“What’s up baby?” Lamar asked his only daughter.
“Nothing, but daddy I need a big favor from you if you can do it.”
“Okay, what’s up?”
“I have a doctor’s appointment and Moonie don’t want to wake up to take me. Can you sign me in so I can see the doctor? You don’t have to come in the room or nothing. You can just wait out front until I’m done. I have Moonie’s truck and I can pick you up. It won’t take long I promise,” Mia rambled.
“Alright baby girl. I’m at home and I’m dressed. Just swing through and come get me,” Lamar replied.
“Okay daddy, I’m on my way right now. Thank you so much, I really appreciate this,” Mia said right before she hung up the phone. She still had about thirty minutes to get there and she was confident that she would make it there on time. After locking the front door, she ran to Moonie’s new pearl white Escalade and headed to her father’s house. She looked like a toddler behind the wheel of the huge truck, but she knew how to handle it as if it was made just for her. One of Moonie’s boyfriends taught her how to drive when she was fourteen years old and she was a pro at it now. Von took her to get her license on her seventeenth birthday and she’d been on the go ever since.
About three hours later, Mia and her father were pulling back up to her apartments. She made it to her appointment on time and filled her prescription for more birth control pills. She hated that Lamar had to come into the room while she talked to her doctor, but a parent or guardian had to be present at the time. Afterwards, Lamar took her out to lunch at Chili’s and they had a good time just talking to one another. Most times Mia saw her father at least three times a week since he didn’t live that far from where she lived. He would always walk over to The Court to visit her or chill with some of his friends that lived in the area. Von made sure they stayed in contact even if he had to pick Lamar up and bring him to his house. When Lamar wasn’t high, he usually spent more time with Mia than Moonie ever did. He would always take her out to eat or sometimes they would catch a movie together. Moonie thought that since she bought her everything she wanted, she was doing her job. Mia never remembered spending time with her mother and her siblings were no different. She would pay for them to go with someone else, but she never took them anywhere herself.
“Where is your lazy ass mama at?” Lamar said when he walked into the apartment behind Mia.
“She’s probably still in the bed knowing her,” Mia assumed. “You want something to drink daddy?”
“Yeah, what y’all got in there?” Lamar asked.
“Dalvin probably left some of his beer in there. Let me go see,” Mia said walking away.
She was happy to be spending time with her father and she was even happier because he was sober. A few times when he came to see her, he would be itching like crazy or nodding off as they talked. Sometimes he would show up with fresh track marks, but that wasn’t the case today. Von often scolded him for coming around her when he was high, but that never stopped him from doing it.
“Here you go,” Mia said while handing Lamar an ice-cold bottle of Heineken.
“Thank you baby, I appreciate it,” Lamar replied. “Go call your mama for me.”
“No daddy, I don’t even want to talk to her right now.”
“Well I do and she better bring her ass out here. Mya!” Lamar yelled calling Moonie by her real name. Besides Mia’s grandmother, he was the only one who did. They waited for a few minutes, but Moonie never came out of the room.
“She’s probably still sleeping,” Mia remarked.
“Mya!” Lamar yelled again louder than the first time. “She better get her lazy ass up.”
Mia didn’t say anything, but a few minutes later Moonie came stomping into the living room with a frown covering her pretty face. She still had on her club clothes and her eyes were red and puffy probably from lack of sleep.
“What the fuck are you screaming my name like that for Lamar?” Moonie yelled angrily.
“Who the fuck are you talking to like that Mya?” Lamar countered just as upset. Mia was used to them arguing whenever they were in each other’s presence, so none of that was new to her. Moonie seemed to hate Lamar for whatever reason and he wasn’t too fond of her either. Mia watched as her parents stared each other down for a minute, before Moonie spoke again.
“What do you want Lamar?” Moonie asked again.
“I’m trying to see why you couldn’t get up off your lazy ass and take my baby to her doctor’s appointment. I didn’t mind going, but I’m sure she would have preferred her mama being there with her. Is it that serious for you to go to the club? You go out damn near every night so staying home one time wouldn’t have killed you,” Lamar snapped.
“Don’t come in here trying to tell me how to run my household. I’m the one that takes her to all of her appointments while your ass is probably at home somewhere getting high as a kite. You think because you come around two or three times a week with a few dollars that you’re father of the year or something. That lil money ain’t shit compared to what I do for Mia.”
“You think that buying her clothes and shoes substitutes for you being a good mother? Your seventeen-year-old daughter basically runs this household because you’re always shaking your ass in the club or smiling in a different nigga’s face.”
“And you sticking a needle in your arm damn sure don’t make you a good father. Von is more of a father to her than you’ve ever been. Looks like I fucked the wrong friend,” Moonie growled. Mia jumped up and grabbed her father’s arm when he attempted to get to her mother.
“Daddy no!” she yelled while pulling him towards the door.
“Don’t hold his bitch ass back Mia. I want him to put his hands on me in my house. The coroners will be carrying his crackhead ass out of here in a body bag,” Moonie swore.
“Fuck that gold digging bitch!” Lamar yelled angrily. “As long as I had money that bitch couldn’t get enough of me.”
