Shut Up & Listen - Chapter 51: Chapter 51

[dame]
"They been back there for so long, I got worried. So I called Mav." Cole raised his eyebrows, wondering how that went. "I heard him and his wife arguing about who should come because of course Mav is prolly gonna make a big scene, right."
"So they coming?" Cole asked.
Dame shrugged his shoulders. "They forgot I was on the phone." He said, snickering making his shoulders go up and down. All three of them laughed, making the anxious people accompanying them in the waiting room glare at them. Cole stopped laughing first and looked over at Zay. 'Yo, so yo parents really don't know ya lil sis is.. you know.."
"Not that it's your business, but my family been going thru a lot recently. It's kind of hard right now so everybody been in their own little world, trying to get by the best that they can."
"So that's a no. What about you?"
"For maybe like a week? I just been peeping different shit, but I wasn't sure and I felt like it might be kind of crazy to ask my sixteen year old sister if she was pregnant. I felt like I was invading her privacy by even thinking that she could be pregnant. We're not very close, plus I I don't like knowing that she's even having sex, bro. That's my sister."
"That's exactly why you should wanna know, dude. To protect her, at all costs." Dame said.
"Too late now, huh?"
Dame shook his head, "Nah, never too late." They sat quietly after that, consumed in phones or thoughts, keeping themselves from thinking the worst. Just then, the door opened and two tall ass nigga's walked through coming up behind the seats the four men were sitting in. One came up behind Dame and slapped him on the back. He turned around, "Don't be playin' like that big dawg" Dame said smiling, dapping up Lonnie and Jah as they walked past to some empty seats.
Cole lifted up off his seat a little bit, rubbing the back of his head. He avoided looking at the two men who just entered, looking every which way the same way he did when talking to Cobe that day on the field. Dame chewed the inside of his cheek, decoding Cole's uneasiness. In the background, Zay retold the story of hearing ILeah yelling at Reece on the phone to pick her up to Lonnie and Jah. When Cole finally made eye contact with Dame, Dame touched the tips of all four fingers to his thumb, aiming them at Cole.
Cole laughed and Dame got up, followed by Cole raising up off his seat. "Where yal going?" Jah asked with big bass. The two brothers turned their heads over the shoulders jerking their heads back a little bit in unison before continuing to mind their own business.
Cole happily followed Dame thinking this would be one of their bro moments when they discuss escapades and how they usually do when Dame calls him out on his awkwardness with someone in the room. But, his giddy-ness quickly transformed into confusion when Dame's face read nothing of the sort. His face was blank and his back was up against the nearest wall while his eye's bore into Cole's. He waited for Cole to adhere to the mood before he spoke. It was a tactic he often used to let Cole know that this is a serious matter.
"You ain't doing nothing but adding fuel to the fire." He said, looking Cole straight in his eyes.
Cole smiled, not in a crude way or to be disrespectful, but he was truly in attempt of deciphering what exactly Dame was talking about. "What?" He asked. Dame roughly rubbed the skin between his eyelid and his eyebrow before speaking again.
"Please don't act dumb right now."
"I ain't do nothing." Dame just looked at him with an expression that read don't lie to me. Cole put his hands out in defense of himself.
"I didn't."
"Cobe gone kill you. And imma watch cuz you deserve it."
"What? Man, I just said I ain't do shit. The fuck would I be lying for? I always own my shit, nigga, you know that."
"Uh huh, sure."
"I tell you what, That nigga you tryna be brothers with now, you don't know who that nigga is. Instead of asking me questions, you need to be getting to know what the fuck he about. Nigga weird." Dame rolled his eyes, already knowing what Lonnie is about. A nigga run in the circles he run in, of course he gone be a little dirty.
"So what was all that shit when he walked in, then? Nigga ain't even look yo way and had you squirmin' and shit like some lil bitch, man?" Dame asked, with his voiced laced with attitude and a little disgust for Cole.
"Don't do that shit, Dame."
"I'm just telling you what I saw, if I'm wrong then enlighten me, nigga." Cole was quiet. "Cobe gone be pissed when he find out." Dame said, filling in the silent space. Cole tried his best to seem nonchalant on the outside, but they fact that he wasn't saying much already let Dame know that he was feeling some type of way about being called out. AS HE SHOULD.
"What is there for him to have to find out? Nothing happened."
"Cut it out, Cole! Stop acting like ion know you. I know what that shit mean, nigga. You always got so much shit to say, now you wa-" Dame stopped himself. "Did you have sex with Lonnie?" He asked, point blank and calm in manner. Cobe shook his head 'no'. "Okay." He wiped his forehead of invisible sweat. "Okay. Okay. Wait-" he looked Cole up and down, taking note of energy once again. "Hol' up...Did you-" he started to ask Cole if anything else went down and thats when Cole's face and body language changed and his defenses shot up. He cut Dame off saying,
"I didn't touch him. I had went to confront him about how his niggas been on Cobe ass and it just happened. It was like..." Dame looked at him, attentive, awaiting the rest of the story. "We didn't have sex, and I didn't even touch him, but he did uh t-" He was cut off by Dame.
