Around the Way Girls 9

by Moore, Ms. Michel

  “Okay. I will let her know that you are here. You can have a seat.” The receptionist disappeared toward the back of the salon and returned a few seconds later with a tall, curvy redbone sister with a blue weave.

  “Hello, I’m Blue,” she introduced herself flashing Breezy a smile that showed off the gold tooth in her mouth.

  Breezy smiled politely and introduced herself, “I’m Breezy. It’s nice to meet you.”

  “Is there any particular way that you want your hair done?”

  “Just make it really pretty,” Annette spoke up. “Today is her birthday and I want her to look stunning.” She looked at Blue’s hair and then added, “But no color for her.”

  “Oh okay, no problem,” Blue assured her and then looked at Breezy. “Come on, birthday girl, follow me right this way.”

  Breezy followed her to her station. Blue got right to work on her hair, first giving her a much-needed perm, then sewing in some hair. She styled it in a doobie wrap that fell around Breezy’s shoulders and framed her face. When she was done, she turned her around so that she could look in the mirror.

  Breezy jumped up out of her seat. She was all in the mirror touching her hair. “Oh my goodness, I love it! Gosh it looks so good!”

  Blue giggled at the girl’s obvious satisfaction with her hair. “Sit back down so that I can do your eyebrows and makeup.”

  Breezy did as she asked and Blue worked her magic. When she was done, Breezy stood in the mirror with her mouth hung wide open. She couldn’t believe that the reflection of the beautiful young woman standing in the mirror was actually her. Her eyes began to water.

  Annette got up from the dryer and walked over to get a closer look at Breezy’s hair. She saw the tears in Breezy’s eyes from her reflection in the mirror. “Hey, hey now. There will be no tears today, young lady. Can’t have you ruining your makeup.”

  Breezy turned around from the mirror to face Annette and couldn’t hold back the tears that poured from her eyes. They were tears of happiness and appreciation. “Thank you so much, Ms. Annette.” She cried, hugging her tightly. “No one has ever done anything like this for me before. I appreciate it so much.”

  “Awww, baby, don’t cry.” Annette rubbed Breezy’s back, tearing up herself. Breezy felt almost like her own and, sometimes, she wished that she was her own so that she wouldn’t have to go through the things that she did at home. “I am just glad that you like it.”

  “Okay, let me touch up your makeup,” Blue told Breezy.

  “I need to go and get my butt back under this dryer. I just walked over here to be nosey. When you are done over here, go over and let Samantha do your nails. This is your day and I want you to feel like the princess that you are.” She smiled at Breezy, knowing that she was loving the birthday surprises that she’d put together for her.

  “Okay,” Breezy answered as Blue fixed her makeup. When Blue was done she went over to Samantha, like Annette had told her. By the time that Samantha was done with her nails, Annette had paid for everything and was ready to go.

  “All right, we have one more stop,” Annette informed Breezy once they were back in the car.

  “Okay,” Breezy replied unable to stop looking in the mirror at herself.

  When they pulled up at the mall Breezy looked over at Annette. “Why are we here?”

  “Well we can’t have your hair and nails looking all cute and not get you a cute outfit and some shoes to go with it.”

  Breezy started screaming. “Oh gosh! Are you for real?”

  “Yes, I’m for real!” Annette laughed. “Now come on here, girl.”

  Inside Annette bought her two outfits and two pairs of sneakers. She also bought her some new underwear and bras. Breezy felt like she was dreaming.

  “Go into the bathroom and change into one of your new outfits and a pair of your sneakers,” Annette instructed. “I will hold the rest of your bags while you change.”

  Breezy went into the bathroom and changed as quickly as she could, wondering what other surprises Annette could possibly have in store for her after all that she’d already done. She walked out of the bathroom and did a little twirl so that Annette could get a good look at her in her new clothes.

  “You look gorgeous.”

  “Thank you, Ms. Annette. I really do appreciate everything. I can’t thank you enough and I know that I certainly will never be able to repay you.”

