The Ex Chronicles

by Penelope Christian

  Taye immediately went on the defense, telling her they’d only slept together once, and the baby couldn’t possibly be his. However, nine months later, after the twins were born, and a paternity test was done, in the famous words of Maury- he was the father. Wanting to do the right thing, he’d asked Michelle to marry him, and here they were.

  They’d agreed that until the twins got a little older, Michelle would be a stay-at-home mom, because they didn’t want to deal with trifling daycare workers who half paid attention to the children they were being paid to watch. Taye got two jobs – one at a paper mill plant, and the other as a shift manager at a fast food restaurant- while Michelle took care of home.

  Only, she didn’t take care of home. She’d told Taye that taking care of the twins left little time for her to cook and clean, and convinced him to hire a maid. Now that she had help with the kids, Taye told her it was a good time for her to find a part-time job, although she had several excuses as to why she shouldn’t.

  Michelle spent money like there was no tomorrow. When he’d tell her that she was spending too much, she’d accuse him of not caring about his wife having nice things, and that she’d sacrificed her life and body to have his babies. After she’d laid her guilt trip on pretty thick, Taye would usually buy her whatever she wanted, just to shut her up.

  When her best friend, MiMi, got a brand new Dodge Charger, Michelle had begged and pleaded with Taye to buy her one, until he’d broken down and obliged her. Then, she told him she just had to have rims, tinted windows, and all the other accessories that made the car look more expensive than MiMi’s.

  When she told him that they needed new furniture in the living room, because what they had looked cheap, he’d tried to reason with her, telling her that it was fully paid for, and looked nice. Michelle threw a temper tantrum, until he relented and bought her brand new, top-of-the- line furniture for the living room and bedroom.

  Shaking off his thoughts of Michelle, he drove around town aimlessly. He’d left the house because Michelle had started getting on his nerves, and he knew he needed to leave before he did something stupid, like slap her. Their latest fight had started because she’d had the audacity to come to him, telling him the Charger wasn’t ‘doing it for her anymore,’ and that she wanted a new car.

  Taye had looked at her as if she’d been speaking Chinese. “Are you out of your mind, Michelle? I just bought you that car less than a year ago. What do you mean, it’s not doing it for you anymore?”

  “MiMi traded her car in and got another one and…”

  “So, you think I’m going to keep buying you new cars every time your friend gets one? You must be crazy. Anyway, MiMi can do that, because she works.”

  “What are you trying to say, Taye?” Michelle had asked with an attitude while rolling her neck.

  “I’m not trying to say anything. I’m saying, it’s time for you to stop being lazy, and get a job. I was fine with you staying home when the kids were born, but we have a maid, who doubles as the nanny, whenever you leave the kids with her so you can go get your hair and nails done; if you can leave them with her to go do that, you can leave them with her while you find a job.

  “You know what, Taye? You’re a cheap bastard. I’m your wife. You’re supposed to make sure that I have the best of the best…at all times. I knew I should have left your cheap butt in the club that night where I found you.”

  “Yeah, but since my cheap butt was buying you all those drinks you kept chugging down like you’d spent the last week in a desert, you didn’t.”

  “You trying to call me a ho?”

  “You said that, not me,” Taye said as he kept eating his dinner at the dining table.

  The next thing Taye knew, Michelle slapped him upside his head. “You didn’t mind sleeping with me though, now did you?”

  Taye closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and counted to ten in an attempt to calm himself down. “Look, Michelle; I’m really not in the mood for this. I’m not getting you another car. Hell, I’m still making payments on the one you have. If you’re not happy with it, you can get a job, and pay for it yourself. End of discussion. But if you hit me like that again, so help me…”

  Upset that she wasn’t getting her way, Michelle dashed the glass of ice water she’d been sipping on at him. She wanted a reaction and she knew that if she pushed him, he’d get mad enough to want to hit her, which would lead to makeup sex, which would lead to pillow talk, which would lead to him giving her what she wanted.

