by Cachet
Monique really wanted her daughter to say something out of pocket, so that she could bust her in the face again. She despised Dominique with a passion and most of the time she wished that she was never born. It was because of the pregnancy with her that Monique ended up with Jessie’s fucked up in the head ass in the first place. Had she not had gotten pregnant with Dominique, she wouldn’t have had to settle and been stuck with all those damn kids. Of course, that wasn’t Dominique’s fault, but according to Monique’s logic, it was.
“It’s funny how you can tell yo’ daddy all the shit that I do around this mutha’fucka, but I ain’t told him nothing about how sneaky and trifling yo’ ass is, now did ya?” Monique questioned. When she saw Dominique drop her eyes, she knew that she had struck a nerve. She smacked her lips before she went ,on, “Don’t get all shy now. How about the next time you talk to your daddy, you let him know how much of a hoe is daughter has become since he’s been gone? Tell him all about what I caught you doing in my bedroom last year, and see what he has to say about that.” With no more words spoken, Monique turned around and headed back into her room once again, this time, slamming the door behind her.
“What in the world is she rambling about now?” Tiffany murmured while walking into the kitchen.
“I don’t know.” Dominique shrugged.
“She kills me acting all tough now, knowing she wouldn’t say any of that shit if daddy were out.”
“Yeah, you’re right,” Dominique agreed, watching her mother’s door to make sure that she hadn’t reemerged again, “and you better stop cursing before she hears you,” she chastised her sister. “Let me get this kitchen cleaned before it’s time to wake everybody up for school. You can go back to bed, I got it.”
“No, I’m going to help you,” Tiffany told her, grabbing the broom. “I feel bad about you getting in trouble. I knew I should have just woken you up, but you looked so tired.”
“Tired wasn’t even the word. I was exhausted,” Dominique explained, walking over to the kitchen sink. “Even then, it ain’t your fault. It’s your mothers.” She glanced towards the door again. “If she’d get off her ass and help around here, I wouldn’t have to do everything.”
“Don’t try to put her on me. That’s yo’ momma, you’re the oldest,” Tiffany rebutted. “Plus, I don’t even like the heffa.” Dominique busted out laughing, but quickly brought her hand up to cover her mouth when she realized just how loud she was.
“Y’all better shut the fuck up in there before you wake up those kids!” Monique yelled from her room.
“I can’t stand that bitch,” Tiffany grunted.
“Me either.”
“I should go in there and smother her ass with a pillow while she sleeps.”
“You are so crazy.” Dominique giggled quietly. She wished it were that easy to rid their mother out of their lives, but she knew better. Monique was like the devil and wasn’t going anywhere with her evil ass.
After the sisters finished laughing at their mother’s expense, both girls began the task of cleaning the kitchen. Dominique cleared off the table and washed the dishes, while Tiffany straightened up, swept, and mopped the floor. While they cleaned, they quietly talked about their plans for the weekend. Dominique hoped that she would be able to attend the neighborhood party with her boyfriend Kaleb, her other sister NiChia, and her best friend, Shanice. Tiffany, on the other hand, wanted to go skating with a few of her classmates. Both girls knew that with how funny acting Monique was, them being able to go out anywhere was a long shot, but they prayed that this would be a time where she wouldn’t be so bad. It was easier said than done because Monique never let them go anywhere but to their grandmother’s house, and even then, it wasn’t often.
As they continued to talk, Dominique laughed and joked as if she were in good spirits, but deep down, she was still thinking about what her mother had said. Monique may not have known it, but that night haunted her daughter daily, even though she tried her best to forget about it. Dominique felt bad for lying to Tiffany when she told her that she had no clue what Monique was referring to. She knew exactly what her mother was talking about and was glad that her sister took her word for it and didn’t push the issue. Dominique would have hated to try to explain to Tiffany all the things that had actually gone down. Those details were too much for a fourteen-year-old to know, and Dominique wanted her sister to not only keep her innocence as long as possible, but to not look at her differently.
