by Chrissy J
I looked at both men and smirked. Star always wanted to be heard or seen whenever I was around like it was a fight to be Asia’s friend. I never understood that chick, everybody, and I do mean everybody, knew Hershey was my best friend and no one could ever take her place, or fill her shoes. Asia looked down the block at Eddie and his twin smiling real hard. She had to comment on what Star said, talking about she need to break him off with some pussy before he ended up back in jail. Those chicks were comical if you asked me; I wasn’t willing to throw pussy at no nigga just because of his looks and his “street cred.”
“You’re one crazy bitch,” I joked laughing.
“What’s good Asia, Star? Come here pretty girl let me holla at you for a minute goddess,” Eddie said grabbing my hand as we walked towards the street. I asked him what happened, while looking into his sexy green eyes. I turned around to see the looks on both Asia and Star’s faces and they both looked pissed that he chose me. Didn’t they know I was different from them? My swag was crazy, and I stood out bright like a diamond. Eddie asked where I was from and how old I was. He leaned on a parked car and pulled me close to him by my waist. We sat there kicking it and I told him I was from Harlem and I had just turned sixteen. He informed me that he just gotten out of jail and he was seventeen. I asked was he planning on going back to jail and his comeback was if he had a reason to stay out he wouldn’t go back or try to get into any trouble. He looked deep into my eyes like he was looking in my soul. Seeing Kevin’s car at the light I wrapped up my conversation with Eddie while exchanging numbers with him.
“Alright Asia, I got to go. I’ll see you around,” I said moving away from Eddie as Kevin pulled up. I got inside the car and all of them had their eyes glued to the Benz. Whitey came out of the building as Kevin pulled off.
CHAPTER 6
Once I got inside Kevin’s car, I could tell he had an attitude. He pulled off as soon as my ass hit the soft leather seat. ”Damn I just played that shit with Eddie to close,” I thought looking at Kevin as he made a U-turn in the middle of the street.
“Hey baby,” I said leaning over in my seat to give him a kiss. He kissed me back but didn’t say anything to me. I hit Hershey’s phone and she picked up on the second ring. I heard a lot of noise in the background. I explained to her that there was a change of plans. She laughed telling me she already knew I wasn’t coming to hang with her and Tima. I told her Kevin came and picked me up, we spoke some more then hung up.
“Who was that nigga that was all in your face,” Kevin finally broke his silence and asked me. When we got to a red light, I looked at his handsome face and noticed the vein in his neck jumping indicating he was pissed off.
“That was some boy that wanted to holla at my homegirl Asia. Baby I only have eyes for you,” I said to him, rubbing his face and ego at the same time.
“He better be looking for your homegirl or he’s a dead man. What you want to eat,” he asked. I shook my head. “That’s the last time he comes to pick me up,” I thought to myself. A chill ran down my spine when he said those words. An image I tried erasing out of my head for some time now popped up; the day I met Kevin and how he just stood there without as much of a blink in his eye as my father beat the life out of the dude in our living room. I knew Kevin had it in him to kill, I just didn’t know at the time he really would kill somebody over and for me. “Let’s get some cheesecake from Juniors; I’m craving one with big strawberries. I just hope I can keep that shit down without throwing it back up,” I said looking at him. He turned and looked at me with concern and worry written on his face. “Throw up? What’s wrong with you baby? You coming down with the flu or something?” he asked finding a parking spot in front of Juniors. He cut off his red Benz that he’d purchased two weeks after my birthday. He got out of the car walking to my side to open the door for me; I stepped out putting my hand inside his while grabbing my bag.
“I don’t know. My stomach’s been feeling real weird for the last two weeks,” I told him as we walked inside Juniors. We ordered our cheesecake and stood there waiting. Kevin stood behind me with his arms wrapped around me. “My big baby having a lil Kevin,” he teased in my ear. I frowned turning my head to look at him. He winked at me as he paid for the cheesecake and we walked out going back to the car. He opened my door and walked to the driver’s side sitting the cake in the back seat then pulled out of the parking spot driving just down the block to a Rite Aid. He doubled parked jumping out of the car leaving me sitting there thinking he was crazy. He came back two minutes later carrying a bag. He got back inside the car, threw the bag in the back seat, and pulled off. The ride back to Harlem was quiet thank God cause I had a lot of shit on my mind at that very moment.
