Synergy

by Georgia Payne

  “There you go fucking exaggerating again. It ain’t been months; it’s been a couple weeks, Dee. Stop being such a fucking drama queen.”

  “The last time you seen Tushaun it was February 5th on your mom’s birthday. It’s now March 15th, so actually, it’s been over a fucking month so don’t speak to me like I’m a fucking idiot.” Dee shouted, her voice rising as the anger boiled inside her.

  “Well I’ve been working to provide for my son, so don’t start talking shit about I’m a bad dad” Trey shouted. This time the girls could hear what was being said on the other end of the phone.

  “What you been doing to provide?” he questioned. “Being a fucking slut, showing yourself to strangers? Yeah I know what you been doing Dee, so don’t play that innocent card.”

  Dee tried to protest over his shouting; she wanted to tell him that she knew for a fact he wasn’t working and to stop lying, but he only spoke louder.

  “I’ll see Tushaun next week, and I’ll talk to you then. I ain’t arguing with you.”

  With that, he ended the call.

  In anger, Dee flung her phone across the room, and it smashed off the wall opposite, landing in pieces on the floor with a smashed screen. Keisha leapt to Dee’s side to comfort her as Jenai went to pick up the pieces of the phone, and began to put them back together.

  “Ignore him Dee, he’s talking shit.” Keisha said, as she put her arm round her friend. Dee silently fumed as she took some deep breaths, attempting to slow her heart rate. Her hands still shook in her lap, and she knew she had to get herself under control. She had always struggled with her anger, and it had often gotten her into trouble. She thought it sounded clichéd to say she saw red, but something definitely happened to her in these moments. It was like she wasn’t in control of her own body; it was just pure reflex. She would throw things, sometimes punches, and it was up to whoever was on the receiving end to get out of the way. She and Trey had that in common and it had resulted in them both sporting black eyes at some points during their relationship.

  Dee got pregnant with her son at nineteen. It wasn’t a particularly planned pregnancy but they weren’t exactly taking all the right precautions either; a kind of act now and think later situation. Unlike a lot of people in her neighbourhood, she was actually with her baby’s father when she got pregnant, in fact, they were pretty much childhood sweethearts. Dee was fifteen when she started dating Trey. They went to the same school for years and she had always had a crush on him. He was always a troublemaker, getting excluded from school and causing fights during lunch. He had this softer side too though - he was the class clown, always making people smile, and his own smile was something that melted many hearts. He had a reputation, even at thirteen, for sleeping with girls and not looking at them the next day. Girls just flocked to him, and he loved every minute of it.

  When they were both fourteen, Dee and her group of girlfriends became friends with Trey and his crew. The two groups would hang out together during break and lunchtime, laughing and joking, and smoking a sneaky blunt. It was clear even then Dee and Trey got on well together; they were always flirting and play fighting, and there was an instant aura of jealousy among the year group. Trey didn’t instantly drop his player ways though, and he found out the hard way not to mess with Dee when she found him texting other girls after they’d slept together. When she punched him in the nose in front of half the school, she definitely made her point. She wasn’t one to mess with. Unfortunately, Trey wasn’t a changed man for long.

  At seventeen, the two of them left school early with no qualifications. It wasn’t exactly something out of the ordinary in that school. It was a joint decision to leave, and though Dee would never like to think she was persuaded into anything she didn’t want to do, she did wonder if it was the right move, but she trusted him when he said things would work out. Trey started selling weed at sixteen and sometimes Dee helped. By the time they were seventeen, Dee had a reputation in their area for selling the best quality in the neighbourhood, and her looks didn’t hurt either.

  Living a life selling weed worked out for them for a while. They got their own place together a few streets away from their parents, and Dee even got some modelling work. It didn’t pay great but it was money, and that was what mattered. Everything seemed fine, before Trey started selling harder stuff. He began taking some of it too. His lifestyle started to completely change; it was like she could see him changing in front of her eyes. His cheeky smile had gone, and he was staying out all night, coming in smelling of perfume and liquor. One night she waited up for him and when he finally stumbled in the door, he was mad that she’d waited up; he thought she was ‘trying to catch him out.’ When she saw the red lipstick on his collar, she launched at him, but his reflexes kicked in and she was thrown across the room. She hit her face on the wall.

