Smoke and Tone hadn’t been in the house twenty minutes before I started wondering what the fuck I’d agreed to.
Tone made himself comfortable first. He dropped his backpack beside the couch, took off his coat, and started flipping through channels like he’d been there before. Smoke barely said anything. He carried one of the black duffel bags down the hallway and put it in the spare room, then came back for the other.
Dre was still hanging around.
I watched Smoke disappear down the hallway.
“Where’s he taking that?”
Dre looked at me. “The room.”
“I know that. Why?”
“Where you want him to put it? Kitchen table?”
“Don’t be a smartass.”
Dre laughed.
Tone looked over from the couch. “Your boy always like this?”
Dre smiled. “JC ask about everything.”
“It’s my fucking house.”
“Exactly,” Dre said. “That’s why we here.”
Something about the way he said it bothered me. Smoke came back into the living room.
“You got any towels?”
“Hall closet.”
He nodded and disappeared again. They weren’t acting nervous. That was what confused me. Stackhouse had paid five hundred dollars because nobody knew my house. The way he’d said it made me imagine Smoke and Tone hiding from somebody. Maybe the police. Maybe somebody else. I didn’t know. But neither one of them acted like they were hiding. Tone was watching television. Smoke was asking for towels. Dre was drinking one of my Cokes. It felt less like I was hiding two people and more like I’d somehow ended up with three roommates.
I looked at Dre.
“They’re definitely gone tomorrow?”
“Yeah.”
“What time?”
“JC.”
“What?”
“They just got here.”
“And they’re supposed to leave tomorrow.”
“They will.”
“I’m asking what time.”
Dre shook his head. “I don’t fucking know. Morning. Afternoon. Whenever Stack say.”
That wasn’t the agreement.
“They need to be gone before Crystal gets back.”
“I thought she already knew.”
“She knows they’re here. She doesn’t know they’re still gonna be here when she gets home.”
Dre laughed. “That’s between you and your girl.”
“Motherfucker, you’re the reason they’re here.”
“Nah.” He pointed at me.
“Five hundred dollars is why they’re here.”
I hated how often Dre was right. Smoke appeared in the hallway.
“Tone.”
Tone looked over. Smoke nodded toward the spare room. Tone immediately got up. The change in him caught my attention. One second he’d been laughing at something on television. The next he was serious. He followed Smoke down the hallway and the bedroom door closed. I looked at Dre.
“What are they doing?”
“Nothing.”
“Why’d they close the door?”
“Probably because they don’t want you staring at them.”
“Doing what?”
Dre smiled. I didn’t.
“Dre.”
“What?”
“What are they doing in there?”
He looked toward the hallway. Then back at me.
“They cook.”
I waited.
“Cook what?”
Dre stared at me. I already knew he wasn’t talking about food.
“Crack.”
For a second, I thought he was fucking with me, then I realized he wasn’t.
“In my house?”
“Keep your voice down.”
“Fuck keeping my voice down. They’re cooking crack in my fucking house?”
“JC, chill.”
“You told me they needed somewhere to stay.”
“They do.”
“You didn’t say anything about this.”
“You didn’t ask.”
“Fuck you mean I didn’t ask?”
Dre laughed.
“Yesterday you didn’t want answers. Now you want every answer.”
“This is different.”
“How?”
“Because it’s my fucking house.” Dre’s expression changed.
“Then tell them to leave.”
That stopped me. He wasn’t challenging me. He was giving me the option. At least it felt like he was. I looked toward the hallway. Five hundred dollars was already in my pocket.
“What happens if I do?”
Dre shrugged.
“They leave.”
“And Stack?”
“What about him?”
“He gonna be pissed?”
Dre smiled.
“There you go.”
“What?”
“That’s what you really asking.”
I didn’t answer. Dre stepped closer.
“Stack ain’t gonna do nothing to you, JC.”
“I didn’t say he was.”
“You didn’t have to.”
“I just don’t want bullshit at my house.”
“Then don’t make bullshit.”
That sounded simple enough. It always sounded simple when Dre said it. The spare room door opened. Tone came out first. He looked at me.
“You good?”
“Yeah.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah.”
He nodded.
“Aight.”
Then he walked toward the kitchen like nothing had happened. I looked into the hallway. Smoke was still in the room. I could’ve walked down there. I could’ve opened the door. I could’ve told both of them to get their shit and leave. Instead, I stayed where I was.
That was becoming a pattern. Every time I reached a point where I could stop what was happening, I found a reason to wait a little longer. Dre left about an hour later. Before he walked out, he pointed at me.
“I’ll hit you later, JC.”
“When you coming back?”
He smiled.
“There you go again.”
Then he was gone. For the next couple hours, Smoke and Tone mostly kept to themselves. Tone talked whenever he came into the living room. Smoke barely did. I started realizing they were completely different people. Tone wanted everybody to like him. Smoke didn’t seem to give a fuck whether anybody did. Tone asked me about the Grand Prix.
