Lovely Lies

by Lashanta Charles

  Chapter 29

  Kalil

  Mak hasn’t been herself all week. Everything irritates her. At the Classic, each girl takes home nothing less than third place. The Big Boi tribute is tonight at seven. She refuses to let me watch them practice, so KJ and I have been riding around Atlanta for the better part of the day. I pick her up to go back to the room at three. The plan is for her to take an hour nap then head back to the stadium to meet with the coordinators before six. It’s not going to work out that way. When we get to the room there’s a bag hanging from the doorknob. The fact that there’s a bag hanging there is a problem all in its own. The fact that it’s the bag that went missing when Nyeem tried to kill her makes it a bigger one. When she sees the bag she stares at it for a few seconds then turns and walks in the opposite direction. I’m confused. What’s even more confusing is the fact that KJ doesn’t ask any questions, but turns and follows her. He doesn’t even know what’s going on.

  “Where you going?” I ask.

  “I’m not staying here, Kalil.”

  “Where you gonna go?”

  “Anywhere, but here.”

  Her voice cracks. She pushes the button for the elevator at least six times before I can respond.

  I turn her to face me and say, “Just stop for a minute.”

  She pulls away from me. “Baby, I’m really trying to hold it together right now and I can usually handle a lot, but him being here and this whole bag reappearing thing is too much. I can’t.”

  KJ hugs her legs and says, “Mommy, big boys don’t cry.”

  She always tells him that when he cries. I guess he’s still working out the girls and boys part. If Nyeem knows what room we’re staying in, that means he’s watching us. If he’s watching us, it doesn’t really matter where we stay. None of that matters if she wants to go somewhere else though. I wipe her face and kiss her forehead before hugging her.

  “It’s okay, baby. We’ll go stay somewhere else.”

 

  For some reason I thought Nyeem’s presence would be a factor in Mak’s performance. Adversity translates to motivation for her. With the gymnastics meet, she literally only had two and a half days to come up with and perfect the choreography for this performance. They’re dancing to a mix of six of Big Boi’s songs. They’re starting off with “Shutterbug.” There are six females standing in a group in the middle of the stage. She’s one of them. They look as though they’re slumped over and have black ropes hanging from their wrists and ankles. There’s a guy on some kind of platform above the stage and he’s holding sticks that are attached to the ropes. He shakes the ropes and the girls move. Cute. They’re puppets. The “puppet master” controls their movements as they begin to dance. They all look mad. Angry puppets? Throughout the routine Mak and a few of the other girls do dance moves different from the others. The “puppet master” looks confused when they do. As the song changes more dancers join them onstage. They’re all guys. They have ropes tied to their wrists and ankles as well, but theirs have been cut. The “puppet master” isn’t confused anymore, he’s mad now. I guess he’s trying to figure out where the male puppets came from and why they don’t have their ropes. There’s a lot of touching…a lot of fucking touching. I wonder if this is why she wouldn’t let me watch them practice. It was probably a good idea. I’m pretty heated right now, even more so since I don’t know the guy who’s dancing with her. He seems to be enjoying himself though. KJ just happens to be able to suddenly pay attention and wants to know who Mak is dancing with. Great. It takes me a little while to realize that the guys that are dancing with them are actually helping them break free of the ropes the “puppet master” is using to control them. So they’re angry puppets who are escaping. I like it. Apparently so does Big Boi and his entourage because they’re going just as crazy as the crowd is. When the beat changes to “General Patton,” I realize I need to get KJ out of here. This crowd is more crunk than any I’ve ever seen at her performances and the song doesn’t help. KJ is asking me to put him on my shoulders because he can’t see. After standing up with him he starts cheering for Mak. The ropes and the guys are gone. It’s just the females again and they’re still very angry. Their dance involves them tearing up the platform the “puppet master” is on. I don’t think there’s anyone still in their seats. It ends with them tearing the platform down and chasing the “puppet master” off the stage. It feels good to see my baby being praised like this. Big Boi has a microphone now. He wants them to come back onstage. They make their way back onstage and he has to actually pull Mak to the front to stand with him. He introduces her to the crowd and tells them to give her another round of applause then asks her if the Rockstars had anything to say. She hesitates. She still hates speaking in front of a crowd. At this rate she might wanna get used to it.

