She's No Angel

by Janine A. Morris

  “If you say so, Leen,” Paige said, tired of arguing about it.

  After Paige was done giving Charlene her opinions and views, they had hung up, and now Charlene was back to doing only her office work. A few coworkers stopped by to make small talk and drop off work to her. She sat at her desk for the remainder of the day working diligently and listening to Bugsy on 98.7 KISS FM. As she let him talk her troubles away with laughs she welcomed the end of the workday. The day had worked her emotions more than anything, and she was ready to head home.

  Some days she would stop by at a coworker’s desk at the end of the day, just so they could walk out of work together and say good-bye. But she wasn’t in the mood for that today, she just packed up her things and walked out, and went straight to her car. After the great sex she’d had the night before, she should have been in a better mood, but between Paige’s comments and her own guilty conscience, it was hard to be happy with her situation.

  She got in her car and headed down I-95, toward her house. There was some congestion on the streets, and she began to get annoyed the longer it took her to get from one block to the next. She picked up her cell phone, and tried to call Jasmine, hoping it would pass some of the time away.

  “Hey, girl,” Jasmine said as she answered the phone.

  “Hey, J, what you doing?”

  “Nothing much, you?”

  “I’m driving home, mixed in with all these non-driving fools.”

  Laughing, Jasmine replied, “I know, I just got home myself.”

  “Well, you take the train, at least you don’t have to deal with this nonsense.”

  “At least you don’t have to deal with people all in your personal space,” Jasmine replied.

  “Yeah, I guess. They both suck.”

  “That’s the truth.”

  “So what you doing for the rest of the day?”

  “I’m about to head to the mall, actually, I have to pick up a navy blue skirt. Tomorrow we are having a party for the volunteers, and the party planners have to wear navy blue,” Jasmine said.

  “Which mall are you going to?”

  “Cross County.”

  “I’ll meet you there, I’m a few exits away. I would love to look at some things to clear my mind.”

  “OK, I’ll be there in about fifteen minutes.”

  “See you there,” Charlene said.

  She continued down the road in a better mood, knowing that she was about to shop. Her day was looking up already, it was better than going home to her empty apartment and just dwelling on things she couldn’t control. She was happy that she’d called Jasmine, and even happier that she was free.

  Charlene got off at the exit and drove into the mall parking lot. She picked up her Nine West bag and stepped out of her car. She locked up and began to walk toward the main entrance to the mall. She picked up her cell phone to get an ETA on Jasmine. As she dialed the phone number, she noticed a group of girls walking toward her. She paid them no attention while she waited for Jasmine to answer. As the phone rang, she could hear the girls getting closer.

  “Hey, I just parked,” Jasmine said as she answered the phone.

  “OK, I’m right in front of Macy’s,” Charlene replied.

  Right as Charlene was finishing her sentence, she heard a familiar voice say, “Yup, that’s that bitch.”

  Charlene was hesitant to look over at the girls, because she had a feeling that she was the bitch they were talking about.

  “That’s her, we should beat her ass,” one of the girls said.

  Jasmine had already told her she was on her way, but Charlene was too busy focusing on what the girls were saying to respond.

  “Charlene?” Jasmine said.

  “Yeah, I’m here waiting on you,” Charlene replied, trying to remain calm.

  “She trying to act like she don’t hear us. If I go over there and knock her in the head, she’ll hear me,” the familiar voice said again.

  Charlene finally looked over in the girls’ direction, and sure enough they were all standing there looking straight at her. There were only three of them, two of them Charlene knew. It was Takesha and Shareena with some other brown-skinned girl Charlene had never seen before. Takesha and Shareena were from Charlene’s old way, and years back there was some beef between them that it appeared they felt was unfinished business. So it didn’t take long for Charlene to realize what this was all about. Once she made eye contact, the street in her wouldn’t let her just turn away, but she wasn’t up for the drama. She looked directly in Takesha’s face, because she knew that hers was the familiar voice popping all the junk.