The incident that Monique had brought up was yet another reason why Dominique hated her mother so much. While Monique thought that it was funny to throw it up in her face, Dominique knew deep down that she was actually upset about it; she just tried her best to hide it. The truth of the matter was it wasn’t Dominique’s fault and she was almost certain that her mother already knew that. Back when Dominique tried to explain everything to her, she was quickly shut down with a fist to the face. Monique beat her so bad that day that there are still marks across her back and thighs. After the ass whipping she received, Dominique never brought it up again; she knew better than to do so because Monique made it clear that she didn’t want to hear anything that she had to say.
By the time the girls were through cleaning up the entire kitchen, it was almost time to wake up all of the children. Dominique went into the fridge and started breakfast, while Tiffany pulled out the ironing board and began to get everyone’s outfits ready for the day. When they were done, together they went around the house and woke all of the kids up before helping them with their hygiene. As they all ate breakfast, Dominique smiled over at Tiffany. She was happy that her little sister had decided to stay up with her because she definitely helped her a lot. As always, she was grateful for Tiffany and felt bad that she had gotten in trouble behind her earlier. Dominique knew that Monique hated that they were so close. With them being only two years apart, Dominique and Tiffany were the closest of all of their eight siblings. Not only did they share a room, but they shared a bond that Monique was extremely jealous of. Tiffany wasn’t just a little sister to Dominique; she was more like one of her best friends. Dominique loved her sister dearly and hated when Monique tried to put her against her. She hoped that it would never work because she couldn’t imagine what she would do without Tiffany in her life.
After the children were fed and all of them were dressed, Dominique and Tiffany prepared for their long exhausting day of school, while Monique slept peacefully with her door locked, as if she didn’t have a care in the world.
Chapter Three
“You know I love you right?” Kaleb asked, as he leaned down and planted a soft kiss on Dominique’s lips.
“I know you do. I love you too.” She smiled.
Her eyes closed involuntarily when he slipped his tongue deep into her mouth. She accepted his invitation with some tongue of her own before she threw her arms around his shoulders. Together, they laid on their sides in Kaleb’s bed, each lost in their own worlds. Kaleb ran his hands slowly down from her back until he gripped her hips and pulled her lower body closer to his. A moan escaped his lips when Dominique didn’t stop him from rolling her over. With her now on her back, Kaleb lifted up and climbed on top of her, with Dominique opening her legs slightly to receive him.
“Kaleb,” she whined, when he tried to slip his hands into her pants.
“Damn Nikki, what?” Kaleb groaned, propping himself up with his arms.
“You already know what, so stop playing,” she snapped.
After roughly pushing him off of her, she sat up and scooted towards the edge of the bed. Dominique folded her arms across her chest tightly. She wanted to let him know that she now had an attitude. Disappointed, Kaleb let out a forced breath, climbed out of the bed, and walked over by the window. He stared outside for a moment, at nothing in particular, before he dropped his eyes to the floor. It was very rare that they had time to be alone because there was always someone around. Dominique’s house was not only filled with children all day, but her
mother wouldn’t even allow him to darken her door, so being alone with each other there was a definite no-no.
When it came to his house, his mother, Kendra, was always home taking care of Kendall, who was his eleven year old brother. Kendall suffered from Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, which was a genetic disease that caused rapid muscular deterioration. Because of his illness, Kendra was forced to quit her job at the hospital as a RN and work from home doing case studies instead. That day, she happened to be taking Kendall to one of his many doctor’s appointments and would be gone for the rest of the morning. When his mom told Kaleb about her plans, his first thought was Dominique. He figured that since they were never alone, they could cut school and finally do some of the things that he had been daydreaming about. Dominique accepted his offer to come over, but her reasons were different.
She was still kind of sleepy from the night before and didn’t really want to be in school in the first place. It wasn’t like she could stay home because with Monique there, she would only have her working. Dominique thought that by going over to Kaleb’s, they would probably talk, watch a movie, or maybe even go to sleep. Not once did she think that he was only inviting her over because he thought that they were going to have sex. She thought that he just wanted to spend time with her.
