5ive Star Bitch

by Tremayne Johnson

  “Okay, I hear you grandma, but I know one thing, if I leave out and come back, you better wake up,” I said, and we laughed.

  The entire time my grandmother was away in the hospital, Colin had been staying at the house with me. No, we weren’t back together, but he felt it was his duty to make sure I was alright. I thought that was cute. Shit, at least somebody cared. He even managed to sneak his ass into the bed with me one night; and no, we didn’t fuck. Honestly, I barely let him touch me. Colin knew exactly what he was doing. He knew me; probably better than I knew myself, which was kind of crazy. But I wasn’t going for any of his bullshit and he also knew that.

  11

  August came and it was hot as fuck! I swear I wanted to walk around naked all day long, but I couldn’t. Since I knew my grandmother was going to need help, I officially moved in with her and my little brother. It felt good sitting at the dinner table eating; just the three of us; sometimes four of us whenever Colin showed up.

  I recently found a broker to sell my loft and I was still sitting pretty off that nice lump sum of change that Marlon had given me. He had been calling nonstop too, begging for me to talk to him, claiming it was important. I wasn’t trying to hear that nigga, fuck him. If I never saw that muthafucka again a day in my life, I’d be happy. Fuck Marlon.

  Since my grandmother’s incident I hadn’t heard too much from Simeon either. He did contact me to see if I needed anything, and he said he was just going to give me some space to deal with my family issues. I could do nothing but respect that. I wanted to fuck him, but I hadn’t. I didn’t think he had done anything deserving of it yet, but I really did want to see what he was working with. Being that he had a fiancé; rather, an ex-fiancé, was making me hesitate a bit. But if it was meant to be, it was definitely going to happen.

  With me spending more time inside, I decided to take on my dream of starting my own business, via internet. One of my hobbies as a child was making jewelry. I don’t know where I picked it up, but I had been doing it since I could remember. I had thousands of handmade pieces jewelry that I had spent hours creating.

  After attending a business seminar with Marlon, I got encouraged to become an entrepreneur. Marlon acted like he was all for it, but he kept telling me to wait until the time was right. After he told me that countless times; I pushed my idea to the side and just went with the flow. But I guess he was right in a sense, because now I had the time to put into it and my own resources to fund it.

  I had been in contact with a graphic designer for the past two weeks. He texted me saying that my site was almost ready to go live. I was excited. My line was going to be called CHERISH. Wow, ain’t that some shit, Cherish Parker, business owner; sounds good to me. And the name really meant something because my grandmother was the one who suggested it. As soon as I asked her, she came up with it, and I loved it.

  My phone rang and I saw it was Jillian, so I picked it up. “Hello.”

  “Cherish, did you speak to Raq?”

  “No, why… what happened?”

  “Oh my fucking God, I’ll be there in ten minutes, you ain’t gon’ believe this shit,” she said, and hung up.

  For the next ten minutes I paced the living room carpet at least a thousand times. My nerves were shot. What the fuck could’ve happened? Jillian was taking too fucking long. I kept checking the door to see if she pulled up, but she never came.

  An hour later I heard a knock at the front door.

  “Damn, bitch, what took you so long?” I asked Jillian. She was soaked. I didn’t even know it started raining.

  “Ughhh!” she dropped her bag and wiped her feet on the welcome carpet. “This fuckin’ asshole pulled me over,” she cursed.

  “Who, Tim?”

  “Yes, he’s a fuckin’ asshole. I wish I never fucked that nigga, I swear…”

  I laughed, “Too late for that.”

  “Shut up, bitch…” Jillian cursed me out and walked into the living room. “Where’s your grandmother?”

  “She’s upstairs… what was so important?”

  “Oh, your girl Raq is pregnant by that nigga who raped her.”

  “What!” I couldn’t believe what Jillian said. No fucking way. Hell no! “Are you fucking serious, who told you that?”

  “Everybody knows. I’m surprised she hasn’t called you.”

