Tyrell by Coe Booth

real loud. The guy at the front desk look like he wanna kill all of them, but I’m like this: If my brother can have some fun while we in this situation, I’ma let him. He don’t deserve to be at Bennett. He should be outside with a good coat and boots playing in the snow, so why I’ma stop him from having a good time? So I just sit down on one of the couches and wait for Jasmine to get off the phone so I can thank her for watching him.
    But when Jasmine hang up the phone, she look mad as hell.
    â€œYou okay?” I ask her.
    â€œNot really,” she say, sitting next to me, real close. “Reyna—oh, forget it. I don’t wanna talk about her.”
    Man, this girl is so close to me, our legs is all pressed together and shit. “Tell me. What’s up with your sister? She still ain’t come back yet?”
    Jasmine shake her head.
    â€œWhere she at?”
    â€œI don’t know. She said she wanted to hang out with her friends Friday and Saturday night, but she was supposed to be back yesterday. And now I’m by myself and I only have a dollar left.”
    â€œShe be leaving you alone like this?”
    â€œNo, she never did this. But her boyfriend never let her do nothing. When Emiliano threw us out, Reyna told me she just wanted to have some freedom for a few days, before he lets us move back in with him.”
    â€œHow you know he gonna let y’all move back in?”
    â€œHe will. He’s just trying to teach Reyna a lesson, that she needs him.”
    â€œYou like him?” I ask her.
    â€œYeah. He’s like my father, only better than my real father was. Emiliano is strict, but that’s why I like him. He’s a real good father, but it’s hard for Reyna.”
    â€œShe love him?”
    â€œNo. But he loves her, and he loves me, and he takes care of us. Before I met Emiliano, we didn’t have nothing.”
    â€œ You met him?”
    Jasmine look like she ain’t even know what she said. Then she go, “Yeah. I met him first. We were living with this other guy that Reyna was dating, but I couldn’t stand that guy. Then I met Emiliano on my way to school. He got a bread route, and he tried to talk to me while he was unloading his truck. He didn’t know I was only fourteen then. So I told him my age and he got all embarrassed, but every time I seen him after that, he would say hi. One morning I was with Reyna, and he started talking to her, and I could tell he thought she was real pretty too. They went outthat night, and the next day we moved out of her boyfriend’s apartment and in with Emiliano.” She stop talking for a while and I don’t know if she done or not. Then she say, “He’s a great guy. He changed my life.”
    I can tell she getting sad, so I try to change the subject. “Reyna pro’ly on her way back now,” I tell her. “She ain’t gonna up and leave you here, right?”
    â€œRight.” Jasmine try to smile.
    â€œWho was you on the phone with?” I know it ain’t none of my business, but I ask her anyway ‘cause she in the mood to talk.
    â€œEmil. I thought she went back there to make up with him, but she’s not there. I didn’t tell him she’s been gone since Friday because he’s not gonna like that.”
    â€œYou still think he gonna take y’all back?”
    â€œYeah. He told me he wants to work things out with her so we can move back home. He wants her to call him when she gets back. But if she don’t come back today, he’s gonna know she stood out all night. And he’s gonna know she’s with other guys.” Then she get them tears going again. “I shouldn’t of called him.”
    I put my arm ‘round her shoulders. “Relax. She gonna be back. And they gonna get back together, and y’all gonna go back home soon.”
    She rest her head on my shoulder. “If Reyna doesn’t come back,