“Yeah, but all of your money goes to the dope man now,” Moonie laughed loudly.
“Come on and let me walk you outside daddy,” Mia said while leading her daddy out of the front door.
“I’m sorry that you had to see that Mia, but I hate that bitch. As much as I used to love Mya, I swear I never thought that it would come to this. I know I’m not the best father in the world, but she’s a sad ass mama. I mean, what kind of mother wants her kids to call her by her nickname? She’s too busy trying to be y’all friend and that’s what the problem is,” Lamar fussed.
Mia felt like crying, but she held her composure as best she could. Both of her parents made some valid points about each other, but it shouldn’t have been done right in front of her. They never took the time out to see how what they did affected her and that’s what hurt the most. She was tired of being strong for them when they should have been her strength. Most seventeen year olds only had to worry about graduating high school and going to college. If it weren’t for Von, Mia would have surely lost her mind a long time ago.
“It’s alright daddy, just calm down. Go take a walk and call me later. Maybe we can hook up by Von’s house this weekend,” Mia suggested.
“Alright baby, I’ll talk to you later. Call me if you need anything,” Lamar replied as he exited the apartment building. Mia watched him until he was no longer in her line of vision. Although he’d been through a lot in his life, Lamar was still a very handsome man. He still dressed nice, thanks to Von, and he was always clean and smelling good. His hair was always freshly cut because the barbers at Von’s shop saw to it. If there was really such a thing as a functioning addict that was what Mia considered her father to be. If you didn’t know for a fact that he was on drugs it was really hard to tell. He still had plenty of women and he pulled even more every day.
“I don’t know why you called him to take you to your appointment,” Moonie said as soon as Mia reentered the apartment.
“I didn’t call him, he called me. And why does it matter t
o you anyway? It’s not like you were willing to get up and take me.”
“You should have asked Von to take you like I told you to. Now I’ll have to hear this shit from him for the next few months,” she complained as she stood up from the sofa.
“Von is not my father!” Mia yelled angrily. “Y’all want him to do everything for me as if he already doesn’t do enough. I’m your daughter and you should have been there with me, not Von and not Lamar.”
“Why not Lamar?” Moonie asked. “You’re just as much as his daughter as you is mine. What’s wrong with him stepping up to the plate every now and then?”
“You still don’t get it. I didn’t want my daddy or Von taking me to my gynecologists to get birth control pills. Do you know how embarrassing that shit is? I had to answer questions about my female parts in front of my daddy when my mama should have been there with me instead.”
“Why do you always give him a pass? No matter what I do, it’s never good enough, but he does the bare minimum and you’re happy with that. I’m trying Mia. At least give me credit for that much,” Moonie cried.
“I’m not giving either one of y’all a pass because y’all didn’t earn it. I didn’t ask for any of this and I don’t deserve it. I could have been like Jabari, packed up my shit and left a long time ago. I chose to stay here with you because I know you need me to help with the other kids. If I didn’t get them up and ready for school most days, they probably wouldn’t even go because you don’t wake up until noon or later. We keep a house full of food, but can you tell me the last time you cooked a hot meal? If I left it up to you, they would be eating cereal and noodles every day. You begged Dalvin for a two thousand dollar washer and dryer, but you don’t even know how to use it. That’s because you never do the laundry. That’s something else that’s all on me. I’m seventeen years old with more responsibilities than women twice my age and that’s not fair,” Mia replied.
She was unmoved by Moonie’s tears because she was used to seeing them by now. Every time they had a conversation about what she was doing wrong as a mother, the waterworks started. She would do right for maybe a week at most and then it was back to the same routine once again.
“I’m sorry Mia,” Moonie said while wiping away her tears. “I know that I have to do better and I promise you that I’m going to try. You know I can’t function without you being here and I’m happy that you didn’t leave. Just give me some time to get it right. Please don’t give up on me Mia.”
“I haven’t given up on you all this time and I never will,” Mia said while pulling her mother in for a hug. As much as she hated the things Moonie did, she still loved her no matter what. That was something that she just couldn’t help.
Chapter 5
“Nah Mia, you got too much ass for that,” Jabari said about the swimsuit that his sister was holding up for him to see. He and his best friend, LJ were having a pool party at a recreation center the next night and he and Mia were in the mall looking for something to wear. Everybody from The Court and everywhere else were going to be in attendance, so he had to make sure that they were on point. He’d already found the perfect tennis shoes to wear, but finding swim attire seemed to be the hardest; not for him because he already had his trunks, but it was a task trying to get Mia right.
“I might as well not even worry about getting a bathing suit. You say the same thing every time I show you something that I like,” Mia complained.
“No I don’t Mia, but you have to be careful with what you wear. You got a big ass just like Moonie. I don’t want to be at my party fighting because some nigga can’t keep his hands to himself,” Jabari replied.
“Let’s just go look somewhere else. We’ve seen just about everything in here already,” Mia said while walking out of the store. Jabari followed behind her until they ended up in Macy’s. Mia thumbed through a few things until she came across something that caught her eye. It was a Jessica Simpson set with mint green boy shorts and the matching fringed halter-top. It was cute and sexy without showing off too much of her backside. She held it up for Jabari to see and she knew from the look on his face that it was the one.
