Honey and Amra locked their doors.
“His friends better not be ugly!” Amra commented.
Honey laughed, and they walked over to the group of guys.
Damon put his arm around Tasha, and they walked to the front of the line and into the club. As soon as she walked in, it felt like everybody in the club was staring at her. She could feel the jealousy in the room as all the females wondered who she was. Tasha didn’t care, though.
The music in the club was loud, and everybody seemed to be having a good time. She followed Damon to the VIP section. Honey and Amra sat across from her with two of Damon’s friends. Damon whispered into her ear, “You want a drink or something?”
Tasha had never had a sip of liquor before in her life, and didn’t think it was appropriate for her to experiment with a nigga she barely knew. “No, I’m good.”
The evening was fun, and they celebrated Honey’s graduation until two a.m.
When they walked out of the club, Damon was feeling Tasha. He walked her over to Honey’s car. “So, you got a number where I can reach you?”
Tasha knew that Damon was older than she was. He had to be at least twenty-one, and she didn’t want someone that old calling her at Ms. Pat’s house. “No, but you can give me yours.”
Damon laughed. “Alright. I can feel that.”
Tasha took out a piece of paper, and Damon wrote his telephone number on it. “I guess I’ll holla at you later then,” she said in a flirtatious way. She walked back to her friends while Damon watched her get in the car.
“Damn, Tasha! That nigga was all on your ass tonight.”
Honey had noticed it too. “Yeah, girl. You better get on his ass. He got bread. Did you see the car he was driving?”
Tasha laughed at her two friends, always talking about money. “Yeah, I guess he was cool. He old as hell, though.”
Honey frowned up her face. “Girl, please. That nigga’s only twenty. That’s only four years older than you. And he got bank. And you had all them bitches in the club jealous of you. Money don’t got no age. You better get at that mu’fucka.” Honey smiled to herself, thinking about how much money she would get out of Damon if she had him. “You know that nigga fly, and if you don’t want him, I’ll take him.”
“I don’t know. I might call him,” Tasha said with a smile. She had to admit, Damon was fine as hell, and from the looks of him, he was caked up.
Honey laughed, looked at Amra, then they both said, “She gon’ call him.”
Honey pulled up in front of Amra’s house at two thirty in the morning. Amra looked up at the dark house. “I hope my momma’s sleep.”
Honey laughed. “Just go in quietly.”
Tasha and Amra got out of the car and approached the house. Tasha was nervous as hell. Even though Ms. Pat wasn’t her mother, Ms. Pat would still get in her ass.
Amra put her key in the door and opened it quietly, trying to stop it from creaking. When she saw that the house was still on the inside, she motioned for Tasha to come in, and they both crept up the stairs and into the room that they shared. When they finally got in, they both burst out laughing.
“You won’t be laughing when your momma come in here,” Tasha said, teasing her friend.
“Bitch, neither will you.”
The next day, Tasha was home alone. The school year was over, Amra had to go to summer school, and Ms. Pat worked from eight until three. She picked up the phone and called Honey, “Hey, B. What you doing?” she said when Honey finally picked up the phone.
“Girl, trying to sit down and help my momma plan this open house. What are you doing?”
“Nothing. Just sitting over here bored. I’m not gonna hold you up, but call me when you get done.” Tasha hung up the phone and grabbed her purse off the nightstand. I guess I can call him, she thought to herself.
Tasha began to dial Damon’s number. She regretted it almost as soon as she punched in the last digit. The phone started to ring. Damn! I shouldn’t have called him yet. She was relieved when his voicemail picked up. She hung up without leaving a message.
As soon as she was about to go downstairs, the phone rang. “Hello?” She expected to hear Honey’s voice.
“Hello. Did somebody just call my phone?”
Tasha knew it was Damon. She didn’t know what to say though. She didn’t want him to think that she was whack or desperate to get at him. “Yeah, this is Tasha.”
“What up?”
There was a long silence, and Tasha felt stupid for calling him.
