by La Jill Hunt
4
I need a drink, Kayla thought as she looked down at her vibrating cell phone. Unfortunately, Craig was calling her for the third time in the past fifteen minutes. Kayla hit the end button and sent the call to her voice mail. She had experienced the day from hell and was in no mood for lying, no-good niggas. She had a fight break out in her classroom and her boss actually insinuated that it was her fault, her car was acting like it had an attitude and most importantly, she was stressed as hell working two jobs and still being broke. This is not how her life was supposed to be working out.
“TGIF, girl,” her girlfriend Yvonne said as Kayla walked to the school’s parking lot.
“You can say that again, girlfriend,” Kayla sighed.
“You ready to go? You look worn out,” Yvonne said as she unlocked her car.
“Yeah, just frustrated.”
“Girl, you need a drink. You wanna go by State Street’s for happy hour tonight?” Yvonne asked.
“I don’t know. I’m tired, Von.”
“Come on. Roni has been calling my cell and I know that’s what she wants. Let’s go for a little while. At least get our eat on for free.” Yvonne smiled and Kayla couldn’t help but laugh. “Besides, you may even meet Mister Right.”
“More like Mister Right Now.” Kayla giggled. “I am not staying all night, Von.”
“Cool. You know I’m not gonna be in there for long either, Kay.” Yvonne told her friend. “You’re taking your car?” she asked as Kayla unlocked her car door.
“I might be ready to leave before you are. I told you I’m tired,” Kayla answered and got into her car.
She pulled out of the parking lot behind Yvonne and opened her sunroof. The air felt good on her face and she immediately felt rejuvenated. She turned on the CD player and let the mellowness of Jill Scott relax her as she drove. Her cell rang and recognizing Tia’s number, she answered it.
“Hey, ho!” Tia sang into her ear.
“Hey, girl. Where you at?” Kayla asked. Tia was a fitness trainer and she worked varied hours, depending on her clients.
“On my way to da club to meet y’all.” She laughed.
“I know you are all diva-fied, so let me warn you that I am not. I have on my jeans, a black shirt and some casual shoes.”
“But I know you got your spare pair in your trunk, trick, and you’ll probably mousse that good hair and make that face up before you step up in there, so I ain’t even worried,” she answered. She knew Kayla too well. Kayla did have a spare pair of shoes in her trunk, as well as a full makeup kit, complete with extra hair products.
“I’ll see you in a minute. We’re almost there. Ms. Yvonne is leading the way.”
“All right, I’m pulling into the parking lot right now, so I’ll get us a table,” she said and hung the phone up. Kayla’s cell immediately rang again and this time it was Roni.
“What up, Ron?” she answered.
“What’s wrong with you? Von said you don’t feel good.”
“Just tired, I guess. Dealing with them bad-ass kids is wearing me down.”
“You need a vacation. I don’t know why you don’t call out sometimes.”
“Unlike you, I don’t teach public school. We don’t have a million subs to come in when we call out. We are short staffed. And even if I call out at one job, I have another one to go to,” Kayla replied.
“What you need to do is find a guy that’s paid to help you out for a minute. Geno is over and done with. You need to find another to step in and take over,” Roni continued. Just the mention of Geno’s name made Kayla’s heart beat faster. Despite everything, she still missed him.
She pulled into the club parking lot, parked beside Yvonne and noticed Roni walking toward them. She shook her head at her and put the cell into her purse. “That’s why you got a two hundred dollar cell phone bill. Why didn’t you tell me you were already here?”
“I was caught up in the conversation.” Roni shrugged. They gave each other a quick hug and Kayla opened her trunk to change shoes. She set up her big mirror and touched up her hair and makeup. Times like this she was glad she opted to cut her shoulder length hair to the short, funky style. She had surprised everyone when she did it, but she was going through a lot and decided it was time for a change. Roni and Yvonne watched as she handled her beauty business.
“You ready, Diva?” Yvonne asked.
“Yep. Let’s go.” Kayla turned and smiled a weak smile as she closed her trunk.
