What A Person Wants

by Bell, Kris

  I rushed Sabrina into her room and shut the door. No sooner had I removed my hand from the door knob did I hear my mom bust out of her room. She pushed past me and started to make her way down the stairs.

  “Oh, shit!” I muttered. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. My dear mother was decked out in old sweat pants, a big tee shirt, and her short, thick hair was tied back into a tight pony tail. Her honey brown skin was slightly greasy from the Vaseline she had smeared all over herself. The woman was ready to rumble.

  “Mom!” I called out as I ran down the stairs behind her. She was already at the door by the time I had made it to her.

  “Izzy, back away from me! I need to go deal with this.”

  My mother was beyond reason, but I couldn’t let her walk out towards a royal ass beating without trying to stop it.

  “Mom, this is stupid! You’re gonna let these dumb ass females get you all riled up about a man who ain’t shit.”

  “Stop cursing, Isabel! I don’t want to hear that shit come out of your mouth again.”

  Leave it to my mom to regulate my swearing while she’s getting ready to whoop some stranger’s ass. She went to the window and watched the three women roll their necks and yell at the house. They wasted no time egging my mom on so she would come out.

  I tried again. “Look, Mom! You really need to stop acting like a frickin’ teenager and let these women go! And while you're at it, you need to let Petey’s ass go, too. You deserve better than this!”

  “Bring ya ass out, ho!” I heard one of them yell. I looked outside the front window and saw the obvious ringleader yelling all kinds of crap. From the looks of it, she was Petey’s type: fat and shapeless with an overly complicated, multicolored hairdo. Her two buddies looked just as bad as she did. How Petey finessed himself a beautiful woman like my mother I’ll never know.

  Apparently, that was enough for my mom. She stormed outside like she was ready to bust some heads open, totally fearless. Never mind the fact that she was one woman and her enemy had two other females watching her back. I ran out behind her.

  As if by some supreme timing, I saw Richie’s black Acura coming down the street towards the apartment. Thank God! I wouldn’t have to pick up the pieces of my mom by myself. Hell, hopefully I won’t have to do that at all!

  “Look, bitch! You're gonna leave me and my man alone!” my mother yelled. “Petey don’t want your sweaty, nasty ass. He’s happy at home with me and his daughter. He don’t need you!”

  “Petey don’t want me? Petey don’t want me?” the ringleader yelled as she approached my mom. “Ho! Petey is at my house every time you think he’s at work. He was at my house last night eating my pussy like an all you can eat buffet. And you got the nerve to tell me that he don’t want me!?”

  “Beat that bitch’s ass, Marquetta!” one of the ringleader's sidekicks yelled.

  I glanced at Richie’s car. He had gotten out and was walking towards us, but before he could close the distance, all hell broke loose.

  I don’t know who moved first, but my mom had Marquetta’s colorful hair wrapped around one hand and was beating her in the face with a tightly balled fist. The other two sidekicks jumped in and started beating on my mother’s back and head. All four women were soon on the ground, punching, kicking, and stomping. Richie and I ran towards the brawl and tried to break it up. Neighbors heard the commotion and came out of their apartments. They watched the fight as though it was a Pay-Per-View event. From the corner of my eye, I saw Sabrina staring down at everyone from her bedroom window. No child should have seen that.

  Richie managed to get one of the sidekicks off of my mom, but no sooner did he manage that, the very same sidekick thrashed around and elbowed me in the eye, making it water.

  “Hey! HEY! What the fuck is goin' on?”

  Just like that, the fight was over. Petey was home. I don’t know what kind of power he thought he possessed, but something worked because all four of those women stopped dead in their tracks as soon as they heard his high pitched voice. My mom was on her knees by this point, holding her freely bleeding head. Marquetta and her sidekicks were no worse for the wear besides their fake hair lying on the ground, thanks to me.

  It wasn’t until everyone backed off of each other did I realize that Marquetta had a crowbar in her hand. Where the fuck did the crowbar come from? Did she use that on someone?

  I was okay except for the welt I knew I would have around my eye, and Richie was nowhere near hurt, but my mom was.

