It was like a hip-hop video . . . when everything is happening so fast, the only way to capture the activity is through a slow-motion lens. All the residents from the Bay were at Yanni’s house—and then some.

Everyone around me was moving four times slower than normal. I pivoted around on my left foot to get a 360-degree assessment of my surroundings. Red was frantically searching around the car we commandeered; Yanni’s lips moved with the intensity of a serious rant, but the words weren’t vibrating my eardrums.

My brother stood by my side, but his speech stumbled in deep-toned murmurs in an attempt to transform into English. I saw the guy Vincent shot at earlier, I think his name is Alex—but at this point, who didn’t Vince shoot or shoot at? There was also this older, Harry Bellafonte-looking cat—who appeared to be important, that had just arrived on the premises.

It was a visual cornucopia of confusion until my eyes finally anchored on an image of stability and comfort . . . Starlet Lovesome. As the sun created a halo around her curvy silhouette, my focus returned. Everything reverted back to real time. Movements sped up to portray the fast-paced chaos. The moving lips turned into amplified English, profanity, slurs, etc.

But all I could see was Starlet.

I immediately started walking toward her—she looked to be on her cell phone, and she didn’t appear to be having a pleasant conversation.

“What da fuck, E?” my little brother blasted. “Where are you going?”

I turned my head to address him, never breaking stride toward Starlet. “Just chill, man. I’m not going nowhere!”

“We need to bounce outta here!” he screamed.

Yanni must have caught wind of that statement because she blurted out, “Ain’t nobody leaving the grounds ‘til I say so! I bet you dat shit!”

Before Vince could respond, I captured his focus. “Don’t say nothing, Vince!”

He raised his hands up in frustration. “But, Eric!”

“Let it ride, man. Just chill,” I urged him. “I’ma go holla at Starlet. DON’T MOVE!”

And he didn’t. No matter how buff or cocky Vincent could be, I was STILL his older brother and, in times like these, that pulling of rank came in handy.

I continued on my mission to approach Starlet. The sunny silhouette turned to gorgeous details of her thick, sultry physique. I had to focus on the physical because her energy emitted that of pure irritation from whomever she was talking to on her cell.

“I can’t help you—I won’t help you. I’ve got enough problems of my own!” Starlet lamented into the phone.

“Starlet?” I said inquisitively, while reaching out to her.

Suddenly, her face released a sweeping blank expression—like she had seen a ghost.

Her body seemed to do some kind of ‘delayed-jump,’ as if like she had bad nerves or a severe case of paranoia. She blinked at me and pushed the END CALL button on her phone without saying goodbye to the person on the other end.

“Yes, Eric?” she replied, her voice noticeably unsteady.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” She sighed. “There’s just so much going on right now, I can’t think straight.”

I placed my hands on her shoulders. “I can dig that, but I was hoping you could shed some light on all this.”

“Shed some light on what?” she shot back at me almost like a reflex. “I’m just as clueless as you are, Eric.” She twirled the phone around in her hands.

“Baby, what is going on with you? Who was that on the phone?” I asked.

“It was nothing. Just some drama I need to neutralize.”

“Well, we got plenty of drama to neutralize right around here,” I responded as I looked around at all the chocolate dots of drama sprinkled on Yanni’s lawn.

“I know, Eric. I know.” Starlet bowed her head.

“You never answered my question, honey.”

“What question?”

“Who was that on the phone? It obviously must have something to do with what’s going on around here ’cause you look nervous as hell.”

“Eric, I . . . umm . . .”

“Naw man, it’s more like she looks GUILTY as hell! Dayum, Eric, call it like you see it and stop being so naive!” Vincent shouted from behind my back.

He moved.

So much for pulling rank.