“’Bout time,” Roni joked as they joined the line that began to form outside of State Street’s Sports Bar. It was becoming well known that they had one of the best happy hour buffets in the city, and each time the Lonely Hearts Club visited, the crowd seemed to get bigger and bigger. After a few moments waiting in line and getting their ID’s checked, they made their way inside.
“You see Tia?” Yvonne said loudly above the sound of Craig Mack’s “Flava in Your Ear.”
“No, let’s look over by the wall.” Kayla pointed to the round tables lined along the side of the club. “You know she’s not far from the dance floor.”
“I’ll call her.” Roni reached for her cell but Kayla snatched it before she could dial. Yvonne laughed at her two friends who always provided her with comic relief.
“Put that phone down! She’s right over there.” Kayla pointed to Tia who was waving her arms to get their attention. She was decked out in a black linen pantsuit and heels. She had her braids pulled to the top of her head and looked like she had just stepped off the cover of a magazine with her beautiful face.
“Hey, Ms. Thang,” Roni said as the ladies made their way to the table.
“Hey yourself. Everybody ready to get their groove on?” She raised her glass toward the bar where a nice looking gentleman was smiling at them.
“Cute. Friend of yours?” Yvonne asked Tia.
“Too early to tell, girl. But he did buy me a drink and he hasn’t been all up in my face. That’s a good sign,” she told them. They all took their seats and a waitress came over to take their drink orders.
“Blue Malibu,” Roni said.
“Apple Martini,” Yvonne added.
“White Zinfandel,” Kayla murmured. She felt drained and really didn’t feel like hanging out. The thought of having to be at the music store the next day from nine in the morning until four, was not helping her mood.
“What’s wrong with you?” Tia frowned at her.
“I’m okay, just tired,” Kayla said to her friend.
“I told her she needs a couple days off,” Roni said. “That’s why they give you vacation and sick days.”
“Not at our school. We are so short staffed that it is not even funny,” Yvonne told them. “Mrs. Warren guilt trips employees into not calling out.”
“Well, maybe you’ll feel better after you’ve eaten. Let’s hit the buffet,” Tia said as she led the way to the soul food buffet the club offered every Friday night. Usually, Kayla could not get enough of the chicken wings, but she didn’t even have an appetite. She watched her girlfriends pile their plates up as she put a dab of ‘this and that’ on her own plate and maneuvered her way through the crowd, returning to her seat. Suddenly, she felt someone put his arms around her and whisper in her ear.
“I knew you’d be here. Why didn’t you call me back?” the husky voice said.
She tried not to smile, but could not help herself. “Because I knew you would give me some lie about not being here, so I figured why bother?” She turned and faced him.
“Come on, Kayla. Why you wanna treat a brother like that?” Craig asked her.
“Geno, I’m tired. I’ve had a long day and I don’t feel well,” she said.
“Yeah, you must really be sick, because my name is Craig, not Geno. Call me when you feel better.” He turned and walked away. Kayla could not believe she had called him Geno. She knew it was time for her to leave.
“What’s wrong with him?” Yvonne asked. She knew Kayla talked to Craig every once in a while, but fro
m what she saw across the room, it looked like Kayla had hurt his feelings.
“I accidentally called him Geno,” Kayla said as she sat at the table and took a big gulp of her wine.
“You what?” Tia laughed out loud, causing Kayla to smile.
“I called him Geno.”
“Oh, no you didn’t. What did he say?” Roni was tickled to death.
“He told me to call him when I could get his name right, basically,” Kayla said. She picked over her food, watched her girls dance and flirt, had a second glass of wine and decided to call it a night. As she stood up, she nearly lost her balance.
“Are you all right, Kayla?” Yvonne reached out to grab her before she could fall. Roni took notice and rushed over to the table.
“How much did she have to drink?” Yvonne glared at Roni.
“Two glasses, and why are you rolling your eyes at me? It was your idea to meet here, if you recall. Kayla never gets lit,” Roni threw back at her.
