Player Haters

by Carl Weber

  “Hey, where you going?” He opened his eyes, reaching for me as my lips left his cheek. I let him pull me down on the bed and we kissed.

  “I’m going over to Nu-Tribe to get my hair twisted. I’ll be back in a couple hours. Go back to sleep.”

  He sat up immediately. “No, I’ll go with you.” He smiled, then pulled back the sheets. I pulled the sheets back over him.

  “Nah, baby, stay here and go back to sleep. I’m already dressed and you’ll just get bored.” I sat up and kissed him again, smiling. “Besides, you’re gonna need some rest for when I get back.” I winked at him.

  “I should go with you, Mel.” He had this kind of pleading look on his face.

  He reached for the sheets and I pushed him back gently with a sigh. “Prince, lay back down. It’s eight o’clock. You know you don’t get up before ten on Saturday. Plus, I know you’re tired. Aren’t you?”

  “Yeah, a little, but…”

  “No buts, boo. You’ve been working all week and hanging out with me all night. You need to get some rest.” I stood up. “I’ll be back soon. Keep the bed warm for me, okay?” I looked at him again as I reached for my purse.

  “Where’s your roommate? Is she going with you?”

  “She went to the store to get some cigarettes.”

  “She coming back?”

  “I think so. You want me to have her make you breakfast?”

  This time he didn’t say anything. He just pulled back the covers and sat on the edge of the bed.

  “What are you doing?”

  “I’m getting dressed so I can go with you,” he said sternly as he took his pants off my dresser and stepped into them.

  “Why? I told you I’d be right back.”

  “Look, Mel, either I’m going with you or I’m going home.” He gave me this dead serious look before pulling his shirt over his head. I wasn’t sure what was bothering him, but he sure had an attitude all of a sudden.

  “Prince, this is ridiculous. Why are you so insistent on going to the beauty parlor? I told you I’d be back in a couple hours.”

  “Yeah, that’s what you said last time.” He had to be referring to when I went to Wil and Diane’s and didn’t get to his house until after midnight.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “Nothing, all right? Just let me go to the bathroom. I don’t want you to be late for your appointment.” He walked out the room.

  When he returned, I was not about to drop the subject. This wasn’t like Prince. He never had a problem explaining himself. “What’s wrong with you? Why you playing me so close, like you don’t trust me?”

  “I don’t trust you?” He chuckled. “Look, baby, let’s not get into it, okay?”

  “No, Prince. Let’s get into it. Don’t you trust me?”

  “Yeah, I trust you.”

  “Then why are you so insistent on going with me?”

  He gave me an annoyed sigh. “Why you playing games, Melanie?”

  “I’m not playing games, Prince,” I snapped. “Now would you tell me what’s going on?”

  He took a deep breath. “Your roommate. She…” He hesitated, studying me with these distant eyes. He really did think I was playing some sort of stupid game. “Melanie, are you trying to test me or something?”

  “Test you for what? Why would I test you? I thought you said this has to do with Desiree.” I didn’t know what the hell he was talking about. He had me totally confused.

  “You know what this has to do with,” he said in an accusatory tone.

  “No, Prince, I don’t. Why don’t you tell me?”

  He studied me some more, then came out and said exactly what was on his mind. “Are you trying to test my loyalty? Is that why you had Desiree come on to me?”

  I wanted to ask him to repeat himself, but I couldn’t speak because it was hard to breathe. I felt like I was going to faint. When I finally had enough air in my lungs I screamed, “No, you didn’t! No, you didn’t just say that you think I had Desiree coming on to you.”

  “Yeah, I did,” he replied. “I thought you put her up to it.”

  “Put her up to it? I ain’t put her up to shit,” I spat. “And what you mean she came on to you?”

  He stood there in silence.

  “I asked you a question, Prince.”

  He exhaled. “Remember the other day when you left for work early?”

  “The day I had to register for school.”

  “Yeah, Wednesday.”

  “What about it?”

  “Well, when I woke up Desiree was in the bed with me and she was butt ass naked.”

