I'm Doin' Me

by Anna Black

  Even though Mr. Keiffer was intimidating, her team nodded in agreement, and Darryl said, “So true,” loud enough for the room to hear him.

  “Come up with a college storyline or there’s no more show,” Todd said firmly.

  “Todd, you can’t be serious,” Tiffany protested in disbelief. He’d always had her back, and she wondered why Mr. Keiffer forced him to put his tail between his legs.

  “I’m dead serious. Listen, Tiff, I wanna back you on this, but this is above my head,” he said.

  She couldn’t believe the words coming out of his mouth. He’d always given her complete creative control.

  “Todd, you gotta talk to him,” she cried desperately.

  “Come on, Tiff, you’ve pulled us from number six to number one in just one season, so come up with something fabulous like you always do.” He walked out, leaving her speechless.

  “Now what?” Darryl, her co-executive producer, asked.

  Tiffany had no idea. Her hopes of turning her Boy Crazy cast into adults and not crazy college students had just been shot down. “I don’t know,” she admitted for the first time. All the writers on her team sat in silence. “Okay let’s take a vote, and I want everyone at this table to be one hundred percent honest with me.” She knew they would be. If an episode idea was corny, they’d make it known. And as a team, they would make it right. “All in favor of college days for Boy Crazy, raise your hand.”

  Only one of the six hands went up. I knew your white ass would be, she thought, looking at Brad. He was the only non-black writer for the show. “All in favor for post college raise your hand,” she said. The other five writers raised their hands.

  “Okay, no worries, you guys,” she declared. “Boy Crazy must go on, but it may not be with KCLN.”

  After she got back to her desk, she wished she could take back her words. “Oh my God,” she cried. “What am I going to do? If I don’t get another season, I and several others will not have a job.” Her intercom buzzed. “Yes, Myah?”

  “Your cast members are here.”

  “Please send them in.” All three walked in seconds later. “Ladies, how are you?”

  Melinda spoke up first. “Not good, girl. Rumor has it that the network won’t give us another season after this senior year season.”

  “Yes, that is true, not a rumor. That’s only if we bypass college. I know you ladies are tired of being students. We’ve had this conversation many times before. If we don’t do what the network wants, I need to know your opinions on where we should go from here,” Tiffany said nervously.

  Tia shook her head. “Go from here? Tiffany, if there is no more show after this season, where else can we go?”

  “To another network,” she said. The women looked confused. “Listen, I was thinking I should start shopping the show to other networks, but it’s more effective if the original cast members are on board. I have to get a commitment from you ladies that if KCLN doesn’t sign us for another term, then we are willing to go to another network. Bill trusted me, and I know he didn’t leave me in charge of this hit show for his arrogant-ass brother to shut it down. If he wants to shut it down here, he can, but we can take it to another network.” Tiffany studied the three women sitting before her.

  The ladies looked at each other.

  “Well, I’m in,” Melinda agreed.

  Tia then agreed. “Yes, if you can keep the show running.”

  The only one left to say she was in was Jennifer. “I don’t know, Tiffany,” she said. “I mean, how hard will it be to get us a new home? I would love for the show to go on, but if it’s not, I have to keep my options open. I don’t need to be off the scene too long. That would be murder to my career.”

  “I know, Jennifer,” Tiffany said. “But we have an entire season ahead of us, and that gives me a little time to at least shop the show. It wouldn’t be the same without you.”

  “Okay, okay, okay,” Jennifer relented. “I’m in. Hell, this show was my start to fame, and if I can play Claire for another ten years and be adored by my fans, I’m in.”

  “Great, ladies, that is great. I will be honest, I have one more meeting with the heads, and if they are not saying anything, this season, while we are taping, I will do my best to shop the show. Hopefully, get us another network that wants to do what we want to do.”

  “Well, Tiff, I trust you, but be sure that Claire has the hottest crib and ride in our adult series,” Jennifer said.

  “Hey, I want a nice crib too,” Tia said.

