It's Either Me Or Her: A Side Bitch Story

by Tiece

  “Believe me, the feeling is mutual.” He responded causing Toya to shoot him the side eye. “She really need to stop coming to the studio and embarrassing herself. The only reason I said what I said was to make her think twice about showing up to our place of business. It’s not a good look for our working artists or people that’s there for studio time to be witnessing that foolishness.”

  “Well, I can agree with that. Although I can’t say, I wouldn’t’ have done the same thing if I was her.” Toya stated with an unpleasant frown on her face. “She told me about Chase’s new artist, Rayne, and how they were practically all over each other like she wasn’t there. Are they fucking or not?” She bluntly asked.

  Jeremy didn’t hesitate as he responded, “Nope. But, if your sister don’t start acting right who knows what will happen.”

  Toya shook her head, not really feeling his answer. “If they’d had sex you wouldn’t have told me anyway, would you?”

  Jeremy chuckled a little. “You’re absolutely right, because it’s not any of your nor my business what he do. That’s between Chase and your sister.”

  “You’re right.” Toya smirked at his smart ass comment. “But, I hope Chase knows what he’s doing if he is cheating. Believe me when I say that Brooke is not just going to give him up that easily. She loves his ass.” She said thinking about how Brooke had left the streets alone to finally settle down; something none of them thought she’d be able to so easily do.

  “I hear you.” Jeremy mumbled, but he was still just as determined as ever to find out what Brooke was hiding and why was she hiding it.

  “Guess I’ll be leaving now.” Toya said with a smile. She walked over and stood directly in front of him. He was at least, 6’4 causing her to tip toe since she only stood 5’3. She kissed him on the lips causing him to smile, and then she walked towards the door.

  “A’ight, hit me up to let me know you made it home safety.” He responded.

  “Okay, I will,” she said as he closed the door shut behind her once she’d gotten inside of her car and had pulled off.

  Chapter 7

  Raven sat on the sofa flipping through the channels on the 60 inch HDTV that was across from her on the wall. She’d gone through every channel on the cable network, but still couldn’t find anything to settle on. She sighed feeling a little annoyed and threw the remote over beside her.

  “You may as well straighten your face up.” Winter said as she looked over at her sister sitting with a pout on her face.

  “I feel bad, though.” Rayne said. “Chase and I have never had a disagreement, let alone an argument.” She said feeling bad that she’d gotten upset to know that he had slept with Brooke.

  Winter shook her head. Rayne was always the more sensitive one. She took everything to heart, whereas she was more cold hearted and really didn’t care too much about people or their feelings.

  “You may as well toughen up, because if he plans on staying with his baby mama then you’re gonna have plenty more fall outs. Well, that’s if you intend on continuing to be the side chick.”

  “I’m nobody’s side bitch,” Rayne quickly shot her sister way.

  “I didn’t call you a side bitch; I said side chick.”

  Rayne tooted up her lips like she had an attitude. “Whatever,” she said. “I’m not that, either. I’m his artist.”

  “Rayne, you have to take your feelings out of this. Right now Chase is still in a relationship with the mother of his son. How long have you known him? You said yourself that he can’t leave her.”

  “Not right now,” Rayne chimed in as if she was now taking up for Chase.

  “Does it matter? I mean, just hearing him say that he can’t leave her should make you wanna let it go. I’ve always heard that you can’t mix business with pleasure and expect things to run smoothly. Something is going to lack.”

  “It should be that easy to not want him, right? Unfortunately, it’s hard as hell. I really do like him way more than I should and I can’t lie. I was kinda happy when Brooke showed up to the studio. I wanted her to see the chemistry that Chase and I have when we’re together.”

  “I’m just trying to save you from a heartache, lil Sister.” Winter said. She was only ten seconds older than Rayne since they were fraternal twins. Even though they came from the same wound, at almost the same time, they looked nothing alike and their personalities were like night and day.

