This Could Be Us But You Playin'

by Cachet

  “Peanut, let’s go. That’s enough,” Dominique said once again, trying to pull her sister in her direction.

  NiChia smirked down at Shanice, before she allowed her sister to guide her away. She knew that she hadn’t gotten a chance to really beat Shanice’s ass the way she really wanted to, but the little damage that she had done would definitely make her think twice about coming at her crazy in the future. When NiChia turned completely around to walk away, she stumbled when she felt something hit her in the back of the head. Lifting her hand to the spot where she had been struck, she gasped when she pulled it away and saw blood. Oh no this bitch didn’t. NiChia turned around just in time to see Shanice bending down to pick up something off the ground. Did this bitch just hit me in the fucking head with a rock?

  With the rage of an angry bull, NiChia snatched her arm away from Dominique and charged at Shanice. When she tackled her and they both fell to the ground, nothing could be heard but a bunch of “ooh’s” and “ahhh’s”. NiChia didn’t care about none of that shit, she was only concentrating on beating the hell out of her component. Shanice had fucked up and threw something at her and made her head bleed. She was going to pay, whether she knew it or not. Dominique ran over in an attempt to grab her sister again, but she was pulled back by somebody from the crowd who wanted the fight to go on. She turned around and saw that it was a dark skinned guy. His gold grill showed when he smiled because apparently, he thought it was funny.

  “Get the fuck off of me!” she yelled as she swung on him, hitting him square in the jaw. When she saw a flicker of anger wash over his face, she prepared herself for a fight, but instead, he let her go.

  Dominique looked at him in disgust, before she rolled her eyes and pushed through the crowd that was now surrounding the fight completely. By the time she was able to get back to the fight, she saw NiChia on top of Shanice holding her hair with her left hand, while bring her right up to punch her in the face. There were bits and pieces of pink hair lying all over the ground. Shanice looked helpless as hell as she kicked and screamed for NiChia to get off of her. The legs of her romper were now dirty and rolled up her legs, and she was missing one of her shoes. Just as Dominique got close enough to grab NiChia once again, her sister yanked Shanice by her hair and started to drag her across the parking lot.

  “No!” Dominique shouted. This must have got her sister’s attention because she stopped dragging her. Dominique sighed in relief because she thought that it would be the end of the fight, but she couldn’t be more wrong.

  “Bitch!” NiChia yelled, throwing a punch.

  The sound of bones cracking forced Dominique to look away because she knew that her best friend’s nose had been broken. This didn’t bother NiChia at all because she continued to hit Shanice again and again, after every few words she spoke.

  “I told yo’…” Bam “dumb ass…” Bam “that I was gone beat yo’ ass one day…” Bam “but yo’ ass ain’t wouldn’t listen.” Bam “Now…” Bam “you wanna scream and shit! Dumb hoe…” Bam

  “Peanut!” Dominique screamed again.

  She grabbed ahold of NiChia’s arm and pulled her with all her might. Because she was still holding on to Shanice’s hair, her head jerked a little bit and she cried out. Dominique pleaded with her sister to let go and before long, NiChia did. Once there were no more traces of Shanice’s hair in her hands, Dominique drug NiChia towards her car. When they got there, she opened the door and pushed her inside, before closing it behind her. She shot evil looks at all of the spectators that were standing around. It had to be at least forty people out there now, with most of them being men. Dominique couldn’t believe that not one of them had even attempted to help her break up the fight. She knew that if she’d had some help, the fight wouldn’t have gone on for as long as it did.

  By the time Dominique got back over to Shanice, she was off the ground and leaning on her car. Blood leaked from her nose and her left eye was partially closed. Her hair was all over her head and had pieces of gravel all through it. When she saw Dominique coming, she turned her back to her and leaned down to look in her mirror. Shanice was mad at her as well because she believed that Dominique must have wanted her to get her ass kicked. There was no way in hell that she couldn’t have broken up the fight before she had and saved her the embarrassment of getting beat up like that in front of all of those people. Just thinking about the fact that the entire thing had been recorded made her sick because she knew what would happen once it was uploaded to social media. She had seen her fair share of fights on Facebook and wasn’t looking forward to all the many people who were going to crack jokes about her, just like she had done to many girls before.

