“Are you going with G?” Shay looked at her confused.
“You know G? That’s my boy.” What does she mean by that? Heaven didn’t answer her.
“Yea I’m going wit G.” Heaven’s heart literally felt like it stopped beating.
“For real?” Heaven asked, not even masking her surprise and disappointment.
“Heaven, we ALL going wit’ G!” Shay joked. Heaven’s heart lightened as she cracked a smile and laughed with Shay. Shay continued. “But if you mean like that, then no. Me and G are just cool, I don’t think he’s going down with any chick.” There was a long silence and then suddenly Shay grabbed Heaven by the arm and stood in front of her, holding both of her shoulders. Heaven was a little scared and looked at her like, ‘What?’
Shay smiled with her mouth open.
“You like him.”
Heaven’s eyes got big.
“No I don’t,” Heaven protested, as Shay laughed loud and put her hand over her mouth.
“No Heaven, that was not a question. You like him, I can tell. But I mean, I don’t blame you. I can’t picture G like that but you know, chicks do dig him.”
Heaven frowned her face not really wanting to hear about no other chicks digging him, she was positive nobody could dig him the way she was. Before Heaven could say anything, Shay added. “Don’t worry Heaven, your secret’s safe with me.” Heaven didn’t care what Shay said, there was no way she was going to admit that out loud.
They got on the escalator.
“Okay Heaven, there’s one more place we gotta go. Now listen, if you look sexy on the outside then you gotta feel sexy on the inside, that’s a must. Trust me, it’ll change the way you walk, the way you talk, the way you move, everything…and guys can definitely tell if you feel sexy or if it’s just an act.” Shay paused and then looked away before she finished. “Especially guys like G.”
Heaven sucked her teeth but then looked at Shay, and Shay was giving her a face like ‘please stop fronting.’ So instead of attempting a protest again Heaven figured she should listen to Shay, follow her advice, and get her sexy on for G. She popped a stick of gum into her mouth and folded her arms and then she turned back to Shay.
“So where we going?” Shay smiled at Heaven, she reminded her a lot of herself. She knew exactly how she felt, being with a man, feeling another, wanting to be free, being so naïve to everything, basically all the things you went through when you were young and coming into your womanhood. They stepped off the escalator and Shay took all her bags into her left hand then she used her right hand to grab Heaven’s hand and led her into Victoria’s Secret.
“We going to get you some panties, girl.”
After they left the mall, Shay and Heaven went to get something to eat at Red Lobster. Although it wasn’t anything too fancy and Heaven had been before, it was the first time she had actually tasted lobster, and it was good.
They small talked as they ate their food and drank Pina Colodas. Finally the small talk got weak and the questions got big.
“So how did you and Khalil end up together anyway, you’re like literally half his age.” Heaven had learned from her experiences with Ricky to keep her personal business, personal, and not to tell anyone anything that she wouldn’t want the whole world to know. She also didn’t want to lie to Shay.
“He was a friend of the family.” Shay nodded and sensed her hesitation. She changed the subject.
“So, how did you meet G anyway? I never seen you at the bar before.” Heaven perked at the mention of G’s name and Shay had to keep herself from laughing.
“He came to the apartment one time. Not the one you picked me up from, but Khalil’s place. Does he work at the bar too? I know he had come before for some money Khalil owed him.” Heaven asked this while taking another bite of her lobster, and Shay couldn’t believe how youthful she was, ignorant to so many things.
“Heaven, let’s just say that G is a man with many jobs.” Heaven took another sip of her drink and dismissed the topic of his work, she wanted to know more, she wanted the dirt.
“Do you know him well?” Heaven asked, beating around the bush as if she wasn’t as interested as she really was. Shay laughed out loud, she had enough.
“You wanna know about G, don’t you? Okay, let me tell you what I know…Let’s see, he has a house in the mountains near Warren, and a condo on the water in Jersey City. He’s single, I believe. No kids, that I know of. He owns a restaurant, some clubs, bars, strip joints, the whole nine. He likes gambling and traveling, and long walks on the beach.” The girls both cracked up laughing, as Shay continued. “Okay maybe not long walks on the beach. Um, oh, well I don’t know if I should really go into that.” Heaven’s face dropped.
