RedBone

by Styles, T.

  “You got four bedrooms in that apartment and two of the bedrooms got bathrooms. I know all about the apartment, Farah, and I know you got enough room. You mean to tell me you can’t help your sisters and brother out?”

  “Why they gotta leave your place? Can’t they stay with Grandma?”

  “When your grandmother moved out, she took her social security money with her.” Her voice appeared to fade away. “And they don’t wanna stay with her, because Mamma doesn’t wash up at all anymore. That’s why she isn’t as bad as us. I’d rather die than not wash my clothes or my ass but that’s on her.”

  Her voice was irritating. “What am I supposed to tell my roommate?

  “You know, if it was your father asking for your help, it wouldn’t be a problem.”

  “Do you mean my father or theirs? Because we both know we all don’t have the same dad.”

  “You think just because you live a few buildings down from me you better, RedBone?” She laughed. “Bitch, you still in the hood and don’t need to be looking down on nobody. I regret passing this disease to your sisters and Shadow. But I’m glad you got every last bit of it.”

  That was the meanest thing she’d ever said to her, but Farah was determined not to let her know. “I’m tired of you trying to make me feel bad ... or guilty. That was done the day you put shit in my face. Maybe I should let Ashur know that his wife never got over her little white boyfriend.”

  “Cosmo was wrong for telling you that. And I tell him every time I see him around.”

  Farah smirked. “Yeah ... I’m sure he gives a fuck.”

  “If Ashur ever found out about you, it would break his heart. And you know it!”

  “Mamma, you broke his heart a long time ago. He may even know already I’m not his kid. Just one look at me and everybody could tell I don’t belong. I can’t believe you fucked Coach Jaffrey.” She laughed again. “You must’ve been one horny bitch.”

  “You don’t know shit about my life! Nothing! That man was the first person who ever truly loved me. And if Ashur knew you weren’t his child you think he’d be calling you every week? Or asking about you when I speak to him? As far as that man’s concerned, you’re his child, and unless you wanna break his heart, you better keep your mouth closed.”

  “Mamma, I love him. The one thing you’ll never have to worry about is me telling him about you. I’ll let you take that secret to hell.”

  “Good! Because if you don’t I still have a certain knife with fingerprints matching yours that was involved in the murder of Dinette.”

  “I didn’t have anything to do with that. And I was a kid!”

  “We’ll let the courts say if that’s irrelevant or not.”

  Knock. Knock. Knock. Farah hopped off the sink, still thinking about what her mother said. She placed her hand over the receiver and said, “Yes? I’m using the bathroom.”

  “You been in there forever,” Lesa said. “Your puppies are going crazy and I thought we were gonna hit this jay. Fucking with me this shit gonna be gone! Plus—”

  “Give me a second, Lesa.” Farah tried to cover the receiver harder. “My sister Chloe just called me about some problems she having with her boyfriend. I’ll be out in a second.” Farah didn’t know where that lie came from, but if it would get Lesa away from the door, it served its purpose.

  “Your sister Chloe?” Lesa repeated. She sounded suspicious. “Okay. Well, hurry up. We got company.”

  When Farah heard her footsteps walk away, she focused back on the call.

  “Still lying, huh?” Brownie laughed. “After all this time you still can’t tell the truth. And you got the nerve to be talking about me.” She paused. “Remember what I said. You gotta make room for your siblings because, like it or not, they coming with you. Unless you want me to start making a few calls. Oh ... and the blackmail money for Jaffrey I used to give you stops today.”

  “Fuck you!”

  “Fuck you back!”

  After the call, Farah brushed her hair and made sure every strand was in place. Then she applied a little hypoallergenic makeup on her arms since she was wearing a wifebeater and the sores were showing. The sores from the last outbreak were the only marks she had and she wanted to keep it that way. No longer would she have to worry about Grand Mike. Thanks to her cousin Cosmo she now knew what it took to be healthy, so she was fully in charge of her own life and she already put her plan into motion.

  When she was presentable, she placed her hand on the white porcelain doorknob and strutted into the living room. The moment she turned the corner, she saw a pair of long legs she hadn’t seen in a while. What the fuck is this bitch doing in my house? She was wearing tight jeans and a brown pair of Uggs, and Farah wanted her gone.

  “Hey, sis!” Chloe stood up and walked toward Farah. Her hair was pulled back neatly. She wrapped her arms around her, but Farah stood in place. “I missed you so much. How come you don’t answer my calls?” Farah pushed her off and watched her drop to the floor.

  “Hold up, what’s going on?” Lesa asked. “She said she was your sister.”

  “This bitch ain’t my sister!” Farah said. “What the fuck are you doing here, Chloe?”

  Diamond and Pearl started yapping crazily, sensing Farah’s unpleasant disposition. “I’m sorry, Farah. I should’ve known she wasn’t your sister when you told me you were talking to her on the phone,” Lesa said. “Especially since she was out here with me the whole time.”

  Farah was embarrassed for being caught in her lie. “Lesa, it’s a long story. I’ll explain later.”

  Chloe stood up, smirked, and walked back toward Farah. “I know you better not put your fucking hands on me again. Unless you forgot how sweet I am with any weapon of my choosing,” she said, referring to Dinette’s stabbing.

  “What are you doing here?” Farah frowned, preparing to gut punch her.

  Chloe wiped the stupid smile off of her face and said, “Well, you ain’t been answering my calls, so I decided to come over to see you.” She raised her arms in the air. “So here I am. It’s funny though, you don’t seem like you’re happy to see me. Why is that, big sis?”

  “How come I gotta keep asking what the fuck you doing in my house? The next thing that’s gonna happen if I don’t get an answer is you being thrown out on your ass. You are not welcome here. Anymore ... ever.”

  She grabbed her Louis Vuitton purse and looked at Lesa. “Why don’t you hang out in the bathroom again, Farah. That way me and Lesa can talk about how your boyfriend took a fall for the worse awhile back.”

  Farah’s eyes widened. “Fuck are you talking about? Farah stepped closer to her. ”That’s your problem. You stay keeping up shit.”

  “You don’t remember, sis?” Chloe continued. “You put your hands right here.” She touched Farah’s chest. “And pushed.”

  “Lesa, I gotta talk to my sister,” Farah said, interrupting her. “Alone.”

  “Is everything cool?” Lesa asked.

  “Yeah ... just give me a few minutes.” Then Farah looked back at Chloe’s large grin. “Come to my room.”

  When they opened the door Diamond and Pearl rushed into Farah’s bedroom, but she grabbed them, kissed them on the mouth, and put them outside the door.

  “Pew,” Chloe said, pinching her nose as she walked into the room. “They smell like they been shitting and pissing in here at the same time. You gotta potty train them. They too cute to smell like that.” Chloe walked deeper into the room and threw her purse on the floor. She was sloppy as always and Farah didn’t want her anywhere in her space. Everything about her was nasty with the exception of her outward appearance. Watching her phat ass and tiny waist move toward her bed enraged Farah. She could see why Zone wanted to fuck her and it made her sick to her stomach. Sitting on the bed she said, “You know Ma says I can live here right?” She looked around. “And if I do, I decided to take your room.”

  Farah giggled. “And what makes you think that’s even possible, Chloe? You betta hop
e I let you live here and sleep on the floor with my dogs. But that’s to be determined. You fucking stepped to my boyfriend and that’s fucked up.”

  “I apologize all the time on your voice mail, but you never answer the phone, Farah. It was stupid and I know you miss me too.”

  “I don’t.” She looked into her eyes. “And I’m tired of being pushed over by people. You don’t have no respect for me at all.” Farah walked to her dresser, grabbed her brush, and started brushing her hair. “So how’s college?” She skipped topics. “Things working out okay, or are you about to drop out again?”

  “College is fine, Farah.”

  “Your mother called me. How is she for real?”

  “If you really wanna know the real reason Mamma wants us to move with you, it’s because she doesn’t want us to see her anymore. Her skin is so bad she’s not even recognizable. She wears a full body cover-up and people think she’s Muslim. She don’t say nothing to correct them, either. She’s dying.” Farah felt as if a rock formed in the pit of her stomach, but she remained stone faced. “You don’t really care, do you?” Farah brushed her hair harder. “Well, maybe you’ll care about this. You didn’t turn the computer off that day. You turned off the screen.” Farah was nervous. “I saw what you did.”

  She faced her. “So what did you come here to do, Chloe? Blackmail me? Because I don’t have any money to give you. I caught him jerking off to my sister. I let him carry the relationship for years as if I didn’t matter. I was tired of his shit, Chloe!”

  She stood up, and looked as if she were a kid who held a secret that she was on the verge of telling. “Outside of me wanting this room,” she said, smiling, “I don’t want nothing else but to be your sister again.” She looked into Farah’s eyes. “And I want you to forgive me because I’m sorry. I never thought you were even that serious about him.”

  “He was my boyfriend and I do not forgive you. Now please leave.”

  Chloe lowered her head, picked her purse up off the floor, and walked to the door. “You can’t stay mad at me forever. You know why? Because we’re Cottons and Cottons stick together whether they like it or not. We know secrets about each other that would get us locked up for life if somebody said a word. Stop acting like you are that much different than me. The camera was on and I know the truth.”

  When she left the apartment Farah slowly walked into the living room and lay on the extra-large comforter she had on the floor. Lesa was already on it, smoking a bob. Next to her was a plate of Oreos and a glass of milk: Lesa’s favorite.

  “Don’t tell me,” Lesa started. “The next time somebody comes over, you want me to tell you before I open the door.” She smiled.

  “Please ask me first.” Farah’s puppies jumped all over her and she played with them before throwing their favorite red toy in the corner. While they were preoccupied she said, “Me and her don’t see eye to eye no more. Chloe got a lot of growing up to do. So I’ma deal with her shit on my time.”

  “Understood.” She pulled on the bob and passed it to Farah. “Before y’all had that fight and you came out here, I thought your sister seemed nice. She don’t look like you though. Y’all got the same father?”

  “Yes,” Farah lied. “But you’d never know it.”

  “You know what’s funny, even though you were mad at her, it looked like you missed her, too. Maybe it was just me.” Farah rolled her eyes. “So what was she talking about?” She leaned her back against the couch. “When she pushed you.”

  “Remember I told you my boyfriend fell to his death? Lesa nodded. “Well, she keeps throwing it up in my face. Trying to make me think it was my fault and shit.” Farah pulled on the weed and let the smoke fill her lungs. “Platinum Lofts had to replace all the windows in this building. Zone’s mother ended up getting a large-ass insurance policy check and everything.” Farah didn’t like talking about the murder, so she decided to skip the subject. “Let’s talk about something else.”

  “Cool.” She paused. “I just got off the phone with the coordinator for the designs I did for the fashion show. I think I’m going to win next week.”

  “What fashion show? You didn’t tell me about it.”

  “Oh ... I forgot. I told Coconut and Rhonda.” She laughed. “It was at the party and I think you were making sandwiches or some shit like that.” Farah tried not be petty, but she realized they got closer at that party than she realized. “I’m so excited about this fashion show, girl. It should be hot,” Lesa said. “I bought this beautiful black Gucci dress and I have a red Hermès bag in my closet that I’m going to wear and everything.”

  “You not wearing your own fashions?” she asked, although she was still thinking about Coconut and Rhonda knowing more about her roommate than she did.

  “Bitch, please!” Lesa said. “I want to respect the greats as I”—she pointed to herself—“accept my award. That way I’ll feel like their spirits are with me.”

  “How do you have time to design with you working at the cable company?”

  “You make time for what you wanna do.”

  When Farah’s phone rang she saw Randy’s name flash across the screen. She was supposed to meet him earlier that day, but with recently killing Grand, and then Chloe coming over and the conversation with her mother, she wasn’t in the mood. Hitting the button to answer the call, she crawled away from Lesa. “Hello.”

  “Farah, why you playing games with me? I told you how it was gonna be.”

  “Randy, I can’t talk right now.”

  “Well, you better make time to talk later. Or have you forgotten what kind of nigga I am? I wanna see you tomorrow. You hear me? No more fucking excuses.”