  Rayne looked over at her sister. Her eyes had gotten glossy like she was going to cry, but she blinked them a few times trying to fight back the tears. “Have you ever been in love, Winter?”

  Winter shook her head from side to side. “Nope, and I don’t care to be, either.”

  “You should soften up a little bit. You can’t keep feeling like every relationship is going to be bad. You keep harboring these old feelings of our mother dumping us off on Ma to find a career in the music industry that she never got. You’ve never given love a chance, but one day you’ll have too.”

  “No the hell I won’t,” Winter quickly shot her way. “We might be twins, but I’m not with that mushy shit. How many times have you gotten your heart broken by some buster ass nigga with hidden agendas?”

  “I know, but I’ll never give up on love. Life is about living freely and loving those that are good to you. I can’t lie. Chase makes me smile. He is a dream come true.”

  “Yeah well, you need to wake up.” Winter teased with a light chuckle.

  Rayne picked up a decorative pillow sitting next to her and threw it at her sister. “Sis, quit being so mean. I really like him.” She said with a pout.

  Winter laughed a little. “I know, Sis. I know.” She said looking around the nice condominium that Rayne was now living in. “Chase is a good looking man. I mean, a seriously fine man.” She added. “I won’t deny that. And, he is doing well by you even though you’re not exactly making him any money right now. So, that tells me that he must really like you. I can’t blame you for having those feelings for him. I guess that comes naturally.”

  “It does. And don’t get me wrong. Even though I like him I’ve not given up the cookie, yet.”

  “You better not. Keep your chocolate chips to yourself unless he wants to move on from that crazy ass baby mama.”

  “And, crazy she is. She almost got her ass tore up right there in front of Chase fucking with me.” She said thinking about their last encounter at the studio.

  “One thing I can say is that you may be sweet and you may love hard, but that bitch would’ve had hell on her hands.” She responded knowing all too well that Rayne didn’t bullshit when it came to throwing blows. That’s all they ever did growing up in the projects. For some reason, they were always the center of attention and the round-the-way girls didn’t like it. Rayne was pretty with coco brown skin and round, bright eyes. She was more reserved and was very optimistic about most things. Whereas, Winter was also pretty, but in her own way. She was much lighter skinned with small, slanted eyes. They both had long hair, even though Winter kept a much shorter cut and she was more outspoken and unpredictable. Their resemblances showed in their smiles and their cola body shapes. Nothing else was the same except for their last names and the donors that conceived them.

  Rayne was still pissed about Brooke trying her as she continued venting. “I wanted that bitch to put her hands on me. I bet that would’ve been the last time she showed up to the studio acting a fool.”

  Winter frowned as she looked over at Rayne. “Speaking of the studio,” she said remembering something. “I forgot to tell you that I stopped by the studio yesterday to see if you were there. Even though you weren’t there, I ran into James.”

  “James? What was he doing?” Rayne pondered.

  Winter grinned before answering, and then she said, “Getting his dick sucked.”

  Rayne’s eyes widened. “Say what now? He was getting his dick sucked?”

  Winter laughed out loud. “Yes Sis,” she responded. “I walked inside of Jeremy’s control
room first just to see if somebody could quickly point to where you were at, and James was in there getting some head from Molly.”

  “Molly?” Rayne questioned. “The pill popper, Molly? Wow, they say that she’s a groupie that doesn’t mind getting her fuck on any chance she gets.”

  “Well, I don’t know about fuck, but the bitch damn show can suck. I mean, James got a long, fat dick and Molly was handling her business like a G.” She said as she and Rayne laughed out loud. “I saw it with my own eyes.”

  “Damn, that’s crazy. What did James do when he saw you?”

  “He jumped up, dick swinging back and forth and shit. I just looked at him. Honestly, it was like my feet were stuck to the floor for a second, because I wasn’t expecting to see that.”

  Rayne laughed. “That had to be an embarrassing moment.”

  “Must’ve just been embarrassing for me, because Molly didn’t care and James apparently didn’t, either.”

