“True,” Spooky said, then laughed. “But on some real shit, your head ain’t been in the game lately. I might pop a lot of shit, but I love you like my own blood. If something is on your mind, you know you can talk to me about it.”

Jah looked over at Spooky to see if he was bullshitting, but to his surprise his friend’s eyes were sincere. “Dawg, if I run this shit down to you and you try and play me, it’s on!” Jah said seriously.

“My dude, I wouldn’t even do it to you like that. Holla at ya boy.”

Jah paused for a minute, contemplating if he could go through with it. “A’ight. I met a chick,” Jah finally admitted.

“I knew you din’t have that sick puppy look in your eyes for nothing!” Spooky punched him in the arm. “Do I know the bitch?”

“Nah, you don’t know her, and she ain’t no bitch, foul-ass nigga. We was on some cool shit at first,” Jah continued, “then one thing led to another and we ended up fucking. Now the shit is all awkward.”

“Awkward? You got yourself a shot of pussy. What’s awkward about that?”

Jah looked at him, not believing his ignorance. “It ain’t about the pussy, man. I mean, don’t get it fucked up, the pussy was the bomb, but feelings got involved. I mean, I’m trying to fuck wit’ shorty like that, but I don’t know if it’s a wise move.”

“Why not, is she all fucked up or something?” Spooky asked.

“Oh, nah, shorty is bad, but she ‘bout her scratch.”

“So you paid for the pussy?”

“Hell no!” Jah assured him. “I just mean she’s high maintenance.”

“Oh.” Spooky nodded. “I’ll tell you like this; you already know better than to be letting a bitch be out here climbing in your pocket, so we ain’t even gotta touch on that. We’re soldiers on these streets, so we always think as such, but at the same time we’re men. You could blow every bitches back out from here to D.C., but ain’t nothing like having that one shorty that makes you feel whole. A chick that makes you always want to be yourself, smell me?”

“Yeah,” Jah said, seriously taking in Spooky’s words. “You’re right, my dude. I’m just gonna lay it out for shorty and let the cards fall wherever they fall.”

“That’s what I’m talking about.” Spooky nudged him. “And when you speak to Yoshi, ask her if she’s got a friend.”

“How the hell…?”

“Jah, you’re like my brother. I know you.” Spooky gave him a wink.

33