“No Shay, you gotta tell me. What is it? Is it bad?” Shay could see her desperation and decided to let the young girl in, it wasn’t like everybody else didn’t know.
“Well, two years ago his brother Spliff who used to run like everything, I mean everything, got knocked for killing their step dad. Everybody said that it was a crazy situation and that his brother was doing the bid for G but I don’t know if I believe that cause Spliff was crazy anyway. But anyway, when Spliff got locked up all that money, all that territory, and all those problems, went to G. For some reason though, G seemed to clean up the mess that his brother had made before he went away.” Heaven sat trying to follow as Shay broke it down.
“Spliff was a hot head, real off the chain type dude. So he made a lot of enemies when he reigned. But when G came into the picture he cleaned a lot of stuff up. Turned the competition into partners, gave a lot of niggas work too. See G is a good businessman, he can be hood, trust he can be real hood, but he’s also real smart. That’s why a lot of people say he’s an even better leader than his brother was.” Heaven sat there taking in everything. She had a feeling that he was smart, but she didn’t know he was so big. It put even more doubt in her mind that he would ever be interested in her. The girls finished their dinner and Shay picked up the tab. Heaven insisted on at least leaving the tip. They made their way to the parking lot and got into Shay’s car, as Heaven wondered how the hell she was going to sleep that night. She had G on the mind, she had him on the mind heavy.
Mirror, Mirror On the Wall,
Who’s the Fairest of them All…
“Nose, Forehead, Cheekbones, Chin,” Heaven repeated aloud to herself, as she applied the bronzer the way Shay had instructed her to. It was 2:45 pm. and Khalil had said they would be there around 3 pm. They were going to ride down together, grab a bite to eat, maybe have a few drinks, and then head to the fights. Heaven was a nervous wreck.
On top of the fact that Heaven’s eye looked a lot better when she woke up this morning, the concealer worked wonders leaving no trace of bruising. Heaven still parted her hair on the side and wore a little covering the left side of her face just out of insecurity. She curled her hair in loose curls with her mother’s curling iron and put on the outfit that she had purchased. By the time she had applied her make up completely, it was close to 3 pm. She took a look in the mirror and couldn’t help but to smile wide, she couldn’t believe how gorgeous she looked. Oh my god, I look like them girls that be in the videos. Go me! Heaven felt good, this was the first time she could ever remember feeling beautiful, and she felt like she owed it all to Shay. She applied some more of her gold flecked gloss and as she screwed the top on, she heard a horn blaring outside. She hurried and grabbed the Louis Vuitton clutch that Shay had let her borrow and tried to tip toe quickly through the dark hallway before her father could come out of the bedroom. He ended up meeting her at the door.
“Mmm, mmm, mmm, look at you girl,” he slurred drunkenly.
She pushed him off of her as he rubbed on her ass and tried to get close to her ear. He pulled at her again, but this time she pushed him hard, sending him crashing into a coat stand that caused her mother to come out of the bedroom. Heaven opened the door and took one look at her drunken father and her angry moth
er, who Heaven could tell was obviously aware of what had just happened by the jealous glare she was giving her. She was happy that she was leaving this place for at least a weekend, even if it was with Khalil.
She made her way out of the door and down the hallway and before coming into view, she fluffed her hair and pressed her lips together smoothing her gloss. When she opened the door and walked down her project concrete sidewalk toward Khalil’s truck, she felt like she was walking the red carpet.
G’s Range Rover was parked in front of Khalil and he was laughing at something Loc had said but when he saw Heaven walking out, he was speechless.
“Oh shit,” Loc said in a shocked whisper. He didn’t remember the girl looking that good, and he didn’t remember her having that much ass. “Shorty looking right.”
G remained silent as his head turned to follow her walk. His eyes traveled up and down her body and he licked his lips in admiration. Shay sat in the back of G’s Range Rover trying to hide her expression but she had watched G’s face when Heaven came outside, and she had a feeling that Heaven’s interest was not unrequited. Nah, judging by the way G was acting, it was definitely a mutual attraction.
