Sunshine & Rain

by Dawn Desiree

  Sunshine was busy trying to take in all the scented air around her when her cell began to vibrate on her hip. She knew without even looking that it was Cathy. With the exception of Ms. Waters, Cathy was the only person with her number. Sunshine rushed to answer, wondering if Cathy was calling to say she’d be back to get them sooner.

  “Hi, princess. What are you doing?” Cathy asked.

  Sunshine was trying to consider if this was the best time to tell Cathy about Diego. “I’m sitting here, getting ready to have lunch with a friend,” Sunshine answered.

  “Who? Rain and Brian?” Cathy asked.

  Sunshine was getting ready to spill the beans, but the beans came walking back with two trays of food and drinks in his hands. Sunshine would have to tell Cathy about him later on, but for now, she would have to get her off the phone before she started asking too many questions.

  “Cathy, what’s up? Are you outside waiting?”

  “No, pumpkin, I was just calling to check on you and Rain.” Cathy had to think for a minute, “Oh, and Brian, but evidently your friend must be more important than little ol’ me, because you’re literally throwing me off the phone. It’s all good, though. I’ll just pick myself up out the dirt, and I’ll be there to pick y’all up in an hour and a half. And we can talk all about your little friend then,” Cathy added.

  “All right, I’ll see you then,” Sunshine said. “Did you need me to pick something up for you while I’m here?” Sunshine asked.

  “Matter of fact, see if you can find me an off white silk blouse. If you see a fly one, buy it and I’ll reimburse you when I see you. That will save me a trip to the store,” Cathy said.

  “I’ll see if they have it inside Macy’s,” Sunshine said.

  Sunshine almost felt guilty for the feeling of relief she got when she hung up with Cathy. She was pleased to have Diego all to herself again. But Diego didn’t look so happy anymore. His whole demeanor had changed. Sunshine wondered what could have happened that fast to upset him. He wasn’t even trying to eat his food that he had just stood in line for an eternity to get.

  “Are you all right, Diego?” Sunshine asked.

  “I’m cool, baby girl. I just need to ask you something before I even play myself,” Diego answered.

  “Sunshine, I’m sure you already know that I’m feeling you. I was feeling you that night when you gave me the sexiest slow drag I’ve ever had. I didn’t want it to end, but you weren’t feeling well, so I had to let you go. And to keep it real with you, I was feeling you way before that night. I’ve seen you plenty of times before then, when you came to the restaurant with your mother. That was just the first time that I worked up the nerve to say something to you. And you were as precious as I dreamed you were.”

  Diego looked deep into Sunshine’s eyes. “Sunshine, I like your style. You seem way different than the other girls I come across. You seem soft and gentle, like an angel. Now, I know you don’t know me all that well yet, but you can get to know me. I’ll take you out wherever you want to go. We can talk and learn each other until there is nothing left to tell. Then when you’re feeling me like I’m feeling you, we can make it happen.”

  Sunshine felt like warm, gooey honey inside.

  Diego continued to speak. “But first, I have to know one thing. Do you already have a man?”

  Sunshine was at a loss for words. Diego had just fed her quite a bit of game, and she wasn’t sure if she could digest it all.

  Diego took Sunshine’s hesitation as an answer to his question. “You do have a man, don’t you? I should have known that. You’re too beautiful not to. Was that him you were just talking to on the phone?” Diego asked.

  Now Sunshine understood where all this was coming from. When he walked back over to the table, he must have thought she was hanging up with a boyfriend.

  Diego searched Sunshine’s face like a lost puppy while he waited for her to say something.

  “No, that wasn’t my man on my cell phone. That was my mom. And to answer your original question, no, I don’t have a man. I don’t even have any male friends at all,” Sunshine said.

  “Except for me,” Diego said. He sat up taller in his seat, clearly satisfied with Sunshine’s response.

  They both began to eat their lunch and held light conversation. Twenty minutes passed, and Diego explained that he had to leave to go and prepare for a show he was performing at Tacoma Station. Sunshine didn’t want him to leave. She was enjoying his company so much she felt as though they were the only two in the mall. She could have sat there and just watched him chew his food for the rest of the day. He was so chilled and laid back that Sunshine felt herself falling for him.

