by Styles, T.
“Bitch, is you dead?” he said out of nowhere, looking into her face. He wiped the sweat off of his brow. “What happened to all that shit you was talking outside?”
“Huh? What happened?” His comment came out of left field, and she felt a piercing jolt of unease in her stomach.
“For starters, you not moving right. It’s like I’m fucking a corpse or something.” He was straight giving her the business. “And your pussy dry. What, you a dude or something?”
She didn’t know how he wanted her to operate her hips, but she could certainly get her own pussy wet. “Move for a second. I know what to do.” He lifted up and she took a glob of spit, put it in her hand, and slapped it over her pussy, the way Randy would ask her to do sometimes. Then she lay on the bed with her legs open. “Come on, you should be able to get into it now.” She smiled.
After seeing that mess, Gary rose up and sat on the edge of the bed. He wasn’t about to fuck Miss Spitty Puss, he didn’t care how bad her body was. “Can you at least suck dick? Since it’s obvious you can’t fuck?”She was too afraid to say the wrong thing, so she nodded instead. “Good ... Get on your knees and open your mouth.”
Farah dropped, and he stuffed his dick into her mouth. She moved her neck the way she thought he wanted, and pretended to be enjoying it as she bobbed awkwardly from left to right. When she looked up at him, his brows were creased and he looked madder than before. It was as if he was growing more irritated with each lick. Grabbing her cheeks he said, “Open your mouth wide.” He demonstrated. “Like this.”
When he released her, she bobbed her head so ridiculously again that he was about to hit her on top of the head, like the Hungry Hungry Hippo in the children’s board game. She thought things were cool until her teeth bit down on him and he pushed her off. Farah was overcome with embarrassment, and immediately felt lightheaded. Standing up, holding his dick he said, “You did that shit on purpose.”
She shook her head. “No ... I didn’t! I promise.”
“Yes, you did.” Gary grabbed his clothes and quickly got dressed. It was as if a bomb were about to detonate and he only had fifty seconds to get out alive.
“Is everything cool?” Farah sat on the bed and looked at him move about the room in a hurry. “Did I do something wrong? I tried to do it the best I could. Maybe I can try it again.”
“You bit down on my dick! Of course you did something wrong!” He paused. “Put your shit on and go in the kitchen and cook,” he told her as if he were an abusive husband. “Because after what you just did to me, the least you could do is make me something to eat. After this shit, I gotta grab a drink from Riley’s.” He put his hat on and left.
Farah got dressed and walked to the mirror. She couldn’t find her panties and from where she stood, she looked around for them. This was the most mortifying thing she’d ever experienced in her life. Second only to the day Brownie put shit in her face. In the beginning, when she first got with Zone, he asked her if she’d ever had sex. He told her that something was wrong with the way she moved her body and she never knew what he meant until that night. Standing in front of the mirror, with a closed fist, she hit herself in the face once. And a second time. And a third time, until tears poured out her eyes. She could only imagine what Gary was saying to his friend, or Lesa in the living room. Finding her panties on the floor, next to her mirror, she noticed his dirty footprint in the seat of them. Mad at herself for even being bothered with him in the first place,“ she put them on as a form of punishment against herself.
Picking up her cell, she decided to call her grandmother. “Farah.” Elise had just woken up and was trying to get herself together. “Is everything okay?” Farah started weeping. “What’s wrong?” Talk to me!” Her voice was heavy with concern. “Are you hurt?”
“Grandma, I know you’re not a priest, but if I confess my sins to you, and try to be a better person”—she sobbed harder—“do you think God will forgive me? So that people will like me more?”
“God will always make things better when you trust in Him, but you shouldn’t worry about other people.”
“But that’s what I want. For people to like me,” she said seriously.
“Okay, Farah ... I do believe when your soul is in order, all things will fall into place. Including the people in your life. And no matter what you say to me tonight, your secret is safe with me.”
Farah bared her entire soul in the hopes she could be friends again with Coconut, Rhonda, and even Lesa. The call lasted for thirty minutes, as Farah told her about everything vile that she kept hidden.
