by Lennox, Lisa
Dink remembered seeing Laci a few times with the girls she considered her friends. He felt he was a good judge of character, and he’d never got any bad vibes off these girls. They were a little too stuck up for his taste, but considering where they were, it was the norm. Laci had pled her case to the jury; now it was time for the verdict.
“Okay, baby,” Dink responded after a brief silence, “I see what you’re saying, but I’m not going to apologize for protecting you. That’s what a man is supposed to do for his woman; however, I will loosen up some. I didn’t realize you felt this way and I wish you would have told me sooner. I don’t like seeing you stressed out about shit you don’t need to be stressed out about. But if they try some funny shit, they goin’ down too.”
Laci understood why Dink felt that way, because he had seen her at her lowest point and knew how she got there. She promised him that everything would be just fine and reassured him that the people she chose to hang around with were a lot like her. Some would say bougies, by some standards, but easily embraceable. Laci felt her kind would never treat her like Tonette and her South Bronx Bitches had and for once in her life, she was right.
LACI BEGAN to take advantage of the extra room Dink gave her, which surprised him. Coming home on a Saturday afternoon, he ran into the girls inside their apartment, waiting for Laci to get ready.
“Hi, Daryl,” Randi said as she sat on the couch with Gabby and Sam. They all had wine coolers in their hands, sipping on them while they waited.
“Hey,” he said as he closed the door behind him. “What’s up with y’all?” he asked cordially.
“Just waiting for Laci,” Gabby answered. “We’re going to Rich and Charlie’s for a quick lunch, then we’re going back to the dorm to watch some movies. What did we get?” she asked Sam.
“I think we got Lethal Weapon 1 and 2,“ she answered.
“Yeah, that’s it,” Gabby answered as she got up and threw her cooler bottle into the trash can. Dink noticed that she was very comfortable in their apartment, which told him that they had been there before.
Laci came out of their bedroom wearing a pink L.A. Gear sweat suit along with pink and white Nikes. The girls smiled and got up when they saw her. They grabbed their purses and headed toward the door.
“Hey babe,” Laci said as she hurriedly grabbed her purse and house keys. “I’m hanging out with the girls, but I’ll see you later, okay?” Laci didn’t give Dink a chance to respond. She kissed him on the lips and left.
Dink watched as she left the apartment. This was the Laci he never knew—one who loved life and was sociable.
In the girls’ dorm room, they relaxed on a couple of bean-bag chairs and laid across the small twin beds watching Danny Glover and Mel Gibson as the comical police officers in the Lethal Weapon series.
During the first movie, Gabrielle hit the pause button, got up, and went to the bathroom. As she returned, she unpaused the movie and sat cross-legged on her bed. Rustling with something, she distracted Laci, who turned to see what she was doing.
Oh my god! Laci thought to herself as she watched Gabby open up a small baggie and some papers. She saw her reach into the bag, pull out something that was green and brown, and sprinkle it inside the paper. Gabby looked at Laci, reached back into the bag, and added more, like it was no big deal. Once she got the joint the way she wanted, Gabby rolled it and then licked the edge to seal her work of art.
Laci’s heart raced and she became clammy. I need to go, she thought to herself. Oh my God, not again! Her fight-or-flight instinct kicked in but she felt paralyzed. Lighting the joint, Gabby took a few tokes, then passed it to Randi. After she took a few pulls, she looked at Laci. “You want some?”
Laci looked at the girls, then at the joint. “Um . . . no. I don’t smoke,” she told her friends.
“Oh, okay. That’s cool,” Samantha said, passing on the joint too.
They turned back and focused on the movie. Laci’s heart rate began to return to normal. She couldn’t believe how easy it was to say no and not be judged or teased because she didn’t smoke, or chose not to.
Just as the first movie went off, Laci looked at her friends and spoke.
“Girls, um . . . I have something to tell you.”
They looked at her. “What’s up?” Randi asked, putting the first movie in the case and retrieving the second.
