Chapter Twenty-four

It was after two in the morning when Kylee returned home. She’d been driving around all day, waiting, and hoping Eli had calmed down. After sitting in the park for several hours, going to the mall to do a little shopping, and taking herself to a movie, Kylee decided to come home. She lay her keys down on the table in the foyer before walking in the living room. She looked down at Eli, who was passed out on the sofa, snoring loudly. She picked up the half-empty bottle of Belvedere that sat in front of the sofa and took it in the kitchen. She walked back in the living room, leaned down, and kissed Eli on the forehead before heading up to bed.

Eli woke up the next morning with a pounding headache. He looked around the living room like he was in a foreign place. He slowly got up off the sofa and grabbed his head as the room began spinning.

“Kylee,” he called out as he began feeling sick to his stomach. Eli stumbled his way upstairs. He busted in the room, scaring Kylee half to death as he ran to the bathroom, missing the toilet, and throwing up all over the floor.

Kylee jumped out of the bed to go check on Eli. “You okay?” she asked, pulling his locks out of the way as he continued throwing up, sounding like it was coming from deep down.

“Oh my God,” Eli called out as he continued vomiting. He threw up until there was nothing left in his stomach.

“A drunk ain’t shit,” Kylee said, grabbing a towel out of the linen closet, running it under some cold water, and wiping Eli’s face and mouth.

“Oh, my God,” Eli chanted over and over.

Kylee walked downstairs, grabbed the Tylenol, shook three in her hand, and poured a glass of Vernors and took it up to Eli.

“Here,” she said, sticking the pills in his mouth and feeding him the pop.

“Help me,” he begged.

“Come on,” Kylee said, helping Eli up off the floor and walking him over to the bed. Kylee removed Eli’s shoes, closed the blinds, and lay in the bed beside him.

“I love you, Kylee,” he mumbled.

“I love you too,” Kylee said, kissing Eli on the lips before they both drifted back off to sleep.

Two hours later, Kylee woke up to the sound of loud talking outside. It sounded more like screams. Kylee got up to see what was going on. She walked over to her bedroom window and looked down at the crowd of people standing in Mr. Vernon’s yard along with the police, fire truck, and ambulance.

“What the fuck? Eli, get up,” Kylee shouted frantically.

“What’s the matter?” he asked, jumping up.

“Somethin’ is goin’ on over at Mr. Vernon’s. The ambulance is over there,” she said, scared.

Eli jumped out of bed, walked over to the window, and needed to know what was going on. He rushed down the stairs to find out what was going on with Kylee close behind. They both walked out on the porch. They noticed a lady screaming out, “Daddy,” while an officer tried to calm her down. Kylee was confused, trying to figure out what was going on.

Eli and Kylee both walked over in Mr. Vernon’s yard as the neighbors gathered around.

“What happened?” Eli asked the old white guy from across the street.

“Mr. Vernon’s daughter came over to check on her father after he wouldn’t answer the phone. When she went in, she found him sitting in his chair, dead. He apparently had a heart attack,” he said.

“Oh my God, no,” Kylee screamed, breaking down. Eli grabbed hold of Kylee as she cried uncontrollably. She began feeling bad all over again about how she’d spoken to him that one day, when all he was trying to do was be nice to her.

Eli couldn’t help himself. He wasn’t trying to cry in front of Kylee, he didn’t want to seem like less of a man, but he couldn’t help it, tears steadily flowed as Kylee cried in his arms. He watched as the paramedics wheeled Mr. Vernon’s body out of the house on a gurney. Eli looked up on the porch at the can of Colt 45 he had bought Mr. Vernon the day before. Eli couldn’t help but think that Mr. Vernon had passed shortly after he’d left, because the beer was still unopened.

After all the commotion died down, Kylee went back into the house and got back in bed. Tears flowed steadily as she lay in bed. She couldn’t believe Mr. Vernon was actually gone. Eli had done everything he could to comfort Kylee but it was no use.