"And there it is." Dame said, clasping his hands together, with a short nod. Cole deadpanned the older and bit his tongue.
"Nah, keep going. I'm tryna hear the part where you didn't betray your best friend." Dame said.
Cole rolled his eyes. "Nah, you good though, cuz yo ain't touch him, you just let his grimy hands get in that ass and BITCH YOU OUT. But you went out there for Cobe right."
"You not even listening."
"I think I heard you clear enough though my baby." Dame said as he walked back down the long white hallway.
"No. Dame you don't even know that nigga. He ain't what you think."
"Nah, actually I know him pretty good. And since I pay such good attention to muh fuckas, I ain't ever expect nothing else from a dude like that. He's exactly who he says he is. It's you who ain't the nigga I thought he was."
___
Dame returned to the waiting room and was greeted by Maverik and his wife Holle whom Dame had never met before. Had he not been so angry, he might've been more nervous to have been in the presence of the woman he was left for.
She spoke up first. "Wow, is this him?" She cheeses, eyes wide and pretty. She put her hands out, touching both of Dame's arms excitedly.
"Damon, hi! My name is Holle, Maurice's mom." She smiled.
"And Maverik's wife, right? Nice to meet ya." He said haphazardly and was pulled aside by Maverik. Dame noticed that Lonnie & Jah weren't there anymore as he and Maverik walked over to the doors and exited. Dame inhaled the crisp night air allowing the calmness of it to soothe his lungs... that is until, "You knew my son had a baby on the way?"
"Like I said..."
"Listen, I appreciate you trying to be there for him, but I got it from here."
"And how does that help him?"
"It keeps him alive."
"You know, it's kinda crazy that a nigga who grew up on his own knows more about loyalty than a nigga who had two families at the same damn time." Dame nodded his head agreeing with his own statement. "It's too bad that yet another son of yours has learned that you have none."
Dame waited for a response that never came. What could he say? Ain't no reason to deny something both men knew was true. He decided that now was the best time to confront Maverik about some things he been thinking on recently. "At some point you gotta figure out what this family shit is all about. Everybody else is just waitin on yo ass."
"You think you a real smart guy, uh."
"I mean, yeah. But it dont take a rocket scientist to do the damn math, Maverik. Had you been at home instead of off playing house with that woman in there," He pointed toward the doors of the emergency entrance, "maybe you coulda prevented whatever the hell was happening to me that got us taken away. But yo other family turned out real nice though. 'Cept for the fact that your sixteen year old son is now a teenaged father." Dame chuckled. "Seem like you never figured out that parenting shit, man."
"Whoever helped raised you, they did a damn good job. You're educated, successful, doing real well for yourself. I ain't have nothing to do with any of that. Loyalty ain't something you can be taught though, that shit is in ya blood. You got that from me."
"No sir. Cuz what I learned from life as an ORPHAN is that water is thicker than blood. And that came as a real relief to me cuz I wanted no parts of you."
He looked down, rubbing his bearded chin. "I appreciate you wanting to be a brother to Maurice. Good lookin out, man." He mumbled dismissively, touching dame's shoulder before walking back into the hospital.
Dame pulled out his phone and texted Cole that they should leave and a couple minutes later, Cole came out with Zay behind him. "Yo, where y'all off to?"
Dame pulled up his pants in hood nigga fashion and looked over at the two men who just walked out of the emergency room. "We ain't welcome here." He looked down. "But, yo... imma give you my number so you can update me on Reece and ILeah." Zay handed Dame his phone even though he was confused at how quickly Dame's mood had changed.
"Wait... what you mean?"
"I mean, I aint in the business forcing my way into nobody life, man. You tell Reece that I was here, aight. Cole, did you drive or you need a ride?" Dame asked, handing Zay back his phone. He started walking back towards the parking garage and Cole followed him after dapping Zay.
___
[cole]
The ride had been quiet, not even music was playing. Cole kept glancing at Dame, trying to figure out the best thing to do.
"What he say?"
"Don't fucking talk to me, Cole." Dame said, driving with one hand while his other elbow was propped up on the window so his hand could rest on his face.
"You really buggin' bout some shit that's not even important. I didn't ask that nigga to do shit, and it fasho ain't happening again. Best believe that."
"The more you talk, the more you piss me off. Shut the hell up."
"No? Nigga you keep actin like you aint ever did something wrong. You not a fucking saint, nigga. Stop fucking judging me all the time." Cole said and the car immediately stopped in the middle of an intersection making both men hurl forward and their backs hit the back of the seats.
"Get out." Dame mumbled, holding his foot on the brake although his other leg was shaking from how pissed off he was. Cole just looked at him confusion clear across his face. "YOU CAN FUCKING WALK! GET OUT MY FUCKING CAR, BRO!" Dame yelled, catching Cole off guard. Dame don't usually get this mad, so when he did, Cole complied with the quickness. He opened the door and as soon as the door shut, Dame pulled off speeding down the street at 70 mph.