  “Listen, ladies, those are small details. We have to find a home first. If KCLN doesn’t want us, we will find a network that does. Hell, our show is number one on this network. They will yield,” Tiffany said with confidence.

  A week later, after impatiently waiting for the verdict from Mr. Keiffer, Tiffany got the sad news from Todd that the network would not yield. They wanted what they wanted, even though the writers and the cast members thought otherwise.

  She left the office for the first time pissed off and beyond confused. She never saw the show coming to an end, but that was exactly what was going to happen after the taping of this season. She felt like a Mack Truck hit her in her chest. Not wanting to stick around after hearing the news, she left early and drove home in a daze, wondering how she was going to deliver on her promise to her writers and cast members to find another network. She had no leads and no idea how she was going to start to shop the show.

  She pulled into her driveway and smiled a little when she saw Jeff’s car. Her boyfriend was at her place a little more than she cared for, but she didn’t complain because at least he did cook. She walked in, tossed her keys into the bowl on the table near the door, and stepped out of her shoes. On the way to the fridge after grabbing a wine glass, she thought she heard a giggle. She paused and listened, but heard nothing. She proceeded to get the wine from the fridge and could have sworn she heard moaning. She stopped again to listen. The sounds got louder.

  “Awww, hell naw,” she mumbled and put the wine bottle and glass on the counter. She made her way to her bedroom and pushed the door open to find Jeff in bed with her housekeeper, Carmen.

  The other woman’s toes were pointed to the ceiling while Jeff’s toned ass rolled around deep inside her pussy. The scent of sex was in the air, and from the way the bed was in disarray, Tiffany could tell they had been at it for a little while.

  “Get the fuck outta my damn bed!” she roared. The couple jumped up. “Are you fucking kidding me, Jeff?” she yelled even louder. “I mean, for real?”

  The maid got up, scrambled for her dress, and quickly stepped into it, but Jeff sat on the side of the bed.

  “Miss Richardson, I am so sorry,” she said with her thick Spanish accent.

  She was sexy, young, and stupid, Tiffany thought, wondering why she even attempted to offer an apology.

  “I am so, so sorry,” she said again.

  Tiffany addressed her without taking her eyes off Jeff. “Get out, Carmen, you are fired! Don’t ever step foot in my house again!”

  The woman tried to make a quick exit, but she didn’t move past Tiffany fast enough. With a thrust of her foot, Tiffany shoved her out the door.

  “What don’t I do, Jeff, huh? Tell me what the fuck do I not do? I suck your dick. I fuck you in the strangest places because that turns you on. I pay my own damn mortgage and bills and I don’t ask you for shit. All I ask of you is to be my fucking boyfriend, and for that you decide to fuck another woman in my bed?”

  His answer was said so low she barely heard him.

  “What? Excuse me?” she asked. She wanted him to be a man and say what the fuck he had to say.

  “I can’t compete,” he said, this time speaking louder.

  “Compete? Compete, Jeffrey?” Tiffany was confused. “What the hell do you mean? What do you mean by that?”

  “You . . . you are this gorgeous, popular executive producer and writer for the hottest show on television. You are invited to exclusive parties, red
carpet events, and movie premiers. All I do is fix cars. It’s like I’m just your date or your escort, not your man or your boyfriend,” he said.

  She wanted to slap the shit out of him. “Jeff, you cannot be serious. Every event, every party, and every red carpet event, you are there. Every magazine or captured moment is with your ass.”

  “But the focus is on you!” he yelled.

  For a moment, Tiffany felt as if the wind had been knocked out of her. When she caught her breath, she got in touch with her anger. She truly wanted to punch him in the face.

  “That is because of what I do, Jeff. The focus would be on you if we attended a red carpet mechanics event. When I met you, I met you as the guy who fixed my Beemer, and when you asked me out, did I ever once throw me all up in your face? When I told you at the table that night on our first date what I did and who I was, you said you could handle it. Never did I make you feel like less of a man. If you felt that way, that was your own personal issues, so don’t blame it on me.

