Bernice

25

December 22
August,

I know I told myself that I'll stop dealing drugs and that is what I'm ready to do. I talked to my mom about it. She said that it's a good step in the right direction. I need to get my life on track. I have a family to take care of and I don't want anything to happen to them. I have enemies out there that will threaten me and my family. I need to protect them at all costs. I can't do that while still being a drug dealer.

I have a couple of ideas of what I want to do when I stop. I'll have to talk it over with Bernice. I know that she's been applying to schools but she hasn't told me how it's been going. I've asked, but she just won't say anything.

The kids are with Violet while Bernice and I are at my place. Violet wanted to spend time with the kids since it's her day off of work. Bernice is sleeping. She worked last night and came to my place when work was over.

I took a shower and got dressed. I have to go and collect drugs from the boss and deliver them to his customers. I stopped using drugs when I came back. I have to work on not selling them too. That life I have has to be behind me.

I walked into the boss's office. This whole place stinks of drugs which is normal. Everyone that works here is a user. The boss is a rude guy. Everything he says goes. A bunch of people stopped working for him because of the way he is. He doesn't care about any of his workers. We only work weekdays. There is not a day off during those times even if you have a good reason.

The boss turned around in his chair with a cigarette in his hand. He took a puff. "August, you're late." He spoke. I looked at the time and I'm five minutes early which is late to him. "There was traffic." I said. "That isn't a damn excuse." He said. I've been working for him for five years now. I can't believe I lasted this long with him.

"Anyways, I need you to go to the room where the drugs are kept and take the list on top of it with the box and deliver it." He said. I did exactly what he said. My phone started ringing. I have been delivering for two hours. I answered the call and put it on speaker. "Hey babe." I said. I made a left turn when the light turned green. "Hey. Where are you?" She asked. "I'm working. I didn't want to wake you up when I left." I said.

I read on the car's gps that I'm five minutes away. "What do you want to eat for dinner?" Bernice asked. I know she doesn't have to work tonight but I want her to rest. "I'll just buy Chinese for us." I decided. "No. I want to cook." She stood her ground. "Babe. You can't, you need some rest." I told him. "I'm doing it anyways babe." She told me and ended the call.

I got out of my car and delivered the weed. The man handed me the money. I counted it in front of him. This was the good part of the job. I don't like the assembling part of it. It took four hours to do the job. I answered my mom's call.

"Hello." I said. "Hi. How are you?" Mom asked. "I'm good. I'm just doing some deliveries." I said. Mom and Kaylee have been trying to fix what has been broken. It's going to take a lot of time because Kaylee isn't meeting mom on her end. I've told Kaylee that she needs to communicate with mom more. That's what is going to fix their problem.

"When are you going to stop?" Mom asked. I mostly hung out with kids that were into drugs when I was little and I just got into it too. I was influenced. I also didn't want to be left out. Our family was well off. My parents had well paying jobs. "Soon." I said. Mom always told me not to keep bad company but I didn't listen to her. I wasn't focused on school. I would skip classes a lot just to smoke while being around my friends.

"I want you, Bernice, and the kids to come over for dinner on Saturday. If you can talk to Kaylee to get her to come that'll be great. Please tell her that she can bring her husband." She told me. That's gonna be tough. Kaylee and Lonte are still on a break and Kaylee most likely won't listen to me.

"I'll try." I mentioned. "Ok great. Where's Bernice and the kids?" I asked. "Bernice is at my place while the kids are with her sister." I said. When I got home, I saw Bernice and I hugged her from behind. "Babe, I'm tired." Bernice said. "I know." I told her. I knew that she was going to be tired, that's why I wanted to buy us food. Bernice is too stubborn to listen.

"I'll finish cooking. You can go and rest." I suggested. "You just got back. I'll finish up." She said. I just wish she could listen to me. "Babe." I said. She took my hands off of her and told me to go away. "Bernice." I said. I said her name so I could get her attention. "Let me be." She told me.

"Bernice Marie Ketz." That got her. She turned around and smacked me with a spoon. "I said I'll cook." She said angrily. She's angry because I called her full name. "Why do you have to be so stubborn?" I asked. I get that she's independent and all that but she needs to let people help her. All I'm trying to do is to get her to rest.

"Well you don't have to worry about that anymore." She told me. She went to the room and came back with her bag. I sighed. "Babe we can talk about this." I told her. She proceeded towards the door but I blocked it. "You're not leaving me." I said. "Move." "If you're going to leave without trying to solve this little issue, then maybe we shouldn't be together anymore." I moved away from the door.  She can leave if she wants. I'm not holding her back anymore.

All we did was stare at each other. "I'm sorry." She spoke. "I'm sorry too. I love your stubborn self." I mentioned. She didn't find it funny. "I love you too." She told me. I gave her a kiss and then she went back to the kitchen. She seems tense. "Are you ok?" I asked her. "I'm good." She said.

I know that I said we should be telling each other the truth but Bernice isn't going to most of the time. I've noticed that something has been bothering her for a while now but she doesn't want to tell me. I don't want to pressure her. I went to the room and called Jaquan. "I'm ready." I told him.