  “What you looking at?” Takesha asked as soon as Charlene looked in her face.

  “Whatever,” Charlene said, rolling her eyes.

  “You must not think that I will beat you down right here,” Takesha said, with her backup singers instigating, saying, “Must not.”

  “Yeah, I must not,” Charlene said back.

  Charlene knew deep in her heart that she didn’t want to fight these girls. Mainly because she was too damn old to be fighting, not to mention she knew she wouldn’t win up against three girls; and it had already crossed her mind how the hell she would explain it to Isaac. Besides, Charlene was dressed in a black button-up sweater, khaki slacks and black pumps. Except for Takesha’s weave ponytail, the girls all looked street-fight ready in their sweats and sneakers. However, it wasn’t hard to tell that Charlene didn’t have the upper hand. Charlene hoped and prayed that the girls had also lost some of their street edge as they had aged, because she knew that if it had been some years ago Takesha and Shareena wouldn’t have even wasted time talking.

  The funny thing was, Charlene used to be right along with them, fighting and bullying chicks. It was ironic that these were the same girls threatening to jump on her. They hadn’t moved since her comment, but they were still making smart comments. If Charlene hadn’t said that she would meet Jasmine right at that spot she would’ve walked away to prevent things from escalating. However, she knew that the girls would think she was scared, and although she kind of was, the Mount Vernon in her couldn’t let her go out like a punk.

  Finally, after what felt like forever, Jasmine walked up. Recognizing the girls, her expression showed extreme concern about what was going on. Jasmine was dressed in a black Juicy Couture velour sweatsuit with all-black Diesel sneakers. She looked really cute, Charlene thought to herself, and she was dressed appropriately in case it went down. As she walked up, Charlene made sure to act very normal so that the girls watching and mumbling would see she wasn’t stressing them.

  “Hey, girl,” she said as Jasmine approached.

  “What’s up?” Jasmine replied as her hello.

  Shareena said, “Oh, she called her little friend.”

  “These girls are a joke,” Charlene said to Jasmine. “You ready?” she continued.

  Charlene took a step toward the main part of the mall, letting Jasmine know it was time to go about their business. Jasmine, still a little confused and having heard the girls make mention of her presence, was already in defensive mode. So as she slowly took a step she was staring in the girls’ direction. Jasmine was straight from 14th Street and White Plains Road, and was Mount Vernon to the heart. She wasn’t even about to just let these girls feel big-hearted. So she had to make it very clear that they didn’t want it with her, and not to let her cuteness fool them. Jasmine shot them all looks of death as she slowly followed behind Charlene.

  “Whatever, I want to see if y’all so tough back around the way,” Takesha said.

  “Bitch, you been locked up—your hometown is Upstate; Mount Vernon ain’t around your way,” Jasmine shouted back.

  Charlene looked back. “Come on here, Jasmine, ignore them. They ain’t even worth it.”

  She pulled Jasmine slightly by her arm. Of course the three girls were all yelling stuff like, “Watch yourself” and “I’ll see you back home” and other random comments. Charlene was determined not to
let them ruin her evening any more than they had. Hell, she was at a mall, one of her favorite places to be. After the distance between them grew, the smart comments trailed off and they were no longer within hearing range. As soon as they were far enough way, Charlene started laughing.

  “Girl, you crazy,” Charlene said.

  Laughing back Jasmine said, “I hate fake fighters.”

  “Oh, yeah, I forgot about that one. Them girls who faking like they want to fight,” Charlene said, laughing.

  “Yeah, they knew damn well if they wanted something they could of stepped.”

  “Well, you know Takesha and Shareena ain’t all talk, I’m surprised they didn’t, actually.”

  “I’m not. Takesha on probation, she ain’t trying to go back. She only been out a year. She wasn’t that damn tough in there.”

