Page 86 of Exit: Us
Chapter 23
Amina Sinclair
Gemini and I were in Albuquerque, New Mexico. We made it to the final stretch. He did his last pickup, and dropoff this evening, and honestly, I felt a little emotional about it. The Amina that had gotten on this truck with him for the first time would have been elated that we finally made it to the finish line. The Amina that had fallen in love with him was left with a bittersweet feeling.
We shared so many things with each other on this truck together. I went through so many emotions. In the beginning, I had no idea how we were going to stick through it together because he kept getting on my nerves, and I knew that I was constantly getting on his. Gianna had me get on this truck with him, in hopes that I would find some sort of peace, and relaxation. I don’t think that any of us thought that I would fall in love with Gemini in the process, but here we were.
Right now, we were at a secure commercial lot, that overlooked the Sandia Mountains. Prior to this evening, I didn’t know anything about the Sandia Mountains. Gemini, who was like a wealth of knowledge, knew about it, and he shared with me the history of it. We’d taken our showers for the night at the truck top, and now we were in the back, in the sleeper together.
I was sitting up at the head of the bed, taking out my braids, while Gemini rested at the foot. He was watching old episodes of Martin while eating popcorn. The weather was terrible outside. I mean, the thunder and lightning that was taking place outside sounded like bombs going off. I loved it though. I felt like it made the night with him so intimate, and sensual.
Gemini knew that we were getting bad weather tonight, and that’s why he decided to drive the truck out here after we showered at the truck stop. He said that we would get a good view of the rain from the truck.
I’ve been taking out my braids pretty much all day. I loved the braids, but I was so tired of looking at them. I wanted to go back to wearing my natural hair. I missed curly hair Amina. The braids did fulfil their purpose though. Originally, I only got them because I had been heartbroken, and neglecting my natural curls. Gianna felt like braids were the better option.
I had about twenty braids left, and then I’ll be finished.
A commercial came on, and Gemini turned his head, so that he could look over at me. I just knew that I looked crazy, but he smiled at me, staring at me like I was photoshoot ready. The entire right side of my hair was completely taken out. My jet-black hair had grown so much since having the braids, and that’s what he was paying attention to.
“Your hair so long, and pretty,” he announced to me.
His words melted me. Gemini had a way of saying compliments to me, and it would make me weak in the knees. I received so many compliments from him throughout the day, but each time that he said one to me, you would think that it was the first time that he’s ever given one to me in my life.
“Thank you. You want to help me? My arms hurt,” I whined.
I’ve been wanting to ask him for help, but I thought that he would tell me no. He’s been working since six this morning, so I knew that his body had to be tired.
“I’m not going to move as fast as you. I take braids out slow as fuck. I used to help my mama, and Gianna take theirs out from time to time,” he announced, as he stood up from the bed.
I finished with the braid that I was taking down, as I sat here, damn near drooling over him. He wasn’t wearing a shirt. Just black sweatpants. The body on him was out of this world. As many times as I’ve seen him naked, you would think that I would be used to the abs, the tattoos, and the muscles, but I wasn’t. On top of that, I was so in love with his chocolate skin.
Gemini knew how to handle all his male maintenance, so even right now, he stood there with a fresh line up, a clean, full beard, and his waves were perfect. I just wanted to eat him. Literally devour every piece of him.
“That’s okay. I’ll take all the help that I can get,” I told him.
Gemini sat the popcorn bowl down on the counter, and he came closer to me. He sat on the side of me. I gave the comb to him that I was using because I knew how to take the braids out with just my hands. I found myself chuckling when I saw him use the end of it. It’s like he’s done this a million times before because he started moving along, helping me.
“Aight. If you going to be laughing at me, Ima stop. I’m trying to help your ass out,” he joked.
“I’m not laughing at you, baby. I swear I’m not. Thank you for not being too manly to help me take out my braids. I can see you now, having tea parties with our daughter, and letting her paint your nails pink,” I voiced, and when I said that, he laughed while shaking his head at me.
“That’s why I don’t necessarily want a daughter. I feel like that little girl will have me doing any and everything. It’ll be hard to tell her no. Shit, I barely tell you no. I just finished working sunup to sundown, and you got me on this truck taking braids out. Fuck kind of shit is this?” he asked it in a joking kind ofway. I laughed while I sat here, finishing up the braid that I was taking out.
“Even though you give me whatever I want, you still run a tight ship. You don’t let me get over on you,” I let him know.
“You’ll never get over on me. I’m not the kind of nigga that you can do that with. Same thing going to apply to our kids. They going to be spoiled, but they not going to be rotten. Even though it’ll be hard, they going to know what no means. Just like your ass has an understanding of what no means,” he went on, and I nodded my head, agreeing with him.
“I want a daughter. My little mini me. I also wouldn’t mind having a son too,” I voiced.
“You don’t have to choose. Just keep giving me multiple. We’ll have a little bit of both,” he said, and I laughed at that.
The thing is that I knew Gemini was serious. In our deep talks that we’ve had, he’s told me that he wanted multiple children with me. I wasn’t opposed to it. Only because I grew up an only child. The reason why I would cling to Gianna the way that I would is simply because I never had a sister, and I’ve always longed to have one.
Gemini took ten minutes to take out one braid from my hair. I don’t know if it was because he just naturally moved slow, or if it was because he was so engrossed in the TV, laughing at the jokes from the show. I’m telling you, he could recite the Martin show word for word, tell you what each episode was getting ready to be about, yet he still managed to sit here and crack up laughing, as if it was his first time seeing the episode in his life.
It took about forty-five minutes for us to get the rest of the braids out. In those forty- five minutes, Gemini only took out two and a half braids. As much as I wanted to talk shit and say that I was better off taking the braids out on my own, without asking for his assistance, I wouldn’t say that because I enjoyed this little bonding moment that the two of us were having.
Now, here he was, up on his knees, still on the side of me, and his hands were in my hair, massaging my scalp. His eyes were fixated on the TV, watching it with a smile on his face. He was engrossed in what was on the TV, while I was engrossed in how good it felt having his hands run through my hair like that. The second he finished, he placed his hands on the sides of my face, tiled my head back, so I was looking upside down at him. He then kissed me multiple times on the lips, and he laid back down on the bed.
