It is What it is: A Hood Love Story

by B. , Ivory

  In the corner of his eye Los caught Real shift with annoyance and mumble something under his breath. “You got something on ya mind youngin?” Los asked in a even tone. “Nah, aint nothin,” Real responded with apparent annoyance in his voice and on his face. “Obviously you got something on ya mind, speak on it,” Los said looking Real dead in his eyes. “Im sayin… I don’t know why you even stressin it, we wet some niggaz up in the club who was tryna get at you, if anything we did you a favor. Them niggaz came up here on some rah rah shit acting like they don’t know how Philly niggaz get it in.” The room got deadly quiet as everyone looked on wondering how this would play out. “Ayo, who the fuck you think you talkin to like that?!” Los barked pinning Real with a frigid glare. “You really fuckin smelling ya’self right now ain’t you?” Los asked leaning in closer to Real from his desk. “But nigga remember this, I made you, and if I ever think you tryna come at me sideways on some bullshit I will cut you down too short to shit. What?! You tryna take ma crown? You think you can run this shit better than me, how the fuck you gon tell me what to worry about?” Real pulled his long lanky body up in his chair sitting up straight looking at Los. Not until Los broke eye contact did Real look down with visibly hurt eyes. He couldn’t believe Los would even insinuate him being on some snake shit, but most importantly that Los would threaten his life like that. “Nah Los I know what you did for the kid and I would never come at you on no bullshit, I thought we was fam,” Real said sounding truly hurt. “Yeah we fam youngin, but don’t get shit confused.” Los was really fond of Real but he wasn’t going to go for any nigga on his team talking to him all crazy, he believed you had to nip shit like that in the bud or else it could come across as a sign of weakness.

  “Yo Nice put the word out on the wire that I’m lookin for info on them VA cats,” Los said. “You a day late, I already got a bounty on them niggaz heads,” Nice said nonchalantly texting away on his phone. The wire was like a underground 411 information hotline, if you needed to know anything or was looking for anyone in the hood, the wire would most likely have what you were looking for. “It is what it is; we’ll lay low till things cool down. I’m not worried about them slow niggaz and they half baked assassination attempt. Whoever paid them to try and get at me better get a refund cuase I aint dead.” Light laughter and snickers filled the office before Los waved his hand signaling he was done with this meeting.

  Everyone filed out of the office except for Nice. Nice sat in a chair directly in front of Los’s desk looking comfortable. Los looked up at Nice from where he was sitting behind his desk. “What up? I thought you was about to go to your office.” “Nah, nigga I miss you,” Nice said jokingly. Los chuckled shaking his head bringing his attention back to the paperwork on his desk. “And damn son you black as fuck,” Nice said. Los laughed out loud, he needed that laugh he was too tense and worked up from the drama them knuckle heads had gotten into. “Fuck you, I got a tan.” “Nah that aint no tan nigga, the sun straight up burnt ya ass bruh,” Nice said through laughter. “Fuck you, Lucky got one too. Y’all dudes messed up my whole shit, ya boy was down in Mexico getting all the pussy he wanted, early!” Nice cracked up laughing, “So you broke her little ass in I take it?” Los leaned back in his chair smiling from ear to ear. “Hell yeah I did. I even got her riding me,” “Oohhh!” Nice screamed leaning over the desk to give Los dap.

  Los smile disappeared suddenly as an inquisitive expression replaced it. “I know I told you to let them lil niggaz make that move on their own but where was you when that shit went down?” Nice was waiting for him to ask that question. “Yo you not going to believe me if I told you.” Los raised an eyebrow “Try me,” Los said. “I was at the telly blazing some purple up and Ty ass too.” Los sat straight up in his chair, Nice had his full attention now. “Ty who? Lucky Ty?!” Nice nodded his head yes, then replayed the events leading to that one night stand, starting from the club to the telly.

