A few days later. ..
I was out shopping with April, grabbing a few groceries for the home. Actually no, I was dragged into shopping with her.
I stood behind the trolley, and started pushing it like a miner pushing a mine cart down underground. My face could tell that this miner wasn't looking forward to going back underground. But when April drags you into something, you best know you're going down with her.
"I'm thinking we have roast beef tonight. What do you think J", April asks me. I pull my face hard and exclaim, "yeah sure". April notices my sour face and says, "come baby. "This isn't all that bad".
I look at her like a child convinced by their mother that a trip to the dentist would be exciting, only to find out that it wasn't.
"It feels like we've been here for hours now. Plus there's nothing in this cart that I want", I tell April as I throw the box of oats back into the trolley. "You're literally acting like a baby J. What's next, you're going to throw a tantrum little baby J", April asks me.
I rest my head on the trolley handle and mumble, "I am your baby so really. Plus I'm actually considering that tantrum now".
"What was that baby J", April asks me. "Nothing love", I respond. April walks up in front of the trolley. As she starts telling me about what else she has to get on her long list, I take my two fingers and make the gesture of me shooting myself. As we're walking, a mother and her little boy pushing a trolley come next to us.
"Big shopping list I see", the mother asks April with a smile. "It's always like that every time we go out shopping", April replies. The two women start to scandal about shopping stuff, while the two boys are left behind following around like good little monkeys.
I lean over to the little boy and whisper, "you make a ruckus and I'll head for the exit". But the little boy just looks at me with empty eyes.
"No J. You're not doing that", April says from up in front. "How the hell did she even hear me", I ask myself.
Eventually the mother and her son part ways, and April and I continue on this long quest of looking for the best smelling perfume.
"How about this one", April asks me after taking a sniff of the perfume bottle. Before I can answer, my phone starts to ring in my front pocket.
"Oh thank God", I exclaim as I take out the phone from my pocket. April gives me an eye and I say to her, "what! It could be business calling".
But when I heard the voice on the other side of the call, I knew straight on there wasn't any business on this call.
"Jahmal! My brother from another mother", Ethan announced. "The f*ck you want Ethan", I asked in an annoyed tone. April looked at me again and whispered, "language J".
"Just checking up on you bro. Bought any furniture lately", Ethan asked me. "Yes actually, but not through conventional ways", I respond. "I kinda figured you'd go the back door route, I mean that's always being your favourite place of conducting business. Question is, would the police agree with such business", Ethan states.
"I know you didn't call me about your threats of snitching, so what do you want Ethan". "So rude little brother. Anyways, I'm actually calling to offer you a little business proposal for your Blip app", Ethan tells me.
"Really? And what business proposal is that", I ask him. "I'd prefer if we spoke about it face to face than rather on the phone. So how about you swing by office tomorrow and we talk about it", Ethan responds.
"I'll swing by later today so I can get to the process of me saying no to your face a whole lot quicker", I tell him in a sharp tone. "Okay bro. But I doubt you could ever say no to this proposal of mine", Ethan exclaims.
"See you in an hour", he finishes off saying, soon after cutting the call.
"So what does he want", April asks me. "To offer me some stupid business proposal for Blip. Knowing Ethan it's just a rouse to get one over me", I tell her.
April starts giving me a serious look. "What", I exclaim. "So you're actually planning on leaving me to do the shopping all by myself", she says. "No love! Hence why I said I'll see him later", I assure her.
April pulls her lip to the side and just goes, "mmmmh".
Later....
I arrived at Ethan's sports agency after two hours. The receptionist let me up to Ethan's office as soon as I got there. As I walked into Ethan's office I found him sitting on his chair with his arms raised out.
"You're late", he exclaimed. "I'm married, so deal with it", I tell him.
Ethan gets up from his chair and starts laughing. "You've always loved saying that growing up. Deal with it! Never gets old", Ethan exclaims.
"Can we just skip to the part of you telling me your business proposal", I demand Ethan. "Okay! Don't bite my head off", Ethan says with his hands slightly in the air.
"I was talking to some of my business partners, and we really think your Blip app could help promote our sport client's image and brand. So we'd like to make that possible ASAP", Ethan states.
"So what, you want to sponsor us in return for providing our apps full services to you", I ask him. "Sponsor? No, no, little brother. I want to buy your app from you", Ethan says.
I start to laugh and hold my knees.
"You've got some good jokes there bro. You really think I'd sell out to you of all people. You're kidding yourself", I tell Ethan. Ethan starts to walk up to me and says, "listen bro. I know this app of yours is your pride and joy. But let's face facts, the numbers it's pulling are really not that impressive. It had it's buzz at the start, but that's long gone.
So why don't you let me take it off your hands and pay you a good amount of money for you and your crew's troubles. I know you have bills and rent to pay. And it's only a matter of time before that money you've accumulated runs dry and you're back to the start", Ethan says all this.
