Niggas will try you, and I'm not that type of nigga... I just stay out the way now.
-Joey Fatts

• Progression Slowed Up •

Dyme
Laguna Beach, CA.

I sit in my living room trying to go through all of the gifts we received at the baby shower. It was so much stuff it was getting a little overwhelming. Like I don't even know where I'm going to put it all. Joey has been gone for the past two days in Texas helping his brother move, so I've been alone with Jodie.

When the doorbell rings I get up from the couch sighing as I put a stack of clothes someone bought on the table. I go to the door looking through the window seeing it's Miss Edna and Miss Shellie. I unlock then swing the door open as Joey's Mom yells, "Fat mama!" while hugging me. I laugh because she's acting like I haven't seen her in forever when I just saw her three days ago at the baby shower.

I hug Miss Edna next then they walk in. "Where's Matika?" I ask because she was supposed to come over too.

"Home. You know she's stressing with Marcel being in jail," Miss Edna says. "She kind of feels helpless because she can't do anything to get him out. She's just staying at home until it's time for the baby to be born."

"I need to call and check on her," I say.

"Where's my baby, Jodie?" Miss Edna asks looking around the quiet, empty house.

"Upstairs taking a nap. I'm just tryna go through all these gifts from the baby shower. They gave this little boy so many clothes. I don't even know how he'll wear it all. He's gonna have to wear like three outfits a day," I say shaking my head.

"Or you can just save it for the next baby," Miss Shellie says bouncing her brows up and down with a smile on her face.

"Can I push out this baby first? Damn," I say playfully rolling my eyes.

Miss Shellie holds up her hands saying, "Well, shit. My bad! I was just making a suggestion. Is the nursery done?"

"Yeah, I had to call and hire some people to finish setting up the furniture since Joey is gone." I wave for them to follow and they do. We make our way up the stairs and down the hall. On the way I stop in Jodie's room peaking in to check on her. She was still sound asleep, so I close the door back. We go to the room directly across from it and I open the door to reveal the room for Stevie's nursery..

I let them walk in first then I follow. "This is so nice," Miss Edna says as they look around. Miss Edna is going to be the God-mother for this baby. When I told her she couldn't be more excited and happy. She's like Jodie's second grandmother, so it was only right. My Mom may be dead, but it feels like I have two now. I'm glad Joey's mom is sober and will be able to really be a grandmother to our child. She may not have always been there for her kids, but she'll be a great grandma.

"You already have your overnight bag for the hospital packed?" Miss Shellie asks.

"'Not yet. I still have some time. A couple of days. Knowing my forgetful ass I won't do it until the day my water breaks. There's no point in rushing to the hospital anyhow. You're gonna be waiting for hours anyway."

"What if the baby comes early? You still need to be ready," Miss Edna says. "That's why I don't think it was smart for Joey to be going out of state this close to the due date."

"Don't say that. I'm not prepared for him to come early. The doctor said he should be right on time. Mid-July. My Cancer baby." It's a week into July and the clock is ticking. I was ready to pop. "Plus, someone had to help Kaine move. Joey will be back tomorrow morning. It'll be fine."

"Okay, if you say so. We're tryna tell you. I have that motherly instinct and I feel it in my gut that he will come early, but be hard headed if you want to. I'm never wrong," Miss Edna says.

"You were wrong when you said Drake wouldn't kill Meek Mill in their beef. You were wrong when you said Nick Minaj wouldn't take that L from Remy Ma. You were wrong when you said Trump wouldn't win the election. You were wrong when-"

She cuts me off saying, "Alright! I get it. I've been wrong a few times, BUT I'm not wrong about this. I had a dream about it. I had a dream that a chicken laid an egg. The chicken was you and the egg is my God-baby. The egg got cracked too early."

Me and Miss Shellie waited for a second thinking there was more to the story. "Is that it? What happened after the egg got cracked?"

"I don't know. I woke up," she says shrugging.

"That could've been about Matika. She's pregnant too. How do you know it was about me? Maybe you were thinking about having eggs for breakfast," I say as both Miss Shellie and I laugh.

"Laugh all you want. I know what and who my dream was about. You'll see," she says pointing at me.

I laugh going to sit in the chair that's in the corner. I unlock my phone to see Joey sent me a picture, so I open it. I look at it chuckling..

I type a reply then send it...

My man so handsome🍫😍😘

I miss you😩

I'm honestly so lucky to have Joey. He's that thing I never knew I needed, but I do...desperately and urgently. My best friend. He gives me strength when I'm weak. Especially when I'm depressed and want to cut or do anything crazy. I couldn't be happier.

While I wait on his reply I ask Miss Shellie, "Did you cry when Kaine left?"