  When he was done Los’ mouth was wide open. “Yo Ty get down like that?” he asked. Nice screwed his face up with offense “Nah son she aint no hoe, she just got a soft spot for ya boy. “Bruh, I aint saying she a hoe, I’m talking about her head game.” “Oh hell yeah! She had a nigga toes curled, that inexperience with head shit don’t run in the family cause Ty nearly swallowed a nigga whole. Wheww!” Nice said shivering as if he felt a cold chill run up his spine. “Yo let’s put it like this her head game is so crazy she should be declared legally insane, they need to lock her ass up in Bellevue somewhere.” Los fell over laughing. “Yo her head game better than Shyanne’s?” “Yeah she better than Shy hands down. I mean, Shy can top it off but she not fuckin wit Ty,” Nice confirmed. “Damn, Lucky better take some pointers from her peoples,” Los said. “The good pussy though, that must run in the blood, she had a nigga knees buckling,” Nice admitted. Ty must’ve been good from the way Nice was stressing it, Los concluded as he smirked nodding his head.

  “But she on some bullshit,” Nice said looking sullen all of a sudden. “Right after she been on some shit like, she can’t mess with me no more because of Shasona, She wit a lotta games, been looping ah nigga calls and shit. Man I aint got time for that,” Nice said with frustration. “So wait, let me get this straight, she pulled a smash and dash?” Los asked incredulously through a laugh. “Man fuck you,” Nice spat. “That’s karma playboy; now how many chicks have you done that to?” Los asked. Nice shrugged his shoulders and grimaced at Los “Muthafucka how many bitches have you done that to?” Nice answered a question with a question. “Don’t know probably half of Philly’s female population,” Los answered with a sneaky grin on his face. “Me too nigga.” Both men locked eyes and cracked up laughing. “Oh well what you gon do?” “Nothing, I’m not into stalking pussy, I don’t have to. She don’t want me that’s cool,” Nice said with a hint of sadness in his eyes. “But I still want you baby,” Los joked with a head nod and wink. Nice stuck his middle finger up at his brother. Ty must’ve been spectacular in the sack to have a nigga like Nice all depressed looking. Los thought to himself before changing the subject, he couldn’t stand to see that pitiful ass look in Nice’ eyes. “Ayo where the rest of these niggaz at? I see the parking lot full but it’s only a few heads out there,” “Oh they down in the studio, I only called the ones that was involved in the drama up here the rest down stairs.” “C’mon, let’s go see if any of these niggaz can make us some money off this rap shit,” Los suggested.

  Entering the studio Los was initially overwhelmed by the stench of Purp and loud talking. There were about 12 dudes down there, including a local producer and engineer working on some beats. They started playing a beat that was hot, a real grimey underground black hoodie rap type beat. The first thought that came to mind was Jah; Jah would murda that track for sure. He was a lyrical beast, talented plain and simple. Los had intended to put some backing into his cousin’s music career but Jah was caught between two worlds right now, the drug game and the rap game. One thing’s for sure though anything that nigga rapped about he lived. Unlike a lot of rappers out right now who were pretending to be thugs, drug dealers, killers and actually getting paid well for it. “Ayo where Jah at?” Los asked. Everyone in the room turned their attention towards Los’s voice and started clapping. “What up boss?” “Good to see you home baby!” Los waved the applause and cheers off, smirking slightly. “Oh Jah just went home a little while ago” Meat offered up. “Pussy whipped ass dude,” Los spat under his breath.

  Jah walked into his luxury high rise apartment and was greeted by the stench of weed. The apartment was dimly lit and quiet as if no one was home, he almost thought that was the case until he spotted Keema’s shapely figure lying on the couch. Keema laid motionless as Jah approached her, just as he went to lean over her she jumped up out of her sleep like someone had shocked her with an electrical wire. She looked up at him with frightened eyes. Keema sat there staring at him in silence trying to figure out where his head was at. Did Los tell him to kill me? She was aware that
Jah was supposed to see Los today and Jah had been a little on edge the previous day anticipating their meeting. How Los and his whole team got down including Jah was no secret, so Keema was scared shitless. What happened the other night really scared her. She had heard rumors in the streets of Jah being on beast mode at times. Although she thought it could be some truth to it she knew hood gossip was as reliable as the Septa running on time every day. Keema never ever thought she would actually witness him do what he’d done. Keema went out expecting to catch him with a bitch, since Jah been back he’d been saying all the right things, how he was a changed man, how he wanted to build a future with her and make up for past mistakes. It sound good but she wasn’t exactly convinced that he’d changed completely. Now she was only wishing she had caught him with another bitch. The comment he made right after dropping Vanessa was “Her blood on ya hands,” that kept Keema up at night, she couldn’t seem to shake the image or his comment out of her head.

