by Onyxx Black
“Yes ma’am, I’m just waking up and Shauna’s still sleeping. Is everything okay?” She breathed a deep sigh of relief, “I just got finished watching the news at work and some young girl got killed last night.” My eyes bucked out of my head and I fumbled around the room for the remote control. “I know how you girls like to go out with your friends and things and I just got so worried. The coroners didn’t release any names yet all they showed was the car that the body was found in. I just saw a black car.” I closed my eyes tightly, thanking God it hadn’t been me and still scared as hell that I knew who it could be. When I finally got the channel to FOX 59, I saw the car sitting on the side of West 38th Street. As soon as her face appeared on the screen, I dropped the remote and hung up the phone just as somebody knocked on the door.
“Ti-Ti, open the door!” Shauna was the only one who still called me by my childhood name, so I ran to let her in. “Um. Next time just tell me that you’re busy.” She turned to walk away before I realized that I was still naked.
“Girl, I’m still messed up from last night. Come in here it’s important.” I grabbed her arm.
She was being so childish standing there in the hall with her eyes closed. “Not until you put some clothes on.”
“Alright. Just get in here and stop drawing attention. Damn!” Finally convincing her to come in, I ran to the bathroom and grabbed a white terry-cloth robe hanging on the hook by the shower. Tying it around my waist, I walked back into the room to see Shauna standing there covering her mouth with her neatly manicured hands. Leave it to her to get a fill-in this early in the morning.
“Ain’t that----?” She couldn’t finish the name and I didn’t want her to.
“Yeah. I didn’t see this until Ms. Denise called and asked me where we were and if we were okay. Make sure you call her. Try to sound like you just woke up too, since I had to lie for your ass.” I yelled at her as she walked in the bathroom to talk in private. I turned the volume down on the TV and watched in silence while Brian Wilkes told me the obvious about the wishy-washy Indiana weather. Last night it was freezing outside, but today it was in the high 70’s. I know Shauna was happy about it but I wasn’t. I noticed her white, T-shirt mini-dress and thigh-high peep-toe gladiator sandals as she walked out of the bathroom.
“What’d she say?” Ms. Denise was almost clueless when it came to her precious daughter. Shauna had her mom and dad wrapped around her little finger and I had to admit, I was a bit jealous.
“Girl, nothing at all. Being dramatic as usual, until my dad called and she had to get off the phone. I told her we’d be home in a little bit.” Shauna pointed to the TV and held out her hand for the remote.
“Look!” The Monica chick from last night was standing there crying and rubbing her stomach. Shauna turned up the volume and sat on the end of the bed, pushing a half-eaten chicken sandwich from McDonalds, back into its bag. “That was my sister. I left her there last night and now she’s gone. We had just finished planning my baby shower and it just hurts so much. All I ask is that whoever is responsible, would you please come forward, it’s tearing our family apart.” Again she rubbed her stomach for good measure and broke down crying. I couldn’t take any more so I turned off the TV.
Shauna rolled her eyes. “Ugh. I wish I knew they were sisters last night. I would’ve slapped that hoe while you dragged her sister.”
I shook my head, “And your ass would’ve went to jail for assaulting a pregnant woman. Isn’t that child endangerment?” I didn’t know all the charges in the law books, but I was sure she would go down for something like that.
“Her stomach is pregnant, not her face. Anyway, I brought you something to wear and forgot it in the car. I’ll be right back.” She changed the subject like she always did and pulled out a set of car keys with a remote control starter.
“Whose car?” I knew for sure Carter didn’t buy her a car. He was tricking, but he wasn’t tricking that hard or that soon. He was that nigga but he seemed like he had common sense. Not to say that my best friend was a gold digger, but she for sure wasn’t fucking with any kind of broke niggas. I also knew she was feeling him for more than his bank account and street status. She smiled and pointed to the monogrammed car starter with the letters C.J.H. engraved on it in gold. I was impressed. “I’m guessing he took the time to teach you how to drive too, huh?” She rolled her eyes at me and cracked a smile.
