Single Ladies 3&4

by Blake Karrington

  “Take care of yourself, Tammy. Goodbye,” he said, then hung up the phone before she could say anything else.

  All that hardcore shit that Tammy was talking was now out the door. The shit had got real, and she was already feeling the effects of what just happened. Not only was Chris done with her, he was also done with the kids, and that’s what hurt the most.

  __________

  Ralphy thought that killing Dre would make him feel better, and it did a little, but it still didn’t take away the fact that Lisa had cheated on him. The pain from that remained in his heart.

  “Ralphy, what’s good, homie?” Lamar yelled before Ralphy got up the steps.

  “What it do, Mar?” he shot back after turning around.

  “Yo, I need to holla at you about something,” Lamar said, walking across the street. “Aye yo, I’m in a lil’ dilemma right now,” he said, looking from left to right to make sure that it was just them out there.

  Ralphy looked around too with one eyebrow up.

  “Yo, I need you to keep this between me and you, brah,” Lamar said. “You know I’m fuckin’ Kim right now,” he said with a big ass smile on his face.

  “Oh yeah? I thought y’all was just roommates,” Ralphy inquired.

  “Yeah, we were. But guess what?” he said, looking around again. “Yo, I’m fuckin’ Falisha too, homie!” Lamar told him, sticking his hand out for some dap.

  “Damn! You fucked Falisha and Kim? What in da hell can ya dilemma possibly be?” Ralphy asked.

  Kim was a nice looking chick with a sexy body. She had a good job, and there weren’t too many nigga who could say that they hit it. She was more of a conservative chick, and was very careful of who she dealt with. A lot of niggas tried, but most of them failed.

  Falisha, on the other hand, was bad in every sense of the word. Her body was crazy thick, and she was cute in the face. She didn’t have a job, nor could she cook that well, but she was young enough to mold, and she had the potential to be loyal.

  “Homie, I think I’m in love with both of those bitches, ya feel me?” Lamar said, rubbing his hands together.

  Ralphy scratched his head. He was having trouble staying in love with one girl, and here Lamar was, trying to love two women.

  “I know eventually I’ma have to pick one of em’. I just don’t know who,” Lamar said with a confused look on his face.

  Ralphy shook his head and chuckled. He really didn’t know what to tell Lamar. Females and love was the last thing on his mind right now. But he had to tell Lamar something. He came to him for some advice, and that’s what he was going to get.

  Ralphy dug deep down and put as much of his own situation to the side, and then found some good words to say. “Whoever you feel can complete you, that’s who you should be with,” he said, sticking his hand out for a dap, which Lamar gave him in agreement.

  On that note, Ralphy went into his house, and Lamar walked back across the street thinking about what Ralphy had just said. “The one who can complete me,” Lamar mumbled to himself as he took a seat on the steps.

  Just as he sat down, Kim came out of the house, on her way to work. She had on a black Balenciaga leather pencil skirt, a white blouse, and a pair of Saint Laurent peep-toe pumps.

  She looked a little overdressed for work, which made Lamar raise an eyebrow. “You goin’ to work like that?” he asked, standing up to get a better look at her, and also to help her down the steps in her heels.

  “Boy, you ain’t my man. Don’t worry about how I’m dressed,” she playfully snapped back at him as she walked towards her car. “And don’t wait up, ‘cause I got a date tonight,” she smiled right before she got into her car.

  Lamar just sat there. He didn’t know how to respond to that. All he knew was that he didn’t like the sound of her going out on a date.

  Chapter 3

  Lisa sat at work thinking about Ralphy, as she did every day. Today she even thought about Dre, wondering why he hadn’t called in a couple of days. When she tried to call his phone it went straight to voicemail every time.

  “Lisa, I need you to prep Ms. Thompson for an abstraction,” Dr. Crosby said, coming out of the operating room.

  “Sure, Dr. Crosby,” she said. As soon as she got up from her desk, her cell phone started to ring. Her instincts made her reach for it. When she looked on the screen, it was Kim calling. She answered it only to tell her to call back. “Hey, girl. Can you call me back in like twenty—”

  “Did you hear what happened?” Kim said, cutting her off.

  It sounded too juicy, and Lisa couldn’t resist. “What happened?” she asked, looking over at Ms. Thompson sitting in the waiting chair.

  “Oh shit, girl! You really don’t know! Dre was murdered two nights ago in his neighborhood. My boss just told me five minutes ago,” Kim told her.

  The news was such a shock that Lisa had to sit back down in her chair. She was sick.

  “They said that two men in black hoodies walked up and started shooting. I know you don’t wanna hear this, but whoever did it had some personal shit on his mind. Dre was shot seven times; once in the side and six times in his face, all at close range,” Kim continued.

  Lisa covered her mouth and shook her head slowly. Her eyes began to water at how horrible Dre’s death was. Her thoughts then shifted from Dre to Ralphy, and she began to immediately ask herself whether or not Ralphy was capable of doing something like this. Ralphy did have a past life, but Lisa wasn’t sure if it was as violent as the act in which Dre was murdered.

  “Lisa! Ms. Thompson!” the doctor said, snapping Lisa out of her daze.

  “Oh… oh, yes Dr. Crosby. I’m coming right now,” she responded. “Girl, I’ll cal you back after I get off,” she told Kim, and then hung up the phone.

  __________

  A lunch date was the situation for Lamar and Falisha this afternoon. It was Falisha’s idea, but Lamar didn’t mind, especially since Kim was at work around this time. It wasn’t that he was trying to be sneaky or anything’ he just didn’t want Kim to know the extent of his and Falisha’s relationship.

  “Look at you, looking all cute!” Falisha said, coming down her steps.

  Lamar was wearing something basic; a pair of cargo shorts, a white V-neck Polo shirt, and white Gucci sneakers. It was simple, but he made it look good. A fresh haircut, a nice rose gold chain around his neck, and the sweet scent of Creed emanated from his body. He was well put together.

  Falisha kept it simple too. She had on a pair of blue Citizens jeans, a white top and a pair of SW1 Pipette pumps. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail, which always brought out her natural beauty.

  Falisha really wasn’t in the mood to go anywhere extravagant today. She just wanted to spend some time with Lamar, so when she chose to eat at Jack In The Box, it kind of shocked Lamar, but he went with it anyway. The chicken there was banging, so there weren’t any complaints on either side.

  “Can I ask you a question?” Falisha asked while digging into her box of chicken as they sat outside at a table in front of the restaurant.

  “One day I was broke as hell. My homie, Dutch pulled up on me and asked me if I wanted to make some money,” Lamar began, figuring that Falisha wanted to know how he started dancing. “He ran the whole dancing thing down to me like it was the new thing. I didn’t know how to dance until he showed me a couple of moves,” Lamar chuckled.

  Falisha sat there and listened to him talk while she continued to eat her food.

  They shared a few laughs and talked about other things, like goals for the future, kids, and marriage. They even talked about stuff they remembered happening when they were in high school.

  After lunch, they decided to catch a movie, and from there they went to the park, and from the park they did a little shopping downtown. They had dinner at the Outback Steakhouse, and headed towards home.

  By the time they pulled back up to the block it was around 7:30 in the evening. What
only was supposed to be lunch turned into a full day of them being together, and they both enjoyed every minute of it.

  __________

  Lisa drove straight to Dre’s mom’s house after work to pay her respects. His mom was cool as hell, and she knew and treated Lisa like she was her own daughter. She was the only girl that Dre had ever brought home, and because he loved Lisa so much, so did his mom.

  “Oh-h-h! Hey, baby!” Ms. Alberta greeted when she opened the door. “Get ya lil’ tail in here!” she said, grabbing Lisa by the hand and pulling her inside.

  Lisa expected Ms. Alberta to be strong the way she was. She was built Ford tough, but at the same time she had a heart of gold.

  “You know my son was crazy about you,” Ms. Alberta smiled, sitting Lisa down on the couch. “I just wish y’all two would have stayed together. What ya’ll had was real love. I remember when y’all were teenagers, I couldn’t separate y’all with a stick!” she laughed.

  “I’m so sorry about Dre, Ms. Alberta,” Lisa said, wiping the tear that fell down her cheek.

  “Oh baby, don’t worry about my son. He’s up there with the rest of the thugs the good Lord forgave,” Ms. Alberta chuckled.

  It was amazing to Lisa how high Dre’s mom’s spirits were, and how she kept it together. She had just lost her only son to the streets, and here she was making jokes.

  Lisa felt the total opposite though. She was hurt and a bit confused. Something inside of her felt like she was out of place being there mourning over the death of a man that she cheated on her husband with. It felt disrespectful, especially considering the fact that she and Ralphy were still married.

  But another part of her felt obligated to be there because of the history she had with Dre and his family. For her not to show up seemed disrespectful, and to fake like she didn’t have love for Dre would be wrong.

  “Ms. Alberta, I wish I could stay, but I have to pick up my daughter,” Lisa lied just to have a reason to leave. “I’ll come back tomorrow if that’s okay with you.”

  “You can come back here any time, baby. And I know I’m gonna see you at his funeral. It’s on Monday.”

  Lisa didn’t even think her answer through. She just said the first thing that came to mind. “Of course I’m gonna be there. Front and center,” she said as Ms. Alberta walked her to the door.

  Lisa didn’t know what she was thinking, agreeing to that. She knew that if Ralphy found out she attended Dre’s funeral, it would only add more fuel to the fire; a fire that Lisa was hoping she could put out before she lost her husband forever. She really hated putting herself in these situations. It was getting to be all too stressful.

  __________

  Falisha leaned in and wrapped her arms around Lamar as they stood in front of her house. They had been sitting out there talking and laughing since they got back.

  Kim’s car wasn’t nowhere in sight, so Lamar didn’t mind showing Falisha public affection tonight.

  “So, now what, Lamar? Where do we go from here?” Falisha asked, looking up at him.

  Before he could answer the question, a white truck turned onto the block grabbing their attention. It was Big Fox, and he was in his zone with his choice of music:

  “…Ever since you went away,

  I ain’t been doin’ nothing but, thinkin’;

  Thinkin’, thinkin’, thinkin’, thinkin’.

  You been away from me so long,

  And I just don’t think I can carry on,

  So I started drinkin’, drinkin’, drinkin’,

  drinkin’, drinkin’ each and every night…”

  Lamar and Falisha were too young to know anything about Harold Melvin and The Blue Notes, but Ms. D. wasn’t. She had stepped out on the porch after hearing the lyrics to the song and began singing along.

  As Big Fox got closer to the house, Falisha turned around, and her first instinct was to walk over to the truck. But before she did, she caught herself.

  Lamar leaned his back up against the wall and thought to himself, Here we go again with da bullshit!

  Fox stopped right in front of Falisha and Lamar. The light from his stereo system shined enough light in the truck for Lamar to see him clearly.

  Fox looked over at Falisha and was expecting her to come over to the truck, but instead she backed up to Lamar, who was still leaning against the wall. She rested her back up against his chest, and then reached back and grabbed Lamar’s hand and wrapped his arm around her stomach. The entire time, she looked Fox in his eyes with a look that said she belonged to somebody else now.

  Fox could do nothing but respect it. He simply gave Lamar a nod to let him know that he was top dog now. After that, he just pulled off.

  “Come on. Let’s go in the house,” Falisha said, pulling Lamar up the steps by his hand. They disappeared into the house, more than likely for the rest of the night.

  __________

  Lisa walked into the house to find Ralphy sitting at the kitchen table, reading. She could hear Naomi upstairs playing with her toys, as usual. When she walked into the kitchen, Ralphy lifted his head up, briefly looked at her before refocusing his attention back to what he was reading.

  “Have a seat. I need to talk to you about something,” Ralphy said as he shifted the papers around.

  Lisa hesitated for a second, thinking about Naomi.

  ”She’ll be fine,” he assured Lisa, then nodded to the chair.

  Lisa took the carry bag off of her shoulder, placed it on the table, then pulled out a chair. She was curious to know what he wanted to talk about, being as though he hadn’t had much to say to her as of late. “What do you wanna talk about, Ralphy?” she asked in a submissive manner.

  Ralphy gathered all of the papers from off of the table and set them to the side. “You know, Lisa, I still love you. I care about you more than you’ll ever know, and I hate the fact that things happened the way they did between us,” he began.

  “Baby, I still love you too—”

  “Just listen to me, Lisa,” he cut her off. “For the past couple of weeks I’ve been thinking long and hard about everything, and I ultimately came to the conclusion that things will never go back to the way they were. A lot has happened, and I really don’t want us to waste any more time out of our lives trying to fix what’s broken. It’s just too much work.”

  “I know it’s gonna be hard work, but I love you enough to do what needs to be—”

  “Here,” Ralphy said, pushing the papers he was reading over to her.

  “What’s this?” Lisa asked, picking the papers up off of the table and reading the header. Her heart dropped, along with her bottom jaw at the sight of the divorce papers. She knew that he was angry, but to see that he actually went through with obtaining divorce papers was a tough blow.

  Tears immediately formed in her eyes, and when she looked up at Ralphy, he too had tears in his eyes. This process wasn’t any easier for him as well. He loved Lisa with just about everything he had. To end it now, and to end it this way was devastating to him.

  “Ralphy, why can’t we try?” she pleaded, and got up off the chair and onto her knees in front of him.

  “Come on, Lisa,” he said, shaking his head. “Don’t make this harder than it needs to be. It’s over.”

  Lisa jumped up, grabbed the papers off the table and began ripping them up. Ralphy tried to stop her, but she had ripped a nice amount of the papers before he got to her. “No, no, no!” she said as they wrestled for the rest of the documents.

  After a while, Ralphy just gave up and let her finish what she had started. He watched as she stuffed the papers into the garbage disposal, turned the water on and hit the switch. He just looked at her and shook his head before walking out of the kitchen.

  Instead of chasing after him, Lisa fell to the floor in tears. She still couldn’t believe it was all happening this way. She cried out like a baby at the thought of losing Ralphy, and she knew by the divorce papers that it w
as pretty much official. All she had did was prolong the process a little, because the fact still remained that Ralphy was done with her.

  Chapter 4

  The morning sunlight almost blinded Lamar when he left Falisha’s house. He put his hand up to block the sun as he crossed the street to get to his residence.

  Seeing Kim’s car parked down the street let him know that she was home. Still having some energy left over from last night, he figured he’d take a quick shower, and then wake Kim up with some early morning head, followed by some slow, passionate sex.

  When he walked through the door, the scent of bacon and eggs smacked him in the face. He walked into the kitchen, but Kim wasn’t there, nor was the food.

  “I know she didn’t just cook for herself!” he mumbled to himself while leaving the kitchen.

  He shot upstairs and stood at the top of the steps, debating on whether or not to jump into the shower first or go mess with Kim about not making him anything to eat when she cooked. He looked down the hallway towards the bathroom, and then he looked the other way towards Kim’s room. It might have been the music coming from her room that made him choose to have his talk with her.

  As he walked down the hallway he thought his ears were deceiving him when he thought he heard a moan coming from beyond the music. As he got closer to the door, the moans got a little louder, and it became clear that it was Kim.

  Lamar’s dick got hard quick as hell at the thought of Kim laying in her bed and pleasing herself. Fuck a shower! he thought. It was time to play. When he reached for the knob and saw that the door was open, he walked in.

  “Oh shit! Lamar, get out!” Kim shouted after opening her eyes to see him standing there.

  Marell lifted his face out of Kim’s pussy to turn around to see who was standing behind him.

  Lamar was still in shock, looking at another nigga eating Kim’s pussy. Kim had to yell again for him to back out of the room.