  Usually Keema was all over Jah from the moment he stepped through the door, wanting to be all up under him. Today though the situation was extremely different, now she wanted to keep her distance. Honestly she would’ve packed her shit up and took her ass back home if she thought it wouldn’t make him assume she would go and snitch him out.

  Jah stood there looking at Keema as if she were crazy. He knew she had to be shook about what happened and that was understandable, but she was acting as if she were afraid of him. “Meema what’s wrong wit you? Why you looking at me like that?” Keema didn’t respond. He took a few steps towards Keema causing her to jump back falling off the couch slightly and nearly hitting her head on the cocktail table. A bump on the head was a whole lot better than a hole in one she figured. Before she could catch her balance fully Jah was on top of her grabbing both of her wrists. “Meema, what the fuck is wrong wit you? Why you acting like this? Stop!” He could feel her literally shaking uncontrollably. “Jah…Jah I’m scared.” Jah furrowed his eyebrows “Of what?” “You,” Keema admitted breaking down into sobs. The pained look on his face spoke volumes, Keema being frightened of him really hurt. “Meema I’m the last person in this world you should be afraid of. I wouldn’t do anything to hurt you, or let no one do you nothing.” Jah slid on the couch reaching out to take her in his arms. Keema rushed into his open arms hugging him tight, hard enough to squeeze the life out of him. “Keem look at me,” Jah said in a stern tone. “You gotta start listening to me when I tell you something. I told you not to come out to that hot ass club for a reason. I love you, but if you keep being hard headed I’ma have to break my foot off in ya ass. Shit could’ve ended up real ugly, you could’ve gotten hurt. What if you got hit by a stray bullet?” Keema didn’t have an answer. She just sat there with tears streaming down her face. “Keema I would’ve wild out and caught a coupla homi’s, and wouldn’t have even cared if the cops came, ya heard?” Jah said shaking her a little. Keema shook her head acknowledging she understood. Jah pulled her into him and hugged her tight. “I’m sorry,” Keema whimpered. “We Gucci ma, You know I love you to pieces Keem.”

  Keema could hear the slight change in Jah’s breathing when he ran his hand up and down her back. It wasn’t hard to tell where Jah’s head was at, sex was the last thing on Keema’s mind though. “Jah I keep seeing her.” “Sshh it’ll pass, you know why I had to do that right? It was nothing personal. I couldn’t have her put every nigga in that car away for good.” Keema shook her head. Jah was still trying to crack for some pussy even after Keema had confessed to him how messed up she was after witnessing a murder. He pushed his body weight on her causing her to lie down and started nibbling on her neck. Keema laid there stiff as a board. She wasn’t feeling it at all, until he started nibbling on her earlobe and stroking her southern lips through her thin sleep shorts. Jah pressed down on her love button and a involuntary moan escaped Keema’s mouth somehow. Closing her eyes to savor the feeling she had a quick flash of Vanessa’s body falling. Keema’s eyes flew open and her body shook. “It’s alright, I’m here. I love you Keem,” Jah whispered soothingly. She decided at that moment to go along with the feeling. I’ll be so worn out after this I’ll fall right off to sleep. Keema reasoned as she gave in and made love to Jah.

  Back to Reality

  The two weeks Lucky spent with Carlos was nothing short of a fairytale. In that two week period he barely left the house and they had managed to sex in just about every room in that big house, kitchen, gym, and dining room you name it. Some nights they would lie in bed cuddling while looking up through the skylight above his bed and watch night turn into morning. Carlos couldn’t explain it but Lucky put him in a calming place whenever he was with her, stress of the streets and everything else faded when she was around. Lucky’s smile, laugh and personality was infectious and it made him want to keep her around which was crazy because before her he’d never felt that with anyone else.

  But the fairytale was over, now it was back to the realities of school and work, summer was officially a wrap. Lucky was busy folding and packing clothes getting ready to go back home to Connecticut. She purposely left some things behind marking her territory in the event that another chick ever came over, even though Los swore he never entertained any females at his house, shit you never know Lucky thought to herself. She was packing with a heavy heart while Carlos was acting mean as a junk yard dog. He’d been acting standoffish and moody all day long. Every time she asked was something bothering him? He would give her some short rude answer like “I already told you I’m straight. Damn you gon ask me that shit every five minutes?” Lucky left him alone, deciding to give him his space as she finished packing.

