by T. Styles
“You let the bitch sit in your lap! In the cafeteria! I even saw you kiss her on the neck.”
Derrick tried to grip her by her Louis Vuitton belt, to pull her toward him but she slapped his hand away. “You making it out to be more than what it is. She’s a cheerleader so we was just playing, Sandy. That’s all.” He paused, “Ain’t nobody trying to fuck with that fat bitch like that.”
“But she’s my friend.”
Derrick wanted this episode over. Sandy wasn’t giving up the pussy anyway but her friend was. Suddenly Derrick grew angry and he clenched his fist. Instead of hitting her with it, he came down on her face with his forearm, banging the locker beside her with his other fist. “Bitch, I’m not trying to hear this shit. Fuck you, it’s over anyway!” he stormed away.
For a second Sandy stood stunned in the hallway rubbing her face. It was obvious that she was waiting for him to come back and apologize, it never happened. Humiliated, she stormed into the restrooms and Jayden patiently waited.
When she came out, Jayden was still there. He approached her cautiously. “He’s a loser. I saw the whole thing from over there.” He pointed where he stood, as if she gave a fuck.
For the first time ever she smiled at him. “What do you want from me, Jay? You could never be with somebody like me.” Sandy observed his second-hand gear. “I mean look at you, you don’t even know how to dress.”
“Close your eyes.”
She frowned. “Boy, why?”
“Just close ‘em for me.”
She looked around and when she didn’t see anyone looking, she shut her lids. “Now what?” She crossed her arms over her chest.
“Imagine me in whatever you want.”
She grinned. “Okay now what?”
He raised his arms. “Open your eyes?” She did. “How I look now?”
She smirked and shook her head. “You don’t even want to know how I think you look.” She strolled away and Jayden rushed to open the door for her.
“Can I hold your book bag for you?”
“Whatever.” She threw it into his arms and he caught it.
“Anyway I just want to be your friend, Sandy.” He tried to stiffen his steps by not moving so freely at the hips. “Everybody needs friends.”
“I have enough friends.”
“Not as cute as me.”
Sandy smiled again. “I wish you just leave me alone. I mean don’t you have something else better to do? Somebody else to bother?”
“I’ll leave after I ask you this one question. You going to the field trip?”
“Yeah.” She wiped a few tears away that crept up on her face. She was thinking about the forearm abuser again. She sure did love the bum. “You?”
“Yeah. I turned my field trip slip in today.” He didn’t need to tell her he forged his mother’s signature, or that he didn’t have the money. He came up with a plan. “Maybe we can see each other there or something.”
“I can’t hang out with you. My friends would laugh at me.”
“Why?”
“Because we not in the same league.” Jayden shook his head and smirked. “What’s so funny?” She asked.
“At first I thought you had your own mind. Guess I was wrong.” They approached the public bus stop. She sat on the bench and he sat on the bench’s back.
“I know what you trying to do, Jayden, by being nice to me.” She snatched her book bag away from him. “I’m not that stupid. I won’t let you finger fuck me so you can tell everybody at school.”
Jayden’s stomach juices swirled due to the implication. He wasn’t interested in doing what she was talking about. In fact, he didn’t know what finger fucking was. “Look, you let a nigga talk to you like he crazy, hit you in the face with his arm and then you blame me for being nice? What’s wrong with you?”
“So what he accidently hit me. You stay coming to school with bruises on your face. You don’t hear me saying nothing about that.”
Part of him was embarrassed and the other part didn’t know she noticed. Her comment had him wanting to hurt her but he remained quiet until the anger went away. “Okay, I won’t give you another compliment maybe you deserve somebody like him.”
Jayden got up to walk toward his house when she yelled. “You wanna go grab something to eat? Maybe get a sandwich? With me?”
Before turning to face her, he smiled slyly like he saw Joseph do when he took Armanii’s money on the street. “Cool with me.”