  It was at a modelling shoot that Dee heard about a casting call for a girl for a hip hop video. She’d often watched those girls and thought she could do a better job, but she never knew how to approach something like that. When she heard the name of the rapper it was for, she felt ridiculous for even thinking about it, but she was encouraged by some other models who were going to it. The next day, she was queuing outside the casting building. When the video came on TV with Dee as the main lady, people in her neighbourhood went crazy. People had more respect for her than they had before, and this time not just as their local dope girl. But while everybody else raved about the video, Trey acted jealous. He didn’t like the fact that men were ogling her on TV, or the fact that she had a sex scene with a well known rapper. As staged as it was, it felt real to him. He knew he couldn’t compare to some hip hop icon. When Dee got her pay check from the job, he blew it all.

  When Dee found out she was pregnant it was a shock to the system for the both of them. How were they going to afford it? How would they look after it? They didn’t know anything about babies. They both walked on eggshells at first, not sure what to say or how to feel, worried about upsetting the other, but when they both went to the first baby scan, and heard how it was healthy, things changed. Trey was suddenly becoming the old Trey, the one she knew from school. He treated her better, he stayed home more and he stopped taking the drugs. Things were looking up, or so Dee thought. Once Tushaun was born, the novelty wore off.

  Jenai looked up at Dee.

  “Hate to say this, but your phone won’t switch on”

  Dee pursed her lips in anger; it almost looked like a pout to everyone else. It was her classic ‘angry’ face. “Fuck’s sake.” She muttered under her breath.

  Keisha waved her hand in dismissal.

  “Forget about the phone, my brother can get you another one. Let’s just forget about him and get a drink”

  Dee smiled at Keisha, and tried to forget as she suggested. Her anger wasn’t going to help anything right now. With that, the girls stood up and headed into the club.

  Chapter 4 – One Night Stand

  Dee

  She knew it was a bad idea, drinking so much while she was pissed off, but she did it anyway. When Keisha suggested the three girls go get some drinks and have a dance, they headed straight to the bar to see Paul, who poured around 20 shots and put them on a tray, which they then shared out between them. Dee’s head was spinning with thoughts of Trey and then of Tushaun. She wished it didn’t have to be like this. She wished she could be one of the happy ones, the ones that stayed together and did right by the kids. She couldn’t help but wonder whether it was something she did. Was she not good enough? Did she not treat him right? Maybe if she wasn’t so moody, so stubborn, so God damn bitchy on the regular...

  “Dee!” Keisha snapped her fingers in Dee’s face, causing whatever thoughts were spinning around to suddenly evaporate. She blinked and let her eyes focus.

  “You okay?”

  Dee nodded and forced a smile, before she knocked back the last remaining shot and got to her feet unsteadily. Walking with a strut in her knee high boots, she led the two girl
s into the middle of the dance floor, which was now full of people.

  It’s funny how music can have such an effect on people, how it can alter their mood, thought Dee. She had always loved music, it was her safe haven. No matter what life threw at her, she could always put her earphones in after a hard day and let the music take her away. During those moments, she was the girl the rappers were talking about; she had a good, drama free-life with money at her discretion; she wasn’t born and raised in the ghetto with an absent baby daddy and a mounting stack of bills. That alternate reality always had to come to an end, but for tonight, she was in it again. She threw her arms up in the air as the music pounded through the club, the beat vibrating through her body. She sang along at the top of her lungs, knowing no one could hear and she laughed as Jenai pushed away an over-eager customer. She could lose herself in this reality.

