“Well, all this is nice. I guess. But I’m not talking about this play brother, we play house and go to the movies shit. I’m talking about some real shit. Really being there for each other, no matter what else going on. No matter what, we know we can depend on each other, can call each other. Be friends. We can talk, say what’s on our minds, say how we feel. Deal with it. Just be real, not fake and phony. And shit, I guess we gotta have some fun. And a lot of sex.”

“You like sex?”

“Ha ha! … I think you already saw.”

“Can I see some more?”

“Rasul, stop! There’s more to a relationship than sex.”

“I know. I know … you think I’m like all these other guys out here.”

“All of y’all claim you’re different but then—”

“There ain’t no then. This is me. This is who I am. I like you, a lot. I’m not gonna change.”

“Okay. Alright… I’ll believe you then. As much as I can with everything else I got on my mind.”

“What else is on your mind?”

“You gotta ask? Shit, this baby.”

“Which one?”

“Don’t play with me, boy.”

“This one?”

“Yeah. This one … my baby …”

“Yeah … your baby …”

“My baby …”

“My baby …”

“Shut up …”

“No … yeah, my baby. Our baby.”

“For real? For real? Rasul?”

“Yeah, Shivana … yeah. For real. …”

PART TWO

EIGHT

HE LIVED ON the fourth floor. We had talked about the building and the block, out in the cold, for about ten minutes because he couldn’t smoke in the house even though nobody else was home. He had offered his hand and said, “I’m Rasul.” All I had done was shake it and say, “Hi Rasul.” When he had finished his Newport, he offered to walk me to my door but I had told him I wasn’t ready to go home yet. I wanted to walk up because I knew Ma and Renelle would only take the elevator. Turned out we would have had to do that anyway since the elevator was out of order. I wondered what Renelle had done after I ran out. She couldn’t call Leroy, and he had already had his one call for the day so she wouldn’t be screaming any questions into the phone tonight. Maybe she didn’t believe Nakesha. I’m sure my girl had looked pretty crazy and the whole thing was a blur to Renelle. About the most she had probably done was knock on my door for me without explaining why. Maybe. I hoped. Then Ma would have gone off and Aunt Jewel would have panicked because I wasn’t where I said I was going to be. Then Ma would have started going off about me being with that boy I supposedly liked but wouldn’t tell her about. Well tonight, she would be right.