****
The air conditioning felt good against Jayden’s skin as they sat in a booth inside IHOP (International House of Pancakes). “So you got a girlfriend?” Sandy bit into her cheeseburger and wiped the corners of her lips with the paper napkin. “I know you do.” She eyed his cute face. “I mean somebody gotta like you at school.”
Jayden placed his arm behind her neck and rested it on the chair like he saw the man across the way do. “A lot of girls like me but I don’t like everybody.”
Something in Sandy’s eyes told Jayden she was relieved. “Is it true what they say? That you might be gay?”
Jayden shifted in his seat. “If I was, would I be here with you?”
“I thought you said you wanted to be friends.”
“Yeah, but I still like my friends pretty.”
She smiled again. “Can I ask you something else?”
Jayden plopped a fry into his mouth, it was the best food he had all week. “Go ‘head.”
“Why did you try to steal my money?”
He coughed up a bit of fry and wiped it off the table. He knew this question would come up sooner or later, so he prepared for it. “Your favorite color is purple. You wear it on Thursdays because you and your boyfriend have the same class. You always look so pretty in it, but he never notices. On Tuesday you wear yellow because it matches his uniform on the day he has football practice, but he never notices that either.”
She seemed irritated and plucked out a few of her lashes. “Are you gonna get to the point already?” She blew them away.
“I took the money because I saw this and I wanted you to have it.” He went into his pocket and handed her a picture of a purple and yellow Shamballa bracelet that he clipped from an ad. “I know it’s a sucker move because the money was yours, but I was gonna pay you back for it later. And I didn’t have none on me at the time.” A smarter girl would have laughed him out of America.
She looked at the picture of the bracelet and smiled. “You were gonna get this for me? For real?”
“I wouldn’t lie. I really wanted you to have it.” He looked into her eyes and was certain she was getting weak. “If I had the money and you were my girl, I would do more for you. The bracelet was just to make you smile.” He sipped his coke and rested his case as if he already bought the gift. “Anyway, I’m gonna get a job next month. The store down the street from my house said they would hire me, if I get a work permit.”
She smiled wider. “So you do want to be with me? Like more than just friends?”
“No. I want to only be your friend. I told you that.” Sandy looked insulted and confused. “Don’t take it that way, I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings or nothing. I’m just into older women.”
She glowered. “Why?”
“I like stability,” he said throwing his new favorite word around, “and older chicks believe in taking care of their boyfriends too. Young girls don’t want the same things. They take more than they give. I want somebody who will hold me down when the time gets rough like I would them. You know?”
“I guess.” She shrugged. “I don’t know how I would feel about that though.”
“I understand why…look at your boyfriend. He does stuff for you but then he feels like he can talk to you any kind of way. Kiss your friends in front of you and all that. I would never be so mean. If you had your own shit to bring into the relationship, then he would have to respect you.” He paused eating the last of his meal. “Look, you go ‘head home, I’m gonna pay for the food.”
“How?” Sh
e looked confused. “You don’t have no money right?”
He sure didn’t. “I got some today. I’ll meet up with you later…cool?”
Sandy sluggishly eased out of her seat. Her steps were slow before stopping all together. As if she remembered something, she turned around, dug into her purse and pulled out twenty dollars. “This one is on me, Jayden. You get next.”
Mission accomplished Jayden grinned and said, “That’s a bet.
****
Confident he finally understood girls, Jayden knocked on Mrs. Brookes’ door eager to tell his brother about his ventures. He had taken advice from Armanii and it finally paid off. Nothing could make his day better, than sharing the news with his twin.
When Lakisha Brookes finally appeared, a smile dressed in ruby lipstick spread across her face, as she scanned over him with judgmental eyes. Although Mrs. Brookes favored the barbershops by sporting a low cut, her beauty could not be masculinized. Her smooth brown skin, and natural lengthy eyelashes, softened her features. Her face wasn’t the only thing that captivated upon first sight; her curves went on for days.
“Hi, Mrs. Brookes,” he stuffed his hands into his pocket like he did the first twenty times on the way over her house, to be sure his money was in place, “my twin here?”