  Then it hit me. That evil bitch, Marquetta, hit my mom in the head with a damn crowbar.

  “What the fuck is goin’ on?” Petey repeated.

  My mom spoke up. “Baby, these women had been calling my phone all day and they came out here trying to start some mess, so I defended myself.”

  Petey narrowed his beady eyes at my mother. “Why you come out here trying to fight? These are my friends. You ain’t got no business out here! Your ass can’t fight anyway. You need to be in the house minding Sabrina and your own damn daughter! Now get in the house.”

  I could have cried at the look of shock on my mother’s bloody face. "But baby--"

  “Carry your ass back in that house!”

  “Yeah, bitch! Carry your ass!” Marquetta co-signed. I wanted to get in Richie’s Acura and run that bitch over. But I didn’t. Instead, I helped my mom into the house. Once I got her settled on the couch with a towel for her head, I ran back outside to deal with Petey. But I didn't have to.

  By the time I made it to front porch, Richie was in the middle of laying Petey out.

  Richie, ignoring everyone who still stood outside watching the show, got into Petey's personal space. It wasn't hard to do; Richie's tall frame towered over Petey's short one. He spoke low enough for only Petey to hear, but whatever he said was enough to shake Petey to his core. He refused to meet Richie's gaze, and even from a few feet away, I could see beads of sweat dripping down his face. Richie leaned closer to Petey, his face a couple inches away, still whispering with a dead calm. I was pleased to see Petey flinch from Richie's closeness. I crossed my arms and waited, relishing in Petey's discomfort. He deserved every second of it.

  When Richie finished speaking, he backed up from Petey. "Take your 'friends' and get the hell out of here. Remember what I said. If I catch you back here, you'll have me to answer to," Richie growled. Without another word, Petey and his women got into their cars and took off.

  Once they were gone and the speculating neighbors realized everything had calmed down and went back into their homes, Richie approached me on the porch. All the anger he had for Petey melted away when he locked gazes with me. He rushed to my side and planted a chaste kiss on my cheek.

  "Are you okay? Where's your mom?" he asked, concerned.

  I couldn't speak. I began to tremble from the sheer weight of gratitude to Richie and his help with this situation. How would this have ended if I was alone? I didn't want to think about that.

  Silent and shaking, I pointed over my shoulders to the front door. Richie understood. He grabbed my hand and led me back inside.

  In the house, we patched my mom up as best as we could and sat with her and Sabrina for a while until everything calmed down. I wanted my mom to go to the emergency room and have her head looked at, but she refused. I also wanted someone to pick Sabrina up and take her for the rest of the night so my mom wouldn't have to worry with her. I lost that battle, too. Sabrina had seen the fight and was now petrified that someone else would come by and hurt her "mom." It took a while for us to calm her down and stop her tears, but she refused to leave my mother's side.

  It was almost 10 pm by the time I crawled into Richie’s car and took off with him. He was amazing. He had played with Sabrina while my mom and I had another one of our heart-to-heart talks. He even paid for some Chinese take-out.

  “You okay, hun?” Richie asked me once we had pulled away.

  I looked at Richie Reyes and wondered how I could have gotten so lucky to have a f
riend like him. Not too many people have seen how stressed out I get over my mom, but something told me that he wouldn’t run away because of it. So, I took a deep breath and told him the truth.

  “I’m not the best right now, but I will be.”

  Richie turned and looked at me with his big eyes; I couldn’t help but smile. I knew then that the night could only get better.

  RICHIE

  I couldn’t wait to until two o’clock when I would finally be free for lunch. The international law firm I worked for had been in a frenzy over the last week or so with the addition of two high-class cases on the roster. As a paralegal, that didn’t mean shit to me except more work on my desk. I was looking forward to breaking free for an hour and meeting up with Rhys for a little bit. The need to unwind was imminent, so when my business line rang, I immediately thought it was Rhys calling to cancel. I picked up the receiver, ready to accept the prospect of a lonely lunch.

  “Hey, baby! How are you?”

  Shit. “I’m fine, Chloe. What is it?”