“Um . . . I’m a recovering addict.”
They all looked at her like she was crazy. “What? An addict?” Sam spoke. “See, girl,” she looked at Gabby, “I told you you can get hooked on that shit.”
“Yes,” Laci said.
They looked at her in amazement. “Damn! You? An addict? You don’t strike me as one,” Randi commented.
“Right,” Laci told her, “but it’s not like you think. I had some friends back home and they tricked me into smoking a joint and they laced it with crack.”
The girls’ eyes got big as saucers. “What? Aw man, that’s lower than low!” The girls got a little closer to Laci, and they put their hands on her back and began to rub her. “Damn, I’m sorry, Laci,” Gabby said, feeling bad that she’d rolled and fired up a joint in front of Laci.
“Well, we won’t smoke around you, Laci,” Randi told her.
“Right, we won’t,” Gabby cosigned.
“Thanks, I appreciate that,” Laci told them. “You don’t have to stop doing it around me, but I appreciate you offering that. I’m clean now, but I just wanted you all to know.”
That night, when she came home smelling of alcohol and the faint hint of marijuana, Dink questioned her about it. “Laci,” he called out to her. Dink noticed that she looked a little disheveled. “Are you smoking weed?”
“Why you ask that?” Laci asked, taking off her clothes, about to get into the shower. She put her dirty clothes in the hamper and put her robe on.
“Laci.” Dink pulled at her arm, and sniffed her hair and her face. The smell was very faint, but he knew she had to at least have been around it. He looked closely at her. Her eyes weren’t bloodshot and she didn’t look extremely relaxed.
“What you doing?” she asked, pulling away from him.
“Ever since you started hanging out with your so-called friends, whenever you come home, you smell like shit you shouldn’t be doing.”
Laci turned to look at him and gave an exasperated sigh.
“Dink, when I go out with my friends, we go to the mall, the art museums, or just other places we have common interest in. But there are other days we just want to sit back and chill. We go back to someone’s dorm room with a bottle of expensive wine and yes, some of them would hit the herb.”
“Uh-uh,” he said defiantly, shaking his head. “You ain’t going around them anymore. I told you if some funny shit kicked off I—”
“Dink, listen to me.” Laci looked at him seriously. “The first time they lit up, I almost got sick to my stomach. I wanted to run and get the hell out of there, but when I saw that some of them hit it and nobody tweaked, that’s when I realized it was just weed.”
“You don’t need to be around that shit, Laci. I don’t think you’re ready for that.”
“I told them I was a recovering addict.” Dink raised his eyebrows in shock. “Yup, I was surprised I admitted it too and took my chances with how they would react, but I knew they were the real deal when they offered not to smoke around me.”
“Why did you tell them that, Laci?” He still couldn’t believe she would put her shit out there like that. “Did you tell them anything about me? About where the shit came from?”
“Well, because it’s my truth, and I have to face my demons. The truth is, Dink, I am a recovering addict and admitting this is a part of my recovery.” She looked at him with hurt written on her face. “To answer your other question, no, I didn’t say anything about you. I can’t believe you would even ask that.”
Dink pulled her close and kissed her hair. “I’m sorry, baby. I shouldn’t have asked you that.”
&nb
sp; She looked up at him and smiled slightly, although still surprised at what he had just asked.
“Wow, baby,” Dink said. “I’m proud of you.”
What Laci liked most about her newfound friends was that nobody tried to get anyone to do anything she wasn’t comfortable with. That included her talking about her ordeal if she didn’t want to. With the South Bronx Bitches, Laci had felt she never had a choice, and that made her appreciate her new friends even more. Even though Laci was finally able to be where she fit in and she was happy, she still had hatred in her heart for the South Bronx Bitches.
“This is definitely a step in the right direction,” Dink told her. “You know, it’s gonna take some time, but one day you’ll forget about all the shit you went through over the summer.”
Yeah right, Laci said to herself. Most people can forgive but can’t forget, but me, I ain’t forgivin’ shit.