  “The thing is, right now, I’m not even mad at you for fucking around on me. No, that is not what I’m mad about. I am mad as hell at the fact that you thought it was okay to fuck her in my damn bed. You had the audacity to go there with her here, in my room, in my bed, on my fucking satin sheets. You should have fucked that bitch in the guest room on the cotton ones if your dick needed to be pleased that bad!”

  “You are right,” he said. He finally stood, and she saw he still had an erection. She wondered briefly how his dick was still hard after he had just gotten busted.

  “Make sure you get all of your things and give me my key before you leave,” she said and stormed off to the kitchen. She grabbed the wine bottle and instead of pouring a glass, she put the bottle up to her lips and took a long swig. Her eyes burned, but she refused to cry. “You are not going to be defeated, Tiffany Lashaye Richardson. Don’t you shed one tear for that bastard,” she coached herself and took another swig.

  The bottle was almost finished by the time Jeff came out with his duffle bag. “Well, I got everything,” he said.

  Tiffany didn’t look at him. “My key, please?” He tossed it and she caught it. “See your way out, and please don’t even attempt to dial my number again.”

  Jeff didn’t argue, he just left. When she heard the door close, she broke down. Her career and love life were in the toilet in the space of a few hours, and she didn’t know how she was going to bounce back.

  Chapter Three

  The next day, Tiffany sat in her office and watched the clock. She tried to avoid thoughts of Jeff and the events that had taken place the day before, but couldn’t. She knew it was best to talk about it, but she was too busy pretending it never happened.

  Work was the best thing for her to keep her mind occupied. She’d thought that working on writing the final season of Boy Crazy would be enough to take her mind off things, but it wasn’t. She tried to focus, but she couldn’t help but think of Jeff. He was the perfect boyfriend, she thought at times, because they never argued. He gave her space, and she gave him his. The sex was fantastic, and the brother could hang a suit. The gossip in L.A. was he was her frog prince because after they hooked up, he cleaned up. He owned an auto shop that wasn’t the shop to go to until Tiffany turned all of her friends on to it. Even though his business grew rapidly, he never felt accomplished enough and she couldn’t understand why.

  He was Idris Elba fine, with cocoa skin and a body that would not offend society if he walked around naked. He wasn’t a big romantic, but there were moments when he made Tiffany feel like she was a queen. She wasn’t the average L.A. woman, meaning she was on the opposite end of a size zero. She was a Chicagoan and most women looked like her back home. They were considered thick, not fat, like L.A. natives saw her.

  She was a twelve on a good day and her body was curvy. Her breasts still stood up, and her stomach wasn’t bigger than her ass, so she looked sexy in everything she wore. Not light bright, but golden honey complexioned with relaxed hair that hung a little past her shoulders, she was sassy, and she turned heads. Being smart and on top of her game made her a catch. As far as she was concerned, Jeff had messed up the best thing he’d ever have. She was just going to have to get over it, she told herself. She grabbed her notes and eased by Myah to head to the idea room.

  Today she didn’t feel as passionate about her job as she had been the years before. How was she going to save her cast’s and crew’s jobs? Her thoughts jogged up and down her mind escalator, but she shut the power off when she walked into the idea room.

  “Okay, ladies and gents,” she said as she took a seat. “We have to write a slamming season, and it has to be hot enough to get us another gig with another network or make KCLN change their minds. When I point to you, I want to hear some good shit. It’s the girls’ senior year, and we need some excitement, something suspenseful, and humorous. This is our moment, guys, so we gotta hit it.” She opened her portfolio to a blank page. “Norma, you’re up. Go.”

  “Claire confesses she’s a virgin.”

  Tiffany jotted it down. “Darryl,” she called out, without looking up from her notebook.

  “Joy finds out her parents are secretly separated.”

  “Brad.”

  “The girls freak out about taking the SATs for college,” he said.

  “Shelby.”

