When I passed Jeremy in the hall, I acted super-regular. I just did a short wave and kept walking. I really wanted to pull him into a corner and ask him when he was coming over again. I didn’t want Jeremy to know he had been on my mind since he left my apartment Friday night. Jeremy wasn’t my forever either, but he was most definitely my right now. Everything was great except he worked at my job. I mean, if I wanted to continue to see him, nobody at the job would have to know. Right?
Jeremy called me a few times while I was at work. I missed his calls and dialed him as I was leaving the hospital.
“Sorry I missed your call. Somebody had called out and I had so much going on.”
“It’s cool. I just wanted to see you before I left,” he said.
“That would have been nice. What are you doing now?” I asked, hoping we could meet up. He didn’t say anything, so I asked him again. He then rudely told me to hold on.
“Mom, I’ll be right there. Hold on a second.”
I heard movement and a woman’s voice say thank you. He came back to the line.
“Yeah, sorry about that.”
“What are you doing? Is your mom over?” I asked.
“No, my mom and my dad are my roommates.”
“What? You live with your parents?” I almost gagged. I didn’t know why I had just automatically assumed he lived alone.
“I guess you can say that to a degree we share a house. It’s a big house. I’m just saving up to buy a house in a few months. I’m waiting on some money to go through from my lawyer. I looked in a few areas. I’m not sure yet.”
I was shocked. He was so well put together. I would never have imagined that he still lived at home. I didn’t even bother to ask. When we talked on the phone, it was always quiet. He was a very nice person, so I wasn’t going to hold it against him. At least he was in the process of buying a house.
Jeremy came to my apartment with a bottle of wine. He brought a flower arrangement in a green see-through vase. He set it on the table and said we should go out and get a piece of artwork for my wall. He said my life needed more color in it, and I agreed.
I liked Jeremy. He was very nice and cool to hang out with. However, I think the fact that he made way less money than me bothered me. I was hesitant to let people know we were even dating. I just didn’t want anyone all up in my business. But he silently let people know we were an item by coming up to my floor every break, even though I had asked him to stop. In this hospital, there was a one-man-to-every-twenty-bitches ratio. That meant grown women thought it was cute and funny to give him a bunch of attention now that they assumed I was dating him.
Chapter 8
Adrienne
Stacey’s bridal shower was like nothing I had ever seen in my life. We were doing a bar crawl to ten bars. We were only on the fourth bar, and I didn’t know how much more I could take. There were nine of us, and three were acting like they were straight out of a Girls Gone Wild commercial. They were flashing their breasts at people and sticking their tongues out at any man looking. Stacey was walking around with a black dress and wearing a bride-to-be tiara with a long, sheer white train attached. We were doing shots of tequila. There was a lot of “woohoos,” stumbles, and partying going on. We were all so drunk, and Stacey had her head out the top of the limo screaming, “I’m about to get married.”
During all the excitement, I noticed I had a text message. It was Jeremy; he asked where I was and said he missed me.
I texted,
I’M AT THE BRIDAL SHOWER.
A few seconds later, I received another text that read,
I NEED YOU.
I thought that was so sweet. I wrote,
BE HOME SOON.
He typed back,
HURRY.
At the next stop, I had to go to the bathroom and I began to have my own photo shoot in the stall. I closed the seat, put one leg up in the air, stretched the camera as far as I could away from my body, and began snapping. I posed side-to-side, blowing kisses. Then I took a picture of my ass. I lifted my shirt and snapped my breasts as I squeezed them together with one hand. Then I typed,
HOPE THIS WILL KEEP YOU UNTIL I GET HOME.
OOH, COME HOME NOW, he typed back before I left the bathroom.
I typed that I couldn’t leave yet and would meet him at my apartment by two-thirty. I went back out on the dance floor and took two more shots of tequila and danced with Stacey and the girls.
I drove home very intoxicated. I rolled down my window, hoping the cool air would wake me up. It was two twenty-six. I parked and wondered whether Jeremy really was coming, and to my surprise, he was already parked in front of my door. I ran up to his car. He opened his car door and I just began kissing all over him.
“You was waiting for me?”
“Yeah, I couldn’t wait for you to get here,” he said as pushed me up against the car.
“You was out too?”
“Yeah, I got a couple of drinks with a few of my boys I hadn’t seen in a while,” he said as he hit the alarm on his car.
I opened my apartment door. I was so happy he was with me and I wasn’t coming into the apartment alone. I took his hand and led him up my apartment steps. We couldn’t even make it into my apartment before we began our session right in the middle of the hallway. My body was throbbing for him. He pulled my pant leg down and plunged his manhood into me. I hoped my neighbors weren’t up, because we weren’t quiet. By round two I had stumbled into my living room, where he slid my other pant leg down, and all I could see was his eyes and the top of his nose staring up at me. The rest of his face was lost somewhere in the middle of my legs. His tongue was moving up and down erratically in my moistness. I felt my body shake at least four times. I kept trying to get him to come up, but he wouldn’t.
When I awoke, he was asleep on my thigh. I had no clothes on and a very big hangover.