  He pulled out two tickets to his show and placed them on the table, along with his number. He slid all three items in front of Sunshine and told her that he hoped to see her there.

  Rain and Brian finally arrived back at the table with over a dozen more bags. Sunshine only had forty minutes to do the rest of her shopping. Brian sat down in the chair next to Sunshine.

  “Girls, I can’t take no more. These shoes are killing my pinky toe.” He slid off his pumps and let out a loud sigh of relief. “Whew! Y’all go ahead, ’cause this bitch is through.”

  Sunshine wasn’t the least bit disappointed. She’d rather tell Rain about Diego without Brian there anyway. But first, she would have to wait for Rain to finish her own ranting and raving about all the gear she had bought.

  They headed up the escalator to the upper level to find Macy’s.

  “Sunshine, I wiped this muthafuckin’ mall out! I can’t wait to rock my new dress I got from Bebe. You got to see it, Sunshine. It’s silver and it’s got rhinestones all over it. Shit, I might even go around the way and flex for all those haters who thought they was better than me. Now I got something to show their ass.

  “I also bought this bangin’-ass outfit that would look hittin’ on you, too. It’s a Donna Karan spandex dress. I got the black one. I want you to get the brown one,” Rain said with excitement.

  “But where are we going to wear a tight, hoochie mama dress like that?” Sunshine asked.

  “I don’t know. We’ll figure that part out later, but believe me, that dress was meant to be a part of this body.”

  All of a sudden, Sunshine’s instincts automatically went into overdrive. “I do know this one spot we could wear the dresses to.”

  “What you holding back for? Let a sister know what’s up,” Rain said.

  Sunshine pulled out the two tickets that Diego had given her and flashed them in Rain’s face. Rain snatched the tickets out of her hands with excitement. She anxiously read over the tickets to see who was playing. Rain’s expression became sour as she recognized the band’s name.

  “That’s weak, Sunshine. I thought you had something good for us like Method Man, or Red Man. Shit, I’d even settle for Juwanna Mann, but Swift Beats? No, thank you,” Rain said. “That’s the band that played at Royals, the one your boy play for? No disrespect, but guess what? They suck.” Rain was only keeping it real with Sunshine.

  Sunshine was still determined to go, and Rain was the only person she knew that she could go with, and she would only go if Rain went. Cathy was too old to party with her, so that was out of the question, and Brian might start his own show with his boisterous ways and nonstop talking about everything. There was only one thing left for Sunshine to do: Size it up.

  “Well, I guess I have to go and show off my new Donna Karan dress for all those ballers all by my lonesome,” Sunshine said in the best pitiful voice she could find.

  “Ballers? Did I hear somebody say ballers?” Rain said, feeding into Sunshine’s playful deceit. “You are real slick, Sunshine, but I like your style. That’s what’s up. We way up in Tacoma Station tonight. You hear me?”

  Sunshine followed as Rain led the way to the infamous Donna Karan dress that Rain couldn’t stop singing about. Sunshine almost reconsidered when the cashier gave her the total amount of two hundred dollars, but R
ain wouldn’t let her leave the store without buying the dress. Rain even put up forty dollars of her own stash so that Sunshine would get the dress.

  Afterward, they went to Macy’s to purchase a silk blouse for Cathy. The shirt totaled up to be eighty-nine dollars. Sunshine was now left with a little over two hundred dollars. So much for her idea of light shopping. She bought a pair of gold hoop earrings that she got on sale, and a gold anklet with dangling stars. She also bought a pair of brown leather stilettos, with fishnet stockings that went perfectly with her new dress. She was going to make sure that she looked her absolute best for Diego tonight.

  Sunshine and Rain were having so much fun shopping, that they had almost lost track of the time.

  “Oh, shit. We gotta get back before Cathy mess around and leave our asses,” Rain said with urgency.