  Rayne frowned. “Why you say that?”

  “Because, I finally was able to say, sorry about that, and instantly I walked out of the room. However, before I could get on the elevator to head to the second floor to see if you were in Chase’s control room, James caught up with me.”

  Rayne’s eyes widened with curiosity. “What’d he want?”

  “My number,” Winter told her.

  Rayne shook her head. “Huh? How the hell he asked you for your number after you seen him getting his dick sucked?”

  Winter laughed with a shake of the head. “He is no joke. I tell you that. He came clowning about it and for a minute I found myself standing there laughing at him.”

  Rayne frowned. “You laughing? That’s a first.”

  “Hush,” Winter teased. “He was actually funny. I’ve only met James in passing, because they all look like some straight up players if you ask me. But, yesterday he got my attention.”

  “No, his dick caught your attention, Winter.” Rayne teased.

  “Well, that too.” She agreed with a blushing smile.

  “Wow, that’s also a first. Could you be liking James now?”

  “No,” Winter quickly said with a frown. “I just said that he made me laugh.”

  “Well, did you give him your number?”

  “Uh… well uh… I did.” She said with a slight smile.

  Rayne laughed. “Winter, you’re a freak and got the nerves to be talking about don’t give up the chocolate chips. That nigga is about to eat your cookies and toss in a lil milk that’s gonna help you quench your thirst.” Winter laughed out loud as Rayne continued. “Girl, James is gonna turn your ass out.” She joked.

  “Listen, if Chase is halfway working with what James got then you’re the one that’s gonna get turned out. I know how to handle myself. I don’t fall in love.”

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah, I hear you. I just love hard. I can’t help it. Mom may have given us away when we were babies to our Grandma, but I never held any ill feelings towards her, unlike you. I believe in love and second chances. I believe that my soul mate is out there. I also believe that yours is out there, too. But, you ain’t gonna know, because you’re too stubborn in your feelings. Ma,” she said speaking of their Grandmother, “Always tell you to soften up a bit. Don’t let what Charlotte did to us ruin your happiness. We grew up just fine. Yeah, we had to fight sometimes, but we always dressed decent and ate good southern cooking all the time.”

  “Thanks to food stamps.” Winter chimed in.

  “Food stamps or not, Ma loved us enough for both of our parents.” She said since they never even had a clue of who their father was. “And, we grew up just fine.”

  Winter disappointedly shook her head. “You can keep telling yourself that if it makes you feel better, but I missed not having Charlotte be there. And, it pisses me off that we never knew our father. Things could’ve been different for us had we known who he was.”

  “I won’t deny that, but you never know. I say that things happen for a reason. I take that for what it is and I’ve moved past it. I think you should finally do the same.”

  “I hear you,” Winter said, and then she changed the subject feeling tired of talking about it. “So, you never said why you and Chase were arguing. What actually happened with y’all?”

  “Hm,” Rayne said not sure if she wanted to talk about their fall out, but then started anyway. “Well, after him and Brooke had it out at the studio I thought that he was fed up with her shit. He brought me home, we had a nice talk, and then he left. He didn’t go home, so that was a plus. He stayed the night to Jeremy’s house. He even brought me breakfast the next morning.”

  “So, y’all playing house now?” Winter teased.

  “Hush Sis, I’m being serious.”

  Winter laughed. “Okay, I know. I’m just teasing.”

  “Anyways, we had a really nice talk and I thought things were heading in the right direction. However, later I found out that he went back home. He did have the decency to tell me, but he claimed that they were just going to talk over dinner and that was it.”

  “Well, so why did you get mad then?”

  Rayne frowned with an unpleasant look on her face, and then she said, “Because they fucked, too.”

  “Who told you that?” Winter pondered with an unsure expression.

  “He did, because I asked him. If I ask him he’s going to tell me.” She said with a sad shake of the head. “Whether it’s good or bad or whatever, Chase is gonna keep it real with me. I just choose not to question him, because certain things I know will hurt me.”