“Baby when we get home can you get me a Willie’s burger?” I asked. We were two blocks from his crib. “Here you go wanting me to go to the west side for a burger,” he laughed. I smiled at him cause I knew he was going to go anyway, all I needed to do was bat my long eyelashes at him, poke my bottom lip out, and he was putty in my hands. “Please babe, like I really want a Willie’s burger,” I pleaded giving him the puppy dog look. He looked at me and busted out laughing.
“You a trip baby, I’m going to go. I brought you a pregnancy test,” he said parking the car then reaching in the back seat for the bag along with the cheesecake. My eyebrow went up.
“My period came this month,” I said getting out of the car. Kevin didn’t say anything else. We got upstairs to his second floor apartment to find Gina standing in front of his door. I rolled my eyes at her, and she did the same.
“Why is she here if that’s not your girl,” she yelled asking Kevin and pointing at me. I laughed asking her why was she there. She looked at Kevin then back at me trying to hold the tears in her eyes. I had to let her know that I knew why I was at his house and with him. I told Kevin to open the door so I could go inside, and for him to handle his business, pointing at Gina as I was going inside the crib. I could hear Gina yelling and carrying on in the hallway. I just went into the room and undressed. I put Kevin’s t-shirt on then walked to the bathroom. I pissed in a cup, dipped the pregnancy test in, and waited for the results in the bed. Kevin walked inside the room with a frustrated look on his face. I sat there admiring my boo. He was wearing a pair of dark blue Akoo shorts, a white and blue Akoo t-shirt, with some fresh blue Jordan number 5’s. His braids were done neatly in a fly zigzag design thanks to me, and he had on his diamond Jesus chain with the red diamonds for the eyes. He looked at me sitting in the middle of his bed and cracked a smile.
“I love walking in here and seeing you on my bed,” he said sitting down on the bed next to me leaning towards my face. I leaned over and kissed his lips. I pulled back then pointed to the bathroom.
“I took the test, it’s in the bathroom,” I told him laying down and watching Queens of Comedy. Kevin walked inside the bathroom and came out with the test in his hand and a big Kool-Aid smile on his face. I already knew the result from his face.
“Pink means we pregnant babe, you got a lil Kevin inside you,” he said sitting down on the bed with me and rubbing my stomach. I laid there speechless. There I was pregnant at the tender age of sixteen. Sitting there on the bed next to Kevin an image flashed in my head of my father and uncle killing Kevin the way my father killed the dude. I tried to shake the gruesome image out of my head but it was no use. Both Kevin and I knew if word got out about me being pregnant with his child, Kevin could lose his life. It didn’t matter how long or how loyal he was to both my uncle and father. Everybody knew they didn’t play when it came to me. I loved Bookie for keeping my secret. He knew I was seeing Kevin on the low and he never uttered a word to my father, he did however tell me to keep a low profile dealing with Kevin so my father and uncle didn’t find out.
“Babe what are we going to do? My father and uncle will kill you if they find out about us,” I started crying. Kevin pulled into his arms.
“Shhhh… babe your father and uncle are not going to f
ind out,” he said with his arms wrapped around me. I looked into his eyes, and I shook the gruesome thoughts out of my head that my father would kill Kevin.
“How we going to handle this?” I asked.
“When the time comes babe, then we’ll handle it. I love you Ma now give me a kiss,” he said. I kissed his lips and everything went away as he wiped my eyes.
“I love you too baby. We’ve got to call a doctor and it’s time for you to stop playing with these silly little bitches,” I told him laying down. He cracked up laughing and he asked if I still wanted a burger while standing up and checking his phone. Then he put it in his pocket. Shaking my head no, I asked him where he was going while watching him put a sweater on.
“Your uncle just texted me, I’ll be back in two hours,” he said kissing me. I nodded my head and dozed off. Kevin ran to the Bronx to be with Gina, typical nigga.
