by J Peach
“Walk up there and get a gallon of milk and you better come right back.” Bumping the buggy, he walked down the aisle. “Kids, I swear.” I mumbled to myself, while pulling out his phone to call King.
“Tell me about it. I got a little boy about his age.”
I looked away from Blake’s phone to the voice. I laughed not realizing someone had heard me.
“Yeah, they’re a handful.”
“I’m Derrell.” Taking in the dark skinned man in front of me, my eyes went to his out stretch hand.
With a smile, I took it. “Peaches—” Derrell’s side suddenly hit the buggy as he was pushed from behind.
“And I’m her son,” Blake told him before turning back to me, putting the milk in the buggy. “You ready?” he asked nonchalantly as he turned the cart around and stood in front of Derrell like he was never there.
I couldn’t believe he just did that, then again I could. “Blake, say you’re sorry, right now.”
At my words, the look of shock covered his face. “For what?” he asked in a serious tone.
“Don’t play, Rashad, you just pushed that man. Now say you’re sorry.” I pointed to the man.
He glanced at Derrell and then looked back at me. “I ain’t push him, but why he standing here looking stupid fah? Long face ass nigga. Get on,” Blake said, waving Derrell off.
“I am so sorry—” I started apologizing only to be cut off.
“Fuck you apologizing fah? That nigga better get on before I call my daddy up here. Homie, yo ass ain’t getting none over here.”
Grabbing Blake by the back of his neck, I held it tight and started dragging his little ass to the front so we could checkout.
“Ow, Ma, that hurt. Let go.” He whined out, trying to pry my hand from around his neck.
Holding it a little tighter, I walked faster to the self-checkout line. Once there, I pushed him in front of the buggy. I hurriedly rung up our food and then bagged them. After paying, we left out of the grocery store to my white truck.
“Blake, why would you do that? You are a child. You do not talk to grown folks like that...” Blake made a noise in the back of his throat, which had me slapping him again. “Rashad, do you hear me?” This wasn’t the first time he had done that to a guy that approached me.
I figured it was only because he wanted Blaze and I to get back together but he said that wasn’t it and that the guy just looked like a creep. But that was with every guy.
“I’m sorry, Ma. He just looked weird—” he went on to use that same excuse.
“Blake, everybody look weird, creepy or something to you. You pushed that man and cussed at him. Rashad, we don’t do that. Do you hear me?” I fussed at him already knowing it was falling on deaf ears.
“Yes, I’m sorry—”
“You’re grounded. No phone, TV, Xbox, PlayStation, iPod, iPad. Nothing.”
“Hell n’all! Just call my daddy on me. Fuck that! Man, you trippin’.” He snapped.
Quickly, I grabbed his forehead and before he could react, my hand slapped him repeatedly into his mouth, at least ten times.
“I’m trippin’? Oh, I’m gon’ show you how much I’m trippin’, get yo ass in the truck.” After pushing him in the backseat, I put the food in behind him and slammed the door. “I’m trippin’? This little boy done lost his gotdamn mind. Who does he think he’s talkin’ too?” I mumbled to myself. I hopped in the driver seat and then glanced back at him to see his cheeks puffed up as he bit into his lower lip. He was mad but so was I. “Put on that seatbelt. Oh and I’m gon’ call yo dad after I whoop yo ass.”
“Man, I ain’t even do nothing.” He muttered with an attitude.
I looked back at him, but Blake’s eyes shifted out toward the window.
“That’s what I thought.” Throwing the truck in drive, I pulled out of the parking lot. “Blake, why do you do this? Is it because you want me and your dad back together?”
“No,” he stated simply, as he reached in the front and grabbed my purse.
“Then why? And don’t even give me that crap about them being a creep or weird.” When he didn’t say anything, I glanced back at him through my mirror only to see him with his cellphone. “Put it back in my purse and put my purse back in this seat.”
Glancing up he let out a heavy breath. “Here. I don’t want that phone anyway.”
I didn’t know what had gotten into my little man and his mouth. But he was crazy as hell if he thought he was going to talk to me like he did his dad and King.