“Yeah Mia, I can see you in that. The shorts are kind of short, but it’s better than those little ass bottoms that we saw on some of the other ones,” Jabari said nodding his head in approval.
“And they match my mint green and silver Gucci flip flops that Moonie got for me,” Mia smiled. “What about Tiara? You need me to help you pick something out for her?”
“Nah, you know how she is. She probably won’t even wear a bathing suit. She’s too self-conscious about her weight. She don’t know the difference between being fat and being thick,” Jabari answered.
“She is not fat. That girl is crazy. Tiara has a nice shape,” Mia replied.
“I keep telling her that, but she thinks being fine is a size four or six. She makes that size fourteen look good as hell and I don’t have any complaints.”
Tiara was twenty-two years old with no kids and a good paying job at the post office. She was also a part-time college student studying to be an occupational therapist. Jabari met her about two years ago at a party that Moonie dragged him to. She seemed to be the only chick there that wasn’t having a good time, and Jabari soon found out why. Tiara wasn’t like most of the girls her age. She wasn’t into the party scene and the night life. That was one of the reasons that he fell in love with her. He approached her right before she left that night and they’d been inseparable ever since. When he got into it with Moonie and moved out a little over a year ago, it was Tiara that begged her parents to let him stay with them until they were able to afford a place of their own. She came from a middle class two-parent home, but she never looked down on him and that meant a lot. Even her family welcomed him and his siblings with opened arms. Being with Tiara had changed Jabari and made him want to do right. She encouraged him to go back to school and get his GED. He still hustled from time to time, but he also held down a decent job working at a chemical plant, thanks to a good word from her father. Tiara also made sure he stayed close with his siblings because she had them over to the house at least twice a week. She was still trying to get him and Moonie to get it right, but that was a situation that would take a lot of work.
“I hope they don’t come to the party with all that drama and fighting,” Mia said pulling Jabari away from his thoughts.
“LJ and I paid to have detailed security there for the entire party. Von told us that it was better to be safe than sorry, and I agree. We have six police officers for the inside and outside of the building. Since the pool is indoors, I’m thinking that most of the guests will be inside though,” Jabari replied.
“Did you invite Marco?” Mia asked him even though she already knew the answer to the question. She looked at him just in time to see his light brown complexion turn red at the mention of his ex-best friend.
“Hell no I didn’t invite his ass,” he yelled angrily. “And Moonie better not bring her hot ass around there either. I swear I’m telling security to escort her out if she shows up.”
“Don’t do that Jabari. She’s going to be so embarrassed if you play her like that,” Mia replied.
“I don’t give a damn Mia, that’s her whole problem now. She wants to party with us like we’re her friends and shit. She’s our mother and she needs to start acting like it. After that shit that she and Marco pulled, she had better be lucky that I’m even talking to her ass at all. And after that ass whipping I put on him he better stay his ass away from me too,” Jabari fumed.
Marco and Jabari had been best friends since they were in middle school. At twenty-two years old, Marco was only two years older than Jabari and he and his family lived right underneath them for years in the projects. They were always together and they often hung out at each other’s houses, until Marco and his family moved uptown three years ago. He and Jabari remained tight and Marco moving away didn’t change anything. Marco’s mother, Pam always treated Jabari like her
son, and Moonie did the same with Marco. Well at least she did up until a year and a half ago. Jabari didn’t know when, but somewhere along the line, Moonie stopped looking at Marco as a son and decided that she wanted him to be her man instead. It went over Jabari’s head for a long time until he came home early one day and saw his best friend coming out of Moonie’s room butt ass naked. After the initial shock wore off, he beat Marco’s ass all over Moonie’s living room and out into the front of the building, just as naked as he was when he caught him. He had it out with Moonie, packed up his clothes and moved out the very same night. He’d been there to visit a few times, but he never went back to live with her after that. Marco tried to get Jabari to forgive him, but it never happened. He apologized to him a million times, but he didn’t want to hear it. Even though Marco and Moonie stopped dealing with each other, the damage was already done. To Jabari, that was the most embarrassing thing that could ever happen to him and it was unforgivable. Mia made him sit down and talk to Moonie, but their relationship was never the same after that. Moonie did what she usually did when she was wrong and broke down crying, but that still didn’t move Jabari one bit. Marco was still around, but Jabari ignored him as if he never knew him at all.
“I know that you were hurt about everything that happened, but you have to learn to forgive Jabari. I know that you’ll never forget it, but don’t let what happened keep having control over your emotions like this.”
“That situation did more than just hurt me Mia. That shit messed with me mentally. I considered Marco my brother at one time. Imagine how I felt seeing him coming out of Moonie’s room with no clothes on. That was somebody that she referred to as her son at one time, but then she turned around and slept with him anyway. So again, if either of them shows up at my party I’m having their asses thrown the fuck out,” Jabari promised.
“I’ll make sure I tell her not to come. She won’t have anybody to keep the kids anyway since all of us are going to be at the party,” Mia said after a while.
Creepin': A New Orleans Love Story Page 5