A Losing Game

"Bigger Than Any One of Us"

            With Christmas Eve two days away, Roderick and Deven were about to take their biggest step in confronting their shared and individual past traumas. While Deven was worried about his ability to fully participate in the mission, Roderick was worried that he'd run into Escobar or one of the men who worked for Escobar. When Roderick received a text from Jacory telling him that he was downstairs, Roderick hurried out of his room and descended both set of stairs to the entryway of the townhouse. He opened the door and smiled when he saw Jacory standing there.

            "Hey," Jacory said while rubbing his hands together. "Are you gonna let me in, it's freezing out here."

            "Oh, my bad," said Roderick as he stepped back to let Jacory inside.

            Jacory knocked the snow out of his hair and said, "I love these three-story townhouses in this part of the city. I look at them on Zillow all the time. I like how they have this little entryway where you can hang your coat and stuff." He laughed a little as he took his coat off and hung it on the coatrack. He then noticed the way Roderick was looking at him and asked, "What?"

            "All of your bruises are healed. You look good."

            "Thank you."

            Roderick grabbed his hand and said, "Come on, let me introduce you to my brother and his girlfriend."

            They ascended the stairs together into the living room where Deven and Jazmine were watching TV. When they noticed Roderick and Jacory, they stood up.

            "Deven, Jazmine," said Roderick, "this is Jacory. Jacory, this is my brother, Deven, and his girlfriend, Jazmine."

            "Nice to finally meet you," said Deven with a smile as he shook Jacory's hand. "Rod has brought you up in many conversations."

            Roderick became embarrassed and said, "Dev, come on man."

            "It's nice to meet you," said Jazmine as she shook Jacory's hand.

            "Nice to meet you, too," said Jacory.

            "Well, we still got a little while until we gotta go," said Deven. "So, how about we—"

            Roderick quickly interjected, "I'm gonna take Jacory up to my room for a minute so we can talk. Come on." He grabbed Jacory's hand again and led him to the second set of stairs.

            "Okay, they are absolutely adorable together," said Jazmine. "And did you see the hand grab? So cute."

            "I've never seen my brother like that before," said Deven. "He's definitely still in love."

            Upstairs, Roderick quickly closed his bedroom door and told Jacory, "Sorry about the mess. I've been stressed about today ever since I learned that me and Dev were gonna be goin' to The Bottoms."

            "You're worried about running into Escobar, huh?"

            "Yes."

            "Rod, don't even think about him. It's over, remember?"

            "I know. I just wanna get through this and move on. I don't ever wanna walk into them projects again."

            Jacory looked around the bedroom and said, "This townhouse is beautiful. You and your brother have it made now."

            "You sound like Reece." He caught himself immediately after saying that and tried to recover, "I mean, how he would sound if he—"