Carmen

by Nako

  “Was that real?” Munch spun around in the swivel chair and asked Juice, who was in complete awe of Neezy.

  He was a humble cat.

  After he’d caught his breath, he picked up the headphones and placed them back on his ears.

  “Give me another beat. I got some shit to say.”

  They recorded twenty-one songs in two days. When Juice finally made it home, his wife was giving him the evil eye and the cold shoulder.

  He couldn’t even try and plead with her to understand.

  His balls were stanking, and he was barely standing up. He was so damn tired.

  “Please make sure I get some sleep,” he told her, and she knew what that meant.

  Tia took his phones, closed the blinds and the door behind her.

  She didn’t smack her lips, roll her eyes or slam the door which let him know that she was mad but not like…nigga fuck you mad.

  He could live with that.

  Juice woke up the next day feeling way better.

  He yawned loudly as he stretched his arms and legs.

  Out of habit, he searched the nightstand for his phones and remembered that his wife took them away so he could not just sleep but rest.

  It was a big difference.

  Juice decided to take a few more hours to himself before returning to the madness of work.

  He woke up to his wife, running her warm hands across his beard.

  “You’re tired,” she told him, knowing him well.

  He didn’t open his eyes, “Yeah, I am. Let’s go to Jamaica this weekend.”

  Lifestyles of the rich and famous. He never thought he would see the day where he could whisk him and his girl out of town to getaway.

  He’d come a long way. Juice was blessed.

  “Okay.”

  She always complied.

  “I’m going to keep it one hundred with you bae,” he sat up so he could talk to her on some real shit.

  “Neezy is home and you’re about to be busy?” she read his mind.

  He searched her eyes for a problem.

  Tia took a deep breath, “I was planning on returning to work and doing some other things I really have been praying about.” He didn’t ask her what her plans were and half of her, really wished that he had. She would love to express herself to him. Tia refused to settle in motherhood. Wanting to run a business and having something for herself, wasn’t a bad thing. Post-partum was real, and she refused to let it get her.

  They didn’t discuss religion. Tia did her thing and he did hers. Juice honestly, needed to take some time and find what worked for him…if you asked her.

  “What’s stopping you?”

  She smiled at him with tired eyes, “You mean who?”

  Juice would do whatever he had to do in an effort to compromise.

  “I don’t want our kids being raised by nannies, Tia.”

  A moment of silence passed before she told him, “Neither do I,” she wholeheartedly agreed with him there.

  “What can I do to make sure we both are making our dreams come true?”

  She tilted her head, “All your dreams haven’t come true?” she was being serious.

  “Uh no. They haven’t’ I got this new artist…”

  She’s heard this before.

  She actually heard it every few months.

  The conversation was becoming repetitive.

  “Okay and now what? You take me to Jamaica to hold me over till Christmas? What about my dreams?” she was trying to not go off on him.

  “Call my mama! She ain’t doing shit.”

  Tia shook her head, “She’s raised you; she doesn’t want to live with us. I’ve already asked. Your mom is happy.”

  Tia didn’t blame her; their kids were active. His mom admitted that she didn’t have the patience to be a 24/7 granny nor did she like being called a nanny.

  He blew out a breath of frustration, “Tiaaaaaa!”

  Now wasn’t the time for this.

  “You knew he was coming home this week, baby,” he wanted her to understand his grind.

  “Juice, I’ll have the travel agent book our trip and call your mom to watch the kids. We can talk about this later,” for now, she was done with the conversation.

  “I want them to go with us,” he let her know.

  Tia laughed as she got out of bed, “Uh no. I’m here with them all day every day. Not you. Momma needs a break. If you want them to go, then take them and I’ll stay here and catch up on sleep,” she was dead serious too.

  “Invite my momma then,” he tried again.

  Tia was done talking about it.

  “We’re headed to swimming class, have a good day. Your smoothie is in the fridge babe.”

  She kissed him on the forehead and left him alone.

  “My phones,” he mumbled under his breath.

  After he heard the alarm chime, Juice got out of bed and showered quickly.

  He was anxious to hear the finalized versions of First Day Out.

  He downed the smoothie as he headed to the studio.

  Porter called him and he connected the phone to his blue tooth speaker in his car.

  “Yo, yo!”

  “I’m here, where you at?”

  Juice told him, “Few minutes away, you can gone on in.”

  He texted Tia once he made it to his destination, “I’m thankful for you and I wouldn’t be where I am without you holding this shit down. Have a good day baby.”

  The first thing he asked Porter when he entered the studio, “Where is Carmen?”

  η

  Carmen didn’t expect things to happen overnight. Small progress was still progress, no matter what it was. One foot in front of the other and a smile made everything better. Mahogany’s stylist was on her last nerve and she was elated to see Carmen on her doorstep.

  “Girl, my lipstick line is about to drop any second now. I was supposed to be at Macy’s an hour ago. Help me find something to wear!” She didn’t care why Carmen had stopped by. She was having a fashion emergency.

  “Uh, hey. Okay.” She hadn’t seen her in so long.

  They trotted up the steps into one of the bedrooms that Mahogany turned into a huge walk-in closet.

