You Before Me [dave east]

| five

Dave;

Yawning tiredly, I roll out from under another car and wander into the back to wash my hands. It was getting late but I was still at the shop since my uncle didn't come in and neither did Lamar, meaning I had to work a double. My unc owns the shop so it ain't like I mind doing overtime for him after everything he's done for me.

I dry my hands and grab my jacket, ready to head out.

"Wait, wait! I'm here! Wait!" I hear a familiar voice before I see shorty from earlier duck under the low roller shutters. They were low in the first place since I was just about to close up and I didn't want no customers thinking they can come in at 10 something p.m. She jogs over to me while I'm getting my stuff together. "My bad, I lost track of time. Am I too late?"

"It's coo'. I was just bouta' lock up." I mumble, walking over to the key cabinet to get the keys for her little friend's car.

"Guess it's my lucky day." She says and smacks her lips, taking the keys from me.

"How you know Latrelle anyway?" I ain't know the nigga like that but I know he's the last person I wanna ever get close to. He just look like bad news.

"High school." She shrugs.

I nod slowly, looking Zo up and down. I never fucked a Spanish bitch, even though she look black if you ask me. Must be mixed. I was too busy staring at shorty to notice she was eyeing me right back until I snapped out of it.

"You tryna fuck a nigga or sum'?" I ask, chuckling lowly to myself as I shake my head.

"Hm?"

"You eyeing me like you tryna fuck." I say casual. She starts laughing but I see her cheeks turn a little pink.

"Okay you fine and all but don't get big headed." She smirks.

"Aight." I lead the way out, ducking under the shutters. I wait until she's out the shop too before putting the key in, making the shutters roll down all the way.

I'm about to head over to my Corvette, which I can't afford whatsoever, but some rich guy brought it in one day almost damaged beyond repair but he told me if I could fix it up, it was all mine. I'd be a clown to let a Corvette be taken in to the junkyard so I put blood sweat and tears into making this shit brand new again.

"Hold up." Xiomara says just as I was approaching my car.

"What's up?"

"You're probably gonna say no but there's this pool party going on tomorrow and I wanted you to come with so we can hang out. That's probably weird since we don't know each other and you said I was bad news which is dumb and rude because I most definitely am not but I was thinking we—"

I cut her off right there, realizing she was about to start rambling on me. "Aight." I say.

"So you gonna come?"

"I'on mind." I say. Like I said, I never fucked a Spanish bitch. Shit, I ain't even got my dick wet since I got out the pen which was a couple years ago and obviously I wasn't getting none while I was in there either. I been feeling like a virgin all over again.

"Okay. Come pick me up tomorrow around 4, okay?" She smiles.

"Coo'." I get in my car, not pulling off until I see shorty drive away first. I start up the engine and drive to the neighborhood I'm staying at.

It's a crip neighborhood and they let that shit be known with all the blue everybody be wearing but since I don't fuck with that gang violence shit no more, I keep to myself over there. It still feels like moving across the country ain't let me escape from none of this crip shit though.

I walk inside the crib, picking up clothes from floor which makes me shake my head. Why this bitch gotta be so messy for. I walk into her room, finding her sitting on the bed lighting a cigarette.

"Fuck I told you 'bout smoking that shit?" I suck my teeth, dumping her clothes on the foot of the bed.

"Look, David, I love you but you really gotta quit telling me what to do. Damn!" She rolls her eyes.

Ari was my best friend back in New York. She been letting me crash at her place until I get on my feet but for the past months, the one thing I've noticed about her is that she's changed. She started smoking and fucking on random niggas. It just ain't the same person I used to know.

"Whatever, bruh." I head out and wander into the room I'm staying in, stripping down to my boxers. I walk into the bathroom and get cleaned up in the shower, brushing my teeth before heading back in the room.

I pick up my phone, realizing there's nothing to do with it anyway so I suck my teeth and put it back down. Turning over on my side, I let myself drift off to sleep.

Xiomara;

I walk into my bedroom after getting out the shower, throwing my wet hair up into a bun. Grabbing my laptop, I get up on my bed and power it up.

"There anything to eat?" Alonzo asks, poking his head into my room.

"There's quesadillas left over in the kitchen." I mumble, waving him off. I wasn't talking to him until I find a way to confront him about the weed and cash I found in his bag. And he must think I'm an idiot if he thinks I don't know he went out today after I told him not to.

Alonzo leaves and I start typing in my laptop, wanting to do my research on Dave. I've already checked my phone and he has no social media so now I want to see if there's a slim chance that he's on Google. He said he left New York to get away from something so I'm tryna see if I can find anything.

I search up 'Dave' and of course it's a wide search so all kind of things came up since it isn't specific enough. I roll my eyes, absentmindedly moving around the cursor as I scroll down before deciding to search 'Dave New York' since it's the only other thing I know about him.

As soon as I hit enter, all types of news articles about a David Brewster show up on the screen. I click on the first one, seeing a mug shot of him but the headline was 'David Brewster fully exonerated from rape charges after his accuser confesses she fabricated the entire story'.

I raise an eyebrow, scrolling down the page to find that he was sentenced as an adult when he was only 16. It was an unfair trial but I'm not surprised since it happens all the time when you're racially discriminated. His conviction was only overturned while he was on parole, after he already did six years in prison.

He had taken a plea deal to make his sentence shorter but that would've meant years of parole.

"Damn." I mumble, shaking my head, feeling sorry for him.