I chewed on my bottom lip and my head nodded as we drove silently the rest of the way home.
***
I pulled up on our street just as my phone started ringing and once again, Blake reached into my bag, grabbing my phone and answering it.
“Hello? What’s up, Dad—Pulling up in front of the house now—Right here—Hell yeah—Shid, I don’t think so—Yeah, I did—She mad—Yeah—Hell yeah, she took my damn phone—That shit ain’t funny,” Blake told his dad with an attitude.
I quickly pulled into the driveway and threw the truck in park. I turned in my seat and Blake quickly jumped in the rear back seats.
“Give me the phone and bring yo butt here.”
Blaze’s laughing voice soon came through the line as Blake put him on speaker. “Blake, she gon’ whoop yo ass doing all that damn cussin’ and shit. Fuck wrong with you, man?”
Where he think he gets it from?
“Listen how you talk to him, Blaze. That’s what’s wrong with him,” I replied to him.
“Shid, I ain’t got shit to do with that. I told his ass about his mouth. I’mma beat his little ass, though,” he assured.
My lips smacked at that and Blake laughed.
“I’m about to whoop his little butt because of his mouth.”
“Man, I said I was sorry that man looked like a freakin’ creep. Dad, that man looked like a damn gargoyle.” Blake lied through his teeth.
Blaze burst out laughing into the phone, whereas I stared at Blake’s lying little self with parted lips.
Blake was cheesing hard as ever. “His teeth were yellow and he smelled like a skunk.” He lied again, making Blaze laugh harder.
“Blake, why are you lying?” I asked him, not believing he was sitting there telling lies.
He shrugged his shoulders and took Blaze off of speaker.
“You still in trouble, Rashad, I’m not playing. Start taking this food in the house and don’t touch nothing. Let me talk to your dad.” He climbed back over the seats and he handed me the phone and then got out once I gave him the house keys.
“Your son is a liar and I’m about to tear his little butt up.”
Blaze stopped laughing and cleared his throat. “Man, leave him alone. He just tryna look out for you, is all. You can’t blame him for that, Peaches.” He took up for Blake, like always.
I smacked my lips.
“Get on with that shit, man. Fuck you smacking yo damn lips fah?”
I couldn’t help but laugh at what Blake said to Derrell. “Blaze, that’s embarrassing as hell to have my baby out in public and he’s clowning like he did. Then for him to tell that man he ain’t getting none over here is embarrassing as hell, B—” I was cut off by Blaze’s sudden burst of laughter again and this time I couldn’t help but laugh along with him. “That’s not even funny, to have people hear this and start looking at us crazy. I tell him he’s grounded and he like hell n’all, call my daddy, you trippin’.”
“Wait, he said what to you?” That stopped his laughter. Blaze laughed at pretty much everything Blake did until it came to me. If he was disrespectful in any shape or form, Blaze was on him.
“Exactly, but you can’t get mad. Blaze, he hears how you talk to your momma and think it’s cool when it’s not. When he’s with you, B, y’all have to be careful of what you say around him because then he thinks it’s okay to bring that shit back here, when it’s not. So don’t get hot when you learn the slick shit he says to me. Blake is onl
y acting how he see you do— well, he’s worse than you. He’s eight and cuss like a sailor.” This was falling on deaf ears. Like father like son.
“I hear you, but aye, you coming to my party?”
Deaf Ears.
“Yeah, I’mma stop by. I’m going to be super late, though. I have to work and I don’t get off until eleven-thirty, so I should make it there around one or one-thirty, somewhere around there.”
Blaze hummed into the phone and was quiet for a few seconds. “That’s cool and invite who you want, i’ight?”
My brows rose at that. That was the first time he told me to invite whoever I wanted to. My girls were an automatic invite so I wondered what he was implying.
“You mean like a dude?” I asked for clarification and again he hummed.
“Yeah, a nigga. What the fuck else I’m talkin’ ‘bout?”
Smacking my lips, I got out of the truck and made my way into the house. “No need to get smart. Why you saying I can bring someone?” He didn’t reply back, so I laughed. “You must got a bitch you bringing. Blaze, you can bring your little girlfriend. I have no problem with that—Hold on— Blake, go lock the truck and pull your bike into the garage and whatever else you have in the yard bring it in, too.”
“Okay, when I finish, can I go to Eric’s house?” He put those pretty light brown eyes of his on me.
My eyes slanted at him.
“When I come back, you can ground me. I promise. Please, Mommy, please. I love you.”
Laughing at his whiny face, I shook my head.
“Thanks, I’ll be back before the street lights come on!” He yelled running past me. The screen door slammed hard behind him.
“I didn’t say yes, Blake!” I yelled after him but he was already gone. That child of mine. I shook my head, I left the front door open and then walked to the kitchen.
“I thought you was beating his ass?” Blaze chuckled.
I put the phone on speaker and started putting away the food. “I am when he gets back so don’t worry about it. Now who is this chick you bringing to yo party? I heard you had a girlfriend.” I lied, biting into my bottom lip to stop myself from laughing.
“You a gotdamn lie, boss. Yo ass ain’t heard no bullshit like that,” he replied.
“Okay, I lied. Hey, you can’t blame me. I mean, with you suddenly saying I can bring a dude to your party, hmm.” I pointed out right before I heard ruffling in his background. “Are you busy?”
“N’all, you good. But shid, I got a little chick that’s riding with me and I ain’t want yo ass feeling some type of way.”
Rolling my eyes, I laughed. “Man, whatever. I’m not going to feel no type of way. I’ll be solo coming to your party. Thanks to our son, every man that looks my way, he runs off. Oh, and why do my baby need to give you two hundred ones?”
Blaze broke out laughing. “Boss, that’s yo damn brotha. He’s a bad influence on Blake’s ass. So yell at that nigga, not me. But shid, I just wanted to give you a heads up on this chick that’s coming so don’t be tryna beat her ass when you see her on me, i’ight?”
Smacking my lips, I laughed already knowing what he was referring to. “For real, get on with that. That bitch jumped on me first, Blaze, I simply hugged yo little triflin’ ass and that bitch came outda nowhere, pulled me off of you and started hitting me first. And that was like two years ago, so let that shit go. I mean, if that’s the bitch you bringing, then it’s a different story. I’m gon’ beat the shit out that bitch with absolutely no hesitation. You and these damn hood rats.”
A small laugh slipped through my lips as I began to think about that time I ran into him at the courts a couple years back. Blake and I had come to Gary to visit for the weekend. I had dropped my baby off at Mom B’s house and then went to the courts to meet up with the girls and the guys.
When I got there, I had just given Blaze a hug that lasted for a second before some chick came snatching me away from him and started hitting me, claiming I was fuckin’ with her man. Not going to lie, the bitch had me in the beginning until Blaze pulled her off of me and I turned around and beat the shit out of that girl.
“N’all, it ain’t that bitch. Aye, let me hit you back, though, i’ight?”
“Okay, bye.” My phone screen lite up, indicating he had hung up.
Already knowing I wasn’t going to talk to him until his birthday, I tried pushing him to the back of my mind but I couldn’t.
It never failed. Whenever I talked to him, that giddy feeling always returned, full force.
If we were still in the same city, it would be nothing to roll up on him or have him come over to me.
The move was most definitely a big mistake. I now knew that.
I missed him like crazy.
Chapter 2
Peaches
“Blake, come eat!” Sitting his plate on the table, I passed Kimmy one.
“So we need to go shopping when you get off tomorrow. I honestly don’t know what I’m wearing. Hell, if I’m going for that matter,” Kim said, sighing.
“Mike must be coming?” I shook my head at her.
“Peach, don’t do that, okay, because wasn’t nobody judging you when—” Kim trailed off as Blake came running into the kitchen.
“Hey, Aunt Kim.” Walking over to her, Blake gave Kimmy a hug.
“Hey, babe,” she returned his hug and kissed his forehead.
He pulled away then went to the table and started eating.