“You know that brother of yours practically lives here. Come on in, baby.”
Jayden and Madjesty had been coming to her house for the past few months, ever since Harmony realized she would feed them and keep them out of her way leaving her with plenty of time to fuck. She was for anything which left more money to buy booze in her pockets too. By the time they’d get home, they would be ready for bed and that worked just fine for a mother who hated her children anyway. There was one problem, some homes shouldn’t be allowed to entertain children, and Mrs. Brookes’ house was such a place. It was a perverse heaven where kids could act out everything they imagined and pick up a few habits their young minds should never know. Out of all of the surprises she had in store for underage striplings, there was no sneakier treat than her ten-year old niece, No-Boo-No.
Mrs. Brookes backed up so he could enter her bungalow and Jayden caught a whiff of her home. Her house always smelled of hot meals, fresh baked bread and sweet incense.
“Madjesty, your brother’s here!” Mrs. Brookes called into the house. “You can go sit in the living room with No-Boo-No and your brother. Promise is with his father so he ain’t home right now. I gotta finish up dinner for you guys.” Mrs. Brookes strutted toward the kitchen.
Jayden’s heart was always filled with jealousy when he saw the furnishings and observed the way she cared for her home. Harmony needed to take notes but he knew she’d never be interested. This was the life Jayden wanted, full of stability and promise.
When he bent the corner he saw Madjesty spread out on the sofa, flipping the channels on the large screen TV. No-Boo-No, who was given the nickname because she broke all rules, was sitting on the cream carpet, legs agape, as she played with the contents of her brown purse between her legs. For a thirteen year old she was too grown and there was nothing anybody could do to change it. The damage done to her mind was stuck like titties to a woman and her raunchy life would simply have to play out with time.
“What you looking at, retard?” No-Boo-No teased Jayden, as she sprayed an adult scented perfume over her chunky brown arms and legs. “I ain’t the TV you know.”
Jayden trudged further into the living room, bringing his musky scent with him. She pinched her nose.
“Why don’t you Phillip boys ever wash your clothes?” She sprayed more of the cheap scent in his direction, making the space suffocating.
“Why don’t you suck my dick?” Madjesty interjected, never breaking his stare off of the television. “We here to see your cousin not you, bitch.”
No-Boo-No blew a kiss in his direction to be irritating. “So let me get this straight, you talk to me when your brother gets here but when I wanted you to play in this pussy earlier,” she opened her legs, revealing her cotton white panties with the yellow piss stain in the seat, “you acted like you were scared.” She laughed and her chubby jaws bounced.
“Why I want to play in that funk box?”
Her face reddened and she felt degraded. “I asked around about you, Madjesty,” she looked at Jayden, “and your brother, and I can’t find nobody who you been with. Why is that?”
Madjesty was growing furious. In front of his brother he faked like the man and now his cover was being blown. “I keep telling you, you don’t know shit about me.”
She was getting to him and decided to hit home. “Yes I do, Madjesty. I hear when you’re offered up, you fake out. What you scared of girls or something?”
Madjesty’s secret came crashing out and Jayden found it hard to look at his twin. Outside of kissing a girl or two on the cheeks, truth was he was horrified about going to the next level. “Like I said, you don’t know nothing ‘bout me.”
“Oh I don’t?” She put her hand on her hip. “Then prove it, walk with me in the bathroom right now and let me see that dick of yours. I’ll give you a treat you never had before. Ask my cousin Promise how I roll.” She licked her lips and crawled toward him.
He took his foot and kicked her in the shoulder, forcing her backwards. She rolled over and hit her head on the edge of the glass table. “Ouch!” She rubbed her fresh knot.
“Man, shut the fuck up. I wouldn’t fuck with your ass if you begged me.”
She sat up and rubbed her head. “I’ma tell my auntie you just kicked me. And she not gonna let you or your brother come over here anymore.”