“I’m okay. Dang. I just got a little light headed. I’m fine.” Kayla regained her composure and gathered her purse.
“I’m gonna drive you home,” Yvonne said and looked for her keys.
“Von, I am fine. I told you I’m tired. I’ll call you and let you know when I get home.” Kayla hugged Yvonne and Roni and waved at Tia as she left. Her eyes met Craig’s as she watched him dance with another female on the dance floor. Good, let him find someone else to lie to for a change.
5
As broke as she was, Kayla called in and didn’t go to work the next day. After a full week of teaching, she was too tired to even move. When Roni called, Kayla told her that she had the flu and assured her that she would be fine. She got up to get some water and a wave of nausea came over her. Grabbing the side of the toilet, she threw what felt like her entire insides up. Then she remembered she had missed her period. Hell, she had missed two periods. Beads of sweat began to form around her brow and she crawled back into bed. Please God, let me just have the flu.
She slept until Sunday afternoon and somehow found the strength to make it to the drugstore and get a pregnancy test. She sat on the side of her bed and looked at the pink line, thinking that it must be wrong. There was no way that she could be pregnant. She had been on the pill for years, ever since her mother took her to the doctor when she turned fifteen and told her to take them “just in case.” Her mother. She was going to be so pissed. She and her father had worked so hard for her and Anjelica, giving them a good home. Her dad worked as a city bus driver for the past thirty years and her mother was a secretary. Both still worked hard. She had never even told them the truth about Anjelica and Geno. She didn’t want to cause conflict within the family, even though it wasn’t her fault. Kayla hated to disappoint her parents. Their respect was too important to her. But she knew that her having a baby would be a letdown for them, because she had let herself down.
Kayla needed to talk to someone, but she was too embarrassed to tell her girlfriends. She hadn’t told anyone that she had slept with Geno a few months ago. It wasn’t anything that was planned. She was working at the music store when he walked up to the counter.
“Do you all have any Go-Go?” he asked, so focused on the sales paper that he didn’t look up.
“G?” she asked, looking at him and smiling.
“Kayla. What in the world are you doing here?”
“What does it look like? I work here,” she said.
“For real? You get a discount?”
“Only for my family and friends. You don’t fit either category.” She smirked at him.
“That is real cold, Kay. You act like you ain’t got no love for a brother.”
“When I did have love for you, you did my sister. What are you doing on this side of town anyway?” she asked.
“Funny. I came to visit my moms.”
“You here alone? Where’s your new woman I heard so much about?” She couldn’t resist asking. Rumor had it that he was living with some older chick.
“Jealous?”
“Please. I just hope she doesn’t have any sisters. The Go-Go section is this way,” she said and led him to the right aisle.
“You are a real comedian, you know that?”
“Whatever. You’d better hurry up because we close in ten minutes.” She turned and went back to her register. He returned with three CDs and she rang them up.
She handed him his bag, adding sarcastically, “Thanks for shopping. Have a great night.”
“I really want to talk to you, Kayla. Can we go somewhere after you get outta here?” he asked.
“I don’t think that would be a good idea, G,” she answered and watched as he reluctantly walked out of the store. She tried not to admit it, but she missed him terribly.
Her manager locked the store up and Kayla quickly braved the cold wind and ran to the parking lot. When she got there, Geno was standing next to her car.
“What do you want?” Kayla inquired. It was cold and she wanted to go home.
“Kayla, can we just go somewhere and talk?” Geno asked her.
“About what, G?” She unlocked her door and hopped in her car. Geno remained standing in the cold. She cranked the engine and rolled down the window enough to hear what he was saying.
“Shit, Kayla, I don’t care. I just want to talk to you. I miss you. I miss hanging out with you. We used to have fun, Kayla. I ain’t saying we gotta talk about what happened, but let’s just go out and chill for old time’s sake. Please?” She could see the mist coming out of his mouth as he talked.
“Are you begging?” she asked.
“What?”
“I said, are you begging?” She knew Geno hated to be played like a sucker, but she wanted to see how far he would go to talk to her.
