Elijah Baker

Kensley was still taking a nap when Lauren texted me.

I wish I hadn't checked it, allowed myself however long of quiet. When I told her not to call me again, the 'unless you ready to leave' was silent.

So her simple message: I'm ready, came at the wrong time.

Lauren was one of the only people I moved for no matter what I was doing, and she knew that. I'd known her since I was 15, and thought of her as more of a sibling than I did Marc.

I tried to slide my arm from under Kensley without waking her up, but it was pointless because she opened her eyes and rolled to look at me.

"Where you going?"

"My brother house. I"ll be back."

Her head fell back on the pillow, "Okay."

Marc was most likely at home, which was why she called me. She could leave on her own, but then they'd start fighting. Lani was at school though, and she usually only cared to not fight when Lani was there.

So maybe she was actually leaving this time.

The drive took less time than usual, a result of it being early in the afternoon. I didn't have to deal with school or lunch traffic and it helped me reach their house in about 20 minutes.

Outside, a nice percentage of the large brick house was black, and I couldn't help but laugh at the fact that she tried to burn their house down.

Upon walking in, the yelling reached my ears, "I can't speak to people?! It's Lani teacher! I can't say hey?!"

Lauren wasn't responding, so I went upstairs, and there she was, sitting on the bed while Marc tried to get her to see his point. She looked at me, and Marc followed her line of sight, becoming angrier at my presence.

"Whatchu' call him for?!" Marc demanded, "You must be fuckin' him. Every time he come over here like he supposed to be somebody."

"I don't fuck everybody I talk to. Maybe one day you can say the same."

"Eli gone leave before you piss me off."

He said that like it meant something to me, "Lauren what all you taking?"

"She ain't taking shit 'cause she ain't going nowhere!"

Lauren pointed to a few bags, "That's all. I'll get everything else later."

"Everything in here I paid for. If you wanna leave, you ain't taking nothing."

"Fine." She stood up, "Fuck you and everything in this house."

"Oh you bold now 'cause Eli here." He laughed, "He gave you some confidence huh?"

They were talking too much, and Lauren wasn't moving fast enough. I was expecting it to escalate at some point, but if we could avoid it, that'd be great.

I wanted to go finish my nap.

"Jamarcus you cheat on me like it's a full-time job. I'm fucking tired. I'm tired of checking phones, bank accounts– Who wants to live like that? Then you brought that woman in my house but that still wasn't enough for you."

"It's old!" He shouted back, "You act like it was yesterday!"

Lauren pushed him, making him stumble backward, "You don't fuck your daughters teacher! I don't care how old it was!"

Well, I'll be damned.

Christian never even did that.

I picked up the mentioned bags, and walked closer to Marc, "We finna go."

"Put my shit down and y'all can do whatever."

Everything in the bag could probably be replaced the same day, but it was the principle. You treated this lady like nun for years, and yeah she let you, but now that she done, you won't even let her take a pair of drawls?

Nah.

"If you wanna die behind some clothes go head," I replied.

"Lau, you ain't even give me no chance to explain. You don't even know what happened."

She tried to walk around him, and he grabbed her arm, "Let's go talk to the lady. We can do therapy, allat. We can do whatever."

The negotiating part was the hardest part. My mama made it to this part so many times but never made it past it.

Lauren blew out a breath and took his hand off her, "I'm really tired, Marc."

Surprising both of us, he just stepped back and let her walk down the stairs. I waited until she was completely out of the house before going down behind her.

"Tell that bitch she better learn how to sleep with her eyes open."

"You act crazy but you not." I replied through a laugh, "Ion too much care for threats and you know that."

"That's your problem now. You let pussy run you."

You couldn't fault him for that line of thinking, he was raised by Christian. That's who he respected, looked up to. Thinking that showing emotion towards women, in terms of affection or respect rather than gifts– was letting pussy run you.

Grandma Pat, I really have no clue what the fuck she was even alive for, why she was even born, because all she did was create Christian who put who knows how many fucked up kids in the world.

Marc and I were the only two who were acknowledged. A privilege as you can see.

I'd barely sat down in the car when I wanted to get back out and walk. Lauren's crying irritated me more than usual because Marc had pissed me off by making me rethink about why he was a shit person, and why I still tried to help him because I felt he couldn't help it.

"Lani told me the teacher asked how her dad was doing." She was sniffling, making the words almost unintelligible, "Because I ask my 11-year-old daughter to tell me when he talks to other women."

I laid my head on the steering wheel, wanting her to stop trying to talk while crying, I really wanted her to stop talking at all.

But she continued, "Then I checked his email, and he was meeting her at hotels I-."

"Not right now." I interrupted, "I can't hear that shit right now."

Lauren's tears paused almost instantly, "I'm sorry. You need me to drive?"

I shook my head and sat there until I felt like lifting it again, "I'm good."

"I always forget." She apologized again, "But you did well that time."

Doing well would've been never getting to the point in the first place. Once again, I blamed Marc for not knowing how to shut up, and Lauren for making me continue to talk about him after I was out of the house."