  “What the fuck! You lying? Why didn’t you tell me this before?” I wanted to choke him, and when he didn’t answer fast enough for me I answered for him. “Because you fucked her, didn’t you? You fucked my best friend.”

  “No, I didn’t, Mel. I swear I didn’t. She wanted to but I told her no.”

  “So why didn’t you tell me this before?”

  “Because she said she was just testing me. To make sure I wasn’t trying to play you. Said that if I told you, she was gonna say I was lying. That you’d known her all your life and only knew me a month. That’s why I asked you if you were testing me. When you said you were gonna leave me here I thought you were trying to see what I’d do.”

  He reached for me and I pulled away. I wanted to cry but I knew that wouldn’t do any good until I got to the bottom of this. There were always two sides to every story. I was just afraid to hear what Desiree’s was.

  “I don’t like this, Prince. You better not be lying to me.”

  “I have no reason to lie to you, baby.” We both got quiet until he asked, “What’re we gonna do?”

  “I’m gonna get my hair done, then me and you and Desiree are gonna have a talk.”

  When Prince and I got home from the hairdresser Desiree wasn’t there, so we sat and waited, silently watching TV for almost two hours. We’d barely said a word to each other and the tension in the apartment was thick enough to cut with a knife. Part of me just wanted to forget the whole thing. For me this was a no-win situation. I was either gonna lose my best friend or my man. There really wasn’t any middle ground, and that gave me a migraine. But that was nothing compared to the nausea I felt when Desiree walked through the door smiling like she’d won the lottery.

  “What’s up, y’all?”

  Neither of us answered and she didn’t seem to notice until she placed a bag of groceries on the kitchen table.

  “What’s wrong with you two? Trouble in paradise already?” She laughed and my whole attitude changed.

  “How could you, Desiree?” My eyes got real small and it was a good thing I was sitting on my hands or I mighta jumped up and smacked the shit outta her.

  “How could I what?” She gave me this condescending look that sent me into a rage. I had told myself I was gonna act like a lady about this, hear her out, listen to what she had to say, but I’d seen her give that same patronizing look a thousand times. It usually meant she was gloating about something.

  I jumped up off the couch and it was lucky for her that Prince grabbed one of my arms to hold me back. “You call yourself my friend, bitch?”

  “I am your friend!” She stared at me like I’d lost my mind. “And who you callin’ a bitch?”

  “I’m calling you a bitch.” I swung at her wildly with my free hand. “Lemme go, Prince!”

  “What the fuck is wrong with her?” Desiree screamed as she jumped out the way of my fist, staring at Prince.

  “Calm down, baby,” Prince pleaded.

  “I ain’t gonna calm down. I’m gonna kill this bitch! Now lemme go!” I was twisting and turning all over the place trying to get to her ass. Somehow I finally connected with my free hand in a loud slap!

  “Awww!” she screamed, grabbing her face. “What the fuck is wrong with you, Melanie?”

  “You! You what’s wrong with me, you stupid bitch! Lemme go, Prince.” I struggled until I was cl
ose enough to get in another blow.

  “You dirty ho!” she screamed.

  “I got your ho, bitch! Lemme go, Prince!”

  She touched her face again, then balled up her fist. She finally looked like she was ready to fight. “Yeah, Prince, let her go.”

  “You think you gonna play me? You think you can fuck with my man? In my bed? I’ma kill your ass.”

  Desiree’s eyes went straight to Prince. “Is that what he told you? That I was trying to fuck him in your bed?” She shot Prince a look, then turned to me.

  “You damn right! He ain’t got no reason to lie.”

  “Why not? He’s a man, isn’t he? And you called me a stupid bitch.”

  That was it. I couldn’t take it no more. I went absolutely berserk. I don’t know if I pulled free of Prince or if he let me go, but within seconds Desiree and I were rolling around on the ground fighting like cats and dogs. I had a hand full of her weave and she’d ripped off half my blouse.

