What Bae Won't Do Saga

by Genesis Woods

  “While you were in there burning my kitchen down, your phone went off a few times,” she said walking into her closet.

  I sat on the edge of her bed, pulled my cell out, and started to go through my logs. There were a few text messages from Toby and G and a couple of missed calls from Unique. Damn, I forgot I’m supposed to go pick up my son and spend some time with him today. I needed to hurry up and get out of here before Unique started to blow my shit up.

  “Aye, baby, what do you have planned for your birthday? As of today, you have exactly six weeks and counting.” “I know!” she said excitedly. “I think I might have a girl’s weekend with LaLa and Tangie and just go to Vegas or something. If I don’t do that, I was thinking about just having a small dinner party. I might even invite Niecey and Mya’s ass.”

  I turned my nose up at that last statement, and I hope she didn’t notice.

  “Why not have both?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Let me throw you a Vegas-style party at Lotus Bomb. We’ll have whatever kind of food you want and plenty of alcohol.”

  “You’d do that for me?” she asked, jumping into my lap.

  “I’d do anything for you, JaNair.”

  And I meant that. I kissed her lips softly and held her for a minute, then told her I had to go. We made plans to get together later on after she finished studying. With one last kiss, I grabbed my keys and headed for the door.

  As soon as I stepped on the porch, the bright rays from the sun hit my face. I was blinded for a minute but quickly got over it as my eyes started to adjust to the light.

  Before I made it to my car, which was parked in front of JaNair’s house, the smell of someone smoking some of that good radiated around me.

  I looked to my right, then over to my left and locked eyes with the last nigga I wanted to see.

  “What’s good?” he asked from across the fence. A smirk laced across his face. I lifted my head and kept it pushing to my car. I didn’t have time for his shit today. Once I got in and plugged up my phone, I started the ignition and rolled down my window. I really didn’t want to ask, but I just had to know. Whatever he was smoking had me wanting to hit that shit.

  “Aye, what kind of Kush is that you’re smoking?”

  He took another pull. “This what you call that Cali’s Finest. Peaches and Cream.”

  “That shit smell fiyah.” I knew he was probably tripping out on me talking to him about weed. I may not smoke it anymore, but that doesn’t mean I can’t like the smell of some potent shit.

  He smirked. “Yeah, it is fiyah. I stay smoking and eating on them good peaches.”

  See, that’s why I couldn’t fuck with this cocky-ass nigga. He was always on some dumb shit. What the fuck did eating peaches have to do with anything? I rolled up my window, turned the AC on, and left. I had way more shit to worry about other than his love for all things peaches.

  Semaj

  “I’m just tryna know you better . . .”

  I looked down at my phone and hit the “ignore” button for the second time. Her nigga hasn’t been gone for five minutes yet and she already calling me. I know that sounded kind of salty, but I really didn’t care.

  “J, if you keep ignoring her, she’ll stop calling you altogether,” Li’l Ray said as he took the blunt from my hand.

  “I know, and I’ll call her back in a bit. I’m just tired of this back and forth with her ass. One minute we hanging and kicking it tough, the next minute she MIA.”

  He handed me the blunt again. “What do you expect when she got a nigga already? Is she supposed to spend all her time with you and only a little time with him? Look, man, I’ve known JaNair for a minute, and I can tell that she is feeling you some type of way. Hell, the fact that she now remembers your name should tell you that.”

  We both fell out laughing. Li’l Ray was right, though, things were different between us. Especially since that episode we had in her bathroom. Although it happened a few weeks ago, I could still smell her essence.

  I looked down at my ringing phone and ignored the call again. Instead of JaNair calling this time, it was the same 713 number that’s been calling me for the last week.

  “Yo, who was that?”

  “That out-of-state number I told you about. They call but never leave a message, so it must not be that important.”

  Ray nodded his head.

  “What’s up with you and LaLa? How are the parents-to-be doing these days?” I joked.

  Li’l Ray started to rub the top of his head. Something he normally did when he was becoming real annoyed with something or someone.

  “Man, I don’t know what to say. Sometimes we good, then other times, I feel like choking the shit out of her ass.” He took a long pull of the blunt. “This may sound harsh, but sometimes I hate that I might be this baby’s daddy.”

  I looked at him with questioning eyes. “Might?”

  “Yeah, man . . . might,” he said as we headed back to the cave.

  Ever since JaNair had started to become a little distant, I’ve been in the studio dropping all kinds of beats. In a way, I kind of have her to thank because if she didn’t have me in my feelings like this, I don’t know if these beats would’ve turned out the way they have.

  “Aye, what did you mean by might?” I asked Li’l Ray as he stepped into the makeshift booth. I swear if I ever hit it big, I’ma upgrade the shit out of this muthafucka.

  “I said might because the timing doesn’t add up. Whenever I go to an appointment with her, she makes it a point to not discuss the due date. Then on top of that, Moms was talking about it’s impossible for her to be pregnant by me.”

  “Wait, how would Aunt Shirley know? It wasn’t like she was there at conception, was she?”