Kaleb brought his eyes up to hers and asked, “What’s the problem now?”
“There’s no problem,” she told him simply.
“Then why did you stop me?”
Dominique looked at him sideways before she replied, “Because you know damn well that I didn’t come over here to fuck you. You already know how I feel about that.”
“Come on Nikki, how long are you going to make me wait?” he inquired. “I love you and you love me, so I don’t really see why this is such a big issue.”
“I’m not about to keep having this same damn conversation with you, Kaleb. When we first got together, I told yo’ ass how I felt about having sex and you said that you were cool with it. Now, you all of a sudden have a problem. Make up your damn mind. One second, you understand and the next, you don’t. Which one is it because I’m tired of the back and forth shit?” Dominique sassed. Her right leg began to rock back and forth, which was a sign that she was getting upset.
“Yeah, I said I was cool with it back then because I was. That was two years ago, Nikki. I honestly had no clue that you were going to be still acting like this after all this time. I’ve been asking about this shit for the last few months, and you keep giving me the exactly same answer.”
“So, shouldn’t that tell you something?” she asked with her fact twisted up.
Dominique was already tired, so arguing with her boyfriend was not something she wanted to do, especially about the same subject that they had gone over time and time again. They had already had words with one another in the hallway before they left school. Kaleb flipped when he saw that Dominique had a black eye, even though she tried her best to cover it with concealer. He was livid. Dominique explained that it was nothing, but Kaleb threatened to send someone over to her house to show Monique what it felt like to be punched in the eye. Dominique begged him not too, not because she cared about her mother getting hurt, but because she didn’t want him to get in trouble if it came out that he was the one behind it. After talking some sense into him about that and calming him down, they still ended up arguing hours later.
Dominique was getting fed up of repeating herself. She had told Kaleb from the very beginning that she didn’t plan on having sex until she was married, and at first, he agreed to be celibate with her. He claimed that he understood her reasoning and that he was glad to have a ‘good girl’, but now, he was singing another tune. Now it seemed like every time she turned around, he was bringing it up and she was sick of it.
“Whatever man,” Kaleb sighed, “just tell me when and I’ll stop asking you about it.”
“When what?” Dominique asked with wide eyes.
“When we are going to finally make it happen? We’ve been together long enough for you to know that I’m not just gone hit it and quit it. You’ll let me kiss all on you or suck ya titties, but nothing past that.” He stopped and looked at her. “It’s like when I start working my way below the waist, you freeze up. Why let me do all that if you ain’t gone do nothing but stop me? If you don’t want me to go there, you shouldn’t get me started in the first place. It’s like you teasing me and shit.”
“Teasing you? If I’m not mistaken, you were the one who kissed me,” Dominique responded, surprised by how far he was taking it.
“Yeah, but you ain’t stop me. You kissed me right back.”
“Okay, and? I did that because I want to kiss my boyfriend. I like to be close to you sometimes. Is there something wrong with that?”
“Hell yeah, there’s something wrong with that!” Kaleb retorted. “You get me all riled up, only to shut me down. I swear you be playing games and shit,” he told her, pacing back and forth across the floor.
“Shut the hell up Kaleb because right now, you are doing the most. Ain’t nobody playing no games with you.”
“You could’ve fooled the hell outta me.” He took a few steps closer to her before he continued. “Look Nikki, I’m sorry, but I’m just getting irritated with the situation,” he told her honestly. “I know we’re young, but I have needs.”
“Needs my ass Kaleb! Your only seventeen, what kind of needs could you possibly have?” she grunted, while rolling her eyes up in her head. He was really starting to piss her off. “You act like you did the shit before. You’re a virgin your damn self, so stop trying to act like you’ve been fucking for years!”