  “Are you okay?” Dominique asked.

  “Do it look like I’m okay?” Shanice barked. “I think my fucking nose is broken.” She leaned down to spit, and there was nothing but blood present.

  Whoop-Whoop

  Dominique looked in the direction of the sound and saw the police pulling in. She cursed under her breath, because if they saw the condition that Shanice was in, there was no way that someone wasn’t going to jail. Dominique hoped that her best friend wouldn’t finger her sister as he attacker, choosing to just settle it between the two of them. She knew that she would have no such luck when she saw the smirk on Shanice’s face, and knew that shit was about to get real.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Dominique paced back and forth across her living room floor. With her phone to her ear, she dialed Deondre’s number, only to have it once again roll over to voicemail. After leaving him yet another urgent voicemail, she hung up and called him again. She had done this for the last two hours. After speeding all the way home from the movie theater, she was still getting the same result. She hoped that whatever Deondre was doing was important because to ignore her calls for the last hour was too much, especially when he didn’t have a clue what she was calling for. It was an emergency and apparently, he was too caught up in whatever he was going to even care. Dominique exhaled with an exaggerated breath. She was irritated and antsy. She needed money, and he was the only person she knew had it.

  After hanging up her phone once again, Dominique took a seat on the couch and leaned back. She still couldn’t believe what had gone down just a few hours prior. When the police pulled up at the movie theater, she thought that they would ask a few questions about what happened and hoped that Shanice would either downplay the situation or accuse someone else of her assault. Neither of the two happened. Soon, two male Caucasian officers stepped out of the patrol car, one fat and one skinny. Shanice immediately fell out crying. Dominique looked at her and shook her head because she knew just what was about to go down. She stood there and watched as her best friend put on a show of a lifetime, as she cried and gave details about the fight that were not true.

  Shanice claimed that they were coming out of the movie theater talking about the film and after a small disagreement about a scene NiChia punched her in the face. She never said anything about her and NiChia arguing back and forth, or the fact that she participated in the fight as well. Shanice only made it seem like NiChia was beating her up, while she lied on the ground begging her to stop. Dominique tried to interrupt and tell what really happened, but each time, the officer told her to keep her mouth shut. She was so mad that she wanted to beat Shanice’s ass herself. Wanting to prove her point, she walked around the parking lot searching for one of the people who recorded the fight, but couldn’t find anyone. What she didn’t know was that once they saw the police, they went on about their business.

  While Shanice continued to fabricate the story, Dominique got in her car and explained to her sister what was going on. She told NiChia about all of the things that Shanice was saying and how she thought that she might go to jail behind it. NiChia had already known that something wasn’t right when she saw Shanice standing by her car acting like she was so damn hurt. She knew that she had beaten her ass, but there was no reason for her to be acting like she couldn’t even s
tand up, when she was doing just fine before the police showed up. Even before she started her performance, NiChia already knew that she was headed to jail because of how Shanice looked. Although Dominique thought her friend wasn’t going to say anything, NiChia was certain that she would. Shanice would never have allowed her to get away with beating her up the way she had. Jail was in her future and she knew it. It wasn’t her first time getting in trouble for fighting, so she was prepared for it.

  Just as Dominique was climbing out of her car, she looked up and saw the police officers approaching. They immediately walked over to the passenger side where NiChia was seated and ordered her to step out of the car. Once she did, they told her to put her hands behind her back because she was under arrest for Aggravated Battery on a Pregnant Female. Both NiChia and Dominique looked at each other with wide eyes because neither of them knew anything about Shanice being pregnant. She hadn’t even mentioned anything about it all, even during the fight. Just then, an ambulance pulled into the parking lot before it stopped directly beside the patrol car. The larger officer continued to cuff NiChia, while the other went over to where the ambulance was.