Chapter 9
Adrienne
Monday morning came, and Jeremy and I left for work together. I made us breakfast, and we dropped our clothes off at the dry cleaner on the same ticket like a real couple. But whenever something is going too good for me, something bad is bound to happen. I wasn’t jinxing myself, but I was waiting. But there was no sign in sight. Maybe he was the real deal. I stopped working a bunch of doubles and worked more day hours.
We parked the car and took the elevator up to my floor. I told him I would see him at lunch.
“I’ll see you after work. I have to run and go see my attorney at lunch,” he said as he blew me a kiss.
At the end of the day, Jeremy was waiting by my car. I was so happy to see him. He was smiling when he said, “Guess what, I got some exciting news.”
“What’s that?”
“My lawyer just settled my case.”
“Okay, that’s good.” He had told me about this case he had against Liberty City Cab. The cabdriver hit another car while Jeremy was a passenger and he broke his arm.
“Yeah, so I want to take you out to dinner. And I’m going to trade my car in and get another one. What kind of car do you think I should get? I’m going to put ten thousand down. I think I want a BMW.”
Did he want me to be honest? I thought he shouldn’t put ten thousand on a car. He should buy a house or even get an apartment. I didn’t know how to say it in a good way, so I just kept my mouth closed.
“So, what do you think about that?” he asked as we got in the car.
“I guess that’s all right.”
“Yeah, and I’ma give my parents some money to help them get caught up on their bills.”
“I thought you was trying to buy a house,” I said, pulling out of the parking space.
“I’ll get that. I got time.”
“Um, you might want to get a house first before you get another car. Like prioritize things.”
He agreed, and we went to dinner, then to my house and watched a movie. He was very quiet the entire evening; I didn’t find out why until the middle of the night. I was awakened
by him flipping the channels on my television. He was just looking mad, like something was bothering him. I asked him what was wrong and tried to cuddle him.
“Nothing,” he said, nudging me off him. He was acting strange. I ignored it and went and lay on the other side of the bed. I plumped my pillow up and attempted to go to sleep. I grabbed his waist and snuggled him again. He sat up and squirmed over a little away from me with an attitude.
“What’s wrong with you? You sure you okay?” I asked him. He was definitely acting funny.
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
“It is four-thirty. Why are you still up?” I asked, sitting up.
“If it is a problem with me being up, then I will leave.”
“Huh, what the hell are you talking about?” I asked, scratching my head, puzzled.
He got up, turned the lights on, and said, “I just want you to know you don’t have to tell me what to do with my money. I’m not like the last dude you dealt with, asking you for money.”
I knew something was up. Damn it. I should have just shut up and not said anything, just let him spend his money however he wanted, I thought. I tried to clean it up and said, “I know you’re not like him. I was just saying.”
“You were just saying what? You don’t have to tell me anything.”
“Fine, then, buy a damn car. I don’t care.” Then I mumbled under my breath, “Why would you buy a car and not somewhere to live?” I said out loud, “I knew it was a mistake dealing with you.” I got out of the bed, put on my robe, and went into the bathroom. I had to be at work in the morning and didn’t have time for this shit.
“I knew that was the way you felt. Come on, let it out. You’re embarrassed of me because I don’t make as much money as you. Don’t stop now, keep going. Tell me how you really feel, Adrienne,” he said angrily.
“No, I’m not.”
“Yes, you are. You are not the greatest thing. Your shit do stink.”
I couldn’t believe the way he was acting. It was like he was waiting for a reason to go off on me. I knew this was about to go somewhere of no return. But it got better. He started talking about me and my apartment, told me I needed to buy some furniture. Then he said I was the worst fuck he ever had. He said everything and anything he could to hurt my feelings. and began getting dressed. “Fuck you, Adrienne, you’re a lonely, bitter bitch and that’s why you don’t have a man or any friends. ’Cause you think you better than everybody else.”
I was feeling defenseless, but I was not about to keep letting him talk about me.
“No, fuck your broke ass. Go and be a hood-hard baller living in his mama’s basement. L-o-s-e-r,” I spelled out.
“You bitches all the same. You just a bitch with some money. My boy in radiology warned me about you stuck-up nurses. Fuck you, bitch,” he said as he grabbed his duffel bag. I heard my door slam.
After he departed, I came out of the bathroom and made sure my apartment door was locked. I went back to sleep. Fuck him, I thought. My fuck-him attitude lasted until I awoke the next morning. I knew the argument was petty and it wasn’t my fault, so I wasn’t about to back down. I was right and he was wrong.
The next day at work I walked right past him like we’d never met. He almost came up to me. Then he stopped after he realized I wasn’t speaking and said some smart shit like, “Oh, okay.”
I was back up on my floor when I heard Stacey call my name.
“What’s up?” I said.
“Don’t forget you are representing the eighth floor for Dr. Schmidt’s wife’s baby shower,” Stacey said.
“No, why me?” I asked.
“Because I went last time. Annette’s catching up. You have the shortest patient load, and everybody nominated you.”
“She doesn’t even remember me.”
“Here’s the gift,” she said as she plopped down a big oval wicker basket full of baby bibs, bottles, onesies, and diapers.