“See, that’s why I can’t stand you now.” As Shauna let herself out, I went to the bathroom to get my day started officially.
I stepped into the shower, thinking about everything that happened last night and how maybe I should have listened to Ms. B. when she told me, my attitude needed a readjustment. I was always popping off at the drop of a dime and that shit was getting old. I was tired of fighting and it seemed like I had little to no control. Lord knows I felt bad about snapping on ol’ girl like that, but I felt like I had to defend myself all the time. I was all I had left and I knew that nobody was more down for me than I was.
Shauna walked back into the room. “You alright?” I nodded, “Yeah. Go ahead.” Shauna raised one of her perfectly arched eyebrows at me like she always did when she knew I was lying.
“What’s wrong Ti?” Her face lit up. “You fucked Kenyon?! All that corny ass arguing and shit y’all did last night and you fucked him? I knew it!” I looked at her like she was crazy, but as real as that dream felt last night, she wasn’t too far off.
“No, bitch. I had a dream that I did though.” She cut me off like she usually did. “Dreamed about it? Bitch, if you don’t bust it open for that fine ass nigga, I swear I will.” I rolled my eyes. “That’s not even the crazy part.”
“Well, how about you give me the short version so that I can relay it to him and he can make that shit a reality since you can’t. Carter needs the car to go pick your boy up anyway. I’ll tell him you been dreaming about him.” I didn’t want her to run her mouth and put herself in danger, so the dream and the reality of everything I knew, would have to stay quiet until shit cooled down.
“Never mind, and bitch, you better not.”
“A’ight. I’ll call you when I get home.” She tossed me the pair of yoga pants and cropped T-shirt that still had the tags on them, blew me a air kiss and left. I took a quick shower, got dressed, and turned in my key at the front desk.
***
Kenyon
After I dropped my car off with Triston, I made my way over to McDonald’s. It felt warm outside so I got an Oreo McFlurry and sat at the outside table, when I saw that I had got a text from TaNeeka apologizing for last night. What the fuck really happened last night? The Hennessey had me on one. My phone buzzed again, this time, with a text from a Carter. He asked if I still needed a ride back home from the shop. I told him yeah and he had the nerve to say Shauna would be picking me up. That nigga was crazy and I couldn’t help but laugh. Yeah, my boy Carter was gone off the young buck. I didn’t laugh too hard though because if Ashanti gave me the time of the day, I’d gladly get chocolate wasted off her sexy ass.
***
Ashanti
The house was quiet when I finally got in. I wondered if everyone was out and about, enjoying the weather. I wished I could, but I had work the next day and the raffle tickets for the new J’s just went on sale, so I knew we were going to be busy. As soon as I got in my room, ready to take a nap my phone rang and I saw Shauna’s picture from last night on my screen.
“Aye, what’s up?” I answered.
“Bitch, you’re what’s up. Carter took me with him to go pick up Kenyon and that nigga wouldn’t shut the fuck up talking about you.” I snickered in the phone. “Don’t laugh. I’m serious.” That reminded me of what I wanted to ask her.
“What were you about to bust him up about yesterday at the club?” Shauna cracked up laughing.
“He told Daddy that you were stuck up and mean, but he was going to change all of that last night. He said that when he saw you the first time that you were going t
o be his girl. He just had to get rid of whatever her name is.” As soon as she said that, I didn’t feel like talking anymore.
“Let me call you right back. I got to go.” I hung up without waiting for a response. I knew it all along. He was the reason behind that girl’s death and I was the perfect cover up for when the police started investigating shit. Why else would they be picking him up? Didn’t he drive himself to the club last night?
“Ashanti?” Ms. B. stuck her head in my room.
“Yes?” I jumped up out of my bed. I knew by the way she was dressed that she had just got in. I got up and walked to her room. She sat down on the floor in her circle and I knew another lesson was coming.
“The future manifests itself in our dreams. You have a gift of sight, chile. Use it to your advantage.” I watched her draw a few pictures with chalk. “Even nightmares are a realization of something. Be careful. With love comes sacrifice.” With that last remark she gave me a cup and told me to drink some. I gave her the side-eye. “It’s just a new tea I’m working on for cramps. Tell me what you think.”
