Side Chic 4 (Forever Ratchet)

by La'Tonya West

  “Tre, why don’t you stop?” I asked still holding on to Laila, who was holding on to my shirt for dear life. “Tre…please…don’t do this. I am not going to leave here without my children. I will call the police or whoever I have to but you will not keep me away from my children.”

  “Call whoever you need to call. I have just as much rights to them as you do.” He told me and then pulled Laila from my arms. She lost it kicking and throwing a tantrum. “Cut that foolishness out Laila.” He raised his voice. “Your mama ain’t fit to raise you so you can’t go with her.”

  Without warning Mrs. Jefferson walked up to Tre and slapped the piss out of him. She must’ve scared Laila because she stop squealing instantly. “Give that baby back to her mama. Right now!” She demanded. “I have never seen anything like this in my life. You are my son and I love you but lord knows all I want to do right now is take your head off of your damn shoulders!”

  “Ma…”

  “I said give her the damn baby!” She said and hit him again. “I ain’t Lala or Kisha! Play with me if you want to and see what happens. They play with your ass but I refuse to. If you want to blame someone for what happened to your daughter blame that sorry no good grown rusty ass man that did it and stop blaming this woman right here!” She pointed to me. “From what her mama told me, when she walked in and caught him touching that child she beat the hell out of him. That doesn’t sound like someone who doesn’t give a damn or an unfit mama to me. That sounds like a real damn mama to me!”

  “It wouldn’t have happened if she hadn’t left them in the first place!”

  “But she did and it did happen!” She didn’t back down. “Now are you going to act like a real father and forgive the mother of your children for her mistake or are you going to hold onto it forever and continue to disrespect her in front of your kids forever. Remember they won’t be babies forever and pretty soon they will be able to understand the things that you are saying to their mother. Do you want them to hear the disrespectful things that you say to her and start to believe that is how a man is supposed to talk to them? Be careful son because one day your daughters will be women.” He didn’t say anything he just looked away. “Life doesn’t come with a manual baby, we all make mistakes but from those mistakes we learn. If nobody else knows that you should. Let’s not forget how Lala ended up as the mother of your children in the first place. Hell, her judgment wasn’t perfect when the two of you started messing around so why are you expecting it to be now.” I didn’t miss the jab that she’d took at me but I couldn’t say anything because she had a point. “Go ahead and give her that baby.”

  Tre walked over and held Laila out for me to take her. I reached out to take her but he didn’t let go. Instead he spoke through clenched teeth, staring me directly in my eyes. “Please don’t make me have to kill you because if anything else happens to my kids while they are with you, that is exactly what I am going to do. Please take what I am saying to heart because I mean every word.” I didn’t bother replying, instead I just stood there with my mouth shut and allowed him to say what was on his mind. I figured that way I could avoid another nasty argument and him possibly changing his mind about giving me the girls. “I swear, I regret the day that I ever laid eyes on you and especially the day that I decided to fuck you raw and impregnate you but you best believe this shit right here is a lesson learned because now I have to deal with your triflin’ ass for the next eighteen years.” He kissed Laila on the cheek. “Daddy loves you, Lil’ Mama.” He told her and then released the grip that he had on her.

  I took her from his arms and then used my hand to swipe away the tears that were rolling down my cheeks. I’d never in my life experienced anyone talking to me the way that he had or hurting me the way that he had but one thing that he’d said was true…this shit was a lesson learned.

  Tre went down the hallway and came back with a sleeping Lola in his arms. “Mina, get my keys off of the coffee table and then go outside and get their car seats out of the car.” She hurriedly did as he said.

  I handed Laila to Nisey and then went outside and got the car seats from Mina and scrapped them in my car. When I was done I put the girls inside. Tre brought their things out to the car while, I waited outside.

  When he was finished, he got in his car and left without saying another word. I assumed that he didn’t want to be around me another minute and that was fine because I didn’t want to be around him either.

  “See y’all some other time.” I told Mr. and Mrs. Jefferson as I opened my car door to get inside.

  “Are you going back to Danville today?” Mrs. Jefferson asked.

  “No ma’am, I am staying for a week. I want to spend some time with my parents and allow them to spend a little time with the girls as well before I go back.”

  “I see.” She smiled. “I took the girls by to see your mama the other day when I had them and she and I sat down and had a nice long conversation. She’s a really nice lady.”

  “Yeah she is.”

  Mrs. Jefferson reached out and pulled me into her arms and hugged me really tight. “I know that the things he said hurt you and I am not trying to make any excuses for him but he only said those things out of anger.” She whispered in my ear referring to the things that Tre had said. “I apologize for him.”

