by Desirée
“Aye, they got A Christmas Story playing on—” He stopped as he looked at me, eyes wide. He tried to sit up in the bed like he was about to get down, only to realize he couldn’t move like that. “Jade?”
I smiled, feeling my heart drop at the sight of this man bandaged up like this. Closing the door, I dropped my bag on a chair and walked over to him. My Tims were fresh, with my leggings and a long-sleeve red flannel shirt, and my locs were hanging freely. I stood at the edge of his bed, looking him over with a small smile.
“Yo, why you in the bed playing like you hurt, nigga?” I snapped playfully, tapping his foot.
He smiled. “I was waiting on you to nurse me back to health,” he responded coolly, leaning back on the pillow.
“Son, I’m still mad at you, yo. You might not want me to nurse you back to health,” I said.
He laughed, licking his lips. We sat in complete silence, taking each other in. I felt myself about to choke up. I thought I could handle seeing him, but old feelings were coming back, new feelings were surfacing, and seeing him bandaged up like this only made it worse.
“I would have came sooner, but my flight wasn’t—”
“You came, and that’s all that matters,” he said, cutting me off. “I’m sorry.”
I shook my head and put my hand up.
“I really am.”
“We not talking about that right now,” I said as the door opened.
“Trent, can you believe they only had . . .” The girl I bumped into walked in slowly, eyeing me hard. She kept the door open like she was ready to show me the way out.
So, this was her. She was the one that took him from me. Eyeing her, I could see why he would choose her over me. She was your typical pretty girl, probably in a sorority, light-skin with a cute face, and dressed like she had sense.
“Who are you?” she asked abruptly as I cut my eyes to Trent.
“Taylor, give me a minute with—”
“Is this the ex-girlfriend?” Taylor asked with a laugh, pointing at me as she looked me over like I was garbage.
Bitch better know where the fuck I grew up at. When someone looks at you in that kind of way, you get cut on sight. They too friendly down here in Atlanta. Too friendly.
I kept it cool, because this wasn’t the place to act up and act out Jerry Springer.
“I see why you stepped out on her,” she said, closing the door with a smirk as she sat down in the chair closest to him.
I looked at Trent, who had a pleading look in his eyes, almost like he was begging me not to take it there. He knew how I was. He knew my mouth and he knew my rap sheet. But I wasn’t fighting over a nigga that ain’t mine.
“I’m not here to cause any trouble, regardless of how you feel toward me, Taylor,” I said, putting emphasis on her basic-ass name. “I’m here for Trent, just like you are. He’s not mine no more, so I’m not fighting over the nigga. You got him. I just wanted to check in on him, because I still love him,” I said to her before realizing I’d never even told him I loved him. His eyes grew wide as I silently cursed myself.
Fuck! Why I gotta run my mouth like that? Shit. Trying to sound all noble and mature. Fuck outta here.
“You love me?” he said.
I rolled my eyes. “Nigga, chill with it,” I said, hand in the air to kill any thoughts he was trying to have. “I got love for you—”
“Nah.” He laughed with a shake of his head as he sat up, reaching his arms out. “You love me, Jade. Don’t you? Admit that shit.”
“Nigga, get the fuck outta here, yo.” I laughed, looking up at the ceiling as I walked over to the other side of the bed before looking at him. Those fuck-ass hazel eyes.
He pulled me close to him as he looked me in the eyes.
“I mean, that don’t change the fact we not gon’ ever be together again, but yeah, I love you.”
“I can’t believe you’re capable of love, shawty,” he mumbled in awe.
I rolled my eyes, trying not to smile. “Son, you can still get cussed out. Don’t get it fucked up, nigga. We still not cool, pretty boy,” I stated as he pulled me closer to him.
“Trent,” Taylor called out, standing up in panic.
I backed away from his touch. I wasn’t going to allow myself to get caught up with him.
“I’ll let y’all do what you do,” I said, backing up some more. “My sister is going to pick me up. I can check on you tomorrow, though.”
“I’ll still be here,” Taylor stated.
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. “I’m sure you will be.” I smiled sarcastically.
