Antebellum Read Free Page B

previous night’s escapades. “I was on some straight-up, whacked-out, psychedelic stuff. I swear I banged out an angel last night, homie. Wings and halo and all! And I gave her da business!”
    â€œThat’s gotta be some kinda sin or somethin’,” Henry said, laughing along with the rest of us as he spoke. “You goin’ to hell, dude.”
    â€œNaw, I ain’t. I mean, she was an angel, so I was real nice to her. Ain’t cuss at her or nothing.”
    â€œBut you still blew da back out, right?”
    â€œMost def.”
    â€œSo you goin’ to hell.”
    Ray turned to me for support. I was still laughing.
    â€œMoe, man, tell dis nigga just cause you give a’ angel da pipe don’t mean you automatically goin’ to hell.”
    â€œIt’s common sense, though.” Henry turned to me as well. “You cain’t have rough sex wid no angel and still go to heaven...”
    I looked back at Ray, who looked genuinely concerned about his fate in the afterlife, and I fell out of my seat. I laughed so hard that I strained my stomach muscles. Brian and Orlando were both leaning over, too. Brian was slapping the seat with his palm while Orlando was trying to catch his breath.
    By the time I composed myself, my eyes were bloodshot. I looked at Ray again and saw two of him instead of one.
    â€œYou...you do know that you ain’t really screw an angel last night, right?”
    â€œI mean, yeah... I know...but still, you shoulda seen her, dogg...”
    I shook my head. Ray was pitiful.
    â€œDon’t let no drugs fool you, dude. It was probably a crack-head.”
    Orlando cracked up again, but not as hard. His lungs couldn’t take it, and his crotch was still on fire. When he finished catching his breath, he looked up at me.
    â€œSo what’d you end up trippin’ off of?”
    I shrugged my shoulders.
    â€œI ’ont know, man. Probably X. I ended up wid this chick wid a donkey booty.”
    Brian shot straight up in his seat.
    â€œSo Phatback found you, huh?”
    I must’ve looked confused, because Orlando stepped in and clarified.
    â€œPhatback was the name we gave the chick you got with. She got to the hotel ’round two in the afternoon wid her girls yesterday. All she did was ask where you was at. We partied a lil bit while you was still at the photo shoot. We even broke her girls off. But she had dat radar on, boy. Soon as you came back, it was a wrap.”
    â€œWhy I cain’t remember her from last night then?”
    â€œâ€™Cause you was high all day yesterday. You told me have a blunt ready fo’ when you came back from da shoot, so I gave it to you soon as the limo pulled up. We got blazed ’fore you even got back in da hotel. And dat was before we met da white boys.”
    I was getting ready to ask another question, but I felt the limo make a sharp right turn. When I looked out the window, I saw the mall entrance.
    â€œAlright, listen guys...” SaTia finally broke her silence. “Our meeting with Mr. Rose shouldn’t take any longer than an hour. You all have the credit cards, but don’t overdo it. The last thing we need is to start hearing about misappropriation of funds.”
    Each one of my friends shut up when she spoke. When she finished, they each nodded their head, gave me dap and got out of the limo.
    It had always been like that, back since junior high school. SaTia was just one of those girls nobody wanted to cross. Straight from the ghetto, but everybody recognized she was going places. All the players would make excuses about why they wouldn’t holla at her—but they all realized she was out of their league. If you gave her a pickup line, she’d either treat you like a cute puppy or like an idiot. Neither one did much for the male ego.
    Imagine my surprise when in the ninth grade, she told me she’d fallen in love with my words.
    â€œWhy are they so afraid