  “It’s fine.”

  She broke our embrace and caressed the side of my face. “You and my grandbabies come and see me before you go back, okay?”

  “We will.” I promised slipping into the driver’s seat. “See you later, Mr. Jefferson.”

  “See ya, Lala.” He replied waving.

  I started the car, backed out of the driveway and headed to my parent’s house.

  Kisha

  “Quan if you don’t stop that running in this store. I am going to whip your butt right in here in front of all of these people.” I warned as I limped faster behind my son and grabbed a hold of his hand to keep him from running off again. I’d left my crutches at home because to be honest I was just plain sick of those things. Plus I hadn’t wanted to show up at my interview with them looking handicap. Lord knows I didn’t need anything else to make me look bad. It was worse enough that I’d shown up with two kids but I hadn’t had any other choice because I didn’t have anyone else to watch them. My mama and Tre both had to work. I’d asked Tre’s parents but his mama had a doctor’s appointment and his daddy had gone with her. So I’d been left with no choice but to bring the boys along.

  We were in Walmart. I’d put in an application there a few weeks before and they’d finally called me in for an interview. That morning I’d thought about calling and rescheduling the interview but I needed a job immediately and I didn’t have time to be waiting around for another interview. That was if they would’ve even agreed to reschedule it. Me asking to reschedule may have made it look like I didn’t really want the job and I hadn’t been willing to take that risk. There were a lot of things that I wanted to do. To begin with, I wanted to be able to take care of me and my kids on my own without having to depend on Tre, my mama or his parents. Secondly, I wanted to get my own place and move out of my mama’s crib. I’d began feeling like a bum for being twenty- six years old with two children and living in my mama’s crib. I was ready to have my own independence and be on my grown woman shit. It was time for me to get my shit together. Hopefully starting with getting this job at Walmart but I wasn’t feeling too good about how the interview had gone. Even though I’d apologized to the hiring manager that interviewed me, for bringing my kids along, her face had still held an agitated expression the entire time. All I could do now though was pray that she would find it in her heart to overlook me bringing my kids to the interview or at least see it as me wanting the job so bad that I didn’t let not having a sitter keep me from my interview. I decided to push it to the back of my mind and try not to worry about it. Lord know I already had enough to worry about. The job situation was in God’s hands now.

  “Ma, I want a game for
the Xbox.” Shaun announced as he took off and started to run in the direction of the games.

  “Shaun get back here!” I called after him. He turned around to look back at me and ran into a woman pushing a stroller. I rolled my eyes up in my head and let out a frustrated breath as I marched towards him and the woman. “I am going to beat his little ass as soon as we get to the damn car.” I mumbled under my breath.

  “Hey Shaun, are you okay?” The woman was bent down checking to see if he was okay so I couldn’t see her face but I was wondering how in the hell she knew my son’s name.

  “I’m okay.” Shaun giggled. “Where is my daddy at? Is he with you?”

  “No, I don’t know where your daddy is.” She replied.

  Just as I reached them, Lala stood up. When she saw me standing directly in front of her the smile that she’d been wearing started to fade.

  “Hey Kisha.” She spoke.

  There was a brown-skinned petite woman with Lala. She spoke as well.

  “Hey.” I managed to drag out. My nerves were already plucked due to Shaun running off like he was crazy and seeing Lala only plucked my nerves even more. I’d been trying my best to rise above all of the bullshit with her and Tre because I’d finally come to realize that what happened was partially my fault for allowing him to do so much dirt in the past and always taking him back when I knew his ass was up to no good. If it hadn’t been her that he’d gotten pregnant it would’ve eventually been someone else. Still, seeing her infuriated me. Even though I was trying, I knew I wouldn’t be able to just put it all behind me overnight and act as if she hadn’t fucked my baby daddy knowing that we were together.

  “Hey Quan. How have you been Lil’ Man?” Lala asked tucking her shoulder length hair behind her ear, the smile that she’d been wearing before returned to her face.

  “Fine.” He replied shyly hiding behind me and holding onto my shirt.

  I turned my attention back to Shaun. I wasn’t about to let him off the hook. “Shaun didn’t I tell you not to run in this store?” I scolded him.

  “Yes ma’am.” He gave me his best puppy-dog face. He knew by the look on my face and my tone that he was in trouble.

  “Well why were you running then?” He shrugged his shoulders looking up at me with tears in his eyes. “Oh you don’t know? That’s fine. You will know when I get your tail to that car.”

  “Girl, you sound just like my mama back in the day.” The chic with Lala giggled. “I remember those days all too well. Whenever she would tell me that, I knew that my ass was about to get it when we reached the car.”