  “Stop it! Y’all stop it!” Prince yelled, pulling us apart. I’m not gonna lie. I was glad he did because I was huffing and puffing so much I thought I was gonna pass out. Not to mention Desiree was starting to get the best of me toward the end.

  “That nigga is trying to play you,” Desiree huffed.

  “The only one trying to play me is you. You call yourself my friend, then you try to fuck my man.”

  “I just told you I wasn’t trying to fuck him. That nigga was trying to fuck me!” She backed away and grabbed her bag. I was afraid she was gonna pull out a knife. “Here!” She threw an envelope at me.

  “What the fuck is this?”

  “It’s a letter I wrote you. I know how much you care about him, Melanie, but he ain’t shit.”

  “See,” Prince said, “I told you she was gonna try some shit like this, baby.”

  I ignored him and opened the letter.

  Dear Melanie,

  It’s about three o’clock in the morning and I haven’t been able to sleep. Actually, I haven’t been able to sleep in a couple days because there’s something I need to tell you. Something I should have told you days ago, but I was afraid it might hurt you, and even worse, that you might not believe me. You see, the other day when you left the house early, Prince walked into my room half naked while I was getting dressed. He made a pass at me. Now I’m not gonna lie, I was tempted. He is one fine man and when he started talking about sucking my toes and shit like that, I almost melted. But then I remembered what was important—that you are the best friend I have in the world and I love you like a sister. I told Prince this and he suddenly swore he was just joking. When I told him I was gonna tell you what he did, he threatened to reverse things on me, so I kept my mouth shut. But I can’t keep it shut anymore. Now I know this may end our friendship but you need to drop this fool before he hurts you. To borrow a phrase you always use, “If he’ll do it once, he damn sure is gonna do it again.” Melanie, I hope you can forgive me for not telling you this sooner.

  I love you and I’m sorry,

  Desiree

  When I finished reading the letter, I read it again. When I finished reading it the second time, I glanced at Prince, then over at Desiree, who was staring at me, all bruised up with a plug outta her hair. “I’m sorry, Dez,” I whispered. Then I turned around and slapped the shit outta Prince.

  “Get the fuck outta my house.”

  He took a step back, staring at me in astonishment. “Baby, don’t do this. That bitch is lying. You playin’ right into her hands.”

  “You the one lying,” Desiree snapped. Prince took a step in her direction.

  “I told you to get out my house, Prince,” I screamed, pointing at the door. He approached me with open arms. “Now I know why you and Trent are so close. Your ass is just like him.”

  “Baby, that’s not true. She’s lying. I swear to God she’s lying.” He gave me a pleading look that I ignored.

  “Desiree, call the cops. This fool thinks I’m playin’.” Desiree picked up the phone and started dialing. Prince shook his head and walked toward the door.

  “I love you, Melanie. I hope you remember that when you find out the truth.”

  I watched Prince walk out the door, then turned to Desiree. “You got a cigarette?”

  27

  Trent

  It was late, somewhere in the neighborhood of three or four o’clock in the morning, when I heard Indigo come in the house. She’d been working on her music with Big Mike most of the night, then said she was gonna head over to Manhattan Proper to check out karaoke night. I pulled the covers over my head when my bedroom door opened and pretended to be asleep. I was hoping she’d be tired and just lay down and go to sleep, ’cause if she wanted some, I was in trouble. I didn’t think I had another round in me. I’d been over Michelle’s house all afternoon, fucking my ass off. We’d dropped her mom and Marcus off at some church function that wasn’t over until ten. Michelle hadn’t even let me sniff her panties since our engagement because her mom always seemed to be around. When Rita wasn’t around, Marcus’s ass never seemed to wanna go to sleep. So after dropping off her mom and my son, Michelle and I took the opportunity to get to know each other intimately again, and again and again. By the time we were finished, I was shooting blanks.

  “Trent, Trent. Wake up, Trent. Wake up!” Indigo crawled into bed and shook me, which meant I was in trouble. She wanted some, all right. Maybe, maybe if I was lucky I could get away with just giving her a little head, but I doubted it. She pulled the cover from over my head and I was surprised at how dark the room was. Usually she liked to light candles and incense to set the mood when she came in late and wanted some. “Wake up, Trent. I need to talk to you.”