  “Okay, Randy.”

  “Tomorrow, Farah. I’m not fucking around. Bye!”

  When she hung up with him she grabbed the red polish off the glass table. She wanted to do something to get her mind off of him and to prevent Lesa from asking about the call. “Let me polish your toes.”

  “I was just about to do them myself, but you can knock yourself out if you want to!” She placed her feet in her lap, and Farah started with the big toe on her right foot.

  “I bet niggas love to suck your feet, don’t they? They so pretty and cute.” Farah wiggled the little toe and Lesa felt uncomfortable. Farah caught her gaze and said, “Oh ... my gawd ... it’s not like that if that’s what you’re thinking. I’m not into women.” She temporarily forgot all about her drunk games with Coconut. “You mind if I don’t do this? I forgot I’m allergic to the smell.” Lesa took the bottle and twisted the top back on. “So tell me about your friends. And when do I get to meet them? Since you met both of mine already, and even told them about your fashion show before you told me.”

  Silence.

  “Are you always this petty?”

  That was the second time she said the word “petty” when she was talking to her. Farah raised her brows and said, “Petty?” She pointed to herself. “Me?”

  “Yeah ... I mean ... did you not have friends when you grew up or something?”

  “I had lots of friends.”

  “Oh ... because you seem real overprotective. I don’t want things to be so heavy between us.” She nudged her. “Anyway ... I’ve been beefing with my friends for a minute. That’s why they weren’t at the party the other night. We got into a fight over some bullshit and things got out of control.”

  “How long have you known them?” Farah continued, trying to hide the fact that she was still brewing about her comment. Her crazy had been slipping out an awful lot lately.

  “Most of my life.” She seemed sad. “It’s hard to find good friends so when you have them you should hold on tight. If you can.”

  “Do you got any pictures of them?”

  “Yeah.” She put the polish on the table and went for her phone. “Here are some pictures we took at a party we were together at last month.” Farah looked at a picture of two light-skinned girls and their designer bags. They looked cool, and Farah hoped thing
s worked out so they could all be friends. Especially since she hadn’t heard from Coconut or Rhonda since they left her apartment the day she was sick.

  “What are their names?”

  “The one right here with the short black hair is Lady and the one right here with the long hair is Courtney.”

  “You should call them! We can make drinks and stuff.”

  “I’d never call them. I don’t care how much I missed them. I told you I’m beefing with them right now, Farah.” Lesa seemed irritated with her anxiousness. “This last shit seemed serious.”

  “What made it so serious this time?”

  “It was two things. For starters they didn’t want me getting plastic surgery in February. But do or die, I’m gonna be at that appointment because this is my fucking life not theirs. Second, we all used to mess with dudes who knew each other. Like the dude I fucked with was friends with their boyfriends and vice versa. Anyway, one day I saw Lady’s boyfriend at the Wendy’s kissing this bitch and I told Courtney.”

  “Why didn’t you tell Lady?”

  “I was gonna tell Lady myself, but the shit happened so quick and Courtney was the first person I saw. Anyway, before I could say anything, Courtney told Lady and she got mad with me for not coming to her first. We ended up getting into a fistfight and everything. I’m like, why you mad at me because your nigga cheating? It’s been over a month and I haven’t talked to them since. It’s the longest I’ve ever gone without talking to them two.” She looked at her toes. “And since I’m stubborn as hell, and they are too, that’s it. I could be dead wrong but if my mind is made up, there’s nothing you can get me to do. Including call you.” She paused. “It’s cool though. I got enough dirt on them to last a lifetime.”

  “Do tell!”

  “I can’t do that.” She shook her head. “What if we start being cool again?”

  “So you are going to talk to them again.”

  “Fuck it! That bitch hit me, so I know I’m done.” Lesa laughed. “Here it is ... Lady robbed this soul food restaurant she worked at five different times during the first of the month with her boyfriend. That’s when they get the most cash. Them people still got an award leading to the arrest. If I wanted to be evil, I could’ve called them a long time ago.” Farah raised her eyebrows as she ran down everything Lady did, while they made martinis in the kitchen.