  “Me too.” Lala said giggling along with her friend.

  I didn’t even crack a smile. I just stood there looking back and forth between the two of them. I couldn’t bring myself to stand there and be fake like we were cool because we were a long ways from that. I felt like I was doing damn good just by standing there and keeping my hands to myself and my nasty comments in my head. That in itself told me that I’d matured some since the last time that we’d seen each other. “Come on boys.” I held out my hand for Shaun to take and he put his and in mine.

  “Can I see my sisters?” Quan stepped in front of me and asked Lala just as I was about to turn and walk off.

  “Yeah, you sure can. If your mama doesn’t mind.” She told him and pulled the hood of the stroller back so that he could see them. “Their little fat butts ate and went to sleep.” She smiled as she looked at the two sleeping babies with a look of adoration in her eyes. I was glad that Tre had finally come to his senses and allowed her to have them back. Even though I wasn’t fond of her, I could tell that she was a good mother and loved her babies.

  Quan walked up closer to the stroller and so did Shaun. I felt a pain shoot through my heart as I looked at the girls lying there looking like the perfect mixture of Tre and Lala. They would forever be a constant reminder of Tre’s betrayal. The funny thing was that I’d seen these two babies more than a dozen times now but each time that I saw them still hurt just as bad as the first time when I’d seen them in the picture that Lala posted of them on Facebook. I wasn’t sure if I’d ever be able to see them and not feel anything. Maybe in time, it wouldn’t hurt so badly but I seriously doubted if it would ever completely go away.

  I needed to get out of the store and away from Lala and her babies. It was too much. I wasn’t strong enough yet to deal with her or them. “Come on boys.” I repeated and tugged on their hands.

  “Bye Ms. Lala.” Shaun told her.

  “Bye.” Quan waved.

  “Bye-bye y’all.” She waved at them. “See you later Kisha.” I could tell that she was trying to be civilized but it was too much.

  “Yeah.” I replied and walked off in the other direction without even looking back at her. I was headed in the direction of the exit when I remembered that I needed to grab something to cook for dinner. I turned around and headed back towards the frozen food section. When I got back there I grabbed two packs of chicken and a bag of mixed vegetables and then made my way to the front so that I could checkout.

  I was standing in line, flipping through a magazine while waiting to pay for my items when the conversation of the ladies ahead of me grabbed my attention.

  “Girl, you are dead wrong.” One of the girls laughed. “You are going to keep right on until somebody whoops your ass.”

  “Nelle don’t try to act all innocent like you have never wanted to snatch a knot in somebody’s little bad ass kid.” The girl with her replied. Her voice sounded really familiar which caused me to look up. I couldn’t see either of their faces because they had their backs to me and there was a man standing between us but I was almost certain that the shortest one was Mina. I rolled my eyes up in my head, and mumbled. “God can’t possibly hate me that much to allow me to run into both of these bitches on the same day back to back.”

  “Yeah, I have wanted to a lot of times. Especially when I am out in a store and somebody’s kids are showing their asses, throwing tantrums and shit but that’s different. These are two babies that we are talking about. They ain’t even one yet. How bad can they be?” Nelle replied to Mina’s last comment.

  “Shit! They’re little asses are bad as hell. Lala done messed them up. They cry 24/7, girl. I mean, they be crying for nothing at all.”

  “Mina, you just told me that you be pinching them. That’s probably why they be crying.”

  “I only pinch them when they be crying and won’t shut the hell up!” Mina laughed like the shit she was saying was cute. I wanted to beat the brakes off of her no good ass right then and there but I couldn’t.

  Nelle shook her head while continuing to laugh. “Girl, you’d better be glad they are Lala’s kids and not mine because if I was her and I found out you did some shit like that to my babies. I would kill your ass. You seriously need some help. I think being around Mello for all of those years done fucked your head up because you be doing some foul shit and then act as if the shit is cool.”

  Mina waved her off. “Shit, me pinching them ain’t no worse than Lala leaving them with her pedophile ass boyfriend!” The line moved forward and I moved up too being careful to keep the magazine up to my face. I wanted to hear what all her triflin’ ass was about to say. I was hoping that she didn’t come out of her mouth and admit to doing anything to my children because if she did, she wasn’t going to leave out of Walmart walking. Someone was going to be carrying that bitch out of there! Luckily, the boys were busy playing with a little toy that was on the shelf next to the register because it was keeping them quiet. I prayed that her of Nelle wouldn’t look back and notice me.

  “It doesn’t matter now anyways.” Mina continued. “She came and got their little crying asses a few days ago. Tre was tripping because he didn’t want her to have them but I was like please let her take their asses back with her. I couldn’