  Charlene just laughed. She thought about how Takesha was once her friend. Shareena, like Jasmine, was just being a loyal friend, the beef was really between Charlene and Takesha. Back in the day Charlene and Takesha used to roll together. At one point a guy that Takesha was going out with, Kenny, tried to get with Charlene. Initially Charlene told him no thank you, and at the time it was because she wasn’t interested. Charlene didn’t know how much Takesha and he were dealing. Kenny was a hustler, he was flashy and handsome, just Charlene’s type back then. She would have actually indulged when he first tried if she hadn’t been dealing with a hustler of her own, one who was bigger in the game and she was more fond of. However, the more Charlene saw Kenny around the way, and the less she was dealing with the guy she had been messing with at the time, the more tempting Kenny looked. So it wasn’t long before she started messing with him.

  Charlene knew at that point that Takesha had been seeing Kenny, but she didn’t find herself too concerned with that. Not that it made it right, but she didn’t think Takesha had any real feelings for Kenny, anyway. Charlene assumed that Takesha was like her, and wasn’t in it for love, she thought Takesha was a “I’ll do you, pay me” girl. Apparently she guessed wrong, because when Takesha got that Charlene was sleeping with Kenny she promptly stepped to Charlene. Words turned into curses, and before long they were fighting in the street. Nobody around jumped in or stopped it, and both Jasmine and Shareena were there at the time. It was a fair fight, and although Charlene was the slimmer of the two, she was handling her own; her days in the street had taught her how to use her hands well.

  Nobody else from the neighborhood broke up the fight, either, but the cops eventually did. When they pulled the two girls apart and pinned them against the cars, they patted them both down. Unbeknownst to Charlene, Takesha had been doing some trafficking for Kenny and she had a stash of his drugs on her. Takesha got arrested that day and did some time. As dumb as it was to have the stash on her, rumor had it that Takesha blamed Charlene for her arrest, Charlene had felt guilty for quite some time, mostly because she was messing with Kenny to begin with, which wasn’t something a good friend would have done, regardless. She never felt the blame for Takesha being locked up, though. Of course, if Charlene hadn’t been messing with Kenny, Takesha and she never would have been fighting, and then the cops wouldn’t have come, and she wouldn’t have gotten arrested. As far as Charlene was concerned nobody told Takesha to step to her, and nobody told Takesha to have drugs on her person.

  As Charlene and Jasmine walked through the mall, Charlene told Jasmine how that whole scene had started, and they had some laughs about the old days. Still, all these years later, seeing Takesha did make Charlene reflect back and feel a tad guilty because she did know what she had done was wrong. However, it didn’t help that Takesha was still acting like they were in high school and trying to start a fight. Although it made Charlene happy that she no longer lived in that neighborhood and she no longer lived that life, she realized that the street instincts are not something you always grow out of, and some people never change. Charlene had to admit, she was happy that Jasmine still had her bark in her. Having Jas stand up for her made her realize that there were some folks that would always have her back, whether everyone else thought she was scandalous or not.

  Chapter 17

  The funny thing was, a part of her told her it was too good to be true. That conversation with Isaac the other night went entirely too smoothly. He was so consoling and sweet and understanding, and after it all, perfectly sexual. That was far from how she expected it to go, even with the left-out information. She thought he would be devastated by the thought of anything causing a hindrance. Shockingly, Isaac was a champ about it, and he actually left Charlene feeling lucky. Unfortunately, after he had time to think about it he didn’t find it so small after all.

  He had called on her cell phone first, and she told him she was just getting home and that she would call him back. She put down her purse and work bag, kicked off her heels and went to the bathroom. Isaac had given her no more than five minutes before he called her right back on her house phone. She answered with a gut feeling that he was calling for more than just to say hello and see how her day went.

  “Hey, Isaac, where are you?”

  “On my way home from work,” he answered.

  “Oh, OK. You got out pretty early today,” she replied.

  “Charlene, I’m a little confused about what you told me the other night.”

  It seemed Isaac wanted to get right to it.

