existence. Another text came through, this time from Joe. All of these men in my life and I felt like I couldn’t keep up. From my Dad to Brian and now Joe was still teetering around. I opened the text only to see a picture of his dick. “I bet a white boy can’t fuck you like I can.” He was proud of himself, sending me a message from his work line. Unfortunately, I didn’t block that number and now I was staring at his fully hard dick with its veins sticking out. I said nothing, all of this had to be a bad joke. It must have been play a trick on Alicia day. “When can I see you?” Brian texted back. “I don’t know. I have to concentrate on school. We do have an exam this week.” “We can study late tonight.” He sent the message but I was tired of being his late night rendezvous. “No, why do I have to see you at night. What about a date?” I was making things too easy for him. It was about time that I pushed the envelope for a change. “Okay, no problem. What about breakfast in the morning before your classes? Wherever you wanna go.” I liked the way that sounded. Anywhere I wanted to go and not straight to his house or to mine. “I just want to be around you.” I had to smile. I had no choice. “It’s been a long time since a guy has just wanted to be around me just because.” “Well get used to it.” I had no response. This was too much and I felt like I needed to back off from him. With my Dad being here and Joe acting crazy, maybe it wasn’t the best time for me to pursue a new relationship. “Maybe we should do the date another day.” “???” But I didn’t reply, I didn’t want to make any more decisions today about anybody. I needed to study and not be worried about some guy that’s a cop or another guy that couldn’t let me go. He sent another message but I didn’t bother to check it. All of this shit was a distraction and I was done being taken off course. I needed one day where I could just concentrate on me and today I was going to leave everyone else in the dark.
9 Blue “ W omen … can’t live with them or without them. ” and in my case, I couldn’t even tell them the damn truth. I called and pleaded my heart to Alicia and somehow I got her to agree to breakfast so at least I didn’t have thoughts about her lingering in my head. Now I was at work, changing into full riot gear, getting ready for an announcement that could mean a full-scale riot. “I heard they aren’t going to charge him? Were gonna be fucked if that happens.” A group of guys from my unit and a few others from the surrounding areas were all standing outside the courthouse ready and waiting for whatever was about to happen. We had rehearsed possible scenarios and situations all day but now it was time to get down to it. In less than ten minutes the prosecutor was going to give his decision and we were going to need to be ready. “Guess we gotta get ready for this bullshit. All these animals and their damn complaints.” Everyone laughed except me. “That shit’s not funny, Ron.” Every group had that one ultra racist asshole and usually we just let it go but today I was tired of letting shit go. “What did you say, McGwire?” “I said calm all that shit down. If that’s the way you feel, keep it to yourself.” The group was quiet, everyone staring at me. “Alright men. The announcement is about to be made.” The sergeant came over, breaking up our impromptu meeting. Ron walked away and everyone turned and walked towards the front of the building where we were supposed to hold our ground and make sure the city buildings weren’t destroyed. I heard the announcement over the loud speaker but my thoughts were on the crowd, and on Alicia. She stopped texting me back earlier. I wasn’t sure what the hell that meant but I had every intention of going to see her whenever I got off duty. “We will not be prosecuting Officer Miller.” I had a feeling that would be