  After five hours of going at it, they had the first few episode ideas mapped out. Tiffany decided it was time for a break, so she let everyone leave. Instead of eating the same old tuna sandwich from their cafeteria, she decided she’d go out for lunch. She decided on a little outdoor restaurant not far from her office building. After sitting down and ordering pasta salad, she looked around. A guy two tables over looked familiar to her, and only after a few seconds of ogling, it hit her.

  “Kory,” she said loud enough for him to hear.

  He looked her way. “Yes?” he replied.

  “Kory Banks, right?”

  “Yes, from KBanks Jewelers.”

  “No, CVS high school, in Chicago.”

  “Awww, snap. Tiffany Richardson, right?”

  “Yes, it’s me,” she replied.

  He got up and walked over to her table. They exchanged a quick hug and began to catch up. They got past, “What brought you to L.A.?” and what they were doing now with their lives.

  The waitress brought Tiffany’s order and she asked Kory to join her. He grabbed his cold sandwich and took a seat. They continued talking, neither one of them eating until Tiffany realized she had to get back to the office.

  “Wow, Tiffany Richardson. Wait ’til I tell Kennedy I ran into you,” he said.

  Tiffany recognized the name. Kennedy was Kory’s younger cousin. The two girls had been good friends in high school. They had both graduated the year after Kory. “Wow, Kennedy,” she said. “How is she?”

  “She is good, running her very own jewelry store back home.”

  “Man, that is awesome,” she said. She looked at her watch. “Listen, Kory, here is my card. My cell is on it. Please give me a buzz and we can possibly grab dinner or something.”

  Kory gave her his card too. “Great. And it was good seeing you, Tiff. I mean, you look incredible.”

  “And so do you. L.A. has certainly treated you well.”

  “Yes, it has,” he said.

  They said their good-byes and she hurried back to her building. When she walked into the idea room, everyone got quiet.

  “I’m going to assume we got some writing done in my absence?” she asked. A few moments later, she learned that they actually had been working and had some fantastic ideas.

  They finished out the day and everybody went home. Tiffany couldn’t wait to call her homegirl back in Chicago, Rose, to tell her about running into Kory.

  “No way, not Kory Banks,” she said, sounding shocked.

  “Yes, girl. There I was, sitting there after ordering my pasta salad and I noticed him sitting two tables over.”

  “S
mall world for real. I know you got his number?” Rose asked.

  “Fo’sho. You know I had the biggest crush on Kory in school,” Tiffany said as she grabbed her Bailey’s ice cream from the freezer.

  “Crush is an understatement. You were obsessed with him.”

  “I was not,” Tiffany protested.

  “Yes, Tiff, you were. I remember you’d stay at your locker until after he walked away sometimes, even if it made you late for class.”

  “Yes, I guess I was cuckoo for Kory back then.”

  “And now?”

  “Girl, I don’t know what I feel. It’s like . . . Seeing him was like laying my eyes on an angel. And you know, after what happened to me yesterday with Jeff, I thought God sent Kory in to save the day.”

  “Maybe he did,” Rose said.

  “I don’t know. I mean, we caught up, but he didn’t look at me with that ‘oooh I’m happy to see you’ look. You know, there was no flirting.”

  “Well, the next step is to call him. You’re a grown-ass woman now. You don’t have to have a secret crush anymore.”

  “Yes, you’re right,” Tiffany said, looking at his card. “Listen, I will wait ’til tomorrow. Give him a call and see when he is free, and if I find out he is single, I will make my move.”

  “Well, you’d better keep me posted. I want to know all the details.”

  “I know you do and don’t go telling your nosey-ass sister, Rose. I’m serious, she talks too much.”

  “Okay, I won’t say a word.”

  They got off the phone and Tiffany went to shower. She got into bed and turned on the tube. Her phone vibrated. A text from Jeff:

  I’m sorry. Didn’t mean to hurt you.

  She deleted it and got comfortable in bed. A couple moments later, she got another text from him:

  Can I come over?

  She sent a text back with a one word reply:

  No.

  The next text she got said he just wanted to talk. She sighed and typed a longer reply: