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“Nah, you can be here. I’m just surprised.”

He laughed and picked the juice back up.

“Charlene lives like a block from here.”

I paused while opening the refrigerator.

“Who the fuck is Charlene?”

“My girlfriend.”

I looked over my shoulder.

“Your what?”

“My girlfriend.”

“When the fuck did you get a girlfriend?”

I grabbed a water, then reached into the pizza box and took a slice of this lil nigga’s pizza.

He stared at me as I bit into the pizza.

Henry shook his head. “Anyway, I’ve been with Charlene.”

“For how long?”

“Like eight months.”

I stopped chewing.

“Eight months?”

“Yeah.”

“And I’m just hearing about this bitch?”

Henry’s face twisted. “Don’t call my girl a bitch.”

I slowly looked at him.

Then smiled.

“Oh, you like her.”

“Obviously. That’s my girlfriend.”

“Serious?”

“I guess.”

“You guess?”

He shrugged. “I mean, yeah. We cool.”

“We cool,” I repeated. “Nigga, you staying at your father’s house in the middle of the week because she live a block away. Y’all more than cool.”

He laughed.