  “This is cay-ute!” Carmen’s face lit up at a denim and fuchsia dress.

  “I already wore that,” she let her know.

  “I’m going to go shower.”

  Carmen watched her leave and went through the bags and racks of clothes.

  Almost everything in the room still had tags on it.

  Twenty minutes later, she gathered three looks and hoped that at least one of them made her happy.

  She hadn’t worked with Mahogany in a hot second nor had she been on social media. She didn’t know what she’d been rocking lately.

  “We gotta go,” she told her in a hurried tone.

  Carmen hopped up, “Okay, I pulled a few things out—"

  “Girl at this point, it doesn’t matter. What’s your favorite one?” she talked and texted at the same damn time. If it was up to her, she would wear one of her husband’s t-shirts, a pair of joggers and some designer slides.

  “Uhhhh…”she turned around and looked at everything she had laid out on the floor.

  “We can go with this. Do you have some yellow thigh-highs?”

  “I think so.”

  Carmen nodded her head, “Put this on, let me go find the boots and we’re not doing any accessories. The pink hair is enough,” she told her as she stared at the messy bun on top of her head.

  “Girl this is a wig. I have hundreds, what color you want me to wear?” She asked her while tugging it off at the same time.

  The look on Carmen’s face was hysterical. Mahogany laughed, “You are funny girl but no for real, blonde bob, middle part long black, red curly, what?”

  Carmen thought the blonde bob would go perfect.

  “Hell, I need to try on one. My hair look a mess,” she mumbled under her breath.

  Mahogany didn’
t care, “Grab one girl.”

  She ignored her and helped her pull the look together.

  “You look amazing and congrats on the line. I am so proud of you and everything you’ve accomplished,” she let her know.

  Mahogany smiled and finally gave her a hug, “I’m happy that you’re back. Everyone is. You wanna go with me? Maybe P will slide through and then we can eat after,” she extended an invite.

  Carmen really didn’t have anything else to do.

  “Sure.”

  She looked like yesterday’s news so she would make sure not one camera landed on her.

  “You done gained some weight too honey,” Mahogany peeped her extra thick thighs.

  Carmen rolled her eyes, “I know I know. I’m thinking about hiring a trainer so I can slim back down.”

  The car service arrived to escort them to the event and during the drive over, they caught up on life.

  “Are y’all going to have any more children?”

  Mahogany shook her head, “Girl hell nah. I plan on retiring soon. About another seven years then we’re going to travel the world for pleasure not business and homeschool the kids.”

  “Do you get tired of performing?”

  “I train really hard so I can keep up with everything now but yeah, of course. I’m not doing another tour any time soon.”

  Carmen looked out the window.

  “What made you leave?”

  She’d heard this and that but wanted the story from Carmen’s lips.

  “I lost my mind.”

  It was pretty simple.

  Mahogany understood that, “Did you find it?” she was being serious.

  She thought about the question for a few seconds, “I think so.”

  She smiled at her, “That’s all that matters, you know what Apostle say, it’s okay to stumble but don’t fumble.”

  Carmen had to make it to service this week. She missed her spiritual leaders.

  “I know church been lit since I left,” she commented.

  Mahogany took her Prada sunnies off, “Girl I haven’t been in so long. The fans don’t respect that I’m at church. I don’t want to take a picture. It’s not fair either. I wanted my kids to experience Sunday School and stuff, something that me or P never did.”

  The perks of being famous weren’t always good.

  “I can only imagine.”

  Mahogany smiled, “You was damn near there before you left.”

  Carmen definitely was.

  “I know. I hope I can get back on track.”

  She could and she would.

  “Well, I need a new stylist and you know I’ll tag you in every post. Are you ready though?” she had to be sure Carmen wasn’t going to take off again.

  She nodded her head, “More than ready.”

  “Okay. I’ll have my assistant send you a copy of appearances and we can go from there. What happened to The Showroom?”

  Carmen took a deep breath, “I gotta work on that.”

  Nia was good people so she could only pray that she gracefully handed it back to her without an issue.

  They made it to Macy’s and the look on Mahogany’s publicist face wasn’t a pleasant one.

  “You’re late. Again.”

  Mahogany blamed it on her now fired stylist.

  Carmen covered her face after she heard someone say, “Wait…is that Carmen Kincaid?”

  She wasn’t ready for the lights, camera and action. Not until she got herself together. She panicked.

  The paparazzi was everywhere.

  She took off walking at a rapid pace.

  Mahogany looked over her shoulder when a reporter asked her what was she wearing and who styled her.

  She smacked her lips in disappointment.

  Carmen’s ass wasn’t ready to boss up and she wasn’t about to play with her.

  Eight

  I wrote this cus you won’t pick up the phone – DVSN

  The purpose of tonight’s event was to welcome Carmen and to reiterate that she was loved and appreciated. Porter didn’t go into much detail with the “gang,” but he said enough for Nia to get on her shit and make this a nice and intimate gathering. What was sad to admit was that she hadn’t seen everyone in so long, which let her know that Carmen was the glue of their tribe for real. Carmen had such a strong personality. A persona that she wasn’t even aware of. Nia moved back and forth between her great room, dining and the kitchen. Demi watched her stress herself out and continued to sip her wine. She’d just gotten back from a month-long trip to Bali, in which she described as an experience.