CHAPTER 20
WHILE LACI BRANCHED out and became her own woman, Dink began to spend more time with people more like him—Slim and Simone. They made him feel more at home in Boston.
“Hey Simone,” Dink called out after their Abnormal Psych class. He walked up to her and helped her gather her things.
“Hey Daryl, what’s up?” She looked at him. “Wow, you’re looking good today.” She admired his dark-wash blue jeans, Timbs, and crisp white oversized T-shirt. Dink appreciated the compliment. Laci hadn’t complimented him in a while.
“Thanks,” he told her. “You’re looking pretty fly yourself.” He admired the black and gold Sassoon sweat suit that Simone wore. It hit her curves in a way that should make any man who crossed her path take a second look. “What you doing later on?”
“From the looks of it,” she said, noticing how he was checking her out, “I’ll be working on this assignment.”
“Yeah, me too,” he said, remembering that they had been given an emormous assignment with a ridiculous deadline. “Hey, he said we could choose a partner. Why don’t we partner up?” Dink suggested.
“I’d like that, Daryl,” Simone replied.
“Looks like we’re gonna be pulling some late nights,” he told her. “You up for it?”
“More than you know.” Simone grinned.
Besides studying, Simone and Dink began to spend more time together. They often hung out in the student lounge together, grabbing dinner and playing video games.
One Friday evening, Dink got to the apartment early. He had planned to take Laci to a small, quaint diner that he’d overheard a student talking about, only to be greeted by a note on the fridge:
Dink, I’m out with the girls.
Dinner is in the fridge. I’ll be home early.—L
Dink sighed, balled up the note, and tossed it into the trash can. He didn’t feel like staying inside, so he decided to go back to the student center. Just as he got in his car, his car phone rang.
“Yeah!” he answered.
“Um . . . Daryl?” a female voice spoke.
“Yo, who this?”
“This is Simone.”
“Oh yeah, what’s up?”
“I was wondering if you wanted to get together and work on our paper tonight.”
Dink paused for a moment and his stomach grumbled. “Yeah, that’ll be cool.”
“Great!” Simone exclaimed.
Dink could hear the smile in her voice. “Why don’t we grab a bite to eat?” he suggested.
“I’d like that, Daryl.”
“Can you meet me at the Busy Bee, in say,” he looked at the clock, “twenty minutes? It’s on Beacon Street, near South Campus.”
“Yeah, I know where that is. Make it thirty.”
“You got it.”
Twenty minutes later, Dink walked into the quaint little diner and grabbed a booth. He looked over the menu and heard giddy female chatter coming his way.
“Dink?” a sweet voice spoke, and the chatter stopped.
He looked up, and it was Laci and her friends.
“Oh hey, babe, what’s up?”
“Hi, Daryl,” the other three girls said in unison.
“Hi.”
“What are you doing here?” Laci asked, surprised to see him. “Did you get my note?”
“Yeah, I got it. I’m meeting a friend here. We’re actually working on a project for class.”
“Oh, okay,” Laci replied, “that’s cool. I’ll see you back at home later, okay?” She bent down and kissed him, but just as she was about to walk away, her entire expression changed.
Simone was walking toward her with a few books in tow. She had on a pair of too-tight Gloria Vanderbilt blue jeans, quarter-length black boots, and a black Gloria Vanderbilt V-neck shirt that highlighted her cleavage. Laci noticed that she had on more makeup than she typically wore during the day and the fragrant smell of Elizabeth Taylor’s Passion filled the air. Laci knew that Dink liked the smell of the perfume, but she had never made time to get it while on one of her shopping sprees with her friends.
“Hi, Laci,” Simone said dryly. “Hi, Daryl!” she said with enthusiasm, and sat down. Laci, along with her friends, looked at Simone in shock as she slid into the booth across from Dink. “Sorry I’m late. T.J. was trippin’.”
