the football field when you played in elementary school.

Because of the career field that my dad is in, he’s told stories to me, and Legend about young niggas getting charged as adults, serving life sentences, and I just be scared that that’s what’s going to happen to you.

I know the real you, man. I know that underneath all that dope boy shit, that your smart.

I know that trapping isn’t the only thing that your good at.

You could be beating these niggas ass in football if you really wanted to,” I said to him, and after I finished, I heard him sigh, followed by silence for a bit.

“I hear you. What are you up to though? I hit you just to see if you wanted to hang out or some shit?” he offered. The last time that he offered to go somewhere with me, I was turned off by the end of the conversation, so I declined his offer, and that’s when shit went left with us.

“I’m not home right now. I’m on vacation with my family. We can do something when we get back. That’s cool?” I asked him.

“Yeah man. That’s cool. We should go somewhere on a field, so I can beat your ass in baseball,” he joked, and that shit made me laugh.

“Yeah nigga, you must be using the shit that you out here selling if you think that you going to beat me in baseball. We can get outside on a field though. Get a good workout in. I’m down with that.

I been out here, eating a bunch of bullshit, and sipping on these virgin drinks like it’s soda.

Let’s get right on the field, so that I can be in perfect shape once summer comes, and we start baseball practice,” I responded, hype about that.

Anything that required some kind of outside physical activity, sweating, and working out, I was all in for that shit.

“Aight. Shit, I’m down. Hit me when you back in town,” he let me know.

“I got you. Stay out of trouble too. I love you, man,” I replied.

“I will. I love you too,” and like that, we hung the phone up.

I’m not sure what had gotten into Quay, but he sounded more positive than our last interaction.

I hoped this version of him stayed the same.

Hopefully, when we met up, I could get in that nigga’s ear about enrolling in school again.

I wasn’t going to come at him all aggressive like I did the last time because I didn’t want it to get blown out of proportion again.