  “Oh, c’mon, Richie! Why do you insist on treating me like this?”

  “Treating you like what?” I asked, irritated.

  “Like a step child you refuse to admit you miss when not around. I want to see you tonight and here you are acting distant. All I did was greet you! Damn! Can’t I get any kind of affection?”

  As if by supreme timing, Rhys opened my door and shut it quietly behind him. I pointed to the chair in front of my large desk for him to sit in.

  “Look, I’m at work and I’m busy right now, so...”

  “I’m not asking about right now. I’m asking about tonight,” Chloe huffed. I knew she was beating around the bush instead of flat out asking for some sex, but I’ll be damned if I was going to fall into that trap again.

  “I’m busy tonight, too. I have plans.”

  “With your fat bitch?” Chloe asked, referring to Isabel.

  I bristled inwardly at her description of Izzy. “Yep! I gotta go. Like I said, I am at work.” And then I hung up the phone and stood up from my desk, stretching.

  “Was that Chloe again?” Rhys asked with a slick ass grin on his face.

  I nodded. “Yeah, she’s been hounding me on the regular. I don’t know what the hell is wrong with that girl. She couldn’t stand being around me when we were together and now she’s so far up my ass I‘m surprised she’s not three shades darker.”

  Rhys shook his head as I sat on the corner of my desk, facing him. “I know what it is man. It’s Izzy. She can’t stand the fact that another woman is in her space.”

  “Oh, please! What does Isabel have to do with anything?”

  “Izzy has to do with everything. In Chloe’s warped little mind, you’re supposed to be spending every waking moment that you have on this earth pining for her, but ever since you and Izzy got close, Chloe’s just been an afterthought. You haven’t really been dealing with her, and I gotta tell you, man, I’m glad. It’s about fucking time.”

  I wanted to protest, but I knew Rhys spoke the truth. As hard a feat as it was, I had been putting Chloe on the back burner. Any other time, I would have broken my back to get closer to my ideal woman, but after spending all this time with Isabel, Chloe just doesn’t seem so perfect. Incredibly sexy, but not perfect!

  “Well,” I began, “what more can I say except that I just might be outgrowing my ex.”

  Rhys looked at me like I was stupid. “Actually, Rich, you can say a little more than that.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “What I mean is you can confess that you and Izzy have something going on.”

  Rhys lost me. There wasn’t anything going on between me and Isabel. And I told him so.

  Rhys refused to acknowledge my denial. “Listen” he said as he leaned forward. I knew that lean. It meant he was about to break something down for me, so instead of protesting, I did as he told me.

  “You and Izzy have been hanging out for the last few months getting all close and whatnot. Now I know you, but you can’t forget that I know her too. Quite frankly, I can tell that both of y’all like each other, but y’all insist on playing ignorant. Just get together already. Be done with it.”

  I made a feeble attempt to argue. “Isabel and I are just friends. That’s it! She already has a man she plans to marry. As a matter of fact, I think she’s supposed to be visiting him in Texas sometime next week. Hell, as long as they’ve been apart, I wouldn’t be surprised if she came home knocked up.” I chuckled at my own lame joke, but Rhys didn’t follow suit.

  “Besides, I go on dates all the time. I’m hardly available to entertain Isabel much less Chloe.”

  Instead of agreeing with me, my boy raised that same eyebrow I raise every time I detect bullshit.

  “Forget that dude. First of all, Kyle ain't really been there for her. I don‘t know why he's trying to act like Mr. Good Dick at this point. He may as well keep his ass in Texas. Izzy’s been walking around here with these cheesy ass grins. Trust me when I say Kyle has nothing to do with that. That’s all you. Your ass can go on as many dates as you want, but at the end of the day, you know damn well it’s Izzy you're holding out for.”

  I hated to admit it, but the time I'd spent with Isabel had been great, and hearing Rhys talk about Isabel being happy with me was enough to give me that damned warm and fuzzy feeling again. I had understood after our first and only real date that we would just be friends and hang out on occasion, but sometimes it felt as though she was my woman instead of Kyle's. Hanging out occasionally had quickly become hanging out daily. Plus, it was no secret that I was attracted to her. But that changed nothing. We didn't have that type of relationship, and she was marrying Kyle.