“I made you some tea,” Eli said, walking upstairs with a mug in hand.

Kylee didn’t respond. She just lay in bed with a blank stare.

“I’ma set it down on the nightstand and whenever you feel like drinkin’ it, it’ll be here,” he said.

Kylee still didn’t respond. Eli set the mug down and headed back downstairs. Kylee’s phone began to ring. She looked at the number and answered it, needing to hear a comforting voice.

“Hello?” she answered.

“You okay?” Ja’Nay asked, sensing Kylee had been crying.

“No,” Kylee said, as the tears began flowing steadily.

“What’s the matter?” she asked, hoping Eli didn’t break down and tell her what had gone down between them.

“Mr. Vernon passed away,” Kylee cried.

“Awww, did he?” she asked, relieved that was all it was.

“Yeah, man. I can’t believe it,” Kylee said, wiping her tears away only to have more follow.

“Where’s Eli?” Ja’Nay asked.

“He’s here, why?” Kylee asked, thinking nothing of it.

“Oh, nothin’. I just wanted to make sure you weren’t home alone while you’re grievin,’ that’s all,” Ja’Nay lied.

“Oh, okay. Where you at?” Kylee asked.

“I’m at home now. I spent the night wit’ Quann last night. You know he had to turn himself in this mornin’,” Ja’Nay said.

“Oh, yeah, that’s right. What y’all do last night?”

“Fucked, fucked some more, and fucked some more,” Ja’Nay said, laughing.

“Ewwwww, you coulda kept that to yourself,” Kylee said, laughing, glad her friend was able to put a smile on her face.

“You hungry?” Eli walked in the room and asked. “Oh you on the phone, my bad.”

“Oh, I’m just talkin’ to Ja’Nay,” Kylee said.

The mention of Ja’Nay’s name brought back all the memories from the night before.

Oh, shit, Eli thought, hoping Ja’Nay wasn’t telling Kylee what went down between the two of them. Eli walked over to the closet, pretending like he was looking for something so he could listen to Kylee’s conversation.

“Okay, girl, I’m glad you enjoyed yourself last night. I’m about to get up, I’ve been in this bed all day,” Kylee said.

That bitch told, Eli thought as he pulled out his duffle bag, getting ready to pack his clothes again.

“Okay, talk to you later,” Ja’Nay said, hanging up.

“What you doin’ with that bag?” Kylee asked, getting out of bed.

“Nothin’, I was lookin’ for my Nike T-shirt,” he said, relieved.

“Oh, check in the dryer. Remember you wore it to the gym,” Kylee said, walking past Eli to go into the bathroom to get in the shower.

“Oh, yeah,” Eli said, feeling foolish for overreacting. Eli should have known Ja’Nay wasn’t going to tell Kylee because if she did, Kylee could only whoop one ass and that would be hers.

 

Kylee got dressed and decided to get out of the house. With the passing of Mr. Vernon and her god-sister moving back to Spain, she was in need of some serious therapy, so she called Ja’Nay back to see if she wanted to go shopping.

“Where you ’bouta go?” Eli looked away from the basketball game and asked Kylee when she came down the stairs.

“To the mall wit’ Ja’Nay,” she replied, grabbing her purse and keys.

Hearing Ja’Nay’s name made Eli cringe. He had hoped that she wouldn’t start feeling bad and break down and tell Kylee what happened between them. That was a secret he would take to the grave with him.

“How come you didn’t ask me if I wanted to go to the mall wit’ you?” he stood up and asked, not wanting her to be around Ja’Nay alone.

“What? Kylee asked, confused. “Any other time I ask you to go shoppin’ wit’ me you just hand me money and tell me to call Ja’Nay or somethin’. You say I stay in the stores too long for you.”

“You do, but I just wanna spend some time wit’ you,” Eli said, grabbing her by the waist and pulling her in to his body.

