I have always thought myself to be a very loyal friend; you know- if my girl hates someone I hate them too... NO questions asked. But after falling out with people here and there so many times & my so called friends would remain CLOSE acquaintances of my enemies, I started to reevaluate how loyal I should be. I guess this is kind of how Howard and I became so close and more importantly why we remained friends after he and my cousin Kim broke up...
It was the typical High School hook up, it was and Kim and I's junior year and Howard and Herc's sophomore year... they were best friends- we were favorite cousins(at the time). When Kim became official with Howard, I was somehow forced into "something" with Herc and the rest is history. I eventually fell out with Herc because he was a jerk and Kim and Howard began having problems. She called him one night and he told her he would call her back, so she immediately called me and had me call him. I guess the resentment between she and I began when Howard didn't tell me to call him back, but stayed on the phone with me for three hours???
When I wrote my entry "Yesteryears", I kind of forgot why Kim and I fell out to begin with, but THAT was the defining moment- when she had me call her boyfriend to get dirt on him and somehow got mad at me for doing the job she set me up to do? Next thing I knew we were at a game at Warrensville and all her male friends were hitting on me and inviting me to go out to Denney's with them afterwards, but she was so hot to say, "No! I have to go somewhere with my mother when we leave here." She drove me home, and when I called her an hour later she was conveniently the only girl with all these niggas at Denney's- I guess she viewed me, her-little-cousin, as competition!
I knew things would never be the same when I heard she had a hotel party and didn't even invite me! So, the drama started. She was petty as fuck at my graduation party and didn't even show up with a gift. Howard came to the party and she told him to leave but was stunned when he said he wasn't there for her, lmao! So, I went tit for tat and Howard and I showed up at her graduation party together right as it was ending and gave her a card with both our names on it and I didn't talk to Kim again until half way through our Freshman year of college... By then I knew that Howard was my real friend. And after linking the things Howard told me-she-said-behind-my-back and the same story the Jason Dorsey (Rest In Peace) told me- I wasn't trying to mend out friendship over his & mine.
I guess after I fell out with the group fomerly known as "Tha Phynest" I really didn't have many people to hang with on campus. I was a freshman, never had any money, and I didn't have a car. I remember for the Ice Breakers and Que Skating Party Howard would drive way to Columbus just so I would have a ride. And more than anything, when Maize & Blue and I broke up- Howard sided with me(even though he LOVED Pierre), while most of my "friends" and family members did otherwise. This is when I realized he was just as loyal to me as I was to him. If I hated Pierre- he hated him too, NO questions asked!
We are so much alike; always into it with people- everyone claims they hate us but deep down everyone loves us! It's funny I always seem to make really good friend with people everyone always dogs, you know- "friend that are unlikely". Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I know the rumors going around about me aren't true, so I sympathize with people who get the same treatment I do. I dunno?
What I do know is Howard says I am his best friend (aside from Herc... BOOOOO!) as he is mine (aside from Derrick... XOXO) but I know that we will always be cool. We do argue, go months without talking, but our friendship is solid and permanent and he was there for me during a lot of trying times. And just as my name will ALWAYS be tattooed on Maize & Blue's arm... My name will always be in Howard's life... because he named his first born after me Jaden LINDEN Baldrige. Besides- friendships that are too easy aren't worth having!
"...Listen, I'm trying to tell you my nigga to watch yo' back and trust FEW (Derrick, Howard & "Nikkilicious")/ Cause ain't no nigga gone watch yo' back for you like you/ When someone is broke and down and out without no clout it's rough/ At least you know who you CAN and who you can not trust/..."
~Eightball Friend or Foe
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