  Taye got up out of his chair, and she prepared herself for a fight. He looked angry enough to punch her. “What, you gonna hit me?” she taunted. “I wish you would.”

  Taye’s nostrils flared and he rolled his neck from side to side, trying to calm himself down. “No, Michelle, I’m not going to hit you. That would be too easy.” He walked out of the dining room and headed toward the living room to grab his keys off the key ring, with Michelle on his heels, still hitting him in the back of the head.

  “Come back here, you’re not going anywhere. You’re always trying to run when you can’t take the heat. You’re going to stay here and…” her words were cut off as Taye slammed the front door behind him. She couldn’t believe he left. Normally, he would have grabbed her when she swung at him, then he’d pick her up and carry her into the bedroom, and make love to her, until she got some act-right.

  Taye noticed her looking out the front window as he backed out of the driveway. She probably was thinking that he’d be back. He was going to have to show her differently.

  ***

  Taye found himself at the Galleria Mall. It was just after eight, and the mall didn’t close until nine. He had driven around town for a while, trying to calm himself down, but gas wasn’t cheap these days, and he was wasting what he had in his tank; so he came to the mall to walk around and clear his head.

  He didn’t want to leave Michelle, but she was giving him no choice. He’d tried being a good man…working two jobs to take care of her and their kids, but nothing was ever good enough. He’d grown up with both of his parents, and the last thing he wanted to do was have his twins grow up in separate households, but he wasn’t sure how much more he could take. He was almost certain that if he left, she’d never let him see the kids and would drain his pockets of every penny he made in child support, so it was kind of cheaper to suck it up and deal with her.

  He went into the GNC Nutrition store, looking for some protein powder. He didn’t get much time off, but when he wasn’t working, he liked spending time at the gym lifting weights and trying to bulk up a little more in his chest.

  After he left there, he went to the food court and stood in line, waiting to buy a pretzel.

  “Taye! Is that you?” he heard a voice say from over his shoulder.

  He turned to look and immediately recognized the woman. “Brie! What’s up, girl?” He gave her a hug and kiss on the cheek. He and Brie had grown up together…right next door to each other. Their families had been real close, and Taye and Brie were more like brother and sister, who just lived in different houses.

  “I’m in town for our family reunion. I know you’ve heard it’s this weekend.”

  “Yes, you already know your mom told me. She told me to come by, but I can’t make any promises. I’m sure one of my jobs will be holding me hostage, even though I’m scheduled off this weekend.”

  “Well, you know mama; she’ll make me bring you a plate if you don’t come.”

  “How’s she doing anyway?”

  “Good…sassy as ever. Her and daddy are sneaking around again, even though they think we don’t know.”

  Brie’s parents had gotten married, divorced, and re-married again, more times than anyone could count. They couldn’t live with each other, yet they couldn’t live without each other, it seemed.

  Taye got his pretzel and a lemonade, and waited for Brie to get one, then they walked and talked for a while.

  “So, how’s Michelle and those adorable babies?”
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  Taye rolled his eyes. “The kids are fine.”

  “Uh oh…I know that look. What’s wrong, trouble on paradise island?”

  They found a bench and sat down to rest for a minute. “I’m trying, Brie; I really am. But, she just keeps pushing me. You know I just got her a new car not too long ago, right?”

  “Yeah, you mentioned that the last time we talked.”

  “Well, she had the nerve to tell me tonight that she wants another car…just because her best friend got another one. I try not to call her the b-word, but that’s exactly what she acts like- a spoiled, lazy, entitled… b-word.”

  Brie laughed. “That’s what you get for picking up chicks in the club. You’re having second thoughts about taking that big booty in the tight dress home now, huh?”

  “Are you trying to make me feel better? Because it’s not helping,” Taye said with a pout.