  “Oh hush your mouth, child, talking about repaying me. That is just nonsense.” Annette laughed waving her off. “And besides, I can’t stand here and take all of the credit. King let me keep his allowance for the past few weeks to help pay for it, so he deserves some thanks too,” she informed Breezy who just blushed at first.

  “He did that for me?”

  “Yep.” She drove out of the parking lot and into traffic, headed to the final and biggest surprise. Ten minutes later, they turned into the parking lot of Golden Corral and got out. “I hope you’re hungry.”

  “I sure am,” Breezy told her, now missing her best friend and wishing that he was there with her. “I wish King’s big head was here. Not that I don’t like chillin’ with you, Ms. Annette, but that’s my buddy though.”

  “I understand,” Annette replied smiling to herself.

  They walked inside and Annette whispered something to the hostess.

  “Follow me right this way,” she told them. They did as she said. Before they made it all the way to the table, Breezy saw Mr. Curtis, King, and Vita seated at a table toward the back full of balloons, a cake, and a few gifts.

  “Awwww, y’all, this is so sweet.” She burst into tears for what seemed like the millionth time that day.

  “Cry baby,” King teased getting up to give her a big hug. He couldn’t help but notice how beautiful she looked. She almost didn’t look like his homegirl anymore. “Look at you, Ms. Thang, don’t you look mighty fly. Dag, I’m going to have to kill them niggas at school if they see you looking like this. I can’t have all of them hounds on my homegirl!”

  “Whatever.” Breezy hit him playfully. She wished that he would look at her like the guys he was referring to.

  They sat down and ate and then Breezy opened her gifts. After thanking everyone for a wonderful birthday, Annette drove her home. She thanked Annette and King again before getting out of the car. She ran up to the door excited with her bags in her hand and what was left of her cake. She couldn’t wait for her ma to see her new look and all of her gifts.

  Chapter Six

  Breezy could hear music playing as she approached the door. She turned the doorknob, finding that the door was unlocked. She pushed it open and walked inside. The first thing she saw was Terry laid back on the sofa with a smirk on his face and Teresa up in front of him dancing with a bottle of Patrón in one hand and a blunt in the other.

  Teresa noticed Terry looking past her instead of at her and turned to see what he was looking at. She looked back and saw Breezy all dolled up. She looked so good that she almost didn’t recognize her. “Awwww, shit look at you. Happy motherfuckin’ birthday, Breezy!” she yelled and threw her head back in laughter, like she was having the time of her life.

  Breezy stood in the middle of the floor with the door still wide open, speechless and unable to move a muscle. It was like she was frozen in time. She was so angry, hurt, and disgusted. Everything all rolled up into one.

  Teresa noticed that Terry’s eyes were still fixated on Breezy. She stopped dancing and looked Breezy up and down real nice and slow, taking her entire makeover in. She walked over to her and touched her hair, taking a toke of the blunt that she was holding. “Damn look at you!” She coughed. “I almost didn’t recognize your ass. Your little boyfriend down the street and his mama really did you up right nice!” She laughed. “Shit you must be fuckin him reeeeeaaaaal good huh?” The look on her face went from amused to disgusted in two seconds flat. Without warning she lifted the bottle of Patrón that she’d been holding and poured it in Breezy’s hair and all over her cloth
es. It also got in her eyes and nose.

  Breezy dropped everything that she’d been holding in her hands and started trying to wipe the alcohol out of her eyes. She screamed out in pain as she rubbed her eyes with her shirt. She felt a hard shove in her back and went tumbling onto the floor, hitting her head on the corner of the sofa on the way down.

  “I bet you fucked him real good like you tried to do my man! You fast-ass little bitch! I should’ve never believed your nasty ass in the first place. Yeah, Terry told me what really happened about how your ass tried to get him to fuck you the other night.” Teresa stood over Breezy who had sat up on the floor, still rubbing her eyes.