  “What? What?” I grumbled, pretending to rub the sleep out my eyes. Not that she could see what I was doing anyway. The room was pitch black. I could barely make out her silhouette.

  “Trent, do you love me?” She had a little uncertainty in her voice and I was wondering if Big Mike had mentioned my reservations about marrying her.

  “Of course I love you. We’re getting married next month, aren’t we?”

  “I don’t know, you tell me. Ray Jenkins told me that you asked that girl Michelle, who keeps saying she had your baby, to marry you.” Suddenly I was glad that it was too dark in the room for her to see my face. If she had, she would have known the truth. It looked like my old friend Ray was blowing me up again.

  “Now, baby, I know you don’t believe that, do you? Why would I marry her when I got you? I love you, Indigo.” I reached up, taking hold of her waist.

  “So you ain’t asked her to marry you?” She sounded both skeptical and relieved at the same time.

  “Hell, no! That nigga Ray is lying, baby. I bet he even tried to come on to you after he said it, didn’t he? Didn’t he?” She got quiet, which gave me a chance to go on the offensive. It was time to use a little reverse psychology to get my ass out of this. “You know I don’t need this shit! How many times I gotta tell you I love you before you start to believe me? Damn! What you want me to do? Stand on the Empire State Building and scream out to the world, ‘I LOVE INDIGO JONES!’ ’Cause if that’s what you want, I’ll do it.” I let out a pissed-off sounding sigh. “Shit, I’ve given you keys to my house, let you answer my phone, hell, I even quit my job to help you start your career. Why the fuck would I ask somebody else to marry me?”

  “I don’t know,” she replied, still not sounding convinced. “Why would Ray just come out his face like that?”

  “’Cause he’s a hater, baby. But if you wanna believe some nigga off the street, who was trying to get some ass, then you need to bounce. Just get your shit and get the fuck out. I mean it! Get the fuck out my house.” I rolled over and started to count to five backwards in my head.

  Five, four, three, two, one, now.

  “I’m sorry,” she said sadly. “I know you don’t love her. I know you love me.” I smiled to myself thinking, that reverse psychology shit works every time
.

  “Well, I wish you would start acting like it.” I turned over. “Don’t you understand, Indigo? It’s me and you against the world, baby. Everybody else has gotta step to the left. Now I want you to stay away from that nigga Ray. He’s bad news, you hear me?”

  “Yeah, I hear you but…”

  “No buts,” I snapped. “Just don’t let it happen again.”

  “Okay, don’t get mad. I love you, Trent.”

  “I love you, too, boo.”

  “I love you more,” she told me playfully.

  “As Fifty Cent would say, ‘I love you like a fat kid loves cake.’”

  We both laughed and she lowered her head and kissed me.

  “Trent, I gotta tell you something. It’s about that girl Michelle—”

  I cut her off. “I know, I know. You wanna know if the baby’s mine, right?”

  “Well, yeah, but that’s not it. She’s—”

  I cut her off again. “Well, I just want you to know…” I hesitated. I didn’t wanna renounce my son. I loved the little guy. Hell, I loved his mother but I was too close to the prize to be worried about moral obligation. I had to convince this girl that it was all about her so I could get paid. “That baby’s not mine, Indigo. I want you to know that.”

  “Oh, no, you didn’t just deny my fucking baby!”

  All of a sudden the ceiling light flashed on and my eyes were fighting to adjust to the lights. I couldn’t see shit, but one thing was for certain. I’d been set the fuck up, ’cause that was Michelle’s voice and it sounded like it was getting closer.

  “I could take that other shit. I been taking that for years, but I can’t take this! That’s my fucking son! That’s your fucking son, Trent! How could you deny him? You son of a bitch! I’m gonna kill you!”

  Next thing I knew, I felt a hard slap across my face and Indigo was screaming, “Get the fuck off my man, bitch! I told you he ain’t want you!” Then I heard a loud thump.