School started and I was a sixteen-year-old pregnant teen. Nobody knew about my pregnancy except Hershey. She came with Kevin and me to my first appointment and if Kevin couldn’t make it in time to go with me to the doctors, my BFF was right there with me. Things in my house was still thick as hell. Mary barely wanted to be around me, she knew I could blow her spot up in a heartbeat. I caught her having a threesome in my father’s house. I had walked in the house from shopping with Hershey one day; and I heard music and moaning so I thought my father was home early from one of his business trips. I went to my room, grabbed some stuff, then called my father to leave a voicemail, but he picked up on the second ring, which surprised me. He told me to stay in the house until he got there. He said he was only ten minutes away. I hung up the phone and walked down to Mary and my father’s bedroom. I pushed the room door open and there clear as day Mary was having a threesome with another female and a guy I knew from somewhere. I just stood there with my mouth open staring at them in amazement. I wished it were my father that had caught her instead of me.
“Mary my father is ten minutes away, if you don’t want to get yourself or your friends killed you should be wrapping this up and kicking them the fuck out of my father’s house,” I yelled. Mary stopped what she was doing and her eyes got as big as wheels.
“Oh my God Diva! What are you doing here?” she yelled covering herself and getting off the bed, her friends followed. They tried going into the bathroom but I stopped them.
“Mary no need to question me in my own home, but my pops is ten minutes away, now five,” I said walking out of the room and going downstairs to go sit in the living room with my overnight bag to wait for my father. Mary’s friends left and Mary stayed up in the room, I guessed cleaning it. Three minutes later, my father came in the house with Mike. After that day, she’d been on pins and needles around me. My father noticed the way she acted around me and stepped to her about it. She said it was nothing; she was just giving me a little space, whatever that shit was supposed to mean. We were out of school for Thanksgiving week so I was cooped up in the house. I figured Mary knew I was keeping something from them just from the way she examined me with her eyes every time I walked in a room. The drama with Kevin and Gina had started two months after we found out I was pregnant.
Chapter 7
The day was hot as hell. Both Hershey and I hit up 34th street but didn’t find anything. Then we went to the fashion district but we didn’t find anything over there either. I grabbed some more Coach sneakers and some Louis Vuitton sneakers then we hit up 125th street. We hit up Jimmy Jazz and got two pairs of Jordan number 10’s and some Chuck Taylor’s in blue and orange. We were walking out of H&M going back towards Apollo, the store near the Apollo Theater, when we bumped into Gina, Kevin’s ex. She was with two of her friends. She had a bump in her stomach and my heart dropped.
“So you’re the famous Diva? We finally meet without Kevin standing between us,” she said walking up to us. She looked me up and down and Hershey did the same thing. Gina was a pretty chick. She stood around my height, had light caramel skin with a nice body, but not better than mine. Her hair wasn’t long it was cut short. I knew why Kevin was with her, she had a pretty face.
“Yea I’m Diva, what happen,” I asked I knew who she was, we had a few run ins on the phone or at Kevin house plus I knew she once held the status of being Kevin’s wifey. I saw a picture of her and Kevin at his house one day while I was cleaning and he threw the picture away.
“I’m Gina, Kevin’s girlfriend,” she had the nerve to say, and Hershey bust out laughing. Gina’s little goons looked at Hershey like she was crazy.
“Is that so? So why you feel the need to tell me that?” I asked looking at her then her stomach. My own belly wasn’t poking out or showing that much but that bitch looked to be about seven months.
“So you can stay the fuck away from my man. Did he tell you we about to have a baby?” she asked. The color drained from my face like I saw a ghost. That bitch just stood there smiling and rubbing her little swollen belly.
“I really don’t care; it’s not my business what the employee’s do with their spare time. He’s not my man, he gets paid to drive me around, Hersh lets go. Dizzy bitches don’t know how to stay in they place or lane. You know you could get your baby daddy killed just for you stepping to me. I’m Harlem’s princess bitch,” I said walking away with Hershey at my side. We got in a cab and I cried. That was the first and last time I saw her alone. Word around Harlem was Kevin beat her ass for stepping to me with the bullshit. That still raised a red flag with my father. He kept questioning me as to why Gina would step to me, and not any of the girls Kevin had on the side. I tried to explain to my father that when a girl knows her man is around a pretty young chick like myself they tend to think crazy things. My father laughed and said I might be right but he didn’t want Kevin driving me around anymore so Bookie was back to being my damn guard and personal driver. Kevin called the same day trying to explain everything to me but I didn’t want to hear anything from him. I stopped talking to him for two weeks; every time he came to the house with my uncle, I just ignored him as if he wasn’t there.