“What year?”
“08.”
“That motherfucker clean.”
“Appreciate it.”
“Dre said you rent it to him.”
“Sometimes.”
Tone laughed. “You trust that motherfucker?”
“Not really.”
“Smart.”
I laughed.
“Y’all friends?”
“Me and Dre?”
“Yeah.”
Tone shrugged. “We all family.”
I didn’t know what that meant. Before I could ask, Smoke called him from the hallway again. Tone got up.
“Back to work.”
He stopped. For half a second, he looked like he’d said something he shouldn’t have. Then he smiled.
“Don’t worry about it.”
He disappeared down the hallway. I sat there thinking about those three words. Back to work. That’s when it became real. They weren’t staying at my house and happening to cook crack. They were staying at my house so they could cook crack. My house wasn’t somewhere they were sleeping. It was somewhere they could work without anybody knowing. Because nobody knows it. Stackhouse’s words came back immediately. Now I understood.
I walked toward the hallway. I stopped outside the spare room. My hand reached for the knob. Then I heard a car pull into the driveway. Crystal.
“Fuck.”
I walked quickly toward the front window. Her car was outside. The spare bedroom door opened behind me. Tone stepped into the hallway.
“Everything good?”
“My girl’s home.”
“So?”
“She doesn’t know what y’all are doing.”
Tone looked at me for a second. Then toward the spare room.
“You ain’t tell her?”
“Fuck no.”
He laughed.
“That might be a problem.”
“No shit.”
The front door opened. Crystal walked in carrying her books. She saw me standing in the living room. Then Tone. Her expression immediately changed.
“Why is he still here?”
“He just got here a couple hours ago.”
“You said they were leaving.”
“Tomorrow.”
“You told me they’d be gone before I got home.”
“I know.”
She put her books down.
“Where’s the other one?”
“Back there.”
“Doing what?”
My silence answered too much. Crystal looked toward the hallway. Then back at me.
“Jay.”
“Nothing.”
“What are they doing?”
“Nothing.”
“Then why did you hesitate?”
“I didn’t.”
“You did.”
Tone quietly disappeared toward the hallway. Smartest thing he’d done all day. Crystal stepped closer.
“What is going on in my house?”
“Nothing.”
“Stop saying nothing.”
“I’ve got it handled.”
She laughed.
“You’ve got what handled?”
“Everything.”
“What is everything?”
I didn’t answer. She stared at me. Then she grabbed her purse.
“I’m going to the store.”
“I’ll go with you.”
“I don’t need you to.”
“I need cigarettes anyway.”
She shook her head.
“I don’t care.”
I grabbed the Grand Prix keys.
“Come on.”
Maybe I thought getting her out of the house would calm everything down. Maybe I wanted to get away from Smoke and Tone myself. Either way, she got into the passenger seat. We barely spoke. The Tennessee winter had gotten dark early, and by then the streetlights were already coming on. I turned the heat up and pulled away from the house. Crystal stared out the window.
“They’re gone tomorrow.” She didn’t answer.
“I mean it.” Nothing.
“Crystal.”
“What?”
“I said they’re leaving tomorrow.”
“You’ve said a lot of things.”
I didn’t know what to say to that. We drove another few minutes then blue lights appeared behind us. My stomach tightened.
“Fuck.”
Crystal looked in the mirror.
“What did you do?”
“Nothing.”
I pulled over. The police cruiser stopped behind us. Red and blue light washed across the inside of the Grand Prix. Then I remembered. The weed. I had some in my pocket. Not a lot. But enough. Crystal looked at me. She knew immediately.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
Her expression changed.
“Jay.”
“It’s fine.”
“What do you have?”
“Keep your voice down.”
“Are you fucking serious?”
“Crystal.”
“Do you have weed on you?”
Before I could answer, the officer was already walking toward the car. I rolled down the window. He asked for my license and registration. I handed them over. He asked where we were going.
“The store.”
“Coming from home?”
“Yeah.”
Crystal didn’t say a word. The officer looked around the car. Then at me.
“Step out for me.”
My stomach dropped. I opened the door. The cold hit me as soon as I stepped outside. I walked toward the rear of the Grand Prix. The officer asked if I had anything on me.I said no. That was stupid. A few moments later, he found the weed. I looked toward the passenger window. Crystal was watching. I expected anger. What I saw was worse. She looked scared. Not of the police. Not even of what might happen to me. She looked scared of what her life was becoming. Standing there underneath flashing lights, I finally saw everything from her side.
A few weeks earlier, we were buying a house together. She was going to college. I had a new Grand Prix. We weren’t rich, but we were building something. Then Dre showed up.
Now strangers were using our house. My car was disappearing for hours. Stackhouse knew my phone number without me giving it to him. Two men were cooking crack in our spare room. And I was standing beside the road while a police officer held weed he’d just taken out of my pocket. It had happened fast. Faster than I realized. Eventually, we were allowed to leave. I got back into the Grand Prix.