  When they got down to the food court, Brian had his long, yellow legs spread even in one chair, sleeping with his head leaned back in another chair. Sunshine and Rain looked at the emptiness that surrounded him and couldn’t believe their eyes. All their bags were gone; not a single one left. Even the book that Sunshine had left on the table was missing. Rain got hysterical.

  “Brianna, wake up! Wake up!” Rain was shaking the life out of Brian.

  Brian finally woke up, about to go hysterical himself. “Oh my God, girl. What? What’s wrong? Why are you shaking me so hard? You trying to traumatize the ol’ girl?” Brian put his hand up over his heart as if he were trying to stop it from beating out of his chest. “Why y’all looking all crazy and deranged like that? What’s up? Y’all ready to go?”

  “Ready to go? Look around you, dammit! All our bags are gone, Brianna, and you’re lying here sleeping like a Gerber baby while somebody done stole all our shit!” Rain yelled.

  Brian looked around him and saw nothing but a bunch of suspicious-looking customers eating their food. Everybody looked iffy.

  “Oh my God! I can’t believe this shit!” Brian yelled. “Which one of y’all muthafuckers stole my shit? Y’all broke muthafuckin’ hoes couldn’t afford to buy your own shit, so y’all come around taking other people’s shit!” Brian was yelling at any and all customers within his shouting range. “All y’all some broke-down bitches! If I catch one of y’all stupid bitches wearing my shit, I’m going to kick all y’all bitch asses just like y’all stole somethin’!” Brian was yelling so loud that he was scaring the innocent babies sitting in their strollers. Some patrons left with a quickness, afraid Brian might pull out a gun on them during his outrageous temper tantrum.

  Security eventually had to come and escort Brian out of the mall. Unfortunately, that didn’t stop Brian from going off on them too.

  “And look at these RoboCops. Who in the fuck do you think you are? I know one damn thing: You better not put your fucking hands on me. I don’t need no help walking my ass out your stankin’ mall! And where the hell was your renta-cop ass at while they were stealing all my shit, huh?” Brian was on a rampage. Rain tried to calm him down, but he wouldn’t even hear her. All he heard was himself, yelling and blaming the security guards when it was really his fault.

  Once they got to the exit, Sunshine noticed them first—the Virginia County Police, standing right outside the exit. They looked serious, as if they were ready to lock anybody up who decided to act a fool or even looked like one. Sunshine knew from watching the news that Virginia didn’t take no mess. The predominantly Caucasian native state was filled with wealthy, high-society people, and they would go out of control if the law didn’t handle their business. Even the smallest issues became a major deal.

  Sunshine tapped Brian on his shoulder and pointed in the direction of the law enforcement. Brian paused in mid-sentence for a moment, looked at the police, then back at Sunshine with little interest.

  “And! So what? RoboCop called his pappy and folks. They can’t do shit to this ol’ girl, ’cause I ain’t do shit. If anything, they owe me an explanation. I come all the way the fuck out here to Crackerville to spend my money and make their community richer, and all I got to show for it is this fake-ass security all up my ass! They got the game messed up. I wish they would come at me wrong. I’ll sue the hell out of this whole state and own Pentagon City. You hear me?”

  Sunshine gave up. There was nothing that could calm Brian down right now.

  Sunshine was pleased when they got outside and she saw Cathy’s truck parked alongside the police. Cathy ran over to the chaotic scene with a quickness when she noticed her girls and Brian being escorted out by security.

  “What’s going on here? What’s wrong? Where are the rest of your bags? I left you here for three hours. I know you bought more than that,” Cathy said.

  “Mama, can you believe that somebody got us for all our shit?” Brian screamed.

  “Watch your mouth!” Cathy screamed back.

  “I’m sorry, Mama, but I’m blow right now. A lady can’t close her eyes for one second without getting jacked for her brand new gear in broad daylight.”

  Officer Friendly interrupted Brian before he went into yet another frenzy. “Excuse me, ma’am. Are these young ladies your daughters?”

  Cathy looked at Brain with curiosity for a moment, and then answered. “Yes, officer, these are my two and a half daughters.”