Kim looked back at me and started whispering. “No one judged you when you had Ron and B.”
Smacking my lips, I rolled my eyes at her stupid statement.
“I wasn’t with neither of them and I wasn’t fuckin’ both of them at the same time. Plus, they’re not in the same circle so I wasn’t at risk of being caught. And that was years ago. I’m not messing with either and I never even slept with Ron. So there was no reason for me to be judged.” Shrugging, I grabbed my plate then went to the table, sitting next to Blake.
“So what, you was thinking about it.” Kim shot back.
Laughing at her comeback, I just shook my head. We had been telling Kim for years now to leave one of those men alone and that she was playing a dangerous game. But Kim, being Kim, didn’t listen. So for the past five years, she had been sleeping with Bellow behind Mike’s back. And even though Mike was still a hoe, that nigga was crazy when it came to Kim and he was going to flip the fuck out once he found out.
I must say she was smart about how she was going about doing it. She would use our visiting time to meet up with Bellow at their apartment they had out here in Lafayette. She would go out there twice during the week days and then spent the weekends there as well.
They had their own little life together. I didn’t know how much longer Bellow was going to take with her doing that. He had been pushing her hard as of late to break it off with Mike or he was going to do it for her.
I just hoped she got smart soon and made a choice. The right one.
“Thinking, doing and really, really, really wanting to is three different things,” I said with a dreamy sigh, making Kim laugh.
“Bitch, you stupid.”
“Kim!” I yelled at her.
Her mouth formed into an O as she looked at Blake who was just cheesing hard.
“It’s cool, Momma, she good,” Blake said, stabbing his macaroni and then eating it off of his folk. He turned to look at me and I already started shaking my head no. “You don’t even know what I’m going to say, though.”
“I don’t care, Blake, I know you all too well and my answer is no to whatever it is.”
“Please—”
“No, Blake, so forget about it.” I put a folk full of macaroni in my mouth.
“You don’t even know what I’m going to say,” he stated in an annoyed tone.
Rolling my eyes, I gave him a pointed look. “So what, my answer is still no to whatever it is.” Stabbing the string beans, I ate them then looked back at Blake.
“Bu
t, Momma—” he whined out.
“No, Rashad.” My tone was firm and my words final.
“Forget it, damn, I ain’t even hungry.” He pushed away from the table then got up, stomping out of the room.
“You bet not touch my purse, either!” I yelled after him, already knowing he was about to get the phone to call his dad.
“I wasn’t!”
Looking at Kimmy, I started to laugh already knowing he was lying from the defensive tone of his voice.
“Why you picking on my boy?” asked Kim. Shaking my head, I told her what he did in the store earlier today. “No he didn’t?”
My lips pursed together as my head nodded. “He did, I was so freakin’ embarrassed, Kim. I don’t know what done got into that boy, but his whole damn attitude has changed. It has gotten so bad I can’t even bring him to work with me no more because he’s constantly being disrespectful to the male nurses or doctors. Girl, he has gotten so many whoopin’s these past few months it’s ridiculous, but they’re pointless because they’re not doing anything.” I pushed my plate away completely losing my appetite.
I just didn’t understand what was really going on with my baby.
“Did you talk to Blaze about his attitude?” Kim asked.
Rolling my eyes, I let out a heavy sigh. “You know I did, but all he’s saying is that Blake’s just looking out for me or he laughs it off saying he’s going to talk to him. Today he was worse. You should’ve just heard how he talked and looked at that man. I could’ve seriously beat his ass. Shid, I had planned to once we got home.”
“I would’ve tore his little ass up, hell I’d probably still be whooping his ass. What stopped you from tagging his grown butt?” She leaned forward on the table fully engaged into our conversation.
Feeling embarrassed for my reason, I just shook my head not wanting to tell her that talking to Blaze had distracted me. “I don’t know, Kim…” Not being able to lie to her fully, I just sighed staring straight at her.
“Sweetie, it’ll work itself out so don’t stress it. All little boys are like that. He could simply be trying to keep them away hoping you and Blaze will get back together,” she suggested.