I took a sip. “Good.” I handed her the cup back and went back to bed. There must have been some lavender in it because I felt myself falling into a deep dreamless sleep.
Chapter Eight
Ashanti
“Is that all? Are you sure you wouldn’t like the socks to match?” I tried talking my third customer of the day into spending some more money while trying to keep my mind off of what Shauna had told me last night. I avoided any conversation about Kenyon too. Speak of the devil, as I looked up, he was swaggering into the store looking too damn good. I smelled his Polo cologne from the other side of the room. Carter came out as soon as he walked in, so I was relieved from having to speak to his ass.
“Abby, would you mind grabbing this sale for me. I need to talk with Ashanti.” Carter motioned for me to follow them to the office. Dammit! I should have known I wasn’t that lucky.
“Why did you give her my sale? I have been doing triple their work all day and now she gets to ring up my customer.” He knew we got paid on commission as well as salary and I had been busting my ass all day.
“You’ll get the next one, chill. I need to talk to you about something serious.”
My heart pounded in my chest. “Yeah, what’s up?” I asked and wondered if they could see how nervous I was but I tried to play it cool.
“I’m sick of y’all niggas being all scary and shit. Man, you too damn old to be fighting random niggas in the club over some chick you don’t know. That tells me one thing. You have been a sucka over her ass for a long time.”
I had to interrupt him for dogging Kenyon like that and for calling me ‘some chick’. “Like how Shauna had you buying her shit in the first week?”
Kenyon busted out laughing. “Damn, nigga and you were riding passenger in your own shit. Wow.” We had a good laugh at his expense. Carter looked at us with a mug.
“Look at you coming to your boy’s rescue. How cute. Y’all forgot one thing, that’s my girl. I am in a relationship. Oh, that’s right, you don’t know what that is do you?” That made me and Kenyon look at each other and laugh even harder. Carter sat back in his seat and put his feet up on the desk. “Y’all can chuckle y’all asses right on out my office, don’t forget to exchange numbers this time, kids.” I got up to leave first, still laughing.
“Lemme talk to you for a minute.” Kenyon said as he grabbed my arm and spun me around to face him. “What did I do to you?” His deep voice was deep and demanding. The way he grabbed me up was just rough enough to arouse me. His cologne smelled so good and aside from the bags under his eyes, he looked damn good too. “Nothing, we’re good.” I pulled away and started to walk to the front of the building when he pulled me back, wrapping his strong muscular arms around me. “Okay. You pulled away and you can say you resisted. Now stop playing. You were feeling me at Suite 38 and now you aren’t?” He asking standing there with his hands on my lower back but the different feelings floating inside of me were too much.
“You have a girlfriend. Stay with her. She evidently loves you if she’s going around fightingover you.”
He let out the biggest sigh ever. “Look that bitch is crazy. I tried telling her we were through, but she wasn’t hearing me. Like bro said, if you weren’t feeling me, why did you fight her?” I rolled my eyes before replying.
“I didn’t fight her over you. I fought her because she came at me reckless and I don’t do disrespect.” The look on his face was priceless.
“You fight like that all the time then?” He asked.
“Yep. Bitches stay trying me.”
“Yeah. I know what you mean. I think you should let me apologize for her.” He grabbed my hand.
“Nah. We’re good. She isn’t going anywhere. I know how niggas like you do it.” Kenyon looked at me like I lost my mind. “I don’t know what kind of niggas you have been fucking with but if I’m done, I’m done.”
I snorted and turned my head to the side. “Different?”
“Yeah, let me show you.” Niggas were so corny, but I figured I could give him a shot and if all else failed, he had money. He pulled me closer and wrapped his arms around my waist. I could have stayed there all night, but I had work to do.
“Then do it. Show me.” I grabbed his hand and wrote my number in permanent marker, like we were in middle school, on it. I saw him give me a once over before he left and I was floating on two clouds past nine that whole night.