Dumb broad. Fuck outta here. I said you can have the nigga. Not my fault he still wants me.
“Jade!” Trent called out as I headed to the door. “Jade!”
“What, nigga? Fuck is you screaming for?” I snapped, grabbing my bag as I turned around to look at him.
“The Breakfast Club is yo’ favorite movie. Red is yo’ favorite color. You’re an Aries, and Aria is your first name,” he let out, and my mouth dropped. “I forgot the other questions, but I just . . . I wanted you to know, Aria.”
We stared at each other as my eyes started to water up before I looked at Taylor, the woman he cheated on me with, by his bedside, hand in hand. She stared hard at me, but his eyes remained on me.
“I’m sorry, Aria.”
I walked out of the room without another word and tried my hardest not to look back. That night, though, sleep was hard to come by. I had to fight the urge not to text him, because I knew his security guard Taylor was watching that phone.
With the little sleep I did get, I managed to get up the next morning and get dressed. Pulling my locs back in a ponytail, I threw on some sweats, a low-cropped hoodie that only showed skin if I raised my arms, no bra, and my boots. I was bold like that. Dead middle of winter, and that’s what the fuck I was wearing.
It was early morning, and I had just finished eating a small breakfast when I made it to his room. Opening the door slowly, I saw he was knocked out on the bed, but no Taylor in sight. Looking around, I quietly stepped in, hearing this nigga’s monster-like snore before closing the door. I watched him stir out of his sleep. He looked at me with a weak smile.
“Where’s yo’ girl at?” I asked, coming to the bed, sitting on the end of it as I looked his body over.
“She went home to change, sleep a little bit before coming back.”
I nodded slowly as I looked around the room. “They couldn’t find you a better—”
“Aye, she’s not my girl,” he said, cutting me off.
I looked at him, smirking. Watching him wince in pain, though, caused me to be alert. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. I gotta take a piss.” He sighed, closing his eyes. “You gotta help me. I need to shower and all of that.”
“Is that what she did for you?” I asked with a laugh before getting up. “Dedicated broad, I see. Come on,” I said, helping him out of the bed. I became his support to stand up. The leg where he was hit was his weakness. Because he was so much taller than me, I almost collapsed under his weight as I wrapped my arm around his side.
“Hold up, baby. Hold up, baby,” I let out quickly, seeing him wince as he put his foot down.
We made it to the bathroom, and I held onto him with my back turned while he pissed.
“Aye,” he mumbled, glancing at me with a smile. “I missed you.”
“I know you did.”
“You remember how we used to go to McDonald’s every morning, sit in that parking lot and eat? Talk about going to class, and then soon as we get back to the room, we fucked ourselves back to sleep?”
“Nigga, I remember,” I said with a small laugh as he finished up.
We started taking a sad trip down memory lane as I helped wash him. He brushed his own teeth, and he cleaned his own dick, because if I touched it, we weren’t getting out of that bathroom. Knowing him, he was going to try and fuck me handicapped.
By the time we walked out of th
e bathroom, a nurse was just finishing up with the changing of his sheets. I walked him back to the bed, lifting that leg up so he could lay back. I reached up, touching his small faded beard that was trying to come in, loving the rugged look on him. It made him look like a fine grown man instead of a cute young boy.
“You like it?” he asked, hand on my wrist as I continued to touch his jaw, feeling the smooth hairs. I nodded, seeing him smile before scooting down on the bed. “Come lay next to me.”
“Nigga, I’m not doing that!” I laughed at his desperate expression.
“Why not?”
“Because yo’ girlfriend might come in here.”
“She’s not my girlfriend. I’m single,” he stated as I rolled my eyes. “Are you single, or is there some nigga back home that I don’t know about?”
“I’m single,” I muttered, looking down at the sheets.
“Why can’t two single people get in the bed with each other? Come on,” he said, patting the empty space next to him.
Shit, fuck it. I kicked my shoes off and got up on the bed, careful not to cause any pain. I slipped underneath the thin sheets, resting my head on his chest as his arm came around me.