  She finally says, “Rockstars, we ain’t in the building, we own the building.”

  Everyone’s making rock star symbols. The crowd is still hyped when the next performers come on stage. It’s a group of guys who are performing some of Big Boi’s songs. I wait a few minutes to give Mak time to mingle before heading backstage, but before I get there she’s already making her way to us. She looks nervous…or scared.

  When I reach her she says, “Baby, I wanna go home now. Can we go, please? I don’t wanna be here.”

  Jaida is calling her name and running towards us with Javier following her.

  He asks, “Que paso?”

  Mak’s been teaching me Spanish since the Santiago incident. I think he’s asking her what’s wrong. She’s crying now, but quickly wipes her face.

  “Jay, just make sure everybody stays out of trouble and make it on the bus safely tomorrow. I’ll call y’all later.”

  Jaida stares at her for a few seconds then hugs her.

  “Make sure you call me, Mak. No matter what time it is, call me when y’all make it home.”

  She shakes her head then turns to me. I take her hand and head towards the exit.

  Makynzee

  I haven’t had a full night’s sleep since we came home. I’m on edge and paranoid out of my mind. The timing couldn’t be worse. Kalil’s mom and his sister are coming to visit on Wednesday. They’re staying through the weekend. I have two days to get back to my normal self and I don’t think I’m gonna make the cut. Right now I’m supposed to be helping Jay come up with choreography for us to perform at a hip-hop charity even next week. Next Monday I have to take Amber, Brittany, and two of the other girls to North Carolina. They have a meet at UNC-Chapel Hill and the four of them qualified to compete. Instead of working on the choreography I’m watching the four of them practice their routines. I’m pretty sure the fact that they pause and look at me whenever they do something means they’re waiting for me to either correct them or praise them, but I just sit against the wall and watch. Eventually Amber comes and sits beside me.

  “I guess the men in my family really suck, huh?”

  I stare at her for a few seconds then smile. “They really do.” It just dawned on me that everything going on directly affects her. Her brother is technically stalking her sister and her dad is slowly showing that being crazy is quite possibly hereditary. “I’m proud of you. I’m glad you’re not letting this affect you.”

  She sheepishly replies, “Practice what you preach.”

  She looks away from me as though she thinks I’ll bite her head off for saying it. I won’t. I look away from her and watch Brittany do her vault routine.

  Amber says, “Jaida keeps peeking in here at you, that means she’s waiting for you to do something which is probably come up with a dance.”

  I look at her, but don’t respond.

  She says, “You can come up with the most complex routines within minutes and she’s been peeking all day. I intentionally screwed up my last tumble, this close to a competition and I mess up, you would have had a field day with me any other time. Today you just sat here and said nothing.”

  I think she’s waiting for me to
say something. I have nothing.

  She asks, “If they get divorced does that mean we’re no longer sisters?”

  The fact that I suddenly feel the need to cry lets me know I’m too emotional to be having this conversation, let alone be at work. I pull her to me and hug her.

  “I’ll be your sister as long as you let me.”

  She smiles.

  I gently push her away and say, “Now get away from me. Go practice your uneven bars.”

  As she walks away, she says, “You go home to Kalil. You seem more relaxed when he’s around.”

  I think I’ll take her up on that. As I head for the doors Jay peeks in again.

  “Tomorrow, Jay. I’m going home.”

  “Good.”

  Javier says, “You’re no good to us right now anyway.”

  I didn’t notice him there. I stick my middle finger up at both of them as I head to the parking lot.

 

  When I get home I hear the smoke detector beeping. I rush to the kitchen where the smoke is coming from and almost laugh at the sight. KJ is running circles around the center island, laughing hysterically and screaming. Kalil is fanning the air in front of the smoke detector and yelling for KJ to be quiet and stop running before he hurts himself. There’s a pan of grease on fire on the stove with a charred piece of meat still in it. Why is he trying to clear the air of the smoke when he hasn’t put the fire out yet? How did he even manage to start a fire? I run to the stove and douse salt onto the fire. Once it’s out I grab a chair from the table and place it next to where Kalil is standing. I climb onto it and fan the air with him until the beeping stops.