“See, now you trying to play me, when you know that ain’t got shit to do with it! I ain’t gotta have done it to want to do it,” he explained. “You got me walking around looking dumb as hell. Niggas in school bragging about all the pussy they getting, while I’m sitting there quiet as hell. Shit, everybody is doing it but us.”
“First of all, I ain’t making you look like shit. If you’re looking dumb, stupid, or whatever, then that’s all on you, playa, so don’t try to put that shit on me,” she told him, rolling her neck. “Second, I don’t give a damn about everybody else, Kaleb! I don’t do what everybody else is doing. I’m my own fucking person, and you knew from jump that I wasn’t like all these other lil’ bitches who be quick to give up the ass. Those are the hoes that the niggas are bragging about. So, if that’s what you want, then I’m sorry, but you have the wrong girl. I thought you understood that already.”
“I know you are your own person, and that’s why I love you,” Kaleb professed, softening his tone. “I just want to know how long you expect me to wait, Nikki. I love you and you love me. I’ve already told you that we’re getting married as soon as we graduate, so why do we have to continue to wait?”
“Because, we’re not married yet, Kaleb! Not only that, but anything can happen between now and graduation. Look how you’re acting right now, like a little ass fucking kid!”
“That’s bullshit and you know it!” Kaleb yelled. “I have never given you any reason to believe that I would leave you, so you reaching like hell for saying some shit like that to me. Do you know how many bitches be throwing me the pussy?” he asked, but as soon as the question left his lips, he instantly regretted it.
The look on Dominique’s face let him know that he had fucked up royally. It was a mixture of hurt, embarrassment, and anger, all in one. Kaleb immediately wished that he could rewind time and take back the words that just spilled out of his mouth like vomit, but he knew he couldn’t. It was too late, and the damage had already been done. Not knowing what else to do, he braced himself for the storm ahead.
“Humph,” Dominique snorted. She stood up, snatched her purse off of his bed, and walked directly up to him. With her finger just inches from his face, she calmly told him, “Well, I guess you should find all those bitches that are throwing you pussy and go fuck with them then because I’m done with yo’ simple stupid as
s.”
“Wait Nikki, I didn’t mean it like that,” Kaleb said desperately as he jumped in front of her, as she headed to his door. He put his arm out, blocking her way. “Can you just sit back down and talk to me?” he asked with pleading eyes. “You know that shit didn’t come out right. You know I would never say nothing like that to you.”
With her eyes watering, Dominique looked at her boyfriend and said barely above a whisper, “Fuck you, Kaleb. Get the hell out of my way,” before she shoved him with all her might.
She rushed over to his bedroom door and slung it open so hard, it slammed into the wall behind it. As she headed towards the front of the house, she could hear Kaleb walking behind her as she neared the exit. Pulling the front door open, Dominique stomped down the porch steps. She used the back of her hand to wipe away the tears that were slowly rolling down her cheeks. Her feelings were hurt, and she was still shocked at the fact that Kaleb had acted that way towards her. In the two years that they’ve been together as a couple, he had been nothing but a gentleman to her. Is he really getting fed up with waiting for me to give up the goods? She asked to herself. By the time she got to the end of his street, she turned and looked back at his house. The fact that he hadn’t chased behind her made Dominique feel even worse.
Maybe he is tired.
She thought about going back, but quickly decided against it. There was no way in hell that she was going to kiss his ass. If Kaleb wanted to have an attitude about her not wanting to fuck him, that was on him. He could go to hell for all she cared. Dominique was angry and wished that she would have just stayed her ass at school. As she made her way to the bus stop a few streets over, she had time to calm down and actually think about everything. Dominique knew deep in her gut that Kaleb didn’t mean for the words to come out like they had. Of course, she knew that there were girls who threw themselves at him. He was one of the cutest boys in school, so she would be a fool not to believe that. Kaleb had just let his anger get the best of him, just like she had. Dominique knew that she didn’t mean it when she told him that she was done with him. The truth was that they had both said some things that neither of them meant. Dominique figured they both needed time to cool down and when the air was clear, they would talk.