“Jade?” he started, grabbing the remote.
I looked up at him. “Well, don’t just stare, nigga. Say what you got to say,” I retorted, and he smiled. Me and my damn mouth.
“You already know I’m going to try my hardest to get you back, right?”
I stayed quiet, looking back down his body as I closed my eyes, letting my head rise and fall to his slow breathing.
“I know I fucked up with a lot of things pertaining to us. A lot of shit I wish I could do differently, and if I wasn’t in this bed right now, I would be trying my hardest to win you back with all my moves.”
“Yo’ moves?” I laughed.
“The dinners, the roses, everything. I been through hell and back. I kind of just want to start over again with you.”
“Why now, Trent? You had all this time to say something.”
“You changed yo’ number on me!”
“Nigga, don’t blame the number change. You clearly found Facebook and spoke yo’ damn mind, so miss me with that number bullshit,” I snapped as he sighed. “Now that you all shot up and hurt, looking for some attention, I bet you think I’m just going to sit here and fall for that shit like a dumb ass, like yo’ dumb broad that don’t know you still got feelings for me. But as soon as you recover, you probably gon’ be fucking more girls than ever. Nah-uh,” I said, sitting up as I looked down at him. “I’m not about to be yo’ pity love like yo’ girl Taylor.”
“Jade, it’s not like that,” he groaned. “I don’t feel the same for her like I do—”
“So, why did you sleep with her?” I snapped, feeling the tears come down. Looking up at the ceiling, I shook my head, trying to keep it together. “Nigga, I wasn’t even trying to bring this up right now, because it’s more important things, like yo’ health, we need to focus on. You fucking around with this girl who is still here is the last thing I want to talk about, Trent.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Yeah, you are. I know that,” I said, cutting him off as I wiped my eyes.
He watched me with a pained expression on his face. Pulling me gently by the collar of my hoodie, he brought me down to his face, and right when I tried to back away from his crazy ass, he sat up, wincing in pain, and kissed me. I gripped his ears, taking it deeper as he lay back down with me coming down on him, our mouths moving. My tears were hitting his face. This nigga, this pretty boy, the one I gave such a hard time to, had me falling harder than a skydiver. We were polar opposites, but somehow, we kept the attraction between us live.
“I’m sorry, baby,” he said against my mouth before kissing me again. “I’m sorry. I love you, Aria. I’m in love with you, Aria. The moment you came up on my doorstep going in on me, I knew you was something different.” His hazel eyes looked deep into mine. My heart responded with rapid beats to that statement. “I want another chance. We never got a chance to be friends, just jumped right into it,” he said, and I nodded in agreement.
Pulling back, I sat up as we looked at each other, hand in hand.
“So, friends?” I pressed, licking my lips, feeling his thumb rub my hand affectionately.
“Friends,” he said. “You can’t be talking to no other nigga, though.”
“Yo, kill the noise. You need to check yo’ self before you come at me. You the one with mad broads lined up and down the block waiting on you,” I said, and he smiled. “I can talk to whoever I want to talk to. I’m single, nigga.”
“We’ll see,” he said.
The door opened, and Taylor walked in with a bag of food. Her mouth dropped as she looked at us, then cut her eyes at Trent.
“Really, Trent? Like, seriously—”
“Taylor, chill.”
“I sat by yo’ side day in and day out! You don’t even like her! You said so yourself. None of yo’ friends or family likes her!” She flipped.
I looked at Trent, mushing him hard in the face. “You been talking shit about me too, nigga?” I asked with a grin as he smiled. “I should beat yo’ handicap ass down now.”
“You ain’t finna do shit,” he tested.
I laughed, trying to mush him again, but he grabbed my wrist to keep my hand steady.
“The only way you can beat me is when I’m down.”
“Nigga, how many times have I whooped yo’ ass?” I flipped, shocked he would even lie like that. Then again, he was a proven liar.
“You got me one time in the gym, but—”
“Lies!” I called out as we both laughed, almost forgetting Taylor was even standing there until the door slammed shut. We both looked up, seeing she’d left the room, food on the ground.