"Hell no! I'm glad I got rid of his bad ass. My last birdie out of the nest. Now I can start having functions at my crib. It's about to be going up. I can finally date again too cause I don't have him all in my business."

I laugh then say, "Okay! You tryna get your grove back, I see."

"You know it. Joey wants me to move out of Long Beach, but I don't know about all that. I've been living there since the 80's. It's my second home after Compton. He says someone is watching my house. I think he's just being paranoid."

"Really?" I ask. He's never mentioned that to me.

"Matika said the same thing. She said the police have been following her around in an unmarked car ever since Marcel was arrested that's why she's been staying home. She hasn't even been going to work."

"That's crazy," I say shaking my head. "I don't think Marcel really killed his Dad. I know they didn't like each other, but killing him? That's a little far." Both Miss Edna and Miss Shellie just look at me not saying anything. I didn't say it, but they knew something I didn't. "Well, Miss Shellie, if he says he thinks you should move, maybe you should."

Miss Shellie waves me off saying, "It's fine. It'll blow over once this investigation is over."

"It's more than an investigation, Shellie. They have built a whole case. It's going to trial," Miss Edna chimes in.

"This shit is crazy," I say shaking my head.

"It is. Let's talk about something else," Miss Edna says sighing. "Did you guys ever pick a middle name?"

"Yup, Joseph. After Joey's Dad. Stevie Joseph Vercher," I say.

"Hmph," Miss Shellie says while looking through one of the children's book from the book shelf.

"What's that noise for?" I ask. "Wasn't that your husband.."

"All I said was hmph. Loved my husband to death, literally, but he could've did a lot of things differently and he'd still be here. If he would've just stayed out of the streets and stopped gang banging like I told him to, I wouldn't have had to try and raise four kids by myself. I get it though. Joey and his brothers looked up to him. Wanted to be just like him that's why they started that gang. Can't blame no one, but myself for not choosing the man I had children with more wisely. And I can't blame anyone but myself for not protecting my children from the streets."

"You can only protect your children so much," Miss Edna says. "Especially those boys. One of my sons is dead, the other is in jail and one is finally making something of his life. I never had to worry about my two daughters. Not as much as my three sons at least. You can get over the fact your daughter got pregnant out of wedlock or whatever else. It's a hard pill to swallow knowing your son has killed someone else's child or they might get killed by someone else's child. The thought hurts."

"Exactly. I'm in the same boat. One son in jail, one killed by a cop, one who had to grow up too fast and he's just now getting his life on track and one going to college. All different paths, but you're still scared for them. I had one daughter. Every woman says I don't want daughters only because they know what they did as a young girl. You fear your daughter being fast or hurt by these men. When you have a son you realize how dangerous this world really is for black men."

"You just gotta pray everyday. It's not even just a living in the hood thing. Your kids will be raised with more money than you were raised with. You may not fear them joining a gang or selling drugs, but you'll fear something else. They're going to be around more white people. White people that may be racist. Your fear is your child being killed by someone simply because of the color of their skin. The fear never goes away no matter the circumstance."

I just listened to their words. Being a mother is the hardest thing a woman will do, but it's the most rewarding. To see your child grow up into everything they (not you) want to be is an amazing thing. I can't wait to see who my children become in this world...

Joey
Dallas, TX.

I originally came out to Dallas to help my brother move into his dorm. After that was done he wanted me to drop him off at the Cheesecake Factory to meet up with some friends. I don't know why these schools don't let freshman's have their car. It's stupid. I park then he says, "Alright, thanks," about to get out of the backseat since my homie is in the front passenger seat.

"Damn, you can't say bye or give me a hug. You're acting like I'm not leaving tomorrow morning. That's how I get treated after helping you move and everything else I've done for you?"

He turns to me saying, "You're acting like you're not gonna come see me before you leave.."

"I might not. My flights early as hell in the morning. You probably won't even be up."

"I will. Just come by in the morning."

I open my door getting out saying, "We'll see. Give me some love."

"Get off me, yo," he says as I hug him.

"My nigga all grown now. You're about to be partying and fucking so many bitches," I say laughing as I let him go.

We dap then he says, "Man, chill."

"Just stay focused and remember why you're here; education and football. You're gonna make Ma proud. You're already making me proud. Get this money, youngin'."

"Alright, getting all emotional on me like you'll never see me again. I'm gonna come home on holidays."

"Which is months away. You need money for tonight?" I ask.

"Naw, I'm good, Pops," he says mockingly.

"You look happy as hell to be leaving," I say looking at him as I get back in the car..

He shakes his head walking off as I put my seatbelt on. "That boy grown," I say like I couldn't believe it.