  After a while, the effects of the Tequila shots started to wear off and she was once again envisioning Trey and his words on the phone replayed in her mind. ‘What you been doing to provide?’ he spat. She sighed as she thought of the next line he used. ‘Being a fucking slut, showing yourself to strangers.’ She tried to shake off his words but she was starting to feel a little angry again, and she needed to bring herself back down. ‘Being a fucking slut’, his words hit her again. In one swift moment, she shimmied past the men behind her to leave the dance floor, not saying anything to the girls, but as she passed in front of the men, she felt a hand on her ass. One of them had decided to slap it as she went past, but then had grabbed it forcefully when she tried to carry on walking. She spun around quickly, and saw a short bald man with a grin on his face. She didn’t return the grin. Usually, her face said it all for people. She had perfected her angry look, and most who saw it would back off within seconds. This guy, however, had clearly never seen the face before, or met Dee before for that matter. The guy had no idea what he’d just gotten himself into. He probably thought he could get away with it. Sadly, he was mistaken, and as her fist flew up in record speed, he had barely any time to react.

  Unfortunately for Dee, another, taller guy who stood leering next to the first guy had obviously spotted her face, and was probably expecting her reaction. Moving at the same lightning speed, he grabbed her arm, just stopping her fist from making contact with short guy’s face. He held her arm tightly, his fingers pressing down on her skin. His intention was clearly to protect his friend from Dee’s wrath, not to cause injury, but the pressure on her arm was unnecessary, she felt, and Dee was a fighter. This only made her more determined to hurt somebody. Her left arm, which was still free, flew up in reaction, making contact with tall guy’s nose. She felt the soft cartilage shift under her knuckles and simultaneously felt a sharp pain radiate up her hand.

  As he released her right arm from his clutches to grab onto his nose, which was now covered in blood, his short friend made a move toward Dee. In a flash, she moved toward him and kneed him in the groin, causing him to stagger back in pain. While both men reacted to their injuries, she moved swiftly off the dance floor and changed her original destination of the bar to the staff room. She punched in the code with her right, uninjured hand and let the door slam behind her. Once she was safe behind the door, she slumped to the floor holding onto her hand and winced in pain.

  After a few short moments taking deep breaths, she braved looking at her hand. Cradling it in her right hand, she saw broken skin and red seeping through, plus what looked like the start of some serious bruising. Though she threw an amazing punch with her right hand, she had never before hit with her left, it was never necessary - she had never missed with her right. After sitting for another moment breathing through her teeth, she stood up and braved the walk into the dressing area. She looked around the corner and saw that it was empty. The dressing table was full of lipsticks and hairbrushes, and the ashtray that was hanging on the arm of the sofa was full of ash and stubbed out blunts, but no one seemed to be there. As she moved fully into the dressing room, she saw the tower of lockers to her right behind the toilet door. She walked slowly to the lockers, heading for the one that matched her in height completely, around 5”5. She always remembered her own locker by this fact, not by the number. She could never remember the number. Sliding her good hand down her top into her bra, she felt for the small key at the bottom of her cleavage. Once she fished it out, she put it into the locker straight in front of her and retrieved her black handbag.

  Dee wasted no time in finding her pre-rolled blunts in the zipped pocket and lighting one up. There was a time when there was a fire alarm in this room, and the slightest bit of smoke would set it off. However, their manager, Evan, got sick and tired of evacuating the club or running and shouting ‘False alarm!’ while desperately trying to fan away the smoke with a towel. It was most likely illegal to not have one in the staff area, but honestly, he just didn’t care, and neither did the girls. As long as they could get baked after their show or at least have a cigarette to calm their nerves before the show, they were good.

  Once Dee had her bag over her shoulder and a blunt in her mouth, she didn’t waste any time in getting out of the staff room. The last thing she wanted was for someone to come running in and question her about her hand. She moved swiftly back into the club, and hoped she could blend back into the atmosphere. With the weed going to her head, and the many shots finally catching up with her, she suddenly felt a little unsteady on her feet, so when she was close to the bar, she used the bar stools for support . As she slid under the gap to the staff area, she was suddenly taken by the arm by Paul, who had seen her coming.