  “Hell, no!” he laughed. “My dick wouldn’t even get hard if Moms was in the room.” He shook his head. “On the real, though, she said some crazy shit about her not having a dream about fish. She said if LaLa was really pregnant by me, she would’ve had that dream.”

  “That’s that old Down South shit,” I laughed but then got serious. “Do you think this is your baby?”

  He shrugged his shoulders.

  “OK, well, since you can’t answer that, do you remember fucking her around the time she’s claiming to have gotten pregnant?”

  He nodded his head.

  “OK, we’re getting somewhere. Do you remember using protection?”

  “Not all the time.”

  “Then there you have it. You remember having sex with her around the time of conception, but you didn’t always strap up when y’all was fucking. I’m sorry to say, cuzzo, but there might be a possibility that the baby is yours.”

  “Yeah, I guess. Once you put it like that,” he said stepping fully into the booth and closing the door. “Let’s do that song from earlier. I got a few more verses to add.”

  I nodded my head and brought up the track he was talking about. Once I had everything set, I increased the volume in his headphones, then pointed to Ray.

  “Baby mama stay talking shit, so I stay smokin’ kush.

  Sometimes that don’t work so a nigga gotta push.

  Make money every day yeah true indeed

  Real words to live by because money is all I need

  I’ma get mine by all and any means

  No bullshit shortcuts or small ass in betweens.”

  * * *

  I banged my head out as Ray kept flowing over the beat. The nigga was in rare form right now, I’ll give him that.

  I guess LaLa having him in his feelings was a good thing too. I had no doubt that out of the three songs we recorded today, this one right here was a certified banger. The rapid knocking on my door woke me up from my sleep.

  After Li’l Ray and I finished that last song, I came in the house and lay down for a minute.

  That was three hours ago. I reached for my phone to see what time it was. It was a little past seven, still kinda early, but a little too late to still b
e napping.

  “Come in!” I mumbled as I scrolled through my call log. That same out-of-state number called me again as well as Tasha and JaNair.

  “So are you done ignoring me now, J2?”

  Speak of the devil. My head shot up quick when I heard her voice. I was expecting my aunt to be walking through the door telling me that dinner was ready.

  “No one is ignoring you, JaNair. I’ve just been real busy.” I turned over to face her. “I didn’t think you’d notice, especially with the way you been dodging me for your little boyfriend.”

  She smiled. “Let me find out you feel some type of way about me.”

  I looked at her for a long moment, then sat up in my bed. I was starting to get tired of playing this game with her. Something had to give.

  “Look, Jay, all bullshit aside, I’m a real nigga, and I don’t know how to be no other way than straightforward and honest—” she cut me off.

  “And I don’t?”

  “Not really! You can’t even be honest with yourself half of the time.”

  “What do you mean by that, Semaj?” she asked, folding her arms under her soft and juicy titties. My dick twitched a little and started to rise up, so I pulled my comforter into my lap, then I ran my hand down my face.

  “You know what, JaNair? I don’t mean anything by it. If you can’t figure the shit out for yourself, then I don’t know what to tell you.”

  “What is there that I need to figure out, huh? That you like me? I know that already. What else? That I like you? You know that too.” She came and sat on the bed next to me. “Semaj, I would be deaf, dumb, and blind if I couldn’t see the attraction that we have for each other. It’s like we’re drawn together in some way. The thing is, I’m in a relationship with Jerome right now, and I owe it to him to at least try to make it work.”

  “That’s what’s up,” I said as I started to get up, but her jumping on my lap had me falling back onto the bed.

  We sat there and stared into each other’s eyes for what seemed like twenty minutes before she grabbed a handful of my dreads and placed her soft lips on top of mine. As much as I enjoyed the feel of our tongues intertwined, I had to stop what was soon to happen.

  “JaNair,” I said placing my forehead against hers, “we need to stop.”

  Breathlessly she asked, “Why?”

  “Didn’t you just tell me you were trying to make things work with Jerome?”

  She sat back and looked at me. The same look she had in her eyes the day I ate her pussy was there, and I almost lost it. I wanted to pull my dick out so bad and bury it deep inside of her body, but now wasn’t the right time. Whenever JaNair and I did have sex, I needed her heart and soul to be here too. I wanted those as well.

  “I’m sorry, Semaj, I shouldn’t have done that,” she said getting up from my lap. I know she saw and felt the way she had my dick standing straight at attention. I wasn’t even going to hide it no more either.

  “Are you really?”

  “Am I really what?”

  “Sorry?”

  She opened her mouth, then snapped it right back shut. I could tell by the look she now had on her face that the answer to my question was swirling around in her head.

  Her phone began to ring. She looked down at her screen and stared at the phone for a few seconds, then looked back up at me.

  “I have to go,” was all she said before she turned around and left, silently closing my door behind her.

  I shook my head and laughed. This was the shit I was talking about. I don’t know how much longer I’d be able to play second to a nigga she knows deep down she really isn’t feeling anymore. Maybe this thing that I want JaNair and I to have is just what it is . . . a thing, I started to think. It might be time for me to fall all the way back and just let her do her like Aunt Shirley said.

  I looked down at my dick which was still hard just thinking about her. JaNair needed to come to her senses real quick and real fast or I would have to move on. Walking around here with a hard-ass dick was not the business at all.