I take a moment to think about it and weigh the situation. Ethan was right about the numbers not being that impressive. And our money was close to running dry, considering the dent the office renovations left in our pockets. But if I quit now I'd just be continuing the pattern of having my family take something close to my heart. So I reached a conclusion and told Ethan,
"You can take that business proposal of yours and shove it up your ass".
After I said that, I headed for the door. But Ethan caught my attention, by saying, "but you haven't even seen how much I'm offering you bro". Ethan walked up to me and pulled out a little envelope. He put it in my shirt pocket and pat it twice.
"How about you and your crew look at this little surprise, and you get back to me tomorrow okay", Ethan tells me.
Later again.....
"That's a lot of zeroes", Trevor exclaims as he bites his thumbnail.
We were all at his place, so I could show everyone Ethan's supposed business proposal. As we all stood there around the cheque on the table, I could feel everyone anxiously stare at the number of zeroes the cheque had.
Me included.
"That money could really go a long way", Eric exclaimed. "Dude! We could spend this money and still have a lot to go around. I could even buy that little investment of mine", Lenny says.
"What investment", I ask him. Lenny looks at me and hints with his eyes towards Leilani standing next to him. Leilani with a confused face asked him, "what investment now". "Guys stuff", Davey responded. April stood next to me dead silent, and her eyes stuck on that cheque.
"But doesn't an amount of money like this leave a serious dent in someone's company funds", Davey asks around. "Not for Ethan. Twenty million is more like tuck money to him", I respond.
"Well these numbers have really left a dent in my heart", Trevor says. "A part of me says we take it", Trevor suggests.
"But guys, it's Ethan. You know, the same Ethan who used to terrorise our lives all through high school. Now you want to be accepting proposals from him", Leilani points out. "True. We all hated him growing up", Davey says.
"Yeah but we all love money right. I know I do", Trevor exclaims.
We all go silent and go back to looking at the cheque with anxious eyes.
After a minute or so, I tell the group, "listen guys. I brought this thing to you because I didn't want to make any rash decisions without at least getting your opinions".
"So what's it going to be guys. What do we do", I ask the group. Everyone remains silent. I look at Lenny and say, "Lenny what do you say".
He starts biting his finger nail, and looks at Leilani. She gives him a look, and I can tell by their stares, their eyes are having a heated conversation.
"Okay", Lenny exclaims as he turns back to me. "Okay what", I ask him. "Okay we're definitely not selling out to Ethan. We've worked too hard for this", Lenny says.
"Plus I don't like your stepbrother. Never have, never will. So I'm definitely not taking any offer from him even if my life depends on it", Leilani tells to me.
I nod at them and turn my attention to Davey. "Give away something I've made my masterpiece? Never! I can't let my baby go", Davey exclaims. I turn to April who hasn't said a single word during this entire conversation.
"I've always been with you from the start and I'll be with you till the end J. So if we're going to make our destination towards sticking to this app, then I'm riding with you till we get there", she tells me.
I kiss her forehead and turn my attention to Eric. "Logically the best play would be take up this offer, because we really don't know if Blip will make this sort of money or even close to this figure in the long run.
But if you base your friendship on logic only and without any heart or risk, then you're really not in a committed friendship. So I'm with you till the end friend", Eric tells me.
The last person was Eric, who was still biting his thumbnail. "Eric. What's the play here buddy", I ask him.
"F*ck. I mean this is a lot of money J. Like it could really help us all. Plus this whole independent shit isn't working out for me so well, if you haven't noticed.
I'm really thinking about taking this offer bro. We all need this", Eric said.
He breathed out heavily afterwards and started and started saying,
"but I've been with you through a lot J. From avoiding fights in school, to both working at the same bank and leaving it on the same day. To this whole app venture, and almost getting shot for it. But at the end of it all you've always told me to trust you, and that trust has always had it's promise kept. So I'm with you J all the way".
I took a heavy sigh and held my head. "I'm honestly glad that you're all riding with me to the end. I could never ask for a better set of friends and wife like all of you guys", I tell everyone.
Eric rests his hand on my shoulder and smiles at me.
"So what are we going to do with this cheque", Eric asks. "Probably rip it apart before anyone gets tempted", Davey responds. "But all of those zeroes", Trevor exclaims while hanging his head.
"I have a better idea", I tell everyone.
The next day....
I walk into Ethan's office unannounced and find him in the middle of a meeting with his partners. "Jahmal my bro. Have you come to accept my proposal", Ethan asks me. "This is what I think about your offer", I announce to him as I lift the cheque in front of Ethan.
"You and this proposal can both f*ck yourself sideways for all I care", I boldly tell Ethan while ripping the cheque to shreds.
Ethan looks at this pieces of paper on the floor and laughs. "You know this just means I'm coming after you with everything I got", Ethan said.
I started to walk backwards with two fingers raised. "Bring it bitch! I'm ready for whatever you got".