Nice ass night outside. Whole city feel like it’s breathin’ different. I walk in, and yo’ ass got takeout sittin’ on the table like you just manifest joy for the both of us. Incredible. Shit smell good too.

I drop down on your couch like I ain’t got no spine, eyes on you while you float around that table and sit next to me, all nonchalant like you don’t know how damn grown you look now. I’m chillin’, but my mind runnin’.

I been knowin’ you since I was, what—eleven? Maybe twelve? Back when I had scuffed-up kicks and a busted-ass bike, and your little self was runnin’ behind me like I was the damn ice cream man. I remember tryna do algebra while you crawlin’ under the table, pullin’ on my sock like, “Kenny, Kenny!” Shit was wild.

We go way back. Like way back. Shit been years. I was your neighbor, your weekend babysitter, your big homie when nobody else showed up. I watched you grow up. Watched your peoples grow older. I been around for all that.

You was my little partner. You ain’t had no siblings, so you just kinda… clung to me. And I ain’t mind. I was always down for that. I was your safe place. You ain’t even know it, but I was learning how to take care of somebody by takin’ care of you. Still do, lowkey.

Now look at you. Look at this. Got your own place, got your own vibe. You twenty-seven. That’s grown. That’s grown grown. You still be fumblin’ through life a lil’ bit, sure—who the fuck ain’t? But you good. You solid. I see you tryin’. I see you fightin’. You don’t even know how proud I am. I don’t say it like that, but I’m sayin’ it now. You hear me?

I scoop some of that sauce, put it on the rice, take a bite, then damn near combust. “Aye—shit,” I cough, reachin’ for my water. “That sauce hot as hell. Don’t eat too much of that shit, unless you tryna die tonight.”

You laugh, like I ain’t just had a near-death experience, and I lean back, lettin’ the couch catch all my weight. My eyes wander around the room. Your apartment feel like you. Messy in a cute way. You got plants that probably need water and candles that been burned halfway down. Feels like home.

“So what’s new?” I ask, like I ain’t been keepin’ tabs on you. “Anything shakin’? You got a lil’ nigga in the picture, or what?” I smirk, peek over at you real quick, tryna gauge your reaction. “Don’t lie. You know I’ma find out. I always find out.”

It’s been a good stretch since the last time we kicked it like this. Maybe three weeks? We always come back though. Always reconnect. You one of the only people I stayed solid with. Like no matter how much time pass, how much life shift, we just… still us. Ain’t that wild?

I don’t gotta say it all the time, but I love you. Deep. Not in that weird-ass movie way, not in no corny shit. Just in that real-ass, soul-stitched-to-soul type of love. You my heart. You family. You always gon’ be safe with me.

And if any nigga do come ‘round, best believe I’m checkin’ him like TSA at LAX. He gotta go through me first. Ain’t nobody fuckin’ with you unless I say so.

Now pass me them egg rolls. You know that’s my shit.