Crystal stared straight ahead.
“You okay?”
“Take me home.”
“We still need to go to the store.”
“Take me home, Jay.”
I didn’t argue. The entire drive back was silent. When I pulled into the driveway, Crystal got out before I had completely shut the engine off. I followed her inside. Tone was sitting on the couch. Smoke was in the hallway. Crystal looked at both of them. Then at me. Something in her face changed. She walked straight toward the bedroom. I followed. She pulled a suitcase from the closet.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m leaving.”
“Come on.” She opened a drawer and started putting clothes into the suitcase.
“Crystal.”
“Don’t.”
“Don’t what?”
“Don’t stand there and act surprised.”
“Over some weed?”
She stopped. The second I said it, I knew I’d fucked up.
“Some weed?”
“I didn’t mean it like that.”
“You think this is about weed?”
She pointed toward the hallway.
“I don’t know those men.”
“They’re leaving tomorrow.”
“I don’t know Dre.”
“You’ve met him.”
“I don’t know Stackhouse. I don’t know Smoke. I don’t know Tone. I don’t know why people are paying you hundreds of dollars to use your car. I don’t know why they’re paying you five hundred dollars to use our house. And now I get pulled over with you and find out you’re carrying drugs.”
“It was weed.”
“I don’t care what it was.” She threw another shirt into the suitcase.
“This isn’t you.” That pissed me off.
“You don’t get to tell me who I am.”
“I know who you were.”
The room went quiet. That one landed. She looked at me.
“A month ago, none of these people were here.”
I didn’t answer.
“Now look around.”
I did. For the first time, I actually did. Tone’s backpack was in our living room. Black duffel bags were in our spare bedroom. Dre knew he could walk through my front door. Stackhouse knew my number. Crystal was packing.
“I can fix this.”
“Then fix it.”
“I will.”
“No.” She zipped the suitcase.
“Fix it for you.” She picked it up.
“Where are you going?”
“My mom’s.”
“For how long?”
“I don’t know.”
“Crystal.”
“I can’t stay here.”
“They’re gone tomorrow.” She looked at me.
“I’m not talking about them.” That shut me up. She walked past me. I followed her into the living room. Tone saw the suitcase and immediately looked away. Smoke disappeared back down the hallway. Crystal walked toward the door.
“Let me drive you.”
“No.”
“How you getting there?”
“My mom’s coming.”
“You already called her?”
“Yes.”
That hurt. It meant she’d decided before we finished arguing. Maybe she’d decided in the Grand Prix. Maybe she’d decided while she watched me standing underneath those police lights. We waited outside. Neither of us said much. When her mother’s car pulled up, Crystal walked toward it. I followed.
“Crystal.” She stopped.
“What?”
“You coming back?” Her eyes went toward the house. Then back to me.
“I don’t know.”
I nodded. I didn’t know what else to do.
“I love you.”
She looked at me for a long second.
“I love you too.”
That almost made it worse.
Then she said, “But I’m not losing everything because you want easy money.”
She put the suitcase in her mother’s car and got inside. I watched them drive away. I stood in the driveway until the taillights disappeared. Then I looked at the Grand Prix. The car that had started all of this was sitting there like it hadn’t done anything. Of course it hadn’t. A car doesn’t make decisions. People do. I went inside. Tone was on the couch. Smoke stood in the hallway. Neither said anything. My phone rang. Dre. I answered.
“What?”
“What’s good, JC?”
“Crystal left.” There was silence.
“Where she go?”
“Her mom’s.”
“Damn.”
That was all he said. Damn. Like I’d told him the Titans lost. I sat down. Then Dre asked,
“Smoke and Tone still straight?”
I looked at them. That question should’ve pissed me off. Crystal had just walked out with a suitcase, and Dre wanted to know whether his people still had somewhere to stay. I should’ve told him no. I should’ve told Smoke and Tone to grab those black bags and get the fuck out. I should’ve gotten back into the Grand Prix and driven straight to Crystal’s mother’s house. Instead, I looked toward the hallway. Toward the spare room. Toward the place Crystal had just left.
“Yeah,” I said.
“They’re straight.”
“Aight, JC. I got you.”
Dre hung up. I sat there with the phone in my hand. Smoke went back down the hallway.
Tone turned the television up. And just like that, life inside the house continued without Crystal. That was the part I wasn’t prepared for. Nothing stopped. The world didn’t punish me immediately. Nobody appeared to tell me I’d made the wrong decision. The money was still in my pocket. The Grand Prix was still outside. Smoke and Tone still had work to do. And Dre still had plans. The only thing missing was Crystal. First I’d rented them my car. Then I’d rented them my house. Now it felt like I’d rented them a piece of my life. Crystal had asked me what came next. Standing in that house without her, I finally had the answer.
Whatever I was willing to lose…