Madjesty dropped the remote and sprung up. In seconds flat, he was over the top of her head like mistletoe. “Bitch, you can tell her whatever you want. I don’t give a fuck! But if she put me out, I’ma come up to your school and wait for you out front. And when I catch you, I’ma break every bone in your face before I move to your arms.”
She stood up, wrapped her arms around him and said, “Stop being mean, Madjesty. You know I like you. I wouldn’t tell my auntie you kicked me, if I do how else will I see you?”
“Well you shouldn’t have said it then.” He pushed her off of him.
“At first I was talking to your brother until you jumped in. You shoulda let him take up for himself.”
“Well he’s my twin, so if you talking to him, you talking to me too.”
Jayden heard enough of her pathetic plea. “Madjesty! I don’t wanna go home right now. Just leave her alone. Plus I gotta tell you something.” He put his hand on his brother’s back and led him into the foyer. When they were alone, he reached into his pocket and pulled out the money. “Look what I got.”
Madjesty couldn’t believe he was holding. In a heavy whisper he said, “Wait, how you get that shit?”
“Sandy gave it to me.” He left out the part where he took the money from the table that was used to pay the check, leaving the bill unpaid.
He frowned. “You talking about Sandy Reynolds?” He didn’t know his brother to be a liar but for some reason he didn’t believe him. “Why she do that? Not too long ago you told me she was mad cuz you asked for her friend’s number.”
Jayden’s lie felt stupid coming out of his twin’s mouth. “Because she like me I guess.” He shrugged. “I told you that in the hallway.”
“Yeah right. Bitches like me too and ain’t none of them ever gave me money before.”
“Maybe you didn’t ask.”
Madjesty never thought about it that way. They were just about to go back into the living room when there was a knock at the door. “One of ya’ll get that for me.” Mrs. Brookes called out from the kitchen, wiping her hands on an apron.
When Jayden opened the door, he saw Harmony standing on the other side with a look of displeasure on her face. He could've dealt with that, but the person she was with made Jayden want to shit on himself. “Ya’ll get your stuff right now! It’s time to go!”
FAIR EXCHANGE IS NO ROBBERY
Jayden’s limp body sat on the edge of a chair, across from Sandy and her father who were sitting on the sofa. His right foot moved rapidly and wouldn’t stop no matter how he tried. The sound of dripping water in the kitchen sink, banged against a dirty pot that had been there for weeks. He could bet money that his mother would be doing something any minute to embarrass the hell out of him. The only bright side was that the lights were now on. Literally.
“Like I said, I wasn’t there, but if my son says she gave it to him, how you know it didn’t happen?” Harmony asked looking at them both. The blue dress she wore was more presentable than her usual tasteless selections, but still revealed a smidgen of her brown areolas.
“I know because when my daughter came home she was in tears.” He said, stealing a look at her breasts. He was disgusted. “She would never do something like that. As a matter of fact, this young man was the same one who tried to steal money out of her purse some time back. Did he tell you that?” He caressed his daughter’s knee. Harmony and Jayden thought that was weird.
“Get to your point.” Harmony responded.
“I guess he finally got away with it. Sandy had just enough money for lunch for the week…nothing more. My wife has a debilitating disease and we can’t afford to give her twenty dollars to be giving to her friends.” Both Jayden and Harmony eyed the Louis Vuitton belt on her jeans and wondered how much of that was true.
Jayden didn’t like him but he wondered how it felt to have a father, something he always wanted.
“Your sick wife is not my problem and neither is your lying daughter.” He looked at the way his hand rested on her knee. “And judging by the belt on her jeans and the way you’re rubbing her leg, I guess she’s able to come up with the money to trick on my son somehow.”
He removed is hand. “What are you trying to imply?”
“What you already know.”
“Ms. Phillips!” Mr. Reynolds yelled, playing with the hair on the back of his right hand. He twisted a few strands, before moving to the next group. It was as if he was trying to hold himself back from something. “You are being rude and unreasonable. Now I’m sorry to say this but unless you can give me another reason, I’m going to be forced to call the authorities.” He looked at Jayden. “Now what do you have to say for yourself, young man?”