  Terry sat on the sofa enjoying the show and the control that he had over Teresa. He knew that he now had access to Breezy anytime that he wanted a piece of her. “Hell yeah, with her fast ass. I been trying to tell you all along that she ain’t doing all that hanging around that boy down the street for nothing. She down there fucking, plain and simple. Next thing you know her little ass will end up pregnant and she probably won’t even know who the daddy is because you know that she probably fucking more than one.”

  Breezy finally spoke up in an attempt to defend herself against the things that the two of them were saying against her. “I haven’t been sleeping around with anybody! He raped me!” She pointed at Terry.

  Teresa drew back and slapped her hard across the face. “Shut up lying. My man ain’t touched your lying ass. You’re just jealous because you want him for your damn self but guess what, it ain’t going to happen.”

  Breezy scrambled to her feet. She could see but everything was blurry. “I don’t want him! He raped me!” she screamed at the top of her lungs. “How could you take his word over mines? What about all of the things that you told me the other night? You told me that you were going to change.”

  Terry jumped from the sofa and came charging toward her. She cowered against the wall, afraid of what he was about to do to her, but to her surprise Teresa stopped him. “Nah, don’t hit that little bitch! She might go running to the folks on you and have you locked up! I got this, baby!” Teresa told him and then looked at Breezy. “Get the fuck out of my house, and from now on when my man is here you can’t be! I don’t give a fuck where you go just as long as it ain’t here!” Breezy didn’t move because she didn’t know what to do. Teresa reached down and grabbed her by her shirt, ripping it. “Get the fuck up! You gotta go.”

  Breezy got up and tried to gather her things but she wasn’t moving fast enough for Teresa. She snatched the bags and ran to the door tossing everything out onto the ground. Breezy ran outside and began gathering her things. Her clothes had come out of the bag and had gotten dirty. She felt something hit her in her back.

  “You forgot something, bitch!” Teresa yelled before slamming the door. Breezy looked down on the ground and saw that it was her cake and it had fallen out of the cake plate and was lying on the ground.

  She’d cried so much that she just couldn’t cry anymore. She finished gathering her clothes and held them in her arms trying to cover herself because of her ripped shirt. She walked down the street in the direction of the only place that she knew to go. When she arrived at the complex where King lived there were a lot of people outside as it always was on a Saturday night. She walked past the crowd not really paying them any attention but could hear the laughs and snickers. None of that mattered after what had just happened with Teresa and Terry. Someone from the crowd called her name but she kept going.

  “Yo, Breezy. Breezy!” King called jogging after her with Vita right on his heels. She looked like shit. “Breezy, what happened?”

  She just continued to walk.

  He finally caught up to her and grabbed her by her arm. “What happened to you? Why are you wet? Why do you smell like liquor? Talk to me!” He looked at her and didn’t see any visible scars but he could tell that she was hurt. Her eyes were bloodshot and she had a distant look in them like she wasn’t even herself. She wouldn’t even look at him. She just kept looking off into space.

  “Breezy, talk to me, tell me what happened to you. I can’t help unless you tell me what’s wrong.” He saw tears forming in her eyes and then start to roll down her cheeks. She’d been so happy when he, his mama, and Vita had dropped her off a little while ago. To see her in this condition now broke his heart. “Look, Vita, I’m going take her inside and then I will take you home. Wait for me out here. I will be right back.”

  “Okay,” she replied.

  “Come on, Breezy.” He wrapped his arm around her and walked her inside ignoring the stares from the people who were outside. “Ma, come here!” he called once they were inside.

  Annette came into the living room wearing her nightclothes with her hair wrapped up. “Boy, what . . . Oh my goodness!” She covered her mouth with her hand. “Baby, what happened?” she asked reaching out for Breezy.

  Breezy was too ashamed to let them know that her ma had kicked her out because Terry had raped her. She felt embarrassed and nasty so she didn’t respond. She just sat there and cried.

  “Ma, I have to run Vita home but I will be right back,” King told Annette. “Breezy, I’ll be right, right back and when I get back I want to know what happened to you, okay?” His voice had a sternness in it that told her he wasn’t playing and that he really wanted to know.