  “I don’t believe it. I have to hear this from her,” I picked my phone up and dialed Raquel’s number, but I didn’t get an answer. I tried two more times and she still didn’t pick up, so I left her a message, telling her to call me.

  “And you know the fucked up part about it… she can’t get rid of it,” Jillian said.

  “Why can’t she?”

  “You know, they’re Muslim, so they don’t believe in abortion.”

  “This is crazy,”

  “And…” Jillian said. “Her husband said he wants a divorce.”

  “Jill, are you telling the truth?”

  “Bitch, I wouldn’t lie about no shit like this. You know I fucks with Raq jus’ like you do. It’s fucked up she gotta go through this shit.”

  I felt bad for my friend. She didn’t deserve to go through all this bullshit. And just when I was about to say something to Jillian, my phone rang. It was Raquel.

  “Hello,” I answered, anxious to speak to her.

  “Hey Cherish,” she replied.

  “Raquel, you alright?”

  “No.”

  “Where are you?”

  “I’m home.”

  “Me and Jill are coming over.”

  “Okay.” She hung up.

  “C’mon, Jill…” I grabbed my keys and we jumped in my car and rode to Raquel’s house.

  When we got there, the door was open, so we walked in. The house smelled like cinnamon and Mary J. Blige was playing through the speakers. Raquel was sitting in her living room on the sofa, scooping ice cream out of a mug, staring at a blank television screen.

  “Raquel,” I called her name and she turned around. Her face was flush with tears. I rushed to her side and sat on the sofa next to her. “It’s gonna be alright, you hear me? Stop crying,” I told her, wiping the tears from her face.

  “It’s not gonna be alright, Cherish,” she sobbed. “William doesn’t want anything to do with me, he wants a divorce.”

  “Screw, William…” I told her. “If that muthafucka ain’t willing to ride with you through this hardship when you were by his side in his time of need… fuck him. I would leave him right where he is.”

  “But he’s my husband, Cherish, and I love him,” she cried.

  “Listen,” Jillian added. “Raquel, you got more important shit to deal with. You got Ciara to worry about. If he doesn’t wanna be in his daughter’s life, let that nigga walk. You can’t hold on to a nigga if he ready to go. Fuck that, do you. Handle your business.”

  I agreed with what Jillian was saying, but I also understood where Raquel was coming from. They had taken vows to stand with each other through thick and thin. Marriage was sacred, a bond that was not to be broken, but more than often it was.

  “Have you made a decision about the baby?” I asked her.

  “If I have the baby, I lose my husband. If I abort the baby, I lose my family... I don’t know what to do, Cherish. In the Quran it clearly states, ‘take not life, which God hath made sacred’.

  “Yeah, but it’s your body, Raquel, you get to make the final decision,” Jillian told her.

  Raquel took a deep breath and shook her head. I could see the frustration on her face.

  “I need some time to think about this,” she said.

  “Well, you know we’re here for you. If you need something, don’t hesitate to ask,” I said. “Where is Ciara?”

  “She’s in Jersey with my sister.”

  “Y’all bitches making me sad. I am not with this shit,” Jillian stood up. “Oh, Raq, did you show Cherish that picture?”

  “What picture?” I asked.

  Raquel picked up her phone an
d showed me a picture.

  “Who is this?”

  “That bitch look jus’ like you, don’t she!” Jillian was hyped.

  “That’s Kay. Simeon’s ex-fiancé,” Raquel said.

  “That’s your fuckin’ sister, Cherish… I don’t care what nobody say,” Jillian laughed.

  “Shut up, bitch, I don’t have a sister. I have a little brother named Dorian, get it right, ho,” we laughed and I glanced at Raquel; she had a faint smile on her face. It was the closest to a smile I had saw from her in a long time.

  “No, for real though, y’all do resemble each other,” Raquel added.

  “Let me see,” I grabbed the phone from Jillian and stared at the picture. Damn, we did have some of the same features, and she was pretty, I can’t even lie about that. What the fuck? The more I looked at it, the more I was starting to believe it. But my father never mentioned anything about us having a sister. And now that I think about it, there was no way he could have. My mother wasn’t having that shit; another bitch pregnant; oh, hell no! She would have had that bitch killed and disposed of somewhere nobody would find her. My mother was no fucking joke.