"Where you wanted to go?"

Lauren shrugged, "I'll stay with you and Leah."

"Okay." I pulled from the driveway, "Do y'all ever talk?"

"What? Fuck no, why would I?"

I thought it was obvious, "Why wouldn't you?"

"She cheated on you, Elijah. Why would I talk to her?"

Marc cheated on her religiously, and I ate Sunday dinner with the nigga.

"I talk to Marc."

"Well for one, that's your brother." Lauren laughed, "And two, you going off what I put up with. Why be mad if I'ma stay? Now it's just awkward. Three, you didn't deserve what she did. You never even looked at another woman, that I know of, then she just fucks that guy? To hell."

"What time Lani get outta school?" I asked, purposefully changing the subject.

"We might as well go now... I gotta change my baby school."

At least she not going in there tryna ki-fight the teacher.

• • •

Lani stared at me suspiciously, "I don't know how to say I don't believe you without it sounding rude."

"You calling me a liar or some? I'ma tell Lauren."

"No! I said– See! How I'm supposed to say it?!"

I laughed and turned my phone around, "Yeah I'm lying. And shit, if somebody lying, tell them that they lying."

"How about we don't do that," Lauren suggested, popping out of nowhere to narrow her eyes at me, "Just say 'can you show me?'"

"So since I was right, you gotta go with us to the movies."

Lauren tried to get me out of it, "I thought it was just supposed to be us?"

"It was but he doesn't have any friends, so he can come too."

Damn. What made her think I didn't have friends.

I had friends.

"Well Shit." I said aloud, "I really don't have friends."

Lani held her stomach as she laughed, "And bring the other lady too. Mama said that's your girlfriend."

I wondered if she'd want to go to the movies, I didn't even know what they wanted to see, "What y'all seeing?"

"We're seeing the movie about these aliens."

"I'll ask her." I responded, pulling my phone to send a text, "And if she say no, I'ma go cry in the corner."

"Everybody been crying today."

"Lani... Some stuff you gotta keep up here." I tapped the side of my forehead.

She rolled her eyes, "I didn't mean it like that. At least it's a good cry this time and we don't have to go back."

"You can still go back." Lauren replied, "That's your dad."

"I don't want to."

So if she did stay to preserve Lani's perception of her dad, there was no point.

I stood up to go change clothes, smiling when Kensley agreed to come. My smile dropped when Grandma Pat's contact came across my screen.

Putting the phone on speaker, I sat it on the nightstand, "What?"

"Take that girl back home." Came her harsh reply, "Always acting like a woman, being messy and minding somebody else business."

I hated this lady, "Whatchu' call me for?"

"Tracey let you act like a lil girl so I guess that's her fault, but what men do in their marriage is their business. Take that girl home."

She was the source— the source of all this shit because of her fucked up logic.

I hung up and went back to switching clothes.

• • •

"I refuse to pay that much for popcorn." Kensley shook her head, "I told you let's stop at Dollar Tree and I could've put the stuff in my purse."

"That is a lot." Lani agreed.

"What's a polite way to say y'all not paying for it so don't worry about it?"

The cashier laughed, "What size popcorn ma'am?"

I waited for Kensley who sighed, "I guess a medium."

As I handed my card to the cashier, Kensley's phone rang. I wasn't paying attention at all, listening to Lani give a synopsis of the movie, but then she tapped my arm, "Zi said to tell you that– and don't look, but it's a man in the corner for Lauren?"

She phrased it as a question because she didn't know why she was telling me that.

It was the same man who always was with Lauren, but when she left, he should've left. There wasn't a reason he should've been around me.

I was really just looking for anything.

After we sat through the previews, I leaned over to Kensley, "I'll be back." She nodded but was barely listening, and that was fine with me.

It took a few seconds for me to find Max, at the top of the movie theater. I waved him, down, and I knew he'd come.

We knew each other, why wouldn't we?

"I need a big favor." I began with a smile, "I need you to just watch them real quick while I run around the corner."

Max nodded, "Yeah sure. That's nothin'."

Coincidences aren't real, and I knew it wasn't a coincidence that the movie theater was less than a 10-minute walk around the corner from Grandma Pat's house. Lani pointed that out on the drive over.

I rang the doorbell and waited for her to come to the door.

She looked disgusted, "What?"

It didn't take long, there wasn't much that she did.

My eyes remained on the wall while Grandma Pat tried to stop the pressure around her neck, but it was normal to not wanna see her take her last breath. I'd known her my whole life.

I moved her to the room, placing her softly in the bad and pulling the covers back over her. There wouldn't be an investigation at all. Who'd kill Christian's mama? It must've been a heart attack.

The wind felt nice as I walked back to the movie theater, and once inside, I gave Max a head nod and sat back down.

"You was boo-booing?" Kensley whispered with a smile.

Maybe one day, we'd make it to a point where I could tell her where I'd been.

• • •

elijah be so stressed.

isn't it crazy how the world works? how you catch a reaction or a consequence meant for someone else?

thanks for reading 💕