  And that Kyle situation was enough to make my left eye twitch incessantly. I knew she had a man when we first met. It didn’t bother me then, but it’s been a thorn in my side for some time now. Jealousy is a bitch.

  But I didn’t want Rhys to know that I agreed with him, so I did what I normally do when I want to change the subject nowadays: I asked about Tiffany.

  “So what about Tiff, man?” I asked as I slid back into my chair. “This is the first time in forever that you didn’t start a conversation with, ‘God I’m starting to hate that girl’.” We shared a quick laugh. “Rich, I know I been talking about her a lot lately, but it’s just because I’m frustrated as hell. Tiffany was doing everything right in the beginning, but now it’s like she goes out of her way to do as little as possible. No sex. No cooking. No cleaning. Nothing! I've never met a more lazy and selfish person.”

  “Is she still hanging out with Chloe?”

  “Yep. They’re still hanging out all the time. It irks the hell out of me. She still doesn’t have a job. Tiffany went so far to tell me that since I'm the man, I should be taking care of her. Mind you, I wouldn't mind doing that if she at least met me halfway. I’m trying to make sure everything is taken care of at the house, and all of a sudden, she develops this high maintenance attitude and wants to go on shopping sprees, thinking she’s a real housewife of Atlanta or some mess like that. We can’t talk without arguing. And forget about sex. Anytime I even think about approaching her, she practically super-glues her legs shut. I don’t know what happened to my good girl.”

  “I know one thing. She needs to stop spending all her time with Chloe. I hate to admit it, but Tiff is a bit impressionable. Bad habits rub off on her too easily.”

  “Tell me about it.” Rhys stared off into space and I began to wonder if it was a good idea to mention anything at all about his wife.

  After a few moments of silence, my boy finally spoke up. "I wouldn't wish my situation on anyone. That's why I want you to just admit that you and Izzy belong together. You deserve to be happy, and she doesn't need to be hanging onto anymore promises. She's better than that. Handle yours, man."

  I looked at Rhys and wondered where all of this was coming from. Yeah, I wanted to make Isabel mine, but she wasn’t mine to be had.

  A
fter work I headed over to Isabel’s place. We had planned to stay in tonight, watch a movie and just chill out. She had called me not long after Rhys and I parted ways to vent about her issues from work. She had been working non-stop since that fiasco at her mom’s crib a while back, and her insomnia was wearing her down. Nowadays, Isabel averaged about two hours a night, a new personal record, and ‘ole girl was exhausted. I knew she was taking the following week off so she could go to Texas and visit Kyle, so I was determined to spend some time with her before she took off. I suggested we relax together tonight since it was her first day off in over two weeks. I hated to see her stressed out.

  I was just about to pull into the parking space in front of Isabel's apartment when my cell phone started vibrating. I turned my Bluetooth on and said, “Hello.”

  “Baby, I’m not playing with you anymore,” Chloe said. She had skipped all the pleasantries and went straight to business. I rolled my eyes and contemplated hanging up on her.

  “What the hell are you talking about, Chloe? Ain’t nobody playing games but you!”

  “You know exactly what in the hell I’m talking about!” she yelled. “You keep running behind that fat bitch and ignoring me. What about my needs, Rich?”

  “What about your needs?” I yelled. I was already parked, but I hadn’t gotten out of the car yet. I had to take care of this mess with Chloe first. I wasn’t about to bring any unnecessary drama into Isabel's place.

  “Chloe, we haven’t been a couple in over a year. I haven’t touched you in months, and, quite frankly, I want to keep it that way.”

  “What? Fool, you love me! There ain’t nobody on this earth who can do for you what I can. You’ll never have another woman like me, you scary ass bitch!”

  “Thank God for that,” I muttered.

  “Oh, is that right? Well, I’m gonna fix your ass! You keep tripping over that fat bitch you got. I’ll make you remember who Chloe Childs is. Keep playing! You coming back to me, Rich.”