Dink looked up at Laci. “Alright baby,” he spoke. “I’ll see you back at home tonight. I’ll try to be early.” He turned his attention back to Simone. Laci walked out with her friends, at a loss for words.
Meanwhile, T.J. sat outside the diner. He’d followed Simone there after she openly turned down his invitation to dinner and to bed later. He was pissed off when he saw that Dink’s car was outside. He saw Laci and her friends leaving the diner as well and could tell from the expression on Laci’s face that she wasn’t too happy about what she’d seen. T.J. positioned his car where he could see inside the window of the diner and saw Simone and Dink laughing. This was not the first time he’d seen them together and noticed how close they had become.
Even though he and Simone weren’t a couple anymore, and he’d started to believe she was serious when she kicked him to the curb, he was bound to put salt in Dink’s game. That he was certain of.
AS HOMECOMING was getting closer, Simone approached Laci as she was leaving the campus.
“Hi, Laci!” Simone said happily. “Where you going?”
Laci looked at Simone with a strange expression on her face. “I’m going home to Dink. Why?”
Simone was kind of taken aback by Laci’s reaction, but continued. “Me and some of my sorors are going to the show tonight. You wanna go?”
Laci chuckled to herself, looked Simone up and down, then answered. “For what, Simone? It’s not like we’re friends.”
“I was just extending an invitation to hang out, but if you don’t want to—”
“No. I’ll pass, and as a matter of fact, don’t call Dink either. He’s busy tonight too.” Laci walked off, leaving Simone standing alone.
Not only was Simone a dead ringer for Crystal, which made Laci uncomfortable, she was the same girl who’d eyed Dink in class the first day of school. Laci was suspicious of her intentions for wanting to be friends with her and questioned her sincerity.
Laci walked into their apartment twenty minutes later and saw Dink on the couch, relaxing, flicking through the channels on the television. She was glad he was at home.
“Hey, sweetheart,” Laci said, and plopped down comfortably next to Dink.
He leaned over and kissed her. “Hey, babe.”
“What’cha doing?” Laci asked as she took her shoes off. She tucked her feet up under her as she snuggled up next to him. Dink draped his arm around her and pulled her close to him.
“Nothing right now.” He continued to flick through the channels. After a few minutes, Dink looked at Laci. “Babe, why did you play Simone earlier?”
Laci looked at Dink with an irritated expression on her face. “Oh, she couldn’t wait to get a hold of you and tell you, huh? That bitch.”
“Hey, what’s all that for?” Dink re
moved his arm and looked at Laci.
“Dink, I don’t like her.”
“Why? What she do to you?”
“Do you remember how she looked at you on the first day of school? She knows we’re together but every time I turn around, I see her. What am I gonna say, ‘sure, let’s hang,’ knowing she probably has a motive? I don’t trust her. And it doesn’t help that she looks like Crystal.”
“So what she looks like Crystal, Laci? She’s not her. Why are you so stuck on that?” Dink got up off the couch and walked to window. He felt Laci was dead wrong about Simone and had no problem telling her so, but he had to gather his words before he spoke again. “I can see your point,” he said, walking back toward Laci, “but you’re wrong about her. She’s a cool girl. You need to let go of the pain that Crystal caused. If you let go of the past, baby, being cool with Simone would be a huge breakthrough in your continued recovery. Who knows, you all may end up being friends one day.”
Laci rolled her eyes. She didn’t buy that, but she just let him talk.
Dink didn’t realize it, but he’d given up too much information too easily, sparking curiosity.
“How do you know I’m wrong about her, Dink? It sounds like you know more about her than what you’re letting on.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because you are straight-up taking up for this chick, all because I said I don’t like her because she looks like Crystal, who just happens to be your ex. There’s no way you can tell me that hasn’t crossed your mind.”
To stop Laci’s insecurities, Dink made an effort to take her to more places with him again, on and off campus. At the urging of her friends, Laci chose to spend more time with Dink. None of the girls had men but they knew that another woman, no matter how innocent it looked, could be trouble.