  “Aww…I’m sorry. Actually, I’m not; but I’ll keep my thoughts and opinions about Michelle to myself.” Brie had never liked Michelle, nor did she think she was the right woman for Taye, and she’d told him that…right up until the day he married her; but he’d told her he wanted to make an honest woman of Michelle since she had his babies, a decision he couldn’t count the number of times he’d regretted.

  “Hey, remember that pact we made back in high school?” Brie asked him as she stuffed the last of her pretzel in her mouth and washed it down with some ice cold lemonade.

  Taye laughed. “Yep, I remember it. We said if we weren’t married by the time we both turned thirty, we were marrying each other. I also remember that was the night you took my virginity.”

  “Hold up, I didn’t take it…you gave it to me. You were a horny fifteen-year-old, and you couldn’t wait to get some, because all your friends were already doing it. Anyway, you’re married now, so…” She let her words linger.

  “Yeah…but if things don’t change, I won’t be for long.”

  Because Taye and Brie had always been close, it was logical that they’d developed feelings that went beyond friendship when they were younger. One night, when their parents had gone out and left them home babysitting their younger siblings, they’d decided to experiment a little.

  It was in the early 2000’s- back when BET UnCut still came on late nights. As they looked at Nelly’s Tip Drill video, Taye started getting really horny. He’d been trying to hold out and not have sex until after graduation, but he was losing the battle. All of his boys teased him, because he wasn’t getting any yet. Brie had even lost her virginity – so he’d heard from one of the boys in the locker room.

  They sat in bed giggling and watching videos, and, the topic of sex came up. “So, what’s it feel like?” Taye had asked Brie when a commercial came on.

  “Good,” she said.

  “I know that; but…what exactly does it feel like?”

  “Don’t you get yourself off…you know, with your hand?”

  “Yeah!”

  “Well, it feels like that…only better.”

  “Oh!” Taye said. His eyes scanned over her long legs up to her still budding chest. She’d definitely grown since they were little kids.

  “Lie down,” he heard Brie say after a while.

  “What?”

  “Lie down. I’m about to make a man out of you. It’s time, Taye.”

  “Awkward as it was, you lost your virginity that night in my bedroom. At first, you were quick and clumsy; but before you went home, we gave it another shot, and you were significantly better,” Brie said reminiscently.

  “Yep, you laughed at me so much, I had to try and redeem myself,” Taye said. After that night, there were a few more teenage sexual encounters between them. They dated for about three months, but they decided they were much better off as friends and their relationship remained platonic ever since.

  “Okay, maybe I took it that first time,” Brie said “but that second time was all on you.”

  “Okay, I’ll give you that,” Taye agreed.

  “So, I assume you’re no longer a minute man?”

  “Still got jokes, I see,” Taye said while playfully nudging her in the side.

  Taye looked at his best friend. The years had been good to her. She’d always been slim when they were in school, but she’d picked up a little weight- not enough to where she was out of shape, but she was fuller in the chest and hip area, he noticed. The cutoff denim shorts she wore showed her long, shapely legs, and her tank top provided him with an eyeful of her cleavage. He licked his lips as he imagined tracing her womanly mounds with his tongue.

  Although they had been kids when they messed around, Brie’s curvy body caused him to have some very adult thoughts. Those thoughts slipped out of his mouth before he had a chance to stop himself. “Wanna find out?”

  She looked over and arched a perfectly waxed brow. “Find out what?”

  “If I’ve improved since we were teenagers?”

  “You know I’m gonna clown you if you haven’t.”

  “Wouldn’t be you if you didn’t.”

  Brie knew she should have declined Taye’s invite to a sexual rendezvous since he was married, but the torch she’d always secretly carried for him trumped logic at the moment. “Cool. My hotel is just down the street from here. Come on, you can follow me there.”

  Taye and Brie left the mall, and he followed her a few blocks down, to the Holiday Inn Express. He’d never cheated on Michelle, even though word on the street was she was screwing around behind his back. He’d never caught her, but if he ever did, he was gone.