  Breezy simply nodded her head but had no real intention of telling him the truth.

  On the way to drop Vita off at home, she was full of questions. “Bae, what was wrong with Breezy? Did she get into a fight?”

  “I don’t know.” King wasn’t about to put Breezy’s business out there like that. He knew how chicks got down. As soon as they found out some shit they was on the phone bumping their gums and adding in shit that ain’t even happen. He wasn’t saying that Vita would do that but he wasn’t going to even give her the opportunity to, because if she did that would sure as hell earn her walking papers and he wasn’t trying to send her on her way before he got a chance to hit that.

  “I sure hope that she’s all right. She didn’t tell you anything?” She wasn’t letting up. “I mean, I know that she is your best friend and all. I am just worried about her.”

  “Thanks but she’ll be fine. Can we talk about something else?”

  “Yeah, sure.” She was a little disappointed about not finding out what she wanted to know. “I really do like you a lot, King. I’m hoping that this works out.”

  “I enjoy kickin’ it with you too.” He looked over to see her looking back at him smiling. He reached over resting his hand on her thigh. The rest of the drive they made small talk.

  When they arrived at her house, King got out of the car and walked around to her side of the car to open the door for her.

  “Ooh my boo is a gentleman.” Vita got out of the car and wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her soft, glossy lips against his. He wrapped his arms around her waist and slid his hands down to her round ass and gave it a squeeze while their tongues explored each other’s mouths.

  They stayed like that for at least two minutes but then he broke their embrace. As much as he would like to have stayed there and sucked face with her a little longer, Breezy was weighing heavily on his mind.

  “Why you stop for?” Vita whined.

  “I gotta get back to Breezy. I need to make sure she’s good.” He gave her another quick peck on the lips and smacked her on her ass. “I’m going to call you later okay?”

  “Okay, boo.” She walked up to the door switching as hard as she could, knowing without a doubt that he was watching. She looked back over her shoulder and smiled. His eyes were indeed locked on her ass. She opened the door and went inside.

  After making sure that Vita had gotten inside safely, King jumped in the car and headed home. When he got back to the house, Breezy had taken a bath and changed clothes. Annette was blow-drying her hair and judging by the look on her face she was mad as hell! He didn’t have to wonder long about whether she was mad because s
he let him know.

  “This shit right here got me mad as hell! I don’t care what Breezy says, I am going to be at Teresa’s door bright and early like a damn Jehovah’s Witness in the morning! I put a lot of money on this child to make her look beautiful and to feel special for her birthday and that trifling bitch gon’ do some shit like this!” She paused and swiped some tears from her face that had been spilling down her cheeks. “This shit ain’t right! You don’t treat no child like this!” She cut off the dryer and slammed it down on the table and walked out of the room shaking her head.

  King knew that she was really upset because she never cursed like that. He heard her bedroom door slam. He took a seat on the sofa and looked over at Breezy. Her eyes were puffy and she looked depressed.

  She looked over at him. “King, I am so tired of living like this. I try so hard to make my ma happy but nothing is ever good enough.” Her voice sounded strained as she sat and poured her heart out to him. “For the past few days the two of us have gotten along so well. We talked and she explained to me why she is the way that she is. I thought that we were getting somewhere.” Tears fell on her nightshirt that Annette had given her but she didn’t bother to wipe her eyes; she just continued. “You can’t begin to imagine how I felt when I walked inside of my house tonight and saw Terry sitting there. I felt like someone had hit me in the stomach with a boulder and then on top of that she is going to take his word over mine! How could she do me like that? On my birthday, my ma put me out and treated me like nothing all because of him!”

  King interrupted her for the first time. “I don’t get it. Took his word about what?”

  Breezy looked away and then dropped her head.

  “Breezy, answer me! Why did she put you out?” No response. He felt his blood pressure start to rise. “Answer me, Breezy!” he demanded.

  They heard Annette’s bedroom door open and then she was coming down the hall. “What’s going on? Why are you yelling, King?” she asked entering the living room.