“Damn, baby, I spend all my time wit’ you. It’s been a minute since I hung out wit’ Ja’Nay; we need to play catch up on girl talk, or gossip as you call it,” Kylee said, smiling.

“We can gossip,” Eli said, trying his hardest to get Kylee to stay at home.

“Eli, you hate it when I gossip, so I know you ain’t about to sit here and share shit wit’ me.” Kylee laughed.

“Yes, I will, come over here and sit down.” Eli grabbed Kylee by the hand and lead her over to the sofa. “What you wanna know?” he asked, sitting down.

Kylee took a seat next to Eli and began asking her questions. “Who all Big Ness messin’ around wit’?” she started.

Eli looked at Kylee. He should have known she would ask questions that he couldn’t go against the code and answer.

“Ask me somethin’ else,” Eli said, refusing to answer that particular question.

“Come on, Eli, you ain’t right!” Kylee whined. “I wanna know the answer to the question I just asked. I know it’s some of everybody, just put some names to it.”

“Naw, baby, ask me somethin’ else. I can’t go around tellin’ my nigga’s business like that. He’s like a brother to me,” Eli said, shaking his head no.

“What type of gossiper you know pick and choose what they will and will not tell you? Call me when you learn how to gossip,” Kylee said, standing up from the sofa. “I’m about to go get Ja’Nay; now she knows how to gossip.”

“Well, why you wanna know who Big Ness messin’ around wit’ in the first place?” Eli wondered.

“I was just bein’ nosey. That’s why it’s called gossipin’, somethin’ you don’t know nothin’ about. So I will see you when I get back from the mall with Ja’Nay.” Kylee leaned down, kissed Eli on his forehead, and headed for the door.

“Shit,” Eli sat back and said and tried to continue to watch the game.

 

Twenty minutes later, Kylee pulled up in front of Ja’Nay’s and blew the horn. Ja’Nay ran out of the house and got in the car. They laughed, talked, and gossiped on their way to the mall.

“What we come to the mall to get?” Ja’Nay asked as they walked into Abercrombie & Fitch.

“I need to pick up some skinny sweatpants. It’s startin’ to get cold out,” Kylee answered while pulling three different colors off the rack before grabbing the fleece hoodies to match.

“It is gettin’ cold out,” Ja’Nay said, picking out a pair for herself.

“For real, for real, I just wanted to get outta the house. I love Eli and all, but I needed to get away. I was startin’ to feel closed in.”

“Closed in?”

“Yeah, ’cause I spend all my time wit’ Eli. From the time he gets off work we are together and I’m not used to that. I’m used to bein’ at home by myself.”

“I feel you, but shit I wish I had somebody to share my house wit’,” Ja’Nay said wishfully.

“You do, your mom.” Kylee laughed.

Ja’Nay laughed too.

“Naw, but for real, sometimes it’s cool and then other times I be wishin’ he wasn’t there. I know it sounds crazy, but it’s true. I’m just glad I have you to keep me sane at times like this,” Kylee said sincerely.

Ja’Nay had already been feeling remorseful about what had gone down between her and Eli. The more Kylee spoke about their friendship and how much it meant to her, the more Ja’Nay wanted to come clean, but she knew that would be one of the biggest mistakes she could ever make. “You ready?” Ja’Nay asked, feeling uncomfortable.

“Dang, that’s all you gettin’?” Kylee asked, noticing Ja’Nay only had one item in her hand.

“Yeah, I’m really not in the mood to do much shoppin’ today.”

“Well, why did you agree to come?” Kylee asked.

“’Cause you asked me to,” Ja’Nay replied.

“See, that’s why you my muthafucka!” Kylee smiled.

“And you’re mines too.” Ja’Nay smiled back as the guilt ate away at her.

Kylee and Ja’Nay continued shopping for the next two hours, before stopping to grab themselves something to eat. Kylee then dropped Ja’Nay off at home before going home to sit right back up under Eli.