Page 91 of Certified To Handle You 2

Blaq leaned over the table and finished rollin’ another blunt before holdin’ it up to check his work.

“You roll that muthafucka any tighter, we gon’ need a machine to hit it,” I told him before liftin’ my glass.

Blaqson looked at me. “You always got somethin’ to say, but be smokin’ every blunt I roll.”

“‘Cause I ain’t wastin’ good weed over yo’ lack of talent, nigga.”

Blaq laughed and took the first pull before passin’ it over. I hit the blunt a couple times and leaned back against the sofa while lookin’ around the club.

Drahma Town was packed like it usually was this late, with every section full and people crowded around the floor. Music shook through the walls, bottles kept comin’ out with sparklers and everybody looked like they had decided tonight was the night to spend money they probably ain’t have.

I was takin’ another drink when I caught movement near the section from the corner of my eye. At first, I ain’t think much of it ‘cause women had been walkin’ past us all night, lookin’ over and tryna figure out if they could get invited in.

Then I looked up and saw Reni. She was walkin’ toward us with Mecca next to her.

A part of me was surprised even though I knew Drahma Town wasn’t no unfamiliar place for her. This was where we met through Blaqson years ago, back when she used to come through here all the time with Mecca and whoever else they was hangin’ with. Before everything between us got complicated, Reni could walk in this bitch and know half the people in it.

She looked good too…

Her hair was long and this light brown color, fallin’ over her shoulders in loose curls, and she had on a fitted black dress that stopped high on her thighs without lookin’ like she had tried too hard. Her makeup was done soft, and the heels she wore had her legs lookin’ longer than they already was. She had always been pretty, and breakin’ up ain’t suddenly make me blind.

Still, seein’ her ain’t hit me the way it would’ve once. Too much had happened between us for that.

Reni spotted me before she made it all the way over, and the smile that touched her face let me know she ain’t know I would be here either. Mecca leaned toward her and said somethin’ I couldn’t hear, then both of ‘em kept walkin’ until they reached the rope near our section.

Blaqson followed my eyes and looked over. “Well, look who popped up.”

I glanced at him. “Don’t start no shit.”

“I ain’t said nothin’, nigga.”

“You was ‘bout to.”

The security near the section already knew Reni, so it ain’t take much before her and Mecca was let through. Reni walked over first, and when she stopped in front of me, we looked at each other for a second like both of us was tryna figure out what kind of time the other one was on.

“Hey, Renza,” she greeted me over the music.

“Wussup, Reni?”

She leaned down and wrapped her arms around my shoulders. I put one arm around her waist and hugged her back without makin’ the moment bigger than it needed to be. Her perfume hit me when she pulled close, and for a second, the familiarity of her brought back too much history. The shit was kinda crazy.

When she stepped back, I looked toward Mecca and nodded. “Wussup?”

“Hey, Renza,” Mecca replied before speakin’ to Blaqson too.

They sat down with us, with Mecca takin’ the open space near Blaqson while Reni slid into the spot beside me. She crossed one leg over the other and placed her purse near her hip before lookin’ at the bottle on the table.

“You still drinkin’ this?” Reni asked as she reached for one of the empty glasses.

“I still drink whatever I feel like drinkin’,” I answered while pourin’ some for her.

I passed the glass toward her, and she took it.

For a while, all four of us kicked it without nothin’ feelin’ strange. Blaqson and Mecca started talkin’ about somebody they both knew, and Reni sat next to me sippin’ her drink while I smoked. Every now and then she would lean closer to hear somethin’ I said, and her thigh would brush against mine before she settled back into her spot.

The club got louder as the night went on, and more bottles started landin’ on the table. Blaqson rolled another blunt after we finished the first, then passed it between all of us while Mecca complained about how strong the weed was.

Reni took a pull and held it for a second before coughin’ into her hand.