Let's Wife The Hoe ( #Urban )

LWTH: 27

"My baby boy . . ." Quis' mom started and stopped before starting again. "He wasn't a bad man all the time. Yea, he ran in the streets and did things that shouldn't be repeated. But when he would come home, haha. " She wipes her eyes and grips the mic tighter. "When that boy would come home he would be the most helpful son, helping me with groceries, making sure I was getting by safely. " She shakes her head and a light smile touches her lips.

"I can hear him now. Don't have me soundin' like a bitch, Ma. " Quis chuckles next to me with his fists tightly clenched. I go to grab his hand but he snatched away from me and keeps his fists on the other side of him, his eyes never leaving his mom. "And then I'd say, boy watch your damn mouth before I wash it out. "

Everyone laughed a little bit now.

"I ain't tryna' drag on or nothing, lord knows Bernie hated beating around the bush. But Imma miss my baby boy. " She looks back into the open casket that had Bernard in it. "Rest easy and save a spot for me and your brother, okay?" She broke down in a whole new round of tears before coming back to her seat next to Quis. He wraps an arm around her and she cries into his chest.

More people get up and say some sentimental things about Bernard, most of which were uncles and aunts. Quis didn't want to say anything, even when one of his uncles asked him while up on the podium. He seemed to wrapped up in his head and consoling his mother to even speak really except to tell his mother that it was all going to be okay.

One of Quis' aunts were up there now, asking if anyone had anything left to say and without thinking about it I raised from my seat with my hand up. She seemed surprised and confused because it was evident none of them knew who I was except Quis, but he wasn't even acting as if he knew me for the moment.

When I'm in front of the podium I look out into the crowd that held saddened friends and family members. Quis was killing me with his eyes but I ignored him. Something inside was pushing me to say something so I take a long hard look at Bernard before picking up the mic.

"Um, hi everyone. " I take a deep breath. More people were beginning to look at me with confused faces. "None of you know me except Quis so this will be a bit weird coming from me, but I knew Bernard. It feels like just yesterday I was begging Quis to introduce me and . . ." Quis is giving me nothing short of a death glare so I drop the entire act I had going. I had something to say and it was eating at me so bad that I couldn't go a single second without worrying over it.

"I'm the reason Bernard is dead. " There are some gasps, but I continue. "If I wasn't fooling around with Quis then he wouldn't have had to watch over me when he got locked up. " A tear slips down my face. "If he didn't think I was important to his brother, Bernard wouldn't have put himself in front of that bullet to protect me. " No one moves, shuffles, anything.

"Yea, I blame myself but I'm not up here for pity I'm up here to talk about Bernard. He ... he was really ruff around the edges. Nothing like what I expected to meet. But no matter what he always came back and looked out for me, even when I thought he was going to leave my ass and just go to another state all together. " I laugh slightly. "But my heart goes out his family and friends, may he rest in peace. "

When I left the podium everyone was quiet and Quis was back to ignoring me with his mom at his side. The funeral finished up and I waited by the door for Quis while him and his mom went to Bernard's casket. As I'm standing there, a woman with short brown hair cut real low, hazel eyes, brown skin and a simple black dress with heels approached me. With her is a really dark skin man with a lowly cut fade and shaved sides, a black hat, similar to a bucket hat, sitting at the back of his head, a black shirt with a blue button up shirt that wasn't buttoned, black pants rolled up above his ankles, and some dress shoes.