I leave going back to my hotel room. This trip was going to be a double whammy because I have a performance at a club later tonight. I wanted to make a bag real quick because once the baby is born I'm not leaving California to do any shows. I can do that seeing as music isn't my only income. It's not even my main income. I still make a decent amount from my shows even though I don't put music out that often.

After changing clothes I leave the hotel with my team, which consists of a few of my artists, my security and my DJ. We get into the Mercedes Sprinter bus that I rented then leave for the club I'm performing at.

As we drive on the highway I sit on the back row by the window face timing Dyme. She puts the camera on Jodie making me smile as soon as I saw the smile on her face. "Look at your teeth!" I say as she smiles even bigger showing the few teeth she has growing in.

"Shit!" I hear my driver say making me look at him.

When I see red and blue lights behind us I say, "What did you?"

"I don't know. I was going the speed limit," he says shrugging.

I sigh saying, "Just pull over." I turn back to my phone telling Dyme I'll call her back then I hang up. We pull over and I sit there quietly as my friend who's driving rolls the window down. I listen as he talks to the cop. The cop flashes the flashlights to the back where 5 more of us are sitting,

"I'm gonna have to ask you all to step out of the vehicle, so we can search it.."

"Why?" I immediately ask furrowing my eyebrows.

"We smell marijuana coming from the vehicle. Please, step out," he says as his partner slides open the back van door. He didn't smell any damn marijuana. When I'm in these southern states I don't take any chances. I don't do anything I think I can arrested for including smoking weed. I'm tryna make it back home.

We all get out of the car and they handcuff us each and sit us on the side of the highway. I knew they did it because they were scared of the fact they were outnumbered by a bunch of black guys. Otherwise they had no reason to cuff us. Usually I would argue, but I'm just trying to get out of this, perform then leave tomorrow morning. This shit was embarrassing. All these cars passing by us staring trying to see what's going on.

A couple of minutes later a cop comes back. "What's this?" He asks holding up a big bag of weed, a bag of pills and a gun.

I furrow my eyebrows because I've never seen either. "That's not ours."

"I've heard that one before," he says chuckling.

He walks off back to his cop car and I had a feeling he calling back up. "They're on some racist shit. We didn't have any of that," Raynell says leaning into me.

"I know," I mumble. What did I need a gun for? I have security. This is bullshit. And somehow I think Detective Reed had something to do with this. He probably has connections in Texas or something.

The Next Day...

Dyme
Laguna Beach, CA.

"Why are you crying? Stop crying," Miss Edna says rubbing my head as they push me in a wheelchair into the hospital.

"Joey isn't here," I cry trying to catch my breath.

Miss Shellie laughs making me glare at her. "You cry so damn ugly, G."

"This isn't funny," I say wiping my face. When my water broke this morning I didn't know what to do. I just started panicking. Lucky for me Miss Shellie and Miss Edna came right by my side. I wasn't due for another week. Last night I got a call from Joey only to find out he was arrested while in Texas. They charged him with possession of an illegal substance and they held him over night. One of his friends took the gun charge and another took the charge for the pills.

"It'll be fine. I sent the bail money for Joey and he's at the airport. He'll be back in California in a couple of hours. Probably before the baby is even born," she reassures me.

"I don't wanna do this by myself," I say wiping the tear that fell.

"You're not gonna have to. We're here," Miss Edna says holding my hand then patting it.

"I don't know. I've given birth to 5 babies, but I didn't have to see them coming out. Do I have to see this?" Miss Shellie asks. In that moment I realized where Joey gets his personality from. He's always cracking jokes instead of being sensitive to how I feel. When I side eye her she says, "Let me shut up before she kicks my ass."

. . .

After nearly twenty hours of labor I had finally given birth. Somewhere in that time Joey finally got here. I was too busy dying while pushing that I didn't even notice. He definitely got that fat gene from Joey because he was 9 pounds. I should've got a c-section because that was too much. My poor vagina. But Stevie Joseph Vercher was finally here kicking and screaming. I could already tell he was different from Jodie because she was so quiet it almost scared me. He's the complete opposite.

I looked at Joey who was holding him smiling. Joey was so happy it made me happy. Never in a million years did I think I would have a baby with my best friend that I've known since high school. When you think about it, it's weird, but life always has unusual moments. Joey kisses Stevie's head as I lay back sighing, Joey grabs my left hand making me look at him as he kisses it. "Thank you. I love you," he says as I look at him.

"I love you too, but thank you for what?" I ask in confusion.

"For saying yes when I proposed, for having Jodie and bringing her in my life and for having my son. For making me the happiest man on earth. Even for saving my life. Just thank you."

I smile then say, "No, thank you." He kisses my forehead then I close my eyes.

I swear this story will be over soon lol. Comment / Vote💙⚔️