  During the drive over, Taye had been more than ready to relive that night in Brie’s room; however, now that they were alone in her hotel room, he started feeling guilty about cheating on his wife.

  “Well, come on, why are you standing all the way over there?” Brie asked.

  Taye walked over and sat down beside her. He’d had a complete change of heart and no longer wanted to sleep with her. “I’m sorry, I can’t do this, Brie.”

  “What…why?” she asked. “If you’re worried about Michelle finding out…”

  “No, that’s not the reason. Listen, Brie, I’ve liked you ever since we were kids. You’re smart, beautiful, funny. I’ve always wondered what things would have been like if I’d married you instead of Michelle.”

  “So, why didn’t you ever say something?”

  Taye shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess I thought since we’d already tried the dating thing and it didn’t last long, it wasn’t meant to be. We each moved on and started dating other people, so I just left it alone. Trust me, I’ve never stopped thinking about you. I can be myself around you without the fighting or petty drama. When you leave and go back home, I don’t want my memory of our time together to be reduced down to a quick roll in the sack.”

  Brie was disappointed that she wouldn’t get to make love to Taye, even if just for one night; but the respect her showed for her was admirable. “You’re such a gentleman, Taye. That’s one of the things I love about you. I really wish you had let me know you felt about me the way I’ve always felt about you.”

  Taye looked at her surprisingly. Brie had never admitted her feelings for him before. “Wait, did you say love?”

  “I’ve always been in love with you…but, you’ve always known that.”

  Now she tells me, he thought. “Actually, I didn’t. Had I known, I never would have married Michelle.”

  “I tried to tell you not to marry her; you always were hard-headed.”

  Taye thought back to when he’d told Brie he was marrying Michelle and how she kept saying he deserved better. He’d always assumed it was because he’d told her that he thought Michelle had trapped him by getting pregnant. Brie was always protective of him. Now he understood why she’d been against it. She was the better.

  Rather than do what they’d come to Brie’s room to do, they sat in the middle of her queen-sized bed, and cuddled, while watching re-runs of Martin, until Taye decided he’d better go.

>   “I really enjoyed spending time with you, Brie,” Taye said as she walked him to the door.

  “Me, too. I’ll tell mama I saw you, and that you’ll try to stop by the house.”

  Taye resisted the urge to kiss her luscious lips. Instead, he gave her a gentle kiss on the forehead before he turned and walked away. He’d wanted to make love to her, but had he cheated, he would have regretted it forever. He walked to the elevator and pushed the down arrow. Another lady walked up beside him, also waiting to get on.

  Inside the elevator, she pushed the second floor button, and he pressed the one for the lobby.

  The elevator stopped at the second floor, and the woman walked off. As the door was closing, Taye heard a loud, familiar laugh. Just before the door closed, he stuck his hand out, pushed the door back open, and looked into the hallway, just in time to see Michelle and another man, engaged in a very steamy liplock. The man’s hands roamed all over her body while he kissed her neck, and she giggled like a schoolgirl.

  Tears stung Taye’s eyes, and he balled his fists. His heartbeat increased, and invisible steam flew from his nostrils. The angry side of him said to get off the elevator and beat his wife’s lover to a pulp. Instead, he calmed himself and simply stepped back into the elevator. He was angry and hurt, but at least now he knew the rumors about Michelle’s cheating were true, which would make it that much more easier to leave her.

  He pushed the button to his desired floor, thinking that as soon as Michelle got home, he was going to tell her it was over.

  The elevator stopped, and he stepped off. He walked to Brie’s room, and knocked. His heart was beating fast, and he felt nervous butterflies in his belly.

  Brie opened the door. “Taye, did you forget something?” she asked with a confused look on her face.

  “Yeah, this.” Taye pulled Brie closer to him, lifted her chin up to him, and kissed her. Brie wrapped her arms around his neck, and welcomed his tongue into her mouth, doing a sensual slow dance with her own.

  “What changed your mind?” she asked once they’d separated.