“Princess you’re getting fat, you better lay off those goat roti’s,” my father joked walking into the kitchen where I was stuffing my face with some crab legs Mary had made before she left. My face blew up and so did my ass, thighs, and titties but my stomach wasn’t that big; I just looked like I gotten a gut.
“Daddy stop teasing me, you sound like Hershey,” I said pouting.
“Aw I’m sorry Princess, I was only joking,” he said kissing my forehead. I smiled looking at my daddy, my everything. He was dressed like a straight boss; he wasn’t flashy at all like the new up and coming drug dealers. He had on a plain white Louis Vuitton t-shirt along with some Blue LV shorts and some Christian Louboutin sneakers for men. I asked him where he was going cracking the crab leg and raising my eyebrow at him. He grinned saying he was just coming into the kitchen to ask me if I wanted to hang with my old man. I laughed at him showing my deep dimples. I knew I had to tell my daddy about the baby, he was my best friend and my protector.
“Yea, I want to hang out with you, we haven’t been out together in a while,” I said looking at him. My father was my everything and I knew when he found out I was carrying a baby inside me he would be heartbroken. Being scared and knowing what would happen to my baby’s father prevented me from saying anything to my father.
“Yea I know we haven’t been hanging with each other in a little while. So how about we hit some spots, buy you some clothes, and shit that you girls like? Your butt looks like you gained about 20 pounds so I know your old clothes are fitting you tight as hell,” he joked backing up from me. “You got jokes daddy,” I laughed, we left and hit up the fashion district. I got myself and Hershey some stuff and then we drove back to Harlem and hit up Amy Ruth’s soul food spot. The baby was hungry and I had to use the bathroom. We were seated right away.
“Mary’s been acting strange around you lately,” he said to me once we sat down at our table. I shook my head no then I
asked if they were having problems while looking at the menu, which I didn’t need to. That was one of our spots to get some good soul food.
“We’ve been having a lil bit of problems, nothing your daddy can’t handle. What’s up with you and this cat Eddie your mother’s been telling me about?” he asked, putting the menu down and signaling for the waitress so she could take our order. After the waitress left with our order, I spoke.
“He’s a real cool person, that’s my homeboy. I hang out with him so his ass won’t get in trouble and can stay out of jail. I keep telling him he needs a hobby,” I joked but I was dead ass serious. I felt the baby move around. That lil nigga stayed moving around when I was about to eat. Me, Kevin and Hershey had found out I was having a boy. Kevin was happy; he always talked about having a lil mini me and giving him the best of everything. Our lil princes already had a full closet of clothes and sneakers; between Kevin picking up something every day and Hershey always buying something. I was in my fifth month and I can honestly say I wasn’t big at all. My father smirked as I was talking about Eddie. I couldn’t front and say I wasn’t feeling that cocky nigga. He kept me laughing and he was a good listener.
“So how old is he? And what he do?” he asked.
“He just turned 17, he’s a twin, and he got his GED while he was locked up. He does everything Daddy. Sell drugs, rob niggas so he can take care of his mother and lil sister, his twin follows him” I told my father sipping my ice tea. “My mom’s got a big ass mouth,” I thought as the waitress sat our food down. My father got smothered pork chops with mac n cheese and candy yams. I got baked chicken, mac n cheese, candied yams, and collard greens with cornbread. My father asked when he could meet Eddie. He said he saw how I would be on the phone cheesing hard, he asked me if I liked him. He said I didn’t need to answer his question because my smile and blushing confirmed what he already knew. I blushed because he knew me too well; yea I liked Eddie he was so down to earth and easy to talk to. He told me he was the oldest twin and he was the one taking care of his family. His father left right after his younger sister was born. He kept going back and forth to jail for selling drugs, and stealing. I told him whenever he was ready to meet Eddie for him to let me know, putting some food inside my mouth.