  LaNiece

  It had been a week since I told my mother everything. To my surprise, she wasn’t as upset as I thought she would be.

  “LaLa, you know that’s foul as hell what you did, especially to your sister.”

  “I know, Ma. The thing is, I really do regret having sex with both Will and Jerome, but they’re not going to see it that way. Not only will I lose my best friend, but I might lose my sister too.”

  She rubbed my back. “Baby, as far as JaNair goes, there is that possibility that she won’t forgive you right now, but down the line, she will. With Niecey, she’s going to be mad, maybe even beat your ass, but she’ll get over it, and you’ll go right back to being sisters again.”

  After going over who I felt in my heart was my child’s father, my mom suggested we have a little family dinner to air everything out. At first, I didn’t agree with that shit. I wasn’t planning on telling Niecey anything about Will possibly being the father until after the baby was born. But I figured it’ll be less likely of a chance for her to come after me being pregnant than when I’m not.

  I had just pulled into the overly crowded parking lot of California Fish Grill and had to drive around for about five minutes before I found somewhere to park.

  JaNair, Tangie, and I were finally able to meet up for that lunch date we talked about some time ago.

  At first, I was kind of in my feelings when JaNair told me that she was starting to hang out and become friends with the nurse from the hospital. But after chilling with Tangie a few times and getting to know her a little more, she was pretty cool.

  When I walked into the small establishment, I immediately saw a frowning Tangie sitting at a booth near the window. I didn’t know what any of that was about, but whatever she was looking down at had her face all screwed up.

  “Hey, girl, where’s JaNair?” I asked as I took off my coat and placed it on the back of the chair.

  “She went to the restroom,” Tangie responded, still looking down at what I now saw was JaNair’s phone.

  “What’s the matter with you?”

  She finally looked up, the frown she had a few seconds ago gone from her face. “Oh, nothing really. I just get kind of grumpy when I’m hungry.”

  I looked her in the eye for a minute and could tell she was lying. I wanted to ask her again, but JaNair finally returned from the bathroom.

  “What’s going on? What did I miss?” I looked at Tangie, and she looked at me.

  “Your nosy ass ain’t miss shit but me wobbling my greedy ass in here. Why haven’t you ordered yet? You know we hungry.”

  “Speaking of we, how is my god baby?” JaNair asked as she started to rub my belly and talk to it in that baby Hebrew gibberish.

  “She is fine. Although I should be the one you’re concerned about since I’m the one in pain and gaining all of this weight.”

  It took her a minute to realize what I had just said. But once she did, her crazy ass started to yell and scream. It wasn’t definite that I was pregnant with a girl, but with the way I’ve been craving dairy, I was hoping I was. The other patrons started to look at our little section after hearing all of the excitement and screaming.

  I just shook my head and waited for her to calm down. JaNair’s ass always got superexcited about the littlest shit.

  “Congratulations, LaLa.” Tangie finally said. “Did you and Li’l Ray want a girl?”

  I opened my mouth but couldn’t say anything. I don’t know why I became speechless at that question, so I just nodded my head.

  “I wish you would let me throw you a baby shower, LaLa. I don’t understand why you want to wait until after the baby is here. You are such a party pooper.”

  If only you knew the real reason why was the thought that went through my head.

  “Enough of this talking. What do you guys want to eat so I can go order our food?”

  After we all decided on what we each wanted to chow down on, Tan
gie got up to stand in line.

  JaNair and I sat there and chatted for the next ten minutes, talking about any and everything. She told me what had been going on in her and Jerome’s relationship as well as what had been transpiring in her and Semaj’s friendship.

  Her phone started to buzz on the table again, but she just ignored it.

  “Why aren’t you answering the phone?” I asked, stuffing a fry into my mouth. Tangie had come back with our food, and we were already digging in.

  “Because I don’t want to talk to Semaj right now.”

  “Why not?” Tangie and I asked at the same time.

  “Because the last time I was at his house, I embarrassed myself so bad.” She covered her face with her hands, then went on and explained how she jumped on Semaj’s lap and kissed him, only for him to stop her and remind her that she was trying to make things work with Jerome.

  “Why would that embarrass you? If anything, you should be glad that he had enough respect for you and your feelings.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Tangie went on to explain. “JaNair, anyone with eyes can see that Semaj has feelings for you, so finally being able to sleep with the woman he wants would be a no-brainer for him. The thing is, when he does sleep with you, he doesn’t want you to wake up the next day regretting that shit, or even worse, going back to your boyfriend and leaving him high and dry.”

  I nodded my head in agreement with Tangie. What she just said was some real shit.

  As the conversation went on, my phone started buzzing. I low-key rolled my eyes when I saw Mya’s name pop up in my inbox.

  Mya: Having fun at lunch with your best friend/baby’s stepmom?

  Me: What do you want, Mya . . .

  Mya: Nothing really . . . I just wanted to see how the bffs were doing before your little secret comes out . . .

  I didn’t even feel like entertaining this bitch or her ho antics right now. I was just about to put my phone back into my purse when it buzzed again.