“Look I’m a little busy right now, but can I holla at you later? Come see you or something?”
Tasha didn’t want Damon to call back to the house when Ms. Pat was home. “Yeah, you can come pick me up.”
“Alright, give me about an hour.”
Tasha gave him directions to the house. She was smiling from ear to ear. I cannot believe I just told him that he could come over. I don’t even know him like that.
Tasha figured it was too late for her to back out, so she got dressed. She put on a tight-fitting black skirt with a black halter top that showed her flat stomach. She flat-ironed her hair, and an hour later, she was waiting for Damon to come.
Damon pulled up to her house at two o’clock, and she walked out to his truck. “What up?” She opened the door to enter his truck.
He looked at her, nodded his head. “You hungry?”
Tasha was hungry, but she didn’t want to eat in front of him. Damn, I’m trying to get my grub on. Ain’t nobody trying to eat cute. She said yes anyway, though, and he took her to Red Lobster, where she ordered a salad. When their food arrived, Damon’s plate made Tasha’s stomach growl. She looked down at her salad, and then looked across the table at his plate and thought, Damn! But, of course, she ate like a lady and didn’t even finish the whole salad.
After leaving the restaurant, they went to a movie. Tasha had to admit that even though she had her doubts about Damon, she felt comfortable around him. And he is paying for everything, she thought as she ordered a frozen slush from the snack stand at the movies.
When it was time for her to go home, she knew Ms. Pat would be home because it was seven o’clock. She had Damon drop her off at Honey’s house.
“So, when I’m gon’ see you again?” he asked as he pulled up in front of Honey’s house.
Tasha smiled. “I don’t know, ’cuz I don’t really have a number that you can call me on.”
Damon handed her his cell phone. “Holla at me.”
“How I’m gon’ call you if I got your phone?”
Damon licked his lips. “I got another one. The number’s programmed in the phone already, so holla at me.”
Tasha smirked at him. This nigga think he cute. She took the phone and got out of the car, and he waited to make sure that she got in the house.
Honey opened the door and saw Damon pulling away from her house. “No, you didn’t! You called him? No, you didn’t! What y’all do?” she asked as Tasha walked into her house.
Tasha tried to act calm, but Honey could see the smile on her face. “Ask your momma if you can take me home,” Tasha said.
Honey took Tasha to Ms. Pat’s house. When Tasha got out, Honey yelled, “I’m gon’ call you when I get home, and you better tell me everything.”
Tasha laughed. She held up Damon’s cell phone. “I’ll call you!”
Honey screamed, “Aww, bitch! No, you didn’t! He bought you a phone? Damn! You just met his ass last night.”
Even though Damon didn’t actually buy Tasha the phone, she let her girl think that. She ain’t got to know everything. “Look, though, I’ll call you later.”
Honey sped off, and Tasha went into the house.
Tasha saw Ms. Pat sitting in the kitchen. “Hi, Ms. Pat. How was work?”
Ms. Pat looked up from the paper she was reading. “It was fine. What did you spend the day doing?”
“Nothing. Went over to Honey’s house and was chilling with her all day.”
/> Tasha walked out of the kitchen and went upstairs and told Amra about Damon. “You will not believe what I did today,” she said as she walked into the room that she shared with Amra.
“What?”
“I saw Damon.”
Amra got up off of her bed. “No, you didn’t!”
Tasha put the phone in Amra’s face. “Yes, I did.”
Amra gave Tasha almost the exact same reaction as Honey had given her. They were all excited, not at the fact that Tasha could get a twenty-year-old, but that she had gotten him to give her his phone.
Tasha called Damon whenever she could, and that next week, he picked her up and took her and Amra to Honey’s open house. He didn’t know Tasha was only sixteen, figuring she’d graduated with Honey, making her at least eighteen. When he pulled up to Honey’s house, he told Tasha, “Call me later, alright? I’m trying to see you tonight.”
Tasha leaned over and gave him a kiss. “Okay. Thank you, Damon.”