  As I open the door to the patio, KJ yells, “Daddy burn up the house!”

  I laugh as I open the window above the kitchen sink and say, “No, baby. Daddy burned his food.”

  He takes off running into the living room. Kalil is still standing in front of the smoke detector.

  “Surprise…we made you dinner.”

  I shake my head and say, “Thanks, but you really shouldn’t have.”

  Kalil can only cook three things that I know of; macaroni and cheese, spaghetti, and Raman noodles. Why is he trying to fry pork chops?

  He says, “Maybe we should go out.”

  Good idea.

  An hour later we’re sitting at a local soul food restaurant waiting for them to bring us fried pork chops that haven’t been burnt. Kalil and I are talking about which room his mom will stay in when KJ cuts us off.

  “Hey guys check this out.”

  He’s so freaking cute.

  Kalil asks, “What’s up?”

  He smiles and says, “I need go poo poo.”

  Not so cute. I tell Kalil it’s his turn. He picks KJ up and rushes to the bathroom. I smile to myself as I pull my phone out to go over my schedule for the next few days. Lately I haven’t been able to remember everything that I have going on so I make a point of putting things into my calendar and setting reminders for myself. We have a staff meeting Wednesday afternoon. That gives me the excuse I need to not go to the airport with Kalil to pick up his mom and sister. I’m nervous about finally meeting them face to face, so I’ll gladly take the extra time to myself. When I look up Jasmine is standing in front of me. Where the hell did she come from? And why is she dressed like that? Her jeans don’t fit and her shoes are cute, but don’t really go with her outfit. She’s usually dressed better. Regardless of her clothes, she’s still beautiful. I briefly wonder if Kalil has stopped giving her money since KJ’s with us more. I frown and lean back in my chair.

  She says, “Still trying to take my place, I see.”

  Is she serious? Not to be cocky, but does she not realize she has no place? I simply stare at her. She deserves no response.

  “You’ve been around long enough. It’s time for you to go.”

  I still don’t respond. I can stand to not gain anymore negative publicity, so I’ll try to ignore her.

  She slams her hand against the table and asks, “Are you deaf or just dumb?”

  I smile at her.

  “It’s okay. You and I both know Kalil is just way too much man for a little girl like you. I guess that’s why he keeps coming back for more of me.”

  I don’t know if she knows or not, but she’s striking a few nerves. I’m sensitive about my man and my age.

  “I’m his first love and I gave him his son. He’ll never forget me.”

  So much for me ignoring her. I don’t care if she’s his first love, because I’ll be his last – no one will exist after me. Kalil, love, and her just don’t mix well in my world though. I lean forward and say, “Say something else and I promise you I’m gone smack the shit out of you.”

  She frowns and takes a step back. Someone calls her Jazzy and asks where she is. The voice sounds familiar, but I can’t place it. She smiles again.

  “Over here, baby.”

  A guy walks up behind her and slaps her on her butt before hugging her from behind. He has an ugly scar on the right side of his face.

  “You remember Makynzee, don’t you?” she asks.

  He looks up at me. Those eyes haunted me for weeks. It took me forever to get them out of my head and just like that they’re back. He quickly scans the restaurant before looking back at me. I stand up and back away from them. When I recognize the fear in his eyes, I realize he’s looking for Kalil.

  Jasmine laughs and says, “It looks like she remembers you.”