“You’re just now getting his number? Bitch, what is up with y’all?” Shauna asked as she sat across from me at Noodles and Company for lunch the following day.
“You know how niggas are. I can’t stand a lying ass nigga. No matter how small the lie is, it’s still a lie.”
She shook her head at me. “I don’t give a fuck what he lied about. He tried to come at you correct too many times after that to clear shit up, but you were being stubborn. He actually didn’t even lie, just like you didn’t ask, he didn’t feel inclined to tell. Just like the fact that you know about ‘ol girl, but didn’t mention it. They have been plotting on her ass for weeks. She was dirty and she needed to be put down. All dogs go to heaven anyway. You don’t have anything to worry about.” I sat there with my mouth wide open. I thought I was doing her a favor by telling her. Instead she surprised me by knowing all about it and being so cruel.
“Do you think they did it?” I looked around the empty restaurant.
“I know Carter didn’t, I kept his ass busy all night long. I milked his ass dry, and if he had any energy after that, he really is Superman.”
I was so lost, “Superman?” Shauna cracked up. “Yeah we were on some other shit. He bought me a cake and it was red, blue and yellow. So I used the icing to make an S on his chest and I licked it off.”
I held my hand up in protest of more information. “Thank you, food porn.”
She sucked her teeth. “Bitch, bye. While we on the subject when is Kenyon going to knock the cobwebs off your pussy?” I didn’t want to give her the satisfaction of knowing that I had been thinking the same thing. Kenyon and I had been texting all night and he didn’t mention sex one time. I was impressed and a little disappointed.
“I don’t know.”
“Well, you might have to be the one to make the first move. Throw it at him and see if he can catch it.” All our lives Shauna had been the bold and adventurous one. She also always came up with the craziest sayings and catch phrases but this one, was golden. I finished my salad and we talked some more about all the guys getting off the bus to come to buy tickets to get some Jordan’s that cost as much as a car payment. Shit didn’t make any sense to me. “Girl, they are some fly ass bums.” Shauna had me cracking up the whole night.
***
Kenyon
I finally saw the news after avoiding TV for the simple fact that Sports Center had been playing with my emotions. I was just checking the score on my phone when I looked up and saw TaNeeka’s face
on the screen. I almost fell off my seat from leaning in so close. I turned the volume all the way up when I saw the police lifting weed, guns and a few grams out of the back of her car; calling her a possible drug dealer. There wasn’t a hood bone in her body so I knew Tae had to have been right. I just wasn’t feeling his I-told-you-so attitude. That shit was starting to get on my nerves. I had to admit though. He could smell a rat from a mile away.
***
Ashanti
When I got home, Bri was sitting on the couch looking nervous, shaking her leg and checking her phone every two seconds. I walked past her into the kitchen to pour myself some juice and on my way back to the bedroom, I saw her jittering again. Her skin looked kind of gray and she looked sick. Lexi walked in the door, looking worse than her best friend in some baggy sweat pants and an oversized T-shirt. Lexi put something in Bri’s hand before she ran to the bathroom. Bri walked quickly out the front door and into a silver car, leaving the door wide open. I saw how skinny she was getting and how weird she was acting. I wondered if I was the only one who noticed. When Lexi came back out, I walked in the bathroom and saw a pink box sticking out of the trashcan with mounds of toilet paper on top. I grabbed it and confirmed what I and everybody else already knew. It was a pregnancy test. As bad as I wanted her ass to get busted, I couldn’t do it.
“Here. You know the rules. If Greene would’ve found that she’d be on your ass and I don’t mean that to be funny.” I tossed her the box. She shook her head and started crying.
“Greene already told them.” The rules stated that if you were sixteen or older and found out that you are pregnant, you’d have to move to the center that has a daycare. I heard they were super strict over there and I knew she wouldn’t like it one bit, but I also knew she had fallen out with the one person here that did anything she asked, so she was on shaky ground. I felt bad for her honestly but then again, I didn’t. She was grown now and knew exactly what she was getting herself into.