  “About what?” she asked, feeling the butterflies come swooping right back into her stomach.

  “About the difficulty you may have getting pregnant.”

  “OK, what are you confused about?”

  “Well, you told me initially the doctor said everything was OK, and then you tell me later that she told you it wasn’t. Did you forget that part?”

  “No, she called me back a few days later with that information.”

  “Why?”

  “I don’t know, I guess she got that information after she called me the first time.”

  “Oh ... OK,” Isaac said, as if he was trying to add it up to see if it made sense.

  Charlene, eager to change the topic, added, “Is that what you called me about?”

  “Yeah, I just was remembering that you told me when you got back that everything was fine ... And then I was wondering, why didn’t you tell me when she first told you?”

  “Oh, I got ya ... Yeah; well, she called me back after and told me about it ... I guess it was found from a separate test or something.”

  “Oh, OK ... Well, what you doing tonight?”

  “Just relaxing for the most part ... I have to wash my hair but then I’m relaxing.”

  “OK, call me when you get settled.”

  “OK, baby.”

  “All right, honey, talk to you later.”

  “Good-bye,” Charlene said.

  All she could think about as she hung up is how she was digging herself deeper into this lie. She felt like it was déjà vu, when she first met Isaac and she had to tell so many mistruths and she constantly had to struggle to keep her story straight. Despite all the practice, there was never a guarantee that he wouldn’t catch on to something out of place. After all these years she’d hoped that all this would be behind her. Charlene knew firsthand the truth about what they say: that one lie just turns into more and more lies. She definitely didn’t like this investigating that Isaac was doing. She didn’t know why he couldn’t just leave things as they were.

  After Charlene hung up she went into her bedroom and started changing her clothes and getting comfortable. She pinned up her hair off her neck and threw on some lounge pants and a T-shirt. She slipped into her fluffy slippers and sat down on her couch. She turned on her television and started checking her mail before she started to channel surf. She had been home maybe twenty minutes when a knock came at her door. She rose up from the couch without having a clue who it could be. She thought maybe it was a neighbor or a deliveryman, because she wasn’t expecting anybody. When she got to the door, she went ahead and peeped through the peephole a
nd found it was Paige. Charlene opened the door with a look of confusion, surprised to see her sister.

  “What are you doing here?” Charlene asked.

  “Just stopped by to say hey,” Paige replied.

  “Just stopped by?”

  “Yeah.”

  “How’d you even know I was home yet?”

  “I wasn’t sure, but I figured I would take a chance,” Paige said, finding humor in the interrogation.

  “Without even calling my cell phone? ... Paige, what are you up to?”

  “Nothing, I can’t come say hello to my sister?” Paige asked with a laugh.

  “Of course you can, but when do you ever?”

  “Ha, ha, ha,” Paige said sarcastically. “I was in the neighborhood and figured I should stop by and visit,” she continued.

  “What were you doing around here?” Charlene asked as she headed back to the couch to sit in front of her television.

  “I had to drop a friend off a few blocks away,” Paige said as she followed.

  “Oh, OK ... Well, at least somebody got you to come this way.”

  “Whatever. You act like you be coming back around the way or something.”

  “Nope, not much ... There’s nothing there for me.”

  “How about your family?” Paige asked, slightly laughing.

  “I see you guys, and I visit.”

  “Whatever,” Paige said as she joined Charlene on the couch.

  Charlene continued to sift through her mail while Paige was seeing what was on television.

  “Oh, I love this video,” Paige said as the new Ludacris video came on.

  “Of course you would, with your little hoochie butt,” Charlene replied with a laugh.

  “Whatever, just ’cause you over here trying to pretend that you wasn’t the ringleader of hoochies ... Don’t point no fingers,” Paige replied, damn near cracking up.

  Even Charlene had to laugh at that one, because she definitely knew there was truth to that. She almost forgot, she couldn’t pretend with just everybody ’cause there were more than enough people who knew the real deal.