  “What did you say her name was, Raquel?”

  “Kay,”

  “Kay, what?”

  “I don’t know her last name. I would have to ask Re-Re that,”

  “So, call that bitch and ask her,” Jillian told her.

  Raquel found her number, dialed it and put her on speaker phone.

  “Hello?” someone picked up on the second ring.

  “Hey, Re-Re, wassup…”

  “Who is this, I lost all my numbers?”

  “It’s Raquel,”

  “Who?”

  “Raq!”

  “Oh, Raq… wassup, boo, you alright?”

  “Yeah, I’m good… hey, what’s your girl, Kay’s last name?”

  There was moment of silence, and then she replied, “Parker, why?”

  As soon as she said it, everything in me was gone, I was depleted. I just wanted disappear off the face of the earth. I was stuck, just staring at Raquel’s phone.

  “I told you!” Jillian shouted.

  “Why, what happened, Raq?”

  “Nothing, we think her and Cherish are sisters. They got the same last name.”

  “I told you; them bitches look too much alike,” Re-Re laughed and so did Jillian.

  I whispered to Raquel, “Ask her if she know who her father is.”

  “You know who her father is?”

  “Nope, I know her mother and her lil’ brother, and he like a couple months old,” Re-Re said, “If y’all wanna meet up, we can. She’s coming to pick me up in a few minutes. We gon’ hit City Island.”

  Raquel looked at me and Jillian and we nodded yes at the same time.

  “Okay, we can do that. Text me when she picks you up,” Raquel hung up.

  “Yeah, City Island do sound good right about now,” Jillian said.

  “Bitch, ain’t nobody thinking about no fucking shrimp and fries right now, I have bigger issues,” I said.

  “Shrimp and fries, who the fuck said something about shrimp and fries… first of all,” Jill screwed her face, “Shrimp and fries are for two dolla ho’s and I damn sure ain’t no two dolla ho’…”

  “Tell her what you is then…” Raquel jumped in and egged her on.

  “I’m a five star bitch, a five star bitch, I’m a five star bitch; a five star bitch!” Jillian started twerking, bouncing her ass everywhere. We all fell out laughing. It was just the type of excitement we needed to get the pressure off Raquel. She was laughing, smiling and looking like the Raquel I know.

  As I sat there on Raquel’s sofa, I thought about how awkward it was going to be to meet this girl who was perceived to be my sister. On top of that, I was messing with her ex-fiancé. That part I really didn’t care about, but it was the sister part that was fucking me up. I couldn’t grasp the fact that maybe my father did have another child, I didn’t want to. I just wanted it to be me and Dorian, just as it always was. We didn’t need any new additions to our family, we were good. This was going to be interesting.

  We waited about an hour before Raquel got the text and we headed out.

  12

  Just as we were pulling into City Island, Raquel got a text from Re-Re saying meet her at the City Island Lobster House. We cruised along the strip until we found the restaurant and pulled over across the street from the entrance. It was a hot and humid summer night and City Island was packed as usual.

  After about five minutes, a white BMW pulled up on the passenger side of my car. It was the same BMW that was in front of Simeon’s house. The driver’s side window came down, and I swear I felt like I was looking in the mirror. This bitch looked exactly like me; just a few shades darker.

  She said something to Raquel and Raq turned to me and told me to follow them. We made an illegal U-turn, pulled up directly in front of the restaurant, got out and the valet parked our cars.

  “Oh my God, it’s fucking bakin’ out here,” Jillian said, fixing her hair.

  We followed Raquel over to where Re-Re and her friend were standing.

  “Hey, girl…” Raquel gave Re-Re a hug.

  “Wassup, boo… hey y’all… oh, this is my friend Kaylin. Kaylin, this is Raquel, Jillian and your twin sister, Cherish,” she laughed.

  I couldn’t believe I was staring at someone who resembled me in so many ways. The shit was fucking my head up. I was at a loss for words; just standing there, staring at this girl.