  The officer didn’t catch the hint of sarcasm that Cathy threw when she answered, but Rain and Sunshine did.

  “Well, ma’am, unless they want to file a complaint about their missing items, I’m going to have to ask them to leave. They are causing a disturbance and scaring all the shoppers,” the officer said.

  “The shoppers are scaring me,” Brian said, obviously not afraid to speak up, even in front of the police.

  Cathy was getting nervous. She thought about what was in the back of her trunk. She was dirty, riding around with a half kilo and over fifty thousand dollars in cash. Brian was running his mouth like a bitch and making her shit hot. She had to get away from this side of town real quick, before Brian caused any more trouble.

  Cathy turned on her charm, speaking with her most soft, sensual voice and staring seductively into the officer’s eyes. “No, thank you, officer. We won’t be filling out any reports. All that stuff is materialistic. I’m more than sure that we will be blessed with more material things,” Cathy said and turned to leave. “Now, come on, Sunshine, Rain, and Brian. Let’s go.”

  The officer looked confused when Cathy used Brian’s real name. Besides his partners, he didn’t see any other males present.

  Oh, well, he thought. He wouldn’t worry about that. He was just pleased to be sending those troublemaking black folk back to the ghetto that they came from. If the tall, light-skinned girl with the big ass and the big mouth continued running her trap, he would have locked all their asses up, and who felt like going through all that paperwork?

  Sayonara, you black bitches. The officer waved a fake army salute to Cathy as she backed her SUV away from the scene and back onto the highway. If he hadn’t been so lazy, he could have had the biggest bust of his career.

  Cathy was relieved to be back on I-495 and on the way home. Her whole operation and all she had worked for was about to be put on the line because of Brian. But there was no need in getting in his shit now. It was all over, thank God.

  Cathy looked at Sunshine, who looked to be a little upset herself about the whole thing. “So I suppose you don’t have my shirt?” Cathy asked, being funny.

  “Actually, I do have your shirt. I bought it just before we found out all our stuff was gone.” Sunshine pulled Cathy’s blouse out of its bag, to get her approval.

  “That is perfect, sweetheart, and it will go just right with the black leather slacks I’m going to wear. I’ve got a very important dinner date tonight, and I’ve got to look the part,” Cathy said.

  “You’ve been very busy lately,” Sunshine said.

  “I know, sugar, but in about a week, I’m going to take some time off. I just have a few more moves I have to make. After I’m finished
taking care of my business, we’re gonna take care of some of your business. Since you’ve got your license and your birthday is coming up, I was thinking we should start shopping for your new car. What do you think about that, sugar?” Cathy asked.

  “Can you spell BMW?” Sunshine asked with excitement.

  Rain sat in the back seat, listening to every word they said. Although her mind was still preoccupied with her loss, she was focused. She heard Cathy loud and clear when she said she had moves to make. Rain was also very much aware that she was talking in a hustler’s language. Rain was all too familiar with gangster talk from dealing with Terrance.

  The brief thought of Terrance gave Rain chill bumps. Maybe I’ll call him to see if he wants to go to Tacoma Station tonight, Rain thought. Then she wondered if and when Sunshine was going to mention their plans to Cathy.

  Brian sat next to Rain just like before, but this time he was knocked out. After hours of nonstop talking, he had talked a hole in his own head and put himself to sleep. Rain watched how peaceful he looked while he slept. Who would have thought, watching him sleep, that he was filled with so much energy and fire? Rain decided to do what Brian was doing, lay her head back and get some rest for the remainder of the ride home. Even though she was still angry, she wasn’t going to allow her mind to trip about her stolen clothes or shoes anymore.

  TEN

  The first thing that Rain did when they got home was run up to her bedroom to call Terrance. She didn’t care what Simone thought. Terrance was Rain’s man, and now she would just have to work harder to prove it, that’s all.

  When she went to reach for the phone, she noticed that the voice mail light was blinking. She played with the phone until she was able to figure out how to retrieve the message. She listened as the automated system informed her that she had one new message. She pushed play and listened with anticipation to see who had called her.