Heaven’s heart raced as she walked past G’s truck, which was parked directly at the end of the walkway, and to Khalil. She tried not to look at G but couldn’t help to steal a glance. His face was blank and his mouth was slightly opened. She wanted him to at least speak to her or wave or something. Damn.
It took everything in Khalil not to blow up at Heaven. He knew he had just got done apologizing and he really wanted to try to have a good time this weekend, but her ass had to go and buy the tightest shit in the fucking store! He took a deep breath and tried to look at the bigger picture. She’s probably gonna be the hottest chick there, and she’s gonna be with me. However his insecure mind still told him that he had to check her before she got out of hand with this. He greeted her with a hug.
“Wow! Look at you.” She smiled.
“You like it?” She asked. He smiled but Heaven could see anger in his eyes.
“I’m sure everyone likes it Heaven, but I guess that’s what you were hoping for, huh?” Her smile faded as she second-guessed herself again.
“I thought you told me to go with Shay and buy myself something nice?” She asked innocently. Khalil paused and figured he’d give her a break tonight, she did look good. He’d just have to keep a closer eye on her.
“No, it’s nice. C’mon, let’s go.” Heaven walked around the front of the truck and climbed in as they took off behind G. About a minute later Khalil’s cell was ringing and from the conversation Heaven could tell that it was G. They pulled into a gas station behind G, and Khalil got gas then asked Heaven to go get him a Pepsi for the drive. As she walked past G’s truck she looked inside subtly and only saw another guy in the passenger seat. She kept walking and entered the little store making her way to the back to grab a Pepsi. She headed up to the counter while looking to the left out of the glass door searching to see if G was out there.
“You looking for Khalil?” Heaven turned to face forward and found herself face to face with G, well more like face to chest being that he was almost a foot taller than her. She didn’t answer him she just looked at him and laughed lightly, more out of embarrassment. She felt like someway he knew that she was looking for him instead. He paid for his Now and Laters candy, a bottle of water, and a pack of Black and Milds for Loc. He also paid for Khalil’s Pepsi. As he grabbed his change he turned to Heaven.
“You look nice.” He said this innocently leaving nothing for her to read into. She hesitated for a moment then she answered him.
“Thank you…you don’t think it’s too dressy? I’m not really used to going out that much so I didn’t really know what to wear…I mean I knew what to wear but I was kind of thinking, I don’t know. Shay helped me anyway, I wouldn’t have been able to pick out nothing like this on my own.” She stopped short, upset that she had found herself rambling. He smiled at her nervousness.
“Nah, don’t worry. It’s nice. Plus you never know, you might end up on TV, at least you’ll be ready.” She giggled as he winked at her. Then he walked out leaving her there feeling oh so giddy.
As she made her way across the lot of the gas station, G’s horn blared. She ignored it at first but then it blared again, she looked in the direction and saw G motioning her over to the truck. She looked at Khalil who was looking at her like C’mon. She paused, but then she began walking over to G’s truck. If he wanted her then that’s where she was going. She walked up to the driver’s side and he kept eye contact with her. She was in a gaze staring at his face as he called her name without moving his mouth. Then she realized it wasn’t him calling her name.
“Heaven! Hey I’m back here.” She looked away from G and into the backseat to find Shay. Once again she was humiliated but tried not to show it, she really thought he was the one calling her over. She tried to play it off although G knew. He thought it was cute though.
“Hey Shay.” Shay got out and gave Heaven a hug lightly pulling her away from the car. Once they were safely from hearing distance Heaven sighed and rolled her eyes.
“Shay that was so embarrassing.” Shay laughed.
“Heaven don’t worry about it, nobody noticed. You did look all love struck walking over to the car though.” Heaven playfully pouted as Shay giggled some more. “But I’m saying, you aint no worse than him when he saw you come outside in that outfit. Girl mouth was all open, tongue all hanging out and shit.” Heaven laughed and cheesed a big smile all at once.
“Are you serious, Shay?” Shay looked at both trucks and saw that all eyes were on them.