After dropping her murderous life on her grandmother, she pulled herself together and walked into the hallway. The moment she turned the corner, she heard two extra female voices in the living room. She saw Lesa and two girls sitting on the sofa and loveseat. Gary and Roth were also in the audience. They all seemed to be having a good conversation until she came into the room.
“Farah, come over here. I want you to meet my bitches!” Lesa said, holding a martini. Farah walked over to them and picked up one of her puppies that was clawing at her ankle. “This is Lady and this is Courtney.”
“Hi, Farah.” Lady smiled.
Farah was confused. She just confessed her sins to her grandmother, all of them, and this was how God repaid her?
“What’s up?” Courtney said flatly.
Lady and Courtney gave each other sly looks before eyeing Gary who, judging by his body language, was obviously feeling Lady. They were so close together that their knees were touching. How could he be in her pussy and mouth a minute ago, only to entertain another bitch a second later? She was growing angrier by the minute.
Thinking of Elise, and still trying to be a better person, Farah’s face produced a slight smile as she walked up to them and extended her hand. Lady accepted her gesture first, followed by Courtney, whose handshake was weak. She only hoped that Gary didn’t give them the wrong impression by saying they fucked.
“I thought you weren’t talking to them anymore.” Farah smiled at Lesa. “So what are they doing here?”
“She called us,” Courtney said. Farah looked at Lesa. All that shit about being too stubborn to call them was a lie and Farah felt played. She didn’t know that her behavior outside inspired Lesa to call her friends. She wanted to be around real bitches. “Why ... what’s wrong?”
“I guess nothing.”
“Well, did you have fun, Farah?” Lady asked, looking at Gary and back at her. Gary sipped a beer on the table and avoided eye contact with Farah. “Y’all was in there for a minute.”
“Yeah, we were about to cook dinner,” Courtney said. “Did you want a bite to eat?” she said louder. Everybody burst into laughter and she knew then that he told them they fucked and how poorly she performed.
“Well, come sit down, girl,” Courtney said. “I was just telling Lesa that I love your place. She lucky as shit to be living here because a girlfriend of mine was trying to get in here for two years now.”
“Thank you.” Farah wasn’t feeling her vibe. “You’re welcome over here anytime you want.”
“How did you get a place in this building?” Lady asked.
“Yeah ... who you have to fuck?” Courtney looked at Gary. “Or suck ... to move here?”
Farah was no longer feeling her energy and hoped Lesa would put them in check, but she didn’t. “What are y’all doing here for real?” Farah blurted. “It’s obvious you don’t like me.”
“And we’re not here for you. We’re here for Lesa.” Courtney made the correction.
“But why the attitude? It ain’t my fault Lesa told me about the reasons y’all stopped hanging together.” She paused. “Me and Lesa are like family now, and I’m not gonna let y’all come in the way of that because you are jealous.” They all looked at each other.
“Farah, what’s wrong with you?” Lesa questioned. “They’re just fucking with your head. Why you tripping so hard?”
“I knew that bitch was crazy,
” Gary said.
“Nigga, shut up,” Roth interjected, not wanting to be thrown out before getting some pussy. “You already got put on.”
“Yeah, right,” he responded.
She looked at everyone and said, “I’m sorry. Maybe I don’t feel so good so I’m being snappy. I was just wondering why they here. I mean, I thought y’all were beefing and the next thing I know, they in my house.”
“We always fighting with this bitch, but we can’t stay away from each other forever. That’s real friendship,” Lady said.
“Everybody don’t beef with their friends over who bought whose baby shower gifts. Or who did hit and runs,” Courtney joked.
Farah looked at Lesa. She couldn’t believe she betrayed her this way. “Why would you do that, Courtney?” Lesa asked.
“Sorry, Farah.” She raised a glass. “I been drinking.”
“I hope y’all know that me and Lesa are cousins, so if you gonna be in her life, I am too,” Farah said.