  Carlos walked into his bedroom to find Lucky packing up her suitcase. The solemn look on his face as he took a seat at the edge of the bed didn’t go unnoticed by Lucky something was up for sure. “We need to talk.” he finally said after sitting there for a few minutes. Lucky looked over at him and stopped folding the shirt she had in her hand mid fold. Their eyes locked and she could already tell this was a conversation she wouldn’t like. The tone of voice and his demeanor was already giving her bad vibes. Damn I don’t wanna do this Los thought to himself. “Lucky shit been real good with us, but being that you going back to school and all…” Los paused; Lucky’s heart was beating so hard she was having slight chest pains. Lucky found herself on the verge of tears and she hadn’t even heard all of what he had to say. Los could see tears welling up in her eyes and he felt like shit but this had to be done he reasoned. He just didn’t trust females enough to carry on a long distance relationship. “Lucky” he called her name gently, before he continued. “I think we need to put shit on pause. I mean…I’m just not wit the long distance relationship thing. You gon be way out in CT and I’ll be here in Philly, yo its no tellin what you could be up to. Lucky I just can’t do it ma. If it’s meant to be it’ll be and when you finish this year come back to Philly, and if we link we link,” he said in a low tone almost as if he had to force those words from his mouth.

  Lucky was furious, all she could do was think of how stupid she felt, here she gave this nigga a second chance to redeem himself and yet for a second time he hurt her. Tears welled up at the brim of her eyes ready to run down her face like a never ending river. She had to place a hand on her chest and blink rapidly to keep herself from crying. Carlos sat and watched her; he knew she was real messed up over what he had just said. He wanted to jump up and hold her but for some reason he couldn’t. Lucky refused to cry in front of him, she told herself she wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of seeing her like he did outside the club that night. Carlos had issues, and trust was definitely one of them. Here she thought he was ready for a real adult relationship but obviously she was wrong. The pain in her heart and huge lump in her throat made it impossible for her to go the fuck off like she really wanted to without bursting into tears, all she managed to say was “Fine.” Lucky closed the suitcase she was packing despite the fact she hadn’t even finished, leaving a pil
e of folded clothes right there on his bed. Carlos hung his head low as he listened to Lucky dragging her suitcase across the imported marble floors of his house all the way down the grand staircase then out the front door.

  Lucky sniffled as she pulled her cell phone from her pocketbook to see how far Ty was. Ty could immediately sense something wrong in Lucky’s voice. “Girl I’m like half hour away according to this gps, I’ll be there in a few.” Lucky sat down on the large front porch refusing to step foot back in the house. When Ty pulled up she noticed the hurt expression on Lucky’s face. Ty got out of the car to help Lucky place her bags and suitcase in her trunk all along wondering why Los hadn’t come out to do this? She knew right then and there something had to be awfully wrong. Half hour into the ride back to Philly Ty couldn’t take it anymore, Lucky was sitting over in the passenger seat looking as if she’d just lost her best friend and Ty wanted to know what the hell was wrong? “Lady Luck what’s wrong? What happened?” Ty asked in a sincere tone. Lucky turned to face her cousin “That muthafucka told me he couldn’t do a long distance relationship,” Lucky said finally losing her battle with her tears. “I’m so mad, why did I let him play me like this? He knew I was going to school in Connecticut from the beginning. What the hell do he want me to do drop out? Hell no! I wouldn’t do that for no nigga, I didn’t waste three years of my life to suddenly give up on obtaining my degree cause some asshole say he can’t fuck wit me. Well fuck him!” Ty chuckled under her breath, Lucky was pissed. “Lucky that man don’t mean a word that came out of his mouth, he talkin out his ass. Last week when me and Keema came by his house to go swimming you should’ve seen how this nigga was staring at you all dreamy eyed and shit. Girl that fool just feeling insecure right now about you being so far, instead of him just telling you that, he’d rather push you away. But trust that man ain’t going nowhere,” Ty said in a nonchalant tone. “Ty! Did you not hear what I just said? He let shit go, we through. Besides Carlos has way too many walls and defenses up, and I’ve tried but it’s like you gotta fight through all these defenses to love him. I can’t be this nigga therapist and girl at the same damn time that’s way too much work, screw him.” “Ha? Defenses and walls? Girl you sitting here sounding like Oprah,” Ty said through laughter. Lucky looked over at Ty and they both burst out laughing hard. “Its gon be alright Lady Luck watch and see.”