Amra and Tasha got out of the car.
Amra laughed. “It ain’t even been a week, and his nose is wide open. Your pussy must be gold.”
Tasha laughed, but she hadn’t actually had sex with Damon. She just figured that he liked spending time with her, so he went out of his way to make her happy. No one knew, but Tasha was still a virgin, and she had no intentions of losing that to Damon.
They walked around the house and into Honey’s back yard, where her open house was being held.
“Damn, it’s a lot of people here,” Amra said as she maneuvered her way through the crowd to find Honey. Almost every person that had graduated with Honey was at her open house.
Honey came up to them with a plate of barbecue ribs. “Hey, y’all. Thanks for coming,” she said, smiling at her friends.
Tasha handed Honey a card and hugged her friend. “You know we wouldn’t miss it. Damon gave me a hundred dollars to put in your card.”
Honey smiled. “Oh, did he now?” She was amazed at how much money Tasha was getting from this dude. He was spending money on her like it grew on trees. She heard her mother call her name, and she turned to her friends and said, “Well, I have to go meet and greet, so just chill or whatever. It’s some food over there. My momma’s hooking it up. Y’all know that y’all can make yourselves at home.”
Honey’s open house was off the chain. It seemed like no one wanted to leave. It was like a party, and it lasted until well past eleven p.m.
That’s basically how the whole summer went. It was one big party.
Tasha continued to see Damon, and the more she saw him, the more money, clothes, and jewelry he gave her. It was like Christmas every day, and life was good.
Summer was about to end. There was only two weeks left, and Honey was putting the finishing touches on her plans to go to Flint. She rolled up a blunt in Amra’s room.
“So, when are you leaving?” Amra asked Honey.
“Not this Tuesday coming up, but next Tuesday.”
Amra shook her head, still upset that Honey was going to Flint. “That’s fucked up. Flint is far as hell.”
Tasha was upset too, but not at Honey, just at the circumstance. Honey had become like a sister to her. “Yeah, you better not get there and start acting all funny either, bitch. Don’t be acting like you can’t call us and shit.”
Honey laughed. “Y’all know it ain’t even like that. We sisters, and that’s not gon’ change just because I’m moving. I’m gon’ always be here whenever you bitches need me. You know me better than that. And shit, y’all only got one more year of high school, and as soon as y’all graduate, y’all can come out there. We’ll be doing it big for real. I told y’all about how those Midwest niggas get down.”
Tasha could feel the tears forming in her eyes. Honey was like her sister for real, and she didn’t want her to go and forget about them. They are the only family I’ve got, she thought as she looked at Amra and Honey. “Look, we got to promise to always stay in contact. We got to stay together. No matter what, after we graduate, you have to come back for us. We all got to promise each other, and we can’t break this promise. You two are the only family that I got, and I ain’t trying to forget about that just because Honey is moving away.”
Amra nodded her head. “I promise.”
“I promise,” Tasha said, wiping her eyes.
Honey hugged her sisters. “I promise.”
Tasha jumped up. “Hold on. Let me take a picture of us.” She went into her drawer and pulled out a digital camera.
“Where you get that from?” Honey asked.
Tasha shrugged her shoulders. “Damon bought it for me.”
Honey and Amra looked at each other.
Tasha ignored them and got close to her friends and held her arm out and snapped the picture herself.
Two weeks later, Honey packed her clothes and looked at the picture of her, Tasha, and Amra. I promise, she thought. She carefully placed it on top of all her clothes in her suitcase. She had said her good-byes to Tasha and Amra over the phone the night before. She didn’t want them to go with her to the airport because she knew for sure that she wouldn’t get on the plane and leave them if they were there watching her. Her mother drove her to the airport. She kissed her good-bye, and she got on a plane to Michigan.
Tasha lay in her bed staring at the picture of her and her friends. I love you, Honey. She knew that Honey was off to a new city, and just hoped that she would get there safely. And although a year apart was a long time, deep in her heart, she knew that Honey would not forget about them.
