In Due Time

Del Amo

I decide to go to work, make up missed hours. Bald Man from Pakistan is givin' me shit about going MIA yesterday. I try to explain, but he ain't hearing me. I give up, he tells me to go do some work.

I help a customer, young nigga with some big ass feet.

I go to the back and look for his size 13. Dom is coming in from break.

"You came?" he asks. "Guess that Tylenol is workin' overtime."

"I saw her today."

"Who?"

"Arizona Medulo."

He stares at me, then clocks in. "Word?! What she look like?!"

"Average." I down play her. She was high above damn average.

"Better than Stacey?"

I shrug. "I don't know."

I find the size, show them to the boy, he likes them, I ring them up. After they leave, Dom comes back with more questions.

"So, what happened?"

"Said she got their messages."

"Who's messages?"

"Her mans and Stacey's. They used to Kik."

"That Arizona girl a stalker. How the hell she get them messages?"

I shrug, then say "If you thought yo girl was gettin' dick somewhere else, would you try to find out too?"

"Yeah, I guess I would. But my dick too good to be true. Nobody wanna leave Magnum."

"You named yo dick Magnum?" I ask.

"Hell yeah."

I shake my head. My cell phone rings.

Stacey.

I answer it, then hang up. Don't even give her the choice to leave a message.

"Cal, stop ignoring my calls!" Stacey was here again. This time without Lyrical. This time without those dark ass shades. I see her eye. Black and blue and swollen. She tries to cover it with a bang.

I toss my head back wishing I had more Tylenol.

"Cal, talk to me."

"I'm working." I say. She looks at me, then at Dom, Dom looks at me, then looks back at her, then back at me, Stacey looks back at me.

All eyes on me.

"Can we talk? Please. Just five minutes."

I ignore her.

"Cal." she's closer now. "Please."

I ignore her again. She cries, then leaves.

"Cal." That was Dom this time.

"What."

"Go talk to the girl."I smack my teeth. Fuck that girl. " I know you. You can't stay mad at Stacey forever."

He was right. In most cases I couldn't, but this was some deep shit we were in.

"I gotta work."

"Ain't nobody here. Look around." We had no customers. Bald Man from Pakistan was gone, runnin' errands.

"What if Boss comes back?"

"I will cover for you."

I sigh. "Fuck."

"Man, go."

"Iight."

I leave out the store. I see her. Sitting at Wetzel Pretzel sippin on some lemonade. She had her shades back on, hiding her tears.

"What you want to talk to me about, Stacey?"

She sniffs, wipes her face with a napkin. "Can we talk about us?"

"Explain everything to me. How it happened, why it happened, when it happened. I need details."

"Cal, you just need to know that it happened, alright. And I regret every damn minute of it." she tells me to sit, I stay standing. "What can I do for you to forgive me? I'll do anything."

"Give me back these past four years I been with you."

"You don't mean that."

"And you didn't mean to fuck that nigga, did you?"

Silence.

"We've had good memories too." she says. I sit down, turn away from her.

"Like?"

"Like when we went camping in Alpine...just me and you."

I think back to that weekend. We had just graduated, took a trip out to Alpine, CA. Stayed in a little hotel outside the forest. I fucked her good that night. I fucked her right. We woke up, I gave her breakfast in bed. fucked again. Went hiking, fucked again.

"And you got all them mosquito bites." I laugh. She does too.

"Little fuckers sucked me dry."

I pause, sigh. Memories.

"What happened to us?" she asks, touching my arm. I pull back.

"Things got fucked up."

"I fucked things up."

"That too." I tap my foot. "But things were fucked up even before then."

"I'm sorry."

"Just tell me why."

"It's over Cal, I promise you."

"You can't even answer simple fucking questions."

Silence.

"Until you can answer what, why, when, where, and how. Don't call me, don't come to my job, don't text me, shout me out on instagram, follow me on twitter, friend me on facebook." I look at her, then get up. "Bye Stacey."

She doesn't say nothing. I leave her to cry.