“Was she better in the bed than me?” I asked curiously.
He smiled, his hand coming to my thigh. “She was a virgin.”
“Ahhh! You low-down, dirty nigga, taking her virginity away!” I laughed. “I bet she’s been after yo’ ass hard ever since too. Niggas ain’t shit. I swear, yo,” I said, smacking my teeth as he rolled his eyes.
“You have no idea what the fuck I been through these past few weeks without you,” he groaned.
“Tell me about it. And who the fuck shot you, nigga? You of all people?” I teased, lifting up the sheet to see his bandage-wrapped ribcage.
“It’s been a lot of dumb shit I got caught up in, and my sister, I don’t even know what the fuck she got going on,” he said, shaking his head with a sigh.
I never told him because it was his family, but I knew about Ms. Olivia Carter for a minute now. None of it was good, either. My sister had a few girls that used to roll with her, and they fell out because of her attitude, her ways, and her lifestyle—whatever the fuck that means. All I knew was, if I ever met the bitch and she came at me sideways, I was swinging. No fucks would be given that day just because she’s Trent’s sister.
“Where do I even begin?” he asked, looking at me as he sat up, ready to tell me what had been going on.
“Start by telling me why you decided to step out of what we had to sleep with that girl,” I said blatantly.
Jordyn
“It’s about that time tonight! It’s going down at the Spring Lounge! The last and final hot party of the year! We doing it right!” te DJ yelled from the radio. “The Carter Boys are swinging through. So, ladies, come dressed to impress! The men of Kap—”
Elijah cut the radio off as he turned over in the bed, groaning with a yawn before wrapping his arm around me. It was Friday, late morning, and he had just flown back to Atlanta about an hour ago. We were trying to catch up on lost sleep before this big party tonight.
So much had happened this past weekend that this week just felt like a much-needed vacation. I had rehearsal for Christmas concerts coming up, Elijah had radio and TV appearances, studio sessions, and he’d filmed another music video. We wanted to do normal stuff,
because that’s what we needed right now. We were at his house, in the bed, wrapped in these covers like burritos, trying to keep warm during the freezing cold that made its way into the house, regardless of the heat being on. Since I wasn’t able to have sex for at least two weeks, Elijah and I made up for it in other ways. There’s always other things you can do besides that and still get off. Come on, now. It’s me we’re talking about. So, we lay naked next to each other in a deep slumber, breathing opposite each other. When I inhaled, he exhaled. But my mind was slowly starting to come to consciousness. I mentally felt myself waking up before my body did.
It was a crazy way to end the year. My life had changed so drastically in a matter of months, just from meeting this man. Feeling him stir in his sleep, I opened my eyes, watching him turn his head to face me, one eye open.
“What you doing up, bae?” he asked in a groggy voice.
“I just am,” I said, yawning with a stretch. My legs sat comfortably between his as he moved closer to me, kissing my chest repeatedly.
“Tonight is going to be crazy, isn’t it?” I asked.
“Hell yeah. One last time for the end of the year, and then I’m slowing the fuck down until January. I can’t keep turning up like this, shawty,” he said in between kisses as I smiled.
“Your brother calls Noelle his queen,” I noted randomly.
“And?” he asked, looking up at me with those droopy eyes.
“And I want you to call me something sweet and romantic like that,” I stated.
He snorted, with his eyes turned up in defiance. “Ain’t no mothafucking queens in this house, nor a damn king. I am a god, baby,” he stated.
Now it was my turn to roll my eyes.
“You can be my goddess.”
Neither one of us was overly religious like that, but it still sounded silly.
“You don’t like that?” he asked knowingly.
I shook my head, feeling him make his way in between me, coming up to kiss my neck. “What about wet-wet?” he groaned as I laughed.
“Elijah, we can’t, and you know this,” I reminded him, feeling his hands gripping my ass as he sighed.
“Shit, I’m used to getting some in the mornings from you on the regular,” he muttered, getting off. “We definitely not doing this abortion shit again if you get pregnant. I don’t like how it made you feel afterwards, and I don’t like not having sex for three fucking weeks.”