Amra sat in her summer school class and stared at the clock. It read 11:38. She knew Honey’s plane had left at eleven, and she felt the pain in her heart as she realized that one of her best friends had just left her. She opened up her math book, and the picture that she had taken with her friends two weeks earlier fell onto the floor. She picked it up and looked at it. You better remember, she thought. She quickly wiped away the tear that slid down her face.
Chapter Four
As Honey boarded the plane, she thought about her friends she had just left behind. She felt guilty for leaving them, but she had to worry about herself first. She sat back in the seat on the plane, listening to her CD player.
A couple of hours later, she arrived at Flint’s Bishop International Airport. She took a deep breath and got up to exit the plane. When she stepped through the gates, she noticed her aunt waiting for her, and walked toward her with a big smile. It had been a long time since she had last seen her, but her aunt still looked the same. Tammy was a woman who aged well. Though she was in her forties, she could easily pass for a lady in her mid-twenties.
Honey dropped her bags and embraced her aunt. Tammy hugged Honey, and they rocked back and forth, hugging each other. Tammy was happy to see her only niece. It had been over three years since the last time she had seen her. She grabbed Honey by both shoulders. “Look at you . . . all grown up!”
Honey smiled. “Where’s Mimi?”
Mimi was Tammy’s daughter and Honey’s favorite and only cousin. As children, they were inseparable, until Tammy up and moved out of town.
“She went to the bathroom about ten minutes ago. She should be walking her fast ass back any minute now.”
Just as Tammy finished her sentence, Mimi started running toward Honey with her arms out. They hugged and jumped up and down screaming. People started to look at them strangely, but they didn’t give a damn.
Honey noticed that Mimi’s looks had changed. She remembered a skinny nappy-headed girl with braces. Mimi had cut her hair real short, and had almost no hair at all. The look was feminine, and it looked good on her. She had dyed her hair blonde and developed a body to die for. Mimi had hazel contacts, and her teeth were pretty and perfectly aligned.
“Look at you, girl. You looking good.”
“You looking good too,” Mimi replied.
Mimi had developed a Midwest slur, and Honey could hear it in every word. Mimi and Tammy each took one of Honey’s bags a
nd began to exit the airport.
Mimi and Honey caught up on old times and talked nonstop the whole car ride home. Mimi mentioned to Honey that there was a community college near her home that she was thinking about going to. Honey thought back to when they were younger. They’d always said that they would go to college together when they graduated.
“I guess I’ll check it out sometime this summer,” Honey lied. She had no intention of attending college. She was there to get on her hustle, not sit up in a classroom all day.
Mimi nodded her head in approval as Tammy pulled up to their South Side home.
Honey took a look around and noticed a group of niggas shooting dice on a stoop, kids spraying water from the fire hydrant, and some teenagers playing stickball in the street. She thought to herself, Damn! Everybody’s doing something.
When the girls exited the car, the guys on the stoop next door stopped all their movement, all eyes glued on Honey. A couple of them tried to holler.
“Hey, ma!”
“What’s yo’ name, baby?”
Honey didn’t even look toward them. She was surprised that the house looked so nice inside. Judging from the outside, she thought the house was raggedy-looking. The big white house sat right in the middle of the ghetto. They had black leather furniture and had a big-screen television in the living room.
Mimi and Honey walked back to Mimi’s room, where Mimi helped her unpack.
Honey pulled her hair back into a ponytail. “What’s really good?”
“Nothing. Trying to get out the ’hood. I need to find a baller who’s trying to save a ho, you feel me?”
They both burst out into laughter and gave each other a high five.
Mimi didn’t even let Honey settle before she reached under her bed and grabbed her “candy jar”, as she liked to call it. As soon as she opened the black shoebox, a strong weed aroma filled the air. Mimi grabbed a blunt and some weed from the box and began to split the blunt with her fingernail. She filled the blunt with some weed and put it to her mouth and started to light it.
A Girl From Flint Page 4