  “Dee, you can’t be behind here.”

  “Wh-Why not?” she stuttered, a smile on her face.

  Paul looked at her for a second and returned her smile, before he moved with her to the customer-side of the bar.

  “Come on drunky, I’ll have a drink with you.” He laughed, as he gestured to the other barman to take over. Bringing a bottle of vodka with him, he helped Dee onto a stool before he poured them each a small shot size amount, and filled the rest with cranberry juice. He sat himself onto the stool next to her then turned in her direction.

  “What’s wrong beautiful? You look down.”

  “Why can’t you be straight?” she blurted out, cupping her hand over her mouth in surprise. The two of them laughed in unison.

  “I ask myself that every day.”

  Jason

  So maybe going out wasn’t such a bad idea after all, Jason thought. He was actually wondering why he objected to it in the first place. He’d had some great food, great drink, great company, and he had Tom to thank for that. Once they’d watched all the dancers the club had to offer, they’d invited some people over to their table and had a few rounds of shots. Tom seemed to be getting on well with a woman about their age; she was tall, blonde, and spoke with a Middle Eastern accent. The only problem was Tom was in a committed relationship, in fact, they’d been engaged for a few years now, and even had a baby together. Carmen, his fiancée, had put up with Tom since they were around eighteen and baby Lydia came along just over 18 months ago, so Jason knew it was his responsibility to make sure Tom did not go home with anyone tonight.

  Throughout the night, Jason had tried to send hints Tom’s way but all he’d done was insisted he was simply acting as ‘wingman’ to try to find someone for Jason. Jason wasn’t sure how true that was, but nonetheless, he continued his night. It was around 1am by now, and whatever drinks he’d downed during the night were starting to wear off a little, so he told Tom he was heading to the bar. The club had started to die down now; he guessed because people had used this place as a stop gap, or had only come for the ‘main attraction’ i.e. the girls, then gone somewhere else. As Jason walked to the bar, he saw one man sitting at one end on one of the four bar stools, and a man and woman sitting at the other end. The remaining barstool in the middle was empty so he took his place there waiting for some service. After a second, the man who was sitting with the dark-skinned woma
n stood up and moved behind the bar.

  “What can I get you?” he asked Jason.

  “JD and coke please”

  The man, who was probably around Jason’s age, with stubble, poured out the drink and took Jason’s money, before turning back to the woman on the bar stool.

  “I’ve gotta get cleaning, Dee – no more drinks ok?” He joked, smiling her way.

  “Yeah yeah!” the woman muttered sarcastically.

  As she spoke, Jason turned his blue eyes in the direction of her voice. He took in her dark cocoa skin, black curls falling down her back and over her shoulder. Her skin looked smooth, and he couldn’t help but notice on her small frame she carried a large chest and cleavage. He must have looked a moment too long, because her eyes turned to his.

  “Enjoying the view?” she asked. Her lips were thick and full, and a layer of shiny lipstick made them look juicy and enticing.

  “Lost for words?” She raised her eyebrow at him, and it was only then he realised he still had not said a word to her since he’d sat down. He awkwardly shifted in his seat, and struggled to come up with a sentence.

  “Oh, er...I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to er...”

  Before he could finish his incoherent sentence, she snapped back.

  “Mumbling white boy, we don’t get many of ‘em in here.”

  He wasn’t sure whether he blushed, but he’d never felt so embarrassed. He was famous; he was used to talking to people, all sorts of people. He had to speak for a living; press conferences, interviews, radio, TV...but for some reason he felt like he just wanted to watch her, as creepy as that sounded in his own head. She was so beautiful, so elegant-looking despite the outfit choice. As he thought about her outfit choice, he realised he’d seen it before. She was on stage. The one he had watched in awe. If only he could remember her name.

  “So what’s your story? Ain’t seen you in here before.”