“There’s no reason for me to be here,” Nyah said, mean muggin Zyla across her coffee cup.
“It’s for work, right Ms. Professional.”
“Hmm,” Nyah said, rolling her eyes.
“Wanna take a look,” Zyla said, sliding her the folder, “We need to figure out how much damage there is and send a report.”
“Trynna get me to do your work,” she said opening the folder, “You’re not foolin nobody.”
“Actually,” Zyla said, “let me give you a run down, while you flip through the pictures.”
As she told Nyah about the things that were stolen and broken, Nyah nodded her head and jotted down notes. Zyla felt a strange sense of calm fall over her, she hated to admit it but it felt kind of nice to know what she was talking about. She usually winged it at work, she’d only done it to impress Nyah, but being prepared gave her a sense of confidence she wasn’t expecting.
“Jeez,” Nyah said interrupting Zyla’s flow, “and they stole their TV and jewelry. You should’ve led with that.”
“I was getting to it —”
“I caught some niggas breakin in to my apartment last week,” Nyah said, interrupting her again, “shits trash.”
Zyla stiffened, “Did you get a good look at them?”
“Nah they had these dusty ass ski masks on. Who robs an apartment in neon colored camo?”
Zyla had told Tairey them masks looked dumb.
“Like what? They buy that shit off Temu?,” Nyah continued,“Instagram robber lookin ass niggas, got me for my grandma’s bracelet.”
“What,” Zyla said, a pit growing in her stomach.
“Yea, I left it on my coffee table and it's the last thing she ever gave me.”
A silence like water filled the space between them. Nyah seemed to float on it, quiet and contemplating, oblivious to the fact that Zyla was starting to drown.
She remembered seeing her cousin take it, the second after she realized whose apartment they were in. The sickest part was that Nyah’s place was only Zyla’s second robbery. No matter how much she’d asked they rarely brought her along, but their usual third dropped out at the last minute.
“At least they didn’t do me like this,” Nyah said, throwing Zyla a lifeline in the form of a small picture, “ate they pudding cups and left ‘em all over the couch.”
Zyla tried to suppress a smile. The picture showed six containers strewn across a navy blue couch. Smears of yellow cream skipping across the floor onto the couch and up the wall.
“Who does that,” Zyla said.
“I know right,” Nyah said, “the owners pretty pissed off about it. Says here that those were limited edition lemon meringue pudding cups, and they’re all sold out.”
They looked at each other, neither of them wanting to crack, then fell into laughter.
————
Zyla wouldn’t say her and Nyah are cool now, but she doesn’t think Nyah hates her anymore. And she’s not too sure how to feel about it.
They were starting a new report. In the weeks since the first one there’d been another robbery at a property on the other end of town. Management liked her work so much they asked her to handle this one too.
Zyla likes that since they’ve been working together Nyah’s been showing her pictures of the things she bakes and the plants she takes care of.
But she hates that for every picture Nyah shows her of a quiet corner in her house, Zyla has a memory of ransacking it for hidden treasures.
“And this is my Swiss Cheese Plant,” Nyah says, during their break, “it's doing so well, can you believe it’s the first plant I ever propagated?”
The plant is beautiful,, all the negative spaces and splashes of green. But what catches Zyla’s eye is the TV behind it. It’d different from the one that was there when she was. And as much as she racks her brain, she can’t remember taking it.
“Its a pretty plant,” she said,“I like your TV set up in the back.”
“Thanks, renter’s insurance,” Nyah said.
“Did the Temu Bandits take it,” she asked.
“I don’t know,” she said, “someone broke in the week after, and took it but I’m not sure if it was the same guys. The second time there was this weird doodle scratched into my night stand, and no one did that the first time.”
“They did what?”
“Yea it was really weird. Actually,” she said, pulling on a picture that’s caught her eye from their latest file, “it looked just like this.”
Zyla looked at the picture and her breath hitched. Scratched into the mirror was an ant on a skateboard. She’d seen that doodle before. All the time actually, in Tairey’s sketch book.
“Hey, it’s ok,” Nyah said, placing a hand Zyla’s.
“I put a ring camera on my front door but I really do need to move,” she said, “but maybe you could come over? And watch a movie on my new set up before I do.”