  What the hell is going on?! This has to be some twisted figment of my imagination. Or maybe I’m dreaming. That has to be it because there’s no way Jasmine is actually standing in front of me calling the guy who tried to kill me and her son “baby.” I can smell Kalil’s cologne. It reminds me to control my currently haphazard breathing. Cam is apologizing to Kalil and telling him he didn’t know we were here. He says he knows what Kalil said would happen if he saw him again and something about leaving so we can enjoy our meal. He’s forgetting the obvious part where he’s hugged up on his baby’s mom. Kalil doesn’t say anything to him. Doesn’t acknowledge either of them. He grabs my hand and leads me to the door. He’s not walking fast, but his stride is much longer than mine, especially with the heels I’m wearing. I struggle to keep up with him, so he’s not tempted to turn and say anything to Jasmine who has foolishly decided to follow us. KJ’s chin is resting on Kalil’s shoulder and he watches Jasmine follow us. He looks like he wants to cry. He shouldn’t be seeing or hearing this. Jasmine’s yelling at Kalil - he’s worthless, she’ll see him in court, he’s a terrible father and KJ doesn’t belong with him, if he takes him from her she’ll tell the judge how he really makes a living. Some lines just shouldn’t be crossed. What Kalil does is wrong, but she was fine with it as long as it benefited her. I guess that’s why I stop walking and pull my hand free of Kalil’s. She’s surprised when I turn to face her. I told her I would smack her if she said anything else, so I do. I didn’t intend to hit her so hard though. She stumbles sideways and falls onto the table next to us. I grab her by her collar and pull her back up to me.

  “If he ain’t around that means I’ve got nothing, but time on my hands. You sure that’s what you want?”

  Kalil’s arm is around my waist. He doesn’t say anything, but gently pulls me away. How is he still so calm? I let Jasmine’s collar go and watch her as I back away. She’s stunned at first and doesn’t say anything. Kalil lets me go and I turn to follow him. Jasmine finally finds her voice. She’s yelling something about cops as we leave the restaurant.

  Kalil

  So this just turned into a McDonald’s night. I don’t mind at all. I’m still trying not to crack up laughing. Mak slapped the shit out of Jasmine. It took everything in me not to laugh then. Is it wrong that I actually expected it to happen and was glad it did? Not that I want her fighting or anything like that. I’ll gladly fight her battles for her, but this was different. I never told Mak why Kaeden and Donte took KJ from Jasmine. How do you tell your woman that your baby’s mom
is fucking with the guy who tried to kill her and your son? How can you explain or justify that? You can’t, so you don’t attempt to. She knows now. For once I can’t really read her expression. Partially because she has her face turned towards the window.

  “What you thinking?” I ask.

  “I shouldn’t have done that.”

  “She deserved it.”

  “Yeah, but KJ didn’t.”

  I glance back at him. He’s doing this weird leaning thing with his head pressed into the window. It looks painful.

  I say, “KJ sit up. What are you doing?”

  “Looking at Mommy.”

  She glances back at him and he smiles at her. She smiles for him then looks back out her window.

  “Are you okay, Mommy?”

  She’s not okay. He sounds sad and she’s started crying. I’m not sure why she’s crying, but she’s wiping her face and looking back at KJ before I can figure out what to say.

  “I’m okay, baby. How about you?”

  He’s smiling again.

  “Uh huh, I’m okay.”

  With that he picks up his Mobigo and starts playing a game.

  She looks at me and says, “I’m trying, but I can’t make myself understand Jasmine’s thought process.”

  That makes two of us.

  “He literally tried to kill her son and her answer to that is to go out and sleep with him. Who does that?”

  I don’t really have an answer for her. Jasmine was fine until Mak came into the picture. I guess that’s my answer. I shrug my shoulders and say, “I don’t know, baby.”

  She’s quiet again, looking at something on her phone.

  “I can’t go to the airport with you, we have a staff meeting. I’d change it, but that’s literally the only time I can do it.”

  Her schedule has been getting more and more hectic lately.

  “You need a vacation.”

  “We’re growing. We’re interviewing to hire more people Thursday and Friday morning.”

  “So that means I can kidnap you more often?”

  She laughs. “Does anything really stop you from doing it now?”

  Nope. “How come I’ve never seen you do the uneven bars?”

  She frowns and laughs at the same time. “That’s what’s on your mind right now?”

  I smile. I don’t know why I’m thinking of that.

  “I’m too tall. Technically I shouldn’t even be doing gymnastics.”

  Now that she’s pointed that out, I realize how short most of the girls she coaches are. I ask her to do it for me anyway. She ignores me.