  Dominique marched back over to Shanice, who was now being tended to by the EMS workers. Before she made it there, she was stopped by the skinny officer and told to go back to her vehicle. She tried to explain that Shanice was her best friend, but he wasn’t trying to hear it. Since she wasn’t able to talk to Shanice, she asked him where NiChia was being taken and was told that she was going to the Clayton County Jail. Feeling both angry and defeated, Dominique did as she was told. She climbed into her car and pulled out the parking lot. As soon as she hit the freeway, she sped the entire way home.

  “Damn, I’m glad to see that I wasn’t dying!” Dominique yelled as soon she Deondre stepped in the door.

  “What you tripping about now?” Deondre asked, even though he knew exactly why she was mad.

  He had spent the last hour checking on Shanice. She called him as she was being transported to the hospital after the fight. When he first saw her face, he was mad as hell and wanted to beat NiChia’s ass himself. She had done a number on Shanice. Both of her eyes were black, her nose was broken, and her face was covered with bruises. Even her back had been scarred up from when she was drug across the pavement by her hair. Deondre knew that those marks would heal. He was more concerned about the baby. Although he wasn’t happy about the fact that Shanice was pregnant again, she was still carrying his child. He would have still been there had Shanice’s mother not have been on her way. With her knowing that he was with Dominique, it would have looked odd with him being there without her.

  “I’ve called your phone about a hundred times, and yo’ ass ain’t even bother to answer.” She stood up from the couch. “What if something was wrong with either me or DJ?”

  He looked down at her with his face blank of emotion and asked, “Is something wrong?”

  “No, but that’s not the fucking point! The point is that I’ve been calling you!”

  “Look man, my phone died,” he lied.

  “What the fuck ever!” Dominique screamed before turning around and walking into the kitchen. Her throat was dry and she needed something to drink.

  Deondre kicked off his shoes and went towards the kitchen as well. “If you called that many times, you must have wanted something. What was it?”

  “I need a thousand dollars to get Peanut outta jail,” she told him, twisting off the top of the bottle of water and taking a swig.

  “Why the hell is she in jail?” he asked, as if he didn’t already know.

  Dominique went on to explain everything that had happed from the time that she, NiChia, and Shanice had all got together, to the end of the fight. She told Deondre about how she thought everything was going well, until Shanice started to egg NiChia on, even before they got inside the movies. The entire time she talked, Deondre listened, but he already knew that he wasn’t giving her any money to get NiChia out of jail. He couldn’t stand her, and Dominique already knew it. NiChia was loud, with a smart ass mouth, and always trying to fight. Deondre was looking forward to the day that somebody beat her ass. He was salty that it hadn’t been Shanice.

  “It’s crazy because Peanut didn’t even know that Nicy was pregnant, so why is she being charged with it. Hell, I didn’t even know.” Dominique shook her head. “Anyways, I was told that her bond was ten thousand dollars, but if I get a bondsman, she can get out with just a thousand, Dominique told him, once she finished with the story.

  “She ain’t got no money?” Deondre asked, knowing that she didn’t.

  NiChia worked as a nail tech not far from where she lived. She mind decent money, but it wasn’t like she was balling. What she did make went towards helping their grandmother, clothes, and other things she may have wanted.

  Dominique looked at him like he was crazy. “I don’t know if she had money or not. I’m asking you.”

  “Well, I ain’t giving you no money to get her out. She should’ve thought about that before she started fighting.”

  “Tell me you playing.” When he didn’t say anything, Dominique stared at Deondre in disbelief. “I can’t believe that you gone sit here and tell me that I can’t have no money to get my sister out because she should’ve thought about that before she started fighting,” she mocked him, before taking a step back and putting her hand on her hip. “You must have lost yo’ damn mind! That’s my fucking family that’s locked in that jail, and you want me to leave her there. Fuck you, Dre!” Dominique grabbed her water, tossed it in the trash, and walked out of the kitchen.