  “You asked him and he told you. He should get an award for that shit. That ain’t something nigga’s do nowadays. So, what’s the problem?”

  “It hurt, Winter. Damn, it really did hurt me to hear that he’d slept with her.”

  Winter shook her head at how weak her sister could be at times. “Rayne, I always say that we might be twins, but we’re nothing alike. I’m gonna need for you to tighten up. Do you want this nigga?”

  “Yes, I want him.”

  “How bad?” Winter questioned.

  “Really bad,” Rayne admitted.

  “Well, get him. I don’t know what you’re waiting for? You don’t have to give him your chocolate chips, but let him know that you’re in it to win it. You already got him, you just haven’t realized it yet.”

  “Yeah, but he says that he can’t leave her right now.”

  “They all say that,” Winter responded having had a couple of men that claimed they wouldn’t leave home, but they did. Unfortunately, she’d break up with them the minute they left, just because there was never any trust there. If he’d leave his woman for her then eventually he’d do her the same way. “Look Rayne, I know that you’ve been hurt in the past, and because of that you ain’t about to give up the cookie,” she said playfully mocking her sister. “But, give him some kind of hope. The man gotta know that it’s something here worth fighting for. He has done way more than his share of showing you how much he’s feeling you. Now, it’s time you do the same.”

  Rayne sat with a pout on her face. “Weeeeeeell, I don’t know how that’s gonna happen, because I’ve not spoken to him since we had the argument and that was two days ago.”

  “Has he tried to call you?”

  “Yeah, but I’ve ignored his calls.”

  Winter frowned. “See, that’s where you fuck up at. Quit playing hard with this nigga. Start showing him a little more attention other than singing lullaby’s in his ear.”

  “Huuuuush,” Rayne sang as she laughed. “I don’t know. It’s clear that he’s back home and if that’s where he wants to be then who am I to come between that?”

  “But, he doesn’t want to be there. He’s just there, remember.”

  Rayne thought about it for a moment. “Yeah, I remember.” She softly said.

  Winter got up and grabbed her new Birkin bag and her keys. “I love the purse.” She told her sister.

  “I’m glad that you do.” Rayne said with a
smile on her face.

  “I’m gonna get on outta here. You know that Ma is probably looking for me,” she said looking down at her watch displaying the time of ten o’ clock p.m.”

  “I don’t know why y’all won’t just move in here with me. It’s enough room for everybody.” Rayne said as she glanced around her spacious condo.

  Winter shook her head. “You know that Ma is stuck in her ways, including her living conditions. I’ve never seen a woman that has the option to leave the projects, but won’t leave because that’s all she knows. Unfortunately, I don’t wanna leave her there alone. It’s too much crazy shit going on nowadays.”

  “I know,” Rayne said feeling a bit saddened that she’d left them behind, but every chance she got she’d try to get their Grandma to change her mind. Her decisions would also affect Winter’s decisions, because then she’d be free to move in with Rayne as well. All their Grandma had to do was say the word and they’d move her out of the projects ASAP.

  “Well, call Chase and be nice.”

  “Chase is already home for the night. When I called the studio a couple of hours ago, James said that he wasn’t feeling well so he left to go home early.”

  “Damn, you got the man sick now.” Winter teased.

  “Huuuuuush Winter,” Rayne sang, causing Winter to laugh out loud as she walked to the door.

  “Well, the next time you see him you need to be a little nicer. Don’t give him no ass, but give him some lips. Damn, I still can’t believe that you’ve not kissed his sexy ass yet.” She said with a shake of the head. “You’re slipping lil Sister; you’re slipping.”

  “Get outta here and kiss Ma for me,” Rayne said.

  “Alright,” Winter responded as she reached for the doorknob. “I know who you should be kissing instead of Ma.” She teased as she opened up the front door to walk out. “Chase,” she said as her eyes widened.

  Rayne frowned, unable to see him at first. “Chase?” she pondered while mocking her sister as Chase appeared in her doorway.