by Cachet
From the first time he’d laid eyes on her, Deondre had always thought that Dominique was cute, and now that they were at the same school, he wanted to get to know her better. To him, she was nothing like the other girls that he’d come across. Where they were flashy and wanted to be seen all of the time, Dominique was more low-key. They wore tons of make-up, long hair weave, and flashy clothes, while her pretty face was always bare, except for a coat of shiny lip gloss, her hair was worn in natural styles, and her wardrobe was simple. Dominique opted for jeans, a t-shirt, and tennis shoes; while skin tight jeans, short skirts, and hi-heels were what clothed the other chicks day in and day out. Deondre loved the fact that Dominique was different and even though he could tell that she didn’t have a lot of money, she fooled most with her keen sense in fashion. Dominique could throw the cheapest outfit together and make it look designer. After coming up with a plan to get close to her, Deondre asked the biology teacher to pair them for a project together.
He and Dominique met at the library a few times. They spoke briefly about the project, but not much about anything else. Afterwards, they began to hang out because neither of them knew a lot of people at school. Things started out slow between the two of them, but Deondre didn’t care, as long as he was a part of her life, no matter how small. Dominique wasn’t trying to spend too much time with him because she figured that Shanice liked him, even though Deondre told her that she was like a little cousin to him. Everything changed when Dominique found out that she hadn’t gotten the loan money that she’d counted on. Since she was only seventeen and still a dependent of her mother, the FAFSA had to calculate Monique’s income to determine her financial aid and loan amount.
Knowing what her daughter needed, Monique decided to be spiteful and didn’t send in her information like Dominique asked. She was still upset that her daughter had moved in with her grandmother and was trying to make her pay for leaving her to tend to all of her kids. As a result of Monique’s pettiness, Dominique lost her loan and financial aid money for that year. Once that happened, Dominique couldn’t afford to continue living in her dorm room. The little money that she made at her part-time job was only enough to cover her books, food, and personal needs. This devastated Dominique because she knew that when that semester was over, she would have to drop out of school and move back home to her grandmother’s house.
When Dominique showed up at Deondre’s apartment with tears in her eyes, he comforted her before he told her that she was more than welcome to move into his two-bedroom apartment with him. Since his uncle, who had raised him after his father was sent to prison for drug trafficking, was a well-known business owner with more money than he could count, Deondre didn’t have to worry about money. All that was asked of him was to attend school and make something of himself; which he was doing. While he did that, his uncle made sure that he had everything he wanted and more. With a healthy monthly allowance, Deondre really didn’t have any worries.
At first, Dominique turned him down. She didn’t want to become dependent on a guy that she barely even knew. That was until her days in her dorm began to get shorter and shorter. By then, she realized that either she move in with Deondre, or head back home and sign up at community college. Dominique didn’t want to do that, so she finally accepted Deondre’s invitation and he helped her move her stuff over to his apartment. Since it wasn’t like he was exactly a stranger on the street, she felt comfortable enough to not second guess it.
For months, everything was the same. Deondre slept in his room, and Dominique slept in hers. They hung out a lot more because most of the time, they were both at home. They did things like study together and have movie nights, which was fun for Dominique, who loved a good film. One late night, after receiving a call from his uncle, Deondre broke down. He had found out that his father had been killed during a riot in prison. As he cried in his bedroom, Dominique heard him and went in to see what was going on. When he explained everything to her, she felt bad for her friend and tried to console him as best she could. Dominique couldn’t imagine what Deondre was going through and knew that if the shoe was over the other foot and something had happened to her dad, she would be devastated as well. That night, one thing led to another and they ended up sleeping together. Dominique didn’t know if it happened because she was emotional about her own father, or if it was really something that she’d wanted all along. Whatever the case was, she didn’t beat herself up too much about it because the deed had already been done.
Soon after that night, they ended up making it official and became a couple. Deondre helped Dominique as much as he could with everything she needed, and she convinced him to go after his dream to become a professional football player. She sat in the bleachers the day of Deondre’s very first practice and was just as excited as he was when he found out that he made the team. Apparently he was so good that within that first year, he was known as the running back that everyone had their eye on. Since then, numerous scouts from other schools had approached him about transferring and joining their teams, but he always shot them down, choosing to stay at Middle Georgia State University with Dominique. Deondre was on his way to the big leagues, and it wouldn’t have been possible without Dominique giving him the push that he needed. That was one of the reasons why Deondre loved her so much and promised to always take care of her.
“I’ll come home early later, and we can do something together,” Deondre told Dominique, still looking down at her.
“Whatever Dre. Just go do whatever it is that you have plans on doing,” Dominique retorted. The sound of whining coming from the other side of the apartment got her attention. “Bye,” she told him, as she rushed out of their bedroom.
Quickly, she made her way across the hall. Once she entered the brightly colored room, Dominique smiled when she saw her two year old son, Deondre Jr., who everyone called DJ, standing up in his crib. As soon as his eyes landed on her, he stopped whining and began to excitedly bounce up and down on his little legs, happy to see his mommy.
