Crossover Chronicles: Book 1

Santiago 22

When you're too nervous to eat versus when you want to avoid talking so you eat everything that's what it was like at the table with me and Sergio. He looked good; his skin was glowing, his clothes were designer, and the small amount of jewelry he wore was shimmering in the light... he definitely wasn't the same kid that used to sleep in my room during thunderstorms. I was actually glad he wasn't talking it gave me time to think, after nine-plus years you'd think I would know what I was going to say to him... but I didn't. A million thoughts ran through my mind, a million things I wanted to ask him... What happened? Why didn't he ever respond to my letters or come to the phone when I called? What REALLY happened between him and Tokyo? Who was this dude Samiyah said was financing his lifestyle? What the fuck has he been up to these last nine years? I million questions and I couldn't ask a single one.... Sergio glanced at me, I could see he was scared... I hated that because everything I've ever done has been to protect him, I didn't want him to be afraid of me or want him thinking I was pissed about him abandoning me... hurt, yes.... but not angry. Small talk usually worked so I figured it would be best if I started off with something easy....

"How have you been?" I asked quietly and Sergio damn near choked on his food but tried to play it off. "Slow down, the food ain't going anywhere.... I just wanna know how you've been." I said looking at him.

"I guess I owe you an explanation...." Sergio said completely ignoring my question and getting straight to the point. "In the beginning... I didn't come see you out of fear... seeing you in a jumpsuit because of me...." Sergio said blinking back tears. "I don't have any excuses for not reading your letters or talking to you on the phone... I guess I let Samiyah's words get to me... she blamed me for what happened and there was a part of me that felt like maybe you blamed me too... I thought that by avoiding you I could escape the truth... that everything that happened was my fault." Sergio said.

"I was probably going to end up killing him anyway... so it definitely wasn't your fault." I said taking a sip of my orange juice. "But I noticed you said 'in the beginning' so I'm guessing at some point those feelings changed?" I asked and Sergio nodded.

"As I got older, my focus shifted... it went from blaming myself to trying to figure how I can help you and dudes like me.... I put all my energy into school, I ended up at Duke and... the guilt was still there but felt like if I couldn't save you from my mistakes then there were others I could save." Sergio said.

"I just wanted to talk to my little brother... I never blamed you Sergio, I knew exactly what I was doing when I unloaded that clip. What did you mean by Samiyah's words?" I asked wanting to know exactly what our sister was saying to him so I could check her.

"After you got locked up... Samiyah went to stay with her dad and she started telling everyone that I was lying and that my lies were the reason you were in jail. She told everyone that I was mad because {Redacted} wouldn't fuck me so I came up with that lie to get him killed... Mom was gone, I didn't have anywhere to go so until I left for college I was staying with Tokyo...." Sergio said and I really wanted to what happened between him and Tokyo, then again maybe I didn't.

"So you went to Duke... weak ass school by the way, and let me guess that's where you met this dude you're living with?" I asked.

"Not exactly... when I got to Duke, I started dating this dude named Major but he was cheating on me with this dude named DeVante.... that's when I started fuckin DeVante's dude Iyani.... which is who I'm living with right now. He's got this massive ass house in Boston and he wasn't trying to stay there by himself....." Sergio said shrugging.

"That shyt sounds messy as fuck...." I said shaking my head.

"It's really not... Iyani and Major are my best friends.... there's no animosity between us and we're all good... DeVante on the other hand... well he doesn't really like anyone so I don't take it personally." Sergio said.