Courtney looked at Lesa, who held her head down in shame. The cousin shit was cool when they were alone with a drink in hand, but in front of her friends it was embarrassing. And she couldn’t understand why Farah didn’t recognize it. She had zero swag.
“This your cousin now?” Lady laughed, holding her stomach. “Damn, y’all ain’t been in here that long, have you?”
“Yeah, Lesa ... what y’all gonna be doing next? Eating each other’s pussies out?” Courtney added.
“Picture that shit, bitch!” Lesa remarked. “You always talking sideways.”
Everyone was laughing at Farah’s expense and she felt the room spin. Everything in her wanted to beat both of their asses, and she realized Elise was a liar. She didn’t know anything about life because if she did, why would she be going through this? Things were even worse since she confessed. “We not real cousins,” Farah interrupted. “We just call each other that because we have so much in common.”
“Whatever,” Courtney said, waving her hand at the foolery. “Anyway, Lesa, what you doing tonight? You coming with us to the party or what? A friend of mine owns a catering company in DC called E.A.T. with his partners.” Farah remembered Coconut inviting her to that spot. “At night they rent it out for parties and shit like that. It’s real fly, Lesa. You gotta see this shit. Anyway, Juice and his boys celebrating some business venture and they want us to come.”
“Yeah, it’s supposed to be like that,” Lady added.
“Y’all not gonna hang out with us here?” Roth said, looking at Lady. “I was trying to get to know you better.”
“How you gonna get to know me more, when you here with Lesa?”
“He wasn’t with me,” Lesa said. “Farah brought them in here.”
“It don’t matter if he didn’t try to holla at you or not, I got a man.” Lady told him. “Plus you can’t afford me, daddy. I will admit, you kinda cute though.”
Gary, irritated with all of the shit, stood up and patted Roth on the shoulder. “Let’s roll, man. Ain’t shit jumping off in this joint.”
“I ain’t ready to go,” Roth said.
“You must be trying to get left,” Gary sounded off. Farah thought his comment was funny being that he was the passenger. “Since we did ride in my car.” So it was his car? Farah thought. It didn’t matter. Right now all she wanted was both of them gone, because they were constant reminders that she made a character judgment mistake by inviting them over.
“A’ight, ma. I’ma get up with you later, cool?” Roth said to Lesa.
“Whatever.” She brushed him off.
When they left, Farah sat down on the recliner and said, “So what time is the party? I got some real fly shit I want to wear, that still got the tags on it. My boyfriend Zone bought it for me before he died, when he fell out the window.” Lady and Courtney gave her a puzzled look. “We never went nowhere so I didn’t have a chance to wear it. Maybe I should put it on tonight.”
“Uh ... Who said you were invited?” Lady asked.
“Yeah ... I don’t remember giving you an invitation either,” Courtney said seriously.
Farah looked at both of them and then at Lesa. The room was silent for forty seconds, as she waited for them to say they were joking. This reminded her of how she felt when she invited herself to Coconut’s slumber party. “Are you serious?” she asked. “I really can’t go?”
“You’re lame, Farah,” Courtney continued. “Plus, we don’t know you like that. So why would you think you could just invite yourself to our shit?”
Farah put her puppy down and ran into her bedroom. With her bedroom door closed, she looked at herself in the mirror. You a dumb ugly bitch. Look at you. Your lips are big. Your eyes are far apart. Nobody wants you around them. Look at you. You can’t even talk in front of people. You’re stupid. You’re dumb! Spotty-faced Farah! You gonna always be ugly!
Picking up the brush off her dresser, she brushed it over her lips repeatedly until they were inflamed. When the tissue was broken, she set the brush down and hit herself in the mouth over and over until blood splattered on the wooden dresser and floor. Her mouth was so red she looked as if she drank blood. She was about to hit herself again when Lesa entered the room without asking.
“Farah, they just playing ...” She stopped herself midsentence when she saw blood everywhere. She rushed up to her and said, “What happened?”
Farah covered her mouth. “Nothing. I ... I hit myself in the mouth with my brush by accident.” She smiled, exposing her bloody teeth. “I’m fine. Really.”
