The Deals We Made (Chapter 2)

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Sitting in my room, listening to Have You Ever by Brandy, 8:00 slowly approached. I waited from 6:12 when I walked in my bedroom door until 7:50. Time was passing with such resistance. I cried for about a half hour while waiting for him to call. I couldn’t stand it when he was mad at me. I mean, I loved Mike so much. It hurt so bad knowing that I caused all this. “If only I had listened to him and stopped hanging out with Jenelle...god! I can’t do anything right anymore...I’m lucky to be with a guy like him...” I thought. He sort of had that effect on me...you know, like he was the best person in the world and I didn’t deserve him? Well that’s how I felt; that’s what I believed. I looked over at the clock. “7:55...” I had butterflies in my stomach. I was somewhat scared to talk to him. So many different thoughts raced through my head.  “What’s he going to say? Is he still mad? What’s he been doing all this time? Did he talk to Jenelle and Willie already?” I sighed. “I shouldn’t be nervous,” I thought. “It can’t be *that* bad.” 8:00 finally arrived. I sat patiently by the phone. “8:07......” Time pressed on. “8:14....why hasn’t he called? He’s never late...maybe he’s still mad at me...” I couldn’t stop thinking. “8:22...I hope he’s okay...” A little after 8:30, I figured I’d call him. I reached for the phone, and to my surprise, it rang. “Hello?” I answered.2

“Hey Erica, it’s me. What are you doing?” I could tell by the tone of his voice something was wrong.3

“Nothing....what’s up? Where are you?”4

“Oh..um..I’m in my car. Listen, I need to talk to you. *In person*.” His voice was shaky.5

“Why? What’s going on?”6

“I just said I have to talk to you *in person*. Just leave it at that.”7

“But I don’t kn -“8

”I’m coming over to get you now. Be ready. I’ll be there in ten minutes. Love ya. Bye.”9

With that, he hung up. I had no idea what was going on, but I knew it wasn’t good. I didn’t have a lot of time, so I just put on some eyeliner and ran downstairs. I grabbed my jacket and walked out, still, not saying a word to my mother. She yelled after me, “Erica, where are you going?! Get back here!” Mike pulled up as she got to the screen door, and I got in the car. I ignored her completely and just brushed it off my shoulder.10

Mike looked puzzled and upset. It was weird to see him like this. “Where were you?” I asked. He sort of just stared blankly for a minute at the road ahead. “Mike...” He snapped back to reality. “What’s going on? Where were you?” I asked again. He sighed. 11

“Well...” he started. “I was down at Chino’s house, doing business...” he paused. “And I started to tell him what was going on. I asked him what I should .do about Jenelle and Willie...”12

“Uh-huh?”13

“He told me that Willie wasn’t really the type of person you’d want to get angry. He said he knew a lot of people and that he’d been involved in some crazy mess before.” He seemed to be getting more and more upset. “I figured instead of taking my anger out on his girl, I’d just ‘talk’ to him about what happened. So Chino gave me his number and I called him.”14

“Tell me you’re joking, PLEASE tell me you’re joking.” I knew what type of a person Willie was, not to mention how shady Chino was. Willie has been convicted of all kinds of things, and he’s not one to mess with. He scared me half to death the few times I met him. And Chino...oh man....Chino just likes to run his mouth and instigate. 15

“Willie got defensive and started talking madd shit. I wasn’t about to let him talk to me like that.” He said. “So we met up at the projects over on East Farmington Street. It was just me and him at the basketball courts. Chino saw the whole thing from the car...and as you can see, I’m not really too hurt...” He had a scratch under his left eye, and his jaw area had a little bruising.16

“Mike, baby, what did you do?” My heart was racing. Mike normally carried weapons on him, and he wasn’t afraid to use them. 17

“I don’t know...I blacked out...All I know is that he swung first and missed. So I punched him in the jaw and the next thing I remember is being on top of him with my knife to his throat...” He hesitated. “I cut him up pretty bad...and there was blood pouring from his nose too...I think I might’ve broken it...” My jaw was down to the floor. Mike had to know what was in store for him. 18

“I don’t believe this!” I said. There was a deafening silence between the both of us. I could see how angry he was, but yet, I didn’t think he was scared about what might happen to him. It just didn’t seem like that’s what was bothering him.19

“Can I ask a question?”20

“What?” he said.21

“What’s really bothering you? I know you’re not scared...that’s not you. So, what else is going on?” I said. I was almost afraid to hear his response. He sighed.22

“I’ll tell you when we get inside, okay?” He said as we pulled up to his dad’s house.23

“Alright...I guess...” I said as we walked towards the front door. “But what are we doing *here*?”24