Page 72 of Certified to Handle You
I had a drink in my hand, my hair done, my outfit sittin’ right on my body, and for the first time in a minute, I felt like myself again. Being back in Greystone for over a month had put me back in my rhythm. I wasn’t dependin’ on nobody, I wasn’t sittin’ around waitin’ on nothin’, and I had my own shit goin’ again.
Kay’Lo had handed me fifty thousand in cash before I left, and I still ain’t even touched most of it. I bought me a lil’ cash car, somethin’ simple to get around in, and I had been stackin’ the rest while I looked for me a place. Right now, I was still at Grandma Glo’s house, and I loved her to death, but I was tired of wakin’ up and seein’ random muthafuckas in the kitchen like they lived there.
I was tired of tellin’ grown folks to get the hell out the fridge like they ain’t know better.
And Grandma Glo wasn’t never gon’ change. She been like that all her life, lettin’ people come and go, feedin’ everybody, takin’ care of folks that ain’t got nothin’. I respected it… but I needed my own space. I needed to close a door and know it was just mine.
On top of that, I had just got hired at this lil’ call center, and I was startin’ Monday. It wasn’t nothin’ crazy, but it was mine, and I was proud of that shit. I ain’t ask nobody for it, ain’t need nobody to put me on, and that alone had me walkin’ a lil’ different.
“Bitch, come on!” Yunique yelled, grabbin’ my hand and pullin’ me back toward the floor.
I laughed, lettin’ her drag me back in with her, and before I knew it, we was right back in the middle of everything, movin’to the music like we ain’t have a care in the world. Yunique was cuttin’ up like always, her ass shakin’, her hands up, singin’ along like she was on stage, and I couldn’t do nothin’ but match her energy.
We danced through song after song, sweatin’, laughin’, bumpin’ into people and not even apologizin’, but just livin’ in it. Every now and then somebody would slide up, tryin’ to talk, but we wasn’t on that tonight. We was in our own world.
After a while, we finally made our way back to the table, both of us breathin’ a lil’ heavy while we reached for our drinks.
“Bitch, I’m tired,” Yunique said, fannin’ herself. “They need to slow that damn music down.”
I laughed and grabbed my phone, checkin’ my notifications outta habit more than anything, and that’s when I saw Kelli’s name.
I frowned a lil’, openin’ the message and readin’ it again like I had read it wrong the first time.
I’m in your city…
I stared at the screen for a second, then read it again, my brows pullin’ together like maybe I missed somethin’.
“What the hell…” I muttered, standin’ up from the table.
“Where you goin’?” Yunique asked.
“I’ll be back,” I said, already walkin’ toward the door.
Soon as I stepped outside, the noise from inside dropped down to a muffled hum, replaced by the sound of people talkin’, the food truck sizzlin’, and cars passin’ by. I hit Kelli’s name and pressed call, holdin’ the phone to my ear while my heart started beatin’ faster for no damn reason.
He picked up quick.
“Yeah.”
“Kelli, what the hell you talkin’ about you in my city?” I asked, my voice a mix of confusion and excitement.
“I’m in Greystone,” he said, calm as ever. “Told you I was gon’ pull up.”
I let out a short laugh, shakin’ my head. “I know you said that, but I ain’t know you meant like… right now.”
“Where you at?” he asked.
“I’m at this lil’ hole in the wall spot,” I said, already typin’ the address and sendin’ it to him. “I’m sendin’ it to you now.”
“Alright. I’m on the way.”
I ain’t even hang up. I just stayed on the phone, walkin’ back and forth while I waited, my nerves doin’ somethin’ I wasn’t expectin’. It had been a minute since I had seen him in person, but that ain’t mean we had been outta touch.
Me and Kelli talked damn near every day since I left, whether it was quick check-ins, long late-night calls, or them random texts he’d send just to make sure I was good.
He always kept his word with that too. If he said he was gon’ call, he called. If I texted him, he answered. It never felt forced or one-sided. It was just natural like we had fell into a rhythm without even tryin’.
I’d be tellin’ him about me workin’, about lookin’ for a place, about my family gettin’ on my nerves. He’d listen to all of it like it mattered, then turn around and tell me what he had goin’ on like I was part of his day too.