  “Wait!” Deondre yelled as he followed after her. “So you mad at me because I won’t pay somebody else’s bond after she beat the hell out of your best friend?”

  “Not somebody. My fucking sister!” Dominique yelled over her shoulder. She walked into the living room and snatched up her purse. “And don’t you worry about whose ass she beat. You know what, you have really been feeling yo’self lately.”

  “I ain’t feeling shit,” Deondre told her, watching her walk towards the front door.

  “Whatever, Dre. I’m sure it’s some funky ass bitch that’s pumping yo’ head up,” she snapped.

  “Ain’t no bit—”

  “Whatever the reason, you better get it together before you fuck around and be sorry,” Dominique interrupted. “Then you wonder why I didn’t want to get married right away, and it’s because of shit like this. Maybe I should rethink the whole fucking thing!” With that, she walked out of her door, slamming it behind her.

  Deondre stood there with a dumb look on his face. He knew that Dominique would be mad, but didn’t think that she would be so upset that she’d be threatening to not marry him. They had talked about the argument they’d had not too long ago, and she explained that she didn’t want to rush into things because he had so much going on at that time. Never did she mention not wanting to do it because of the bullshit that she thought he was doing. Hearing it now made Deondre wonder if she planned to marry him at all, or was she just stringing him along. He started to run out of the house after her and tell her that he’d give her the money, but his pride wouldn’t let him. What Dominique said hurt his feelings, and he’d be damn if he ran after her to kiss her ass. At that moment, she needed him, not the other way around.

  Outside, Dominique sat inside her car heated. She couldn’t believe that Deondre was acting the way he was. He had never had a problem giving her money before, no matter what the issue was, so why was he tripping now. It was no secret that Deondre didn’t like NiChia because the feeling was mutual. She didn’t like his ass either. She said that it was because he was an opportunist. NiChia believed that the only reason why Dominique was with him was because of the fact that he helped her when she was down and out. She made it known on more than one occasion that that was how she felt and because of it, Deondre couldn’t stand her. Dominique knew that before she asked him for money, but never thought that he would deny helping her
sister out because of their issues. NiChia was her family and whether he liked it or not, if they got married, she would be his as well.

  Dominique started her car and backed out of her driveway. She was headed back to McDonough to her grandmother’s house. DJ was with still here, and Dominique missed her baby. As she drove down the street, she wondered what Franny would say once she found out that NiChia had been arrested yet again. Dominique knew that she would be upset because the last time she’d gotten in trouble, Franny had to be the one to bail her out. Of course, NiChia paid her back, but Franny said that wasn’t the point. She wanted her granddaughter to stop using her fist to settle things because she was afraid that one day she was going to run into somebody who would hurt her. Dominique dreaded telling her grandmother the news and wished that she had to money to get her out before Franny found out.

  A lightbulb went off in Dominique’s head when she thought of somebody that she knew would help her. She pulled into the first gas station she saw, parked, and grabbed her cell phone from her purse.

  “Hello,” Kaleb answered.

  “What you doing?” she asked with a smile on her face. Just hearing his voice made her feel better.

  “Nothing, just sitting here. What you up to?”

  “Nothing much,” Dominique replied. “I need a favor.”

  “What you need?” Kaleb asked, wondering what it was that she needed. Dominique never asked him for anything, so he knew that it had to be important.

  “Peanut got locked up, and I need to bail her out.”

  “How much you need?” he inquired.

  It didn’t matter how much she said she needed, Kaleb already had plans to give it to her. Not only would he do it for Dominique, but for NiChia as well. They had gotten closer since she and Desmond had been kicking it and to Kaleb, she was good people. She was crazy as hell, but cool.