“Yea I’m serious, I just wanted to tell you that. But look go back to Khalil’s car and if he asks you what we were talking about, tell him I called you over and then I asked you if you had a tampon or something, that way you don’t get in no trouble.” Heaven nodded.
“Okay, what you gonna tell them if they ask?” Heaven used her head to point at G and Loc. Shay twisted up her face.
“I’m gonna tell them to mind they mothafuckin business.” And with that she was off, back into the Range Rover as Heaven shook her head at her, cracking up.
The ride down was smooth, but as they got closer to the exit off of the Atlantic City Expressway, the traffic got dense. Eventually they made it to the Casino around 5 pm., Heaven looked around at all of the big buildings, waterfalls, and all of the people and she became so excited. They pulled up to the Borgota and G stopped his truck in front of the entrance and hopped out. He walked around to Heaven’s side of Khalil’s truck and opened the door for her. He is bugging. Heaven thought, but Khalil didn’t seem to think anything or show it for that matter.
“We getting out here G?” Khalil asked, too mesmerized with the look of the hotel to even notice the chemistry brewing between G and Heaven.
“Yea, my man over there got the cars just give him the keys,” G said, while pointing to the valet. Khalil walked over to the older white man. G took the moment to grab Heaven’s hand and help her down and out of the truck. She smiled up at him.
“Thank you.” By the time Khalil was back by Heaven’s side, G was helping the bellboy put their bags on the luggage carrier and handing him a tip. Shay came out and handed Khalil their hotel keys.
“Ya’ll are in Room 506 and I’m 508.” Loc put his arm around Shay playfully.
“Oh yea, we in 508 baby?” He asked her. She punched him playfully. They all made their way into the hotel lobby.
“Thanks G for taking care of the rooms,” Shay smiled, as G waved his hand like it was nothing, and mumbled a ‘no problem’. Khalil felt a little jealous and didn’t want to appear weak in front of his woman.
“Yea G, good looking out. You know I got you.” G turned and looked at him with a look that read ‘nigga what the fuck is you talking bout?’ as he pushed the elevator button to go up. They all got on the elevator and Loc pushed the button for the fifth floor. He noticed
that G’s mood had changed instantly. They had all been joking and shit in the car but now his man seemed serious and a little on edge. Heaven noticed his tension too, and she wanted nothing more than to grab his hand and ask him what was wrong but instead she just stared at the elevator floor.
“This is nice,” Heaven said, voice dripping with sugar. She looked up and everyone was staring at her. She couldn’t believe she said that out loud. “The hotel.” She finished.
Shay, Loc, and G smiled at her as Khalil tried to excuse her remark, which he thought, showed her immaturity.
“Yall gotta excuse her, she aint really used to shit like this.”
“And you are?” G shot back, already tired of this nigga. If it wasn’t for Heaven he wouldn’t even be here, and although Loc thought he was crazy for giving away those tickets to Khalil, G just wanted to be around her. He liked her energy, not even just on a sexual tip, but he dug her vibes. She was like a breath of fresh air. Khalil chuckled trying to play it off, but Shay and Loc who both knew G well, knew that he was serious and irritated. They figured they’d just keep their mouths shut and hopefully set an example for Khalil; Heaven didn’t really have anything to worry about. So far it appeared that he liked everything that came out of her mouth. They got to level 5 as everyone got off, except G.
“What room you in G?” Khalil asked trying to play off the scene that had just occurred. G just pointed his index finger up to the ceiling as he leaned against the railing inside the elevator. Shay looked at Loc.
“Where you think you going?”
He laughed, reading her mind.
“Excuse me, I do have a room on this floor. G took the last suite.” She rolled her eyes and walked toward her room as the elevator doors closed.
Thirty minutes later, they were all at Mixx, a bar and restaurant in the hotel, having drinks and waiting for their food to arrive. The place was packed, the music was bumping, and the environment was fun and fast paced. Heaven looked around at all of the people dressed up and laughing and wondered how much more fun it would be if she weren’t here with Khalil. Maybe I’ll meet some friends at school and we’ll come back down here. That would be fun.
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