“How did you do that with a brush? You should go to the hospital.”
After being in the hospital for most of her life, going tonight was totally out of the question. “I said I’m fine. Now what do you want, Lesa?” Farah grabbed a few tissues from the box and wiped her mouth. “Go be with your friends since you don’t wanna be around me anymore. I may be lame, but I would’ve taken up for you if my friends talked to you like that.”
“Farah, sometimes you act like a kid, and I don’t like it. I thought you would be cooler when I moved in here. That’s why I said you could call me your cousin. But you said that shit twenty times in front of other people and it’s embarrassing. Especially when people know we not related.” She paused. “But don’t be so serious. Now ... get dressed, you going to E.A.T. too.”
Farah’s eyes widened and a smile spread across her face. Just like that, all was forgiven. “For real?”
“Yeah ... I told them you my roommate and to not do you like that.” She rubbed her hair. “So I did take up for you. Just make sure you look fly because the niggas they hang with got money and they don’t fuck with busted bitches.”
“Naw ... I’m gonna look real cute. Trust me.” When Lesa left, Farah looked through her closet. She already made a bad impression and didn’t want to make another one by choosing the wrong gear. After moving hangers back and forth, she settled on a black cat suit by Chanel, along with her leopard Christian Louboutin heels, to showcase her toned calves. After taking a shower and fixing her makeup properly, she realized she didn’t have her medicine, so she decided to drive her own car so she could make a stop and meet them at E.A.T. later. When she walked into the living room to let them know, Mia and Chloe were sitting on the couch with their luggage by their feet.
“Farah, we home!” Chloe sang.
Chapter 26
“How much longer though? I got somewhere to be!”
—Chloe
Chloe was alone in the apartment for five minutes and already she was going through Lesa’s shit. Her closet doors were wide open as she pushed hangers back and forth. Lesa had all the labels a girl could ask for, from Chanel to large, beautiful Hermès bags in assorted colors. She was a hustler’s bitch and she had the threads to prove it. When Chloe found a black dress by Gucci, she wiggled out of her clothes right where she stood. Naked in the middle of the floor, she eyed the beautiful gown. Chloe had a tattoo of an eyeball on each ass cheek, complete with the lashes. So whe
n Mia looked in her sister’s direction, the eyes appeared to be staring at her.
“I swear that fucking tattoo is creepy!” Mia said, sitting on Lesa’s bed. “I don’t know why you got that shit anyway. It’s ghetto to the hundredth degree.”
Chloe turned around. “Girl, bye! Men love to see pretty lashes staring at them when they hitting this from the back.” She focused on the dress and pressed it against her titties to judge the fit. “I get mad praise when I push this thing on they dick.”
“They?” Mia was disgusted. “You better slow your roll before you come up missing. Anyway ... couldn’t you have just turned around and showed them your eyes? Did you have to get a tat?”
Chloe was silent for a moment because she never considered the possibilities. “No, that’s dumb. I love my tattoo and like I said, I get compliments on it all the time.”
“Whatever, young bitch.”
A hot, sweaty mess from running around DC all day, Chloe eased into Lesa’s new dress, which was supposed to be worn at the fashion show. Since the tag dug into her skin, she pulled it off and it floated to the floor like a leaf off a tree. As she pulled the straps over her shoulders she was amazed to see it fit like a glove. Chloe walked toward the mirror on the door and looked at her reflection. “Damn, me and this bitch gonna be the best of friends.” She turned from side to side and saw her ass was perfectly round. “My time in the gym is finally paying off!”
“Farah gonna be mad as shit when she find out you going through her roommate’s closet! You know she don’t want you here anyway.”
Chloe fanned the air. “Like I give a fuck.”
“You can fake with your friends if you want to, but I know it hurt you that y’all haven’t been talking,” Mia continued. “When you gonna tell me what it’s about? You and Farah act like its top secret.”
“Never. So stop asking.”
“Did you have to pull the tag off? Ain’t nobody trying to fight this bitch because you done left evidence that we been in here.”