Later, I was at the shower as the representative from our floor. I said “hello” to the people there and set my gift down. I saw an empty seat near Jeremy’s coworker Tanisha. None of the nurses on my floor liked Dr. Schmidt, and we definitely didn’t like his wife, Jen. She was a roly-poly woman who would come up to our floor at every break and at lunch. She was trying to make sure no one was going to take him from her. Her position was safe. Nobody was interested in him. Now, a lot of nurses had slept with married doctors on my floor, but nobody wanted him because he was the epitome of a nerd, but very nice. However, his stock did go up after everybody saw the ring he gave his wife and the car he bought her.
Chapter 10
Tanisha
“What y’all looking at?” I asked, as I noticed everyone huddled around Jeremy’s desk. I looked over and saw various pictures of a woman holding her breasts and ass up to the screen.
“Get that off the screen. That is not appropriate. Come on now, this is work,” I said, not able to mask my disgust.
“I told them that,” Alberta said.
“What? She sent me the picture and I just sent it out to everyone I know,” Jeremy said as he laughed.
“I’m sure she didn’t want everyone looking at her goodies. That’s real immature to send someone’s picture around,” Alberta said.
“She don’t care; she a freak anyway. Trust me.”
“Jeremy, get that off your screen. You can get fired for that. I mean it. Now!” I was not for it. I had to go to this stupid baby shower.
“Come on, Miss Alberta,” I said as I picked up my gift and headed to Jen’s baby shower.
Blue and white streamers decorated the room, and a big cake in the shape of a baby carriage was the centerpiece of the table. There were strollers, bassinets, walkers, and loads of Baby Gap. I felt like my baby bouncer I paid thirty dollars for was inadequate. But that was all I could afford, because no one would chip in. I spotted Jen. She had on a red maternity shirt, black pleated skirt, and black Frankenstein shoes.
I faked excitement. “Hey, Jen.”
“Tanisha! Oh, I’m so glad you made it,” she said, squishing her big belly into my ribs.
“Well, look at you” were the only words I could get out. “Oh my God, you are so damn fat” would not have been appropriate. I took in her unusually large stomach. Her pregnancy was in her ankles, hands, and thighs and butt. She looked like she was in desperate need of a nap. She was carrying a very nice, expensive bag, and her ring was an antique setting with a large diamond in the middle.
“When do you go in?” Alberta asked.
“In August. I can’t wait for the baby to get here,” she said as she coughed a little.
“So, are you coming back after you have the baby?” I asked.
Jen giggled a little, and said, “Of course not, I’m not going to be a working mom. A mother should be home with her baby, not sending them to day care.”
She went on and on about how that was what was wrong with the world, mothers not spending enough time with their children.
Oh, really? Must be nice, I thought as Jen got up to speak to other guests.
“I so don’t want to be here. Dr. Schmidt don’t know what she got in store for him,” a voice said.
When I looked up to see who was talking to me, it was Jeremy’s latest conquest and naked-picture poser. I felt so uncomfortable sitting next to her. She had no idea that illicit pictures of her were being passed around. But it wasn’t my place to say anything. They played a few baby shower games, opened presents, and cut the cake. My lunch was over; I had to get back to work.
“Jen, it was great seeing you. Good luck.”
“I’ll be up after I have the baby,” Jen said.
I walked out a little jealous. How did a fat chick with bad skin say she wasn’t going to be a working mom? Miss Alberta was staying the whole time; she wanted to see everything she got.
I went back to work. Nobody was back from lunch yet except Jeremy; he was on the Internet looking at BMWs.
“You buying a new car?”
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br /> “Yeah, I don’t know if I’m getting a 328i or 335i. The only difference is like five thousand. I’m going to get a silver one.” He stepped away from the computer and asked for a piece of my cake.
“No, you should have came up and got some. Plus, I’m mad at you. Why did you show Reginald and Miss Alberta those pictures? Miss Alberta is sixty years old. She doesn’t act like it sometimes, but she is old enough to be your mom.”
“Miss Alberta came over to the computer. I didn’t ask her to come.”
“It doesn’t matter. You have to be more respectful of her and me. I am your supervisor.”
“Okay, I got it,” he said as he reached on my plate for some cake.
I slapped his hand and then cut him off a piece of cake. I stretched a little and took a long yawn. I heard and felt a bone or two pop. I was ready to get the second half of my day over.
I sat down and called Horizon Health. I had to get some authorizations for an MRI done before three. Their rep was supposed to call me back and didn’t. I was on hold, as usual.
No sooner did a representative answer than I heard a loud smack and it was followed with, “Somebody call security!”
I ran out of my cubicle to see what the hell was going on. It was the nurse on top of Jeremy, punching him in his face.
“Get her off of me,” he yelled. He was curled up in a ball trying to block her shots.
I was trying to get her off him, but she was not letting go. She was crying and pounding on him. Her hair was shaking back and forth like a mop. She just kept hitting him and scratching him. She was like a wildcat. She was moving so fast I couldn’t get a handle on her. I finally got ahold of one of her arms, and she started punching and grabbing with the other. Reginald ran up and grabbed her other arm. She was still kicking. I let her go, and she tried to go after him again.
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