“Don’t play with me, Kayla. It’s cold as hell out here.” He blew into his hands and rubbed them together. “Yeah, Kay, I’m begging.”
“Where you trying to go?” She couldn’t help but smile.
“Follow me. And you need to get this raggedy car of yours checked out. It sounds like a moped.” He laughed.
“Don’t push your luck, Geno. I ain’t followed you yet,” she warned.
She followed him to an old hangout spot that they used to shoot pool at back in the day. They laughed and talked like old times, taking shots of tequila and drinking beer. She got caught up in the moment, enjoying just being with Geno. She didn’t resist when he suggested they get a hotel room. The good feeling ended when she awoke, curled by his side with his arms around her, to the sound of his cell phone ringing. He nuzzled against her and kissed the top of her forehead while she pretended to be asleep.
Geno slipped out of bed and quietly retrieved the ringing phone out of his pocket. He looked over at Kayla again and went into the bathroom. She could hear him mumbling through the door, lying about where he was and who he was with. Knowing that this had been a mistake because she still had feelings for him, she quickly got dressed and left him without saying a word.
Now here she was facing a situation she never thought she’d have to face. They were no longer together and the night they shared had just been one of physical pleasure, not emotional. She threw the white plastic entity in the trash and went back to bed, too depressed to think about her next move.
Somehow, Kayla made it to work by seven o’clock Monday morning. She knew she looked a horrid mess with her hair barely wrapped the night before and not a drop of makeup on other than a little foundation, but she had to get to school early and talk with the principal, Mrs. Warren. Kayla dreaded telling the woman that she needed the day off, because it was a well-known fact throughout the staff that unless you were dead, Mrs. Warren expected you to be at work—no exceptions. It was one of the few things Kayla hated about her job.
“Mrs. Warren. I need the day off,” Kayla told her.
“What seems to be the problem, Ms. Hopkins?” she asked.
“I think I have the flu. As a matter of fact, I was sick all weekend. I reall
y need to go to the doctor and maybe take a few days off,” Kayla pleaded.
“Ms. Hopkins, you know we are extremely short staffed and subs are hard to come by these days. Why don’t you at least get started this morning and then we’ll see how you feel. Get your class settled and I will work on finding someone to cover your class this afternoon,” she told Kayla. Kayla dragged herself to her classroom and Yvonne stopped in to see how she was doing.
“You look like death warmed over. You still don’t feel well, huh?” She placed a cup of hot tea on Kayla’s desk.
“Thanks, Von. No. I’m trying to go to the doctor this afternoon, but Mrs. Warren swears she can’t find a sub for me. Go figure, but she can go and get her hair done every Friday morning with no problem.” Kayla stirred the hot liquid.
“I can cover for you today. No one has anything scheduled in the library, so I don’t think that would be a big deal,” Yvonne suggested.
“Thanks, Von. Can you go and tell her?” Kayla greeted her students half-heartedly as they entered the classroom. Once Yvonne had cleared with Mrs. Warren that she would cover for Kayla and her students were settled, Kayla went home.
I need to make an appointment with Dr. Bray as soon as possible,” Kayla told the receptionist at her doctor’s office.
“I’ll be happy to see what we have available. Name?”
“Kayla Hopkins.”
“Okay, Ms. Hopkins, let’s see. She has a cancellation at ten-fifteen. Can you make it then?” she asked.
“Yeah. That’s fine,” Kayla mumbled.
“Ten-fifteen it is. And what is the nature of your visit?”
“I think I failed a pregnancy test,” Kayla told her.
Sitting in the examination room, she waited for the doctor, trying not to throw up. I have finally done it. I have ruined my life. My dad is gonna have a heart attack. How am I gonna have a baby and work two jobs? What am I gonna do? What is Geno gonna say when he finds out he’s gonna be a father? Me and Geno are having a baby. This can not be happening to me.
“Kayla, Kayla, Kayla. How you doing, girl?” Karen was her usual chipper self. She had been Kayla’s doctor since her junior year of college and she always made her feel comfortable.
