Page 29 of Exit: Us
“Well….”
My voice traveled off, not knowing what else to say.
“Come on. Get your stuff, so that we can take our showers,” Gemini said, leading what just happened into a completely different direction.
I was glad he did that. I was glad we didn’t have to address the elephant in the room. We didn’t have to sit here stuck and find out what we should say next. We just chose to forget that it ever happened.
It happened though. God, it happened and that was the best kiss that I’ve ever had in my life. I know that I was going to think about it tomorrow. Probably even the days to come after as well. What the hell was going to happen between us now? The kiss changed everything. It was going to change the entire dynamic of how we chose to move forward.
Whatever it did, I just prayed that it didn’t make things awkward between us.
Chapter 7
Gemini Black
It was after four in the afternoon, and I was officially done with work for the day. Amina and I were still in Georgia. This was day four in Georgia four us. It wasn’t anything unusual for me to be in Georgia this long. This was one of my busiest states. From Valdosta to Tifton to Cordele to Macon, to Savannah, and now Atlanta, this state kept me busy. I did business with so many people here. There were big dealerships here that I was delivering to, auction sites, private collectors, and shit like that, so this has never been a stop where I was only here for a day or two. This was always my longest stop. My face was good with so many businesses here because I had been doing business with a lot of them for years now.
Georgia beat me down though. I couldn’t get another day off since the one that I had a few days ago when I was able to get on the grill and cook for Amina and I. Too many pickups and drop-offs were scheduled for me to rest. I won’t complain though because these past four days, I made a shit load of money, so I was forever thankful for that.
I was glad that the workday ended early for me, so that I could just chill out for the rest of the day.
For the first time in a few days, my trailer was empty. I was stationed right now at a vehicle logistics yard on the south side of Atlanta. My tablet was in my hand, as I slowly made my way around the truck, finishing off my checklist. With all the work that I’ve been putting in these past few days, I wanted to get through my pre- check now, especially since the goal was to leave Georgia first thing in the morning, and head on to the next state.
I went around, making sure that my lights, tires, straps, just everything that was on my list of things to check out before getting back on the road tomorrow were all good. As I was doing this, Amina was sitting inside the truck, but she had her body turned around in the seat, with the door open. She could see me. I was on the passenger side, checking the front tire, so I was able to see her too.
“When are you going to call your grandma and let her know that you’re coming?” she asked me.
I took my eyes off the tire, so that I could look up at her. For the past few days, I had been telling Amina that I wanted to pull up on my grandmother before leaving Georgia. Man, if my grandma got wind that I was in Georgia and didn’t slide through to see her, she would probably disown my ass.
My grandma didn’t play man. She was tough as nails. This was my mom’s mom that I was talking about. She’ll pray for you, curse your ass out, and feed you all in that same conversation. She lived just outside Atlanta. Fayetteville to be exact. She moved out there when I was fifteen. Man, you would have thought that her ass died when she moved away because I carried on like a little bitch. I wasn’t too proud to say that I was a grandma’s boy. I was the blueprint of grandma’s baby. She played a big ass role in my life. Her prayers got me out of a lot of trouble. I wasn’t always this black role model. I went through my fair share of shit to get here. I knew that if it wasn’tfor my grandma getting down on her knees, and going to God in prayer about me, that I would have still been sitting in some of the consequences from the decisions that I made when I was younger.
“Ima call her when I finish with this checklist. You met her before, right? I want to say that you were at our crib a couple of times back then when she was over,” I said, standing right in the middle of the sun, letting it beat on me, as I looked at Amina. She was chilling in the AC. Sitting on top of her left foot, with a book in her lap.
We were carrying on, having casual conversation, doing everything in our power to forget the kiss that happened a few days ago. Like I was a little boy all over again, that had experienced kissing for the first time, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Easily, the best kiss that I’ve ever had in my 35 years of life! Amina had those beautiful, full lips, and she knew how to use them. She kissed passionately. She kissed like we were actors in a romance movie, and the passion had to look believable on screen. I knew damn well that I didn’t have any business kissing her, especially with the shit that she had going on, but that evening was one of those things where neither one of us could help it. We couldn’t help that feeling.
I can’t say that things were awkward between us since the kiss because it really wasn’t. It wasn’t because we chose not to speak on it. You would have thought that we never swapped tongues or spit by the way we carried on, choosing not to bring it up.
“Yeah. Only a couple of times though. It’s been a while. You don’t think that you should have probably called her earlier to give her a time? What if you call her, and she’s not home? Then what?” she wanted to know. I laughed at that.
“I’m her favorite person in the world. She’ll stop whatever she’s doing if I say that I’m in town, and getting ready to pullup on her,” I cockily said, and Amina just waved me off, and finished tending to her book.
I didn’t finish with the inspection until another thirty minutes or so. I stepped into the car, tossed my tablet in my lap, and turned the air up. I let it come out full blast, while reaching for my white face towel, wiping the sweat off my face.
I grabbed my Stanley cup, finishing the water that was inside. I took about five minutes to just sit here before grabbing my phone, and I put a call in to my grandma. Usually, her ass would pick up on the first or second ring for me. This time, the call didn’t connect until damn near the very last ring.
“Hi grandson,” she answered.
“Oh, tell a nigga something. Why it took you so long to answer the phone?” I asked, carrying on as if I was checking her. I did my mom, and my sister the same way.
“Gemini, please. I’m having a little get together at my house. You know that I like to do my monthly kickbacks. I have a few of my girlfriends here from church, some of my Sorors, and some neighbors. What’s going on with you? Where are you? Erica told me that you got on the road a few days ago. Why didn’t you call me and let me know, so that I could pray for you like I always do?” she asked so many questions in that same breath.
While she was doing that, I went ahead, and removed the phone from my ear, so that I could place it in my lap. I just put it on speaker. I was still trying to cool down. Picking my hands up, I placed them behind my head, prepared to answer her questions.
“I’m on the east side of Atlanta,” I chose to only answer that question, opposed to answering all the other questions that she asked me.
“And when are you leaving the east side of Atlanta?” I could hear all the attitude and sass dripping from her voice as she asked me that question.
Amina heard that shit too because she paused from reading her book, staring at me. With a smile on my face, knowing that I was getting ready to get up under my grandma’s skin with the next thing that I was getting ready to say, I went ahead, and got to it.