  “You ever seen a hood nigga on an elephant?” she asked her girls after she passed out their trinkets that she picked up at a local market during one of their days spent shopping.

  Demi was glowing and shining bright like a diamond.

  “Are you not going to help?” Nia finally asked her.

  She hadn’t aged at all. Demi didn’t look like she had all them damn kids, survived losing her husband nor did she resemble a grandmother of plenty. Demi shrugged her shoulders, “My energy is on reserve until the festivities start,” she shared.

  “Why did you come early then?”

  She looked down at her heels, “I wanted a good parking spot honey.”

  “Demi, I need help. Can you write the numbers down on this,” Nia said each word slowly. Her patience was thin today and she was tired. On top of working all week, she traveled twice and went on a tour with Eden, who was still trying to find her way in the world. Tomorrow, Nia had her whole day planned; which would consist of her favorite two things, Netflix and nothing. She didn’t even plan on brushing her teeth or leaving her bedroom. Sleep and lots of it was seriously needed before she crashed.

  “I can do that, long as I don’t have to use my feet. I can do whatever you need me to do, sis.”

  Demi was happy and Nia was elated. It was a prayer answered for her cousin in law.

  “How is everyone doing?” she asked while placing plates on the table.

  “Why didn’t you hire someone to do all of this?” Jordyn finally found her way into the conversation. Things were still awkward between the two but neither wanted to be the one to address the situation. Most friendships and relationships overall, failed due to lack of communication. Nia didn’t have the time to pacify her. At least, not today she didn’t.

  “Because I enjoy entertaining…it’s like therapy for me,” she shared with the two ladies who were the first to arrive.

  “Oh.”

  Demi looked between the both of them and then went back to the task that Nia had given her. Another weird silence fell over the room and Nia continued on with her to-do list before the night started. Demi finally decided to remove her heels so that she could help Nia move a lil’ faster. Jordyn found her way into the den with East, who was watching Ramone play a game. They normally didn’t miss a game, but this one was in Tokyo for some strange reason.

  “Go baby! Go baby! Yes!” Jordyn screamed in one room while Nia damn near dropped a thousand-dollar bottle of Gen.

  “Why is she so dang loud?” Nia asked Demi, who didn’t do nothing but shake her head.

  In her best impersonation of Jordyn’s voice she said, “That’s your bestie!”

  It took Nia’s other home girl, Samone to mock Jordyn. No one could do it better than her. Jordyn King was going to make sure the world knew that her and Nia were “long-time” friends.

  Nia laughed, “Girl, shut up!”

  “What are we having tonight for dinner? Desmond already wants a plate.”

  She ordered tons of food, being that now it seemed as if everyone had a dietary restriction these days.

  “I don’t eat pork.”

  “Is it gluten-free?”

  “Do you know if this was cooked with cage-free eggs?”

  Nia honestly couldn’t keep up with everybody, so she ordered every damn thing.

  “Salad bar, taco bar, burger bar and a dessert table with vegan treats as well,” she
wasn’t about to play with these bougie ass people that she called friends.

  “Okay, I’ll probably eat…everything.” Demi had a huge appetite and rarely gained any weight.

  “When was the last time you seen Carmen?”

  Nia shrugged her shoulders, “It’s been a minute. Probably a few days after her mom’s funeral. She… gave me her company. She said she didn’t trust anyone else with her dream,” she shared with her.

  Demi was shocked to hear that.

  “Why not just close it down till she was ready to deal with it again?”

  She trusted Nia but still…your business. Demi would never.

  “She was in a daze, like, in a rush. I wired her the money told her it was sent. She didn’t even text me back to say she received it or anything.”

  Her house had slowly but surely been transformed into Miami Vice. Palm trees and warm neutral colors with a splash of blush and hot pink filled the three rooms that she would entertain in. Rose gold metallic letters read, “Welcome Home Carm!”

  She wiped her hands on her apron and took a deep breath, “Hope she feels the love.” She felt bad about how things went down and how much time they had allowed before someone asked, “Hey, when was the last time anyone spoke to Carmen?” in their group message.

  Demi believed that everything was going to go just fine.

  “She will, it’s plenty of women who don’t have this kind of support. Go get dressed. I’ll hold it down till you get back,” she told her cousin.

  Thirty minutes later, the house filled with their people. East moved himself into the basement. He spoke to whoever he passed and then made his way back in front of the big screen.

  Jordyn called out to Demi, “Pull some more wine out.”

  She was two seconds from checking J’s ass, but she left it alone. For now and went into the kitchen to grab bottles out of the cooler.

  Surprisingly, Carmen arrived at the same time that Nia was walking down the steps. Everyone immediately rushed her with greetings. She was a tad bit overwhelmed, but she kept her game face on, or she thought she did.

  After the hype died of her being back in the city and everyone commenting on her protruding figure, she excused herself to the bathroom to pull it together all over again.