  “Well, why the fuck is y’all jus’ starin’ at each other, somebody say something, damn…” Jillian broke the ice.

  “Cherish Parker,” I said, extending my arm to shake her hand.

  “Kaylin Parker,” she replied.

  We stared at each other with the same face. I’m pretty sure we were thinking the same thing too.

  “Y’all bitches is crazy,” Jillian waved her hand and started walking into the restaurant. We laughed and followed her.

  While we were waiting for our food to be served, we sipped our drinks and got acquainted.

  “So, are y’all sisters or what?” Jillian asked.

  “Right, ‘cause y’all look too much alike not to be,” Raquel said.

  “How old are you, Kaylin?” I asked.

  “Twenty two,”

  “She only a year younger than you, Cherish,” Jillian said.

  “My father died in a car accident five years ago and my mother is serving a life sentence for murder,” Kaylin explained.

  My eyes got big, “A car accident?”

  “Yeah, well, at least that’s what I was told. He was in another country on some type of business vacation. That’s all I really know about him. My mother told me he was a good man, but the decisions he made weren’t always the best.”

  “What was your father’s name?” I asked. This shit was too creepy.

  “Robert Carter,” she said.

  My jaw dropped. I couldn’t believe this shit. I was sitting at a table across from my little sister; a sister that I had no knowledge of before this day.

  “Ain’t your dad’s name, Robert?” Jillian asked me.

  I couldn’t even get the words out. I just stared at Kaylin like she was a ghost, and nodded my head yes.

  “Oh shit! Y’all are sisters!” Raquel shouted.

  “Ahh shit… that’s wassup!” Re-Re said, sipping her drink. “Now that y’all bitches got all that out the way, where the hell is our food?”

  Just as Re-Re said something, our waiter came to the table, followed by two servers holding our plates of food.

  “Here you go ladies…” the server placed our food in front of us.

  “You cute,” Jillian flirted with the tall Spanish server.

  “Thank you,” he said, smiling.

  “You ever been with black woman?”

  “Leave him alone Jill,” I said, laughing. There wasn’t a bit of shame in her game.

  The server smiled. “No m�
�am.”

  “I’m jus’ sayin’… damn, a bitch tryna get her shit off,” Jillian joked.

  “Excuse me, y’all. I gotta take this call,” Kaylin said, getting up from the table and answering her phone.

  “I’ll be right back. I gotta use the bathroom,” Re-Re said.

  I sat there with so many thoughts running through my head that I started to get a headache. I had so many questions I wanted to ask Kaylin, but I knew she had no clue of the answers. It wasn’t her fault my father had cheated on my mother, but I damn sure felt like it was.

  “So, you gonna tell her that you’re fucking her ex fiancé?” Jillian whispered.

  I looked at her and shook my head. “I’m not fucking him, Jillian. We’re just friends.”

  “Bitch, please… save that shit for somebody who wanna hear it.”

  “I’m serious. After that incident with Marlon I’m skeptical about all of these niggas.”

  “I hear that,” Raquel chimed in.

  “Well, bitch, I don’t know what you waiting for, that nigga fine as fuck, and he got money,” Jillian said. “Oh, here they come.”

  Re-Re and Kaylin came back and sat down.

  “Sorry y’all, that was my fiancé, he’s so damn nosy,” Kaylin said.

  I cut my eyes to Jillian because I knew she was about to say something.

  “Oh, you gettin’ married?” she asked.

  “Yes, eventually. We had our problems, but I’m sure we’ll get through it,” Kaylin answered.

  “Ummm…” Jillian looked at me out the corner of her eye. I was hoping she wasn’t going to say anything else, but that wouldn’t happen. This was Jillian I was talking about.

  “So, did you set a date yet?” Jillian asked Kaylin with a grin on her face.

  Raquel looked at me and I just shook my head.

  “No, not yet,” Kaylin replied, “Maybe next summer.”

  “Well, be sure to invite your sister,” Jillian turned to me with a stupid ass smile on her face. I wanted to kick her.