“What’s wrong with my baby?” Dominique asked walking over towards him.
“Mommy!” DJ yelled. He was now smiling.
He was teething, so slobber dribbled down his chin and onto the all-white onesie he wore. Dominique looked at her son and made a funny face before she bent down and picked him up, placing him on her hip. With her thumb, she wiped away the tears that were present before kissing on his chubby cheeks. DJ giggled and kicked his feet as he attempted to get away from his mother when she started to tickle him up under his neck.
“How is daddy’s big boy?” Deondre said walking into the room.
Dominique smacked her lips, but didn’t say anything. She was in a happy place with her son and wasn’t going to let Deondre’s stupid ass ruin her mood.
“Daddy has to go. I’ll see you when I get home,” Deondre said, as if DJ actually knew what the hell he was talking about. He leaned in and placed a kiss on the top of his son’s head, before he attempted to mash his lips against Dominique’s.
“Bye Dre,” she said with her hand in front of her face. She still didn’t know where he had been the night before and didn’t want his lips to be anywhere near hers.
Deondre took a step back, shook his head, and turned to walk away.
“I know you’re mad right now, but I love you, Nikki,” he told her.
When she didn’t reply, he disappeared through the door and down the stairs. It wasn’t long after when Dominique heard the front door open and close. With DJ propped on her hip, she exited the room and headed downstairs to the kitchen to prepare the two of them something to eat. Downstairs, she placed DJ in his highchair and pulled out everything that she needed to make them a hearty meal. While Dominique cooked, she continued to get a nagging feeling that Deondre wasn’t telling her the truth. Things weren’t adding up, and she wanted to get to the bottom of it. Although she loved the cushy lifestyle she lived, she would move in with her grandmother in a heartbeat before she allowed him to thi
nk that it was okay for him to cheat and treat her like shit. Dominique had left one man for straying, and she wasn’t above doing it again.
Picking up the house phone from its base, she dialed her best friend’s number.
“What you doing, bitch?” she asked, as soon as Shanice answered.
“Shit, just sitting here watching TV. What you doing?”
“Sitting here trying to figure out what the hell Dre’s been up to.”
“Why you say that?” Shanice questioned, rolling her eyes.
“Girl, he didn’t come home last night. Then he gone try to make me believe that he went out drinking with his friends and ended up falling asleep on Pierre’s couch.” Dominique smacked her lips. “I swear he thinks I’m a fool.”
“So, he didn’t come home at all last night?”
“Nope, he walked in the door around six in the morning, and left right back out a minute ago.”
“That bitch,” Shanice whispered.
“What you say?” Dominique asked with her ear pushed closer to the phone.
“Girl, nothing. I was just thinking that that’s fucked up,” Shanice recovered, glad that her friend hadn’t heard her. “So, what did you do?” she asked even though she didn’t care.
Dominique went on to tell her friend everything else that had happened before Deondre left out for practice. Shanice commented negatively like she always did, telling Dominique to leave Deondre alone and find her someone who would treat her better. Dominique ignored her because she figured that her friend didn’t have a lot of room to talk. Shanice didn’t even have a man that wanted to claim her, so her opinions about what Dominique did with her baby daddy didn’t matter much. It’s kind of hard to take someone’s relationship advice, when they’ve never been in a true relationship.
“I’m about to feed my baby and when I’m finished, I’m going to get us both dressed. We’re going to drive up there. I miss London anyway,” Dominique said, referring to her God-child, which was Shanice’s three year old daughter.
“No!” Shanice yelled in a panic, before softening her voice. “Lamar is about to come over here to see us. I’ll call you when he leaves, okay?”
“Humph, okay. Just call me later, I’m about to find something to do.”
Dominique hung up the phone thinking to herself that Shanice had lost her damn mind. Here she was giving her advice on what she should do with her man, and she was one of the biggest fools of them all. Lamar was Shanice’s baby daddy, who only came around when it was convenient for him. Although Dominique had never officially met the dude, she knew that he wasn’t shit and only came and went as he pleased because Shanice allowed him to. Dominique couldn’t understand why her friend was so weak for a dude who was barely around and when he did pop up, he didn’t stay for long. Shanice was a pretty girl and could have her pick of the litter, but for some reason, she chose him.
Lamar was something like a ghost because no one other than Shanice had actually seen him. Dominique wondered why things about him were always so secretive, especially when she shared every part of her life with her best friend. It kind of hurt her feelings to know that Shanice didn’t trust her enough to share that information with her. Dominique had never even seen a picture of London’s daddy or knew what his last name was. Shanice only referred to him as Lamar, so that’s all everybody knew. While Dominique wanted to know the details about her friend’s child’s father for her own sake, she didn’t want to push the issue and figured that when Shanice was ready to talk, she would.
Dominique pushed the thoughts of Shanice and her love life to the back of her mind. She had bigger fish to fry and worrying about who her friend was fucking was not one of them. It didn’t really concern her, in her opinion. No, what she needed to worry about was what her own man was getting into, or better yet, who he was getting into. Deondre had made her think that everything he was doing was a part of some great thing he had going on, and even though Dominique wanted to believe it, she knew better. Boo boo the fool was not written on her forehead, so Deondre had better come with something better than just falling asleep on somebody’s couch because she didn’t believe that shit at all. Dominique figured that she would find out what her man was up to soon enough, and if she did catch wind that Deondre was fucking around, she wasn’t just going to leave him, she was going to show him that two could play that game. If her heart was fucked up, his was going to be too.
Chapter Eight
As soon as Shanice hung up with Dominique, she immediately picked her phone back up and dialed another number. While the phone rang, she paced back and forth across her carpeted floor. She was livid after hearing the news that she heard. That bastard has a lot of fucking nerves, she thought to herself. He seriously got me fucked up. The line rang a few more times before it rolled over to the voicemail. There was no way that Shanice was leaving a message as mad as she was, so she mashed the end button before hitting redial. This went on for the next ten minutes before the person she was calling finally answered.
“Why the hell are you calling my phone back to back like that for?” he asked irritated. “I hope it’s important. Is something wrong with my daughter or something?”
“Where the fuck was you at last night?” Shanice yelled into the receiver. She didn’t give a damn what he was talking about, she wanted answers.
He exhaled loudly. “Man, what the hell you tripping about now?” Deondre asked. He wasn’t in the mood to argue with her right then. He had just gotten to practice and didn’t have the time.
“Don’t fucking play with me, Dre! I’ve already talked to Nikki and she told me that yo’ ass didn’t come home until early this morning. You weren’t with me, so who in the fuck were you with last night?”
“First off, you need to calm the fuck down and stop yelling at me like a fucking child or something!” Deondre barked. “Secondly, don’t call me telling me what you heard from somebody else.”
“So, that’s all you have to say for yourself?”
“Hell yeah! That’s all I gotta say. Nicy, you ain’t my woman. What part of that don’t you understand?”
“I ain’t gotta be ya fucking woman, Dre. I’m the mother of your child, so the least you can do is tell me something,” she told him seriously. “You ain’t gone keep fucking me while you out here fucking other bitches. I already gotta share you with Nikki, but I’ll be damn if I share you with all these other hoes too.”
“Shut the fuck up Nicy with all that whining and shit because you giving me a fucking headache. You act like you my baby momma by choice. Don’t forget you were the one who hopped on my dick, so please stop acting like I came after you. You wanted to fuck me, remember? Not only that, but you do know that you ain’t gotta keep fucking with me. You’re free to leave whenever you want. I ain’t holding ya ass hostage.”
“Whatever Dre.”
“Whatever my ass. Don’t get all short with your answers now. A minute ago, you were yelling and acting a fucking fool on the phone. Wanna call me back to back and shit, just to tell me what you heard. I ain’t got time for all that shit, Nicy. Just tell me what the hell you want from me?”
“You know what I want, Dre?” Shanice asked. “I want you to stop lying to me all the fucking time. I want you to stop being so damn disrespectful towards me when you get caught out here, and I want you to treat me like you treat that bitch!” Shanice screamed.
“Watch your fucking mouth dammit!” Deondre snarled.
“See what I mean. I can’t say anything about your precious Nikki without you jumping down my throat. Why do you always gotta act like that towards me?” By now, Shanice was crying. “What do I have to do for you to treat me like I treat you?”
“This is the shit I be talking about,” Deondre snarled. “All that crying and shit is a fucking turn off. You knew what it was before hand, so why are you so bent on changing shit that you knew wasn’t going to change in the first place? Put on your big girl panties and grow the fuck up, Nicy! I swear, sometimes you�
��re a pain in my ass!”
“I bet you don’t say shit like that to Nikki,” Shanice complained. Her feelings were hurt and she was tired of him speaking to her as if she didn’t matter to him.
“Why do you always gotta bring her up? You right though because I sure the fuck don’t talk to her like this because she doesn’t get on my fucking nerves like you do,” Deondre admitted, losing his patience. He was getting tired of Shanice and all her fucking whining.
“I’m just saying, you don’t talk to her—”
“See, that’s your problem. You don’t know when to shut the fuck up! Plus, you’re too busy worried about Nikki and what we got going on, when truthfully, it ain’t none of ya business,” he explained.
Deondre was tired of having the same conversation with Shanice over and over again. He felt bad for flipping on her the way he was, but he couldn’t help himself. Dominique had already busted his balls just a few hours ago, and now he had to deal with the same thing from her. Deondre was starting to wonder if it was worth it to keep fucking with her. If the side chick was nagging you just as much as the main chick, what was the point of having her around?
“You sound stupid saying that. She’s my bestfr—”
“You could’ve fooled the hell outta me!” He laughed, cutting her sentence short. “She’s your best friend, yet you’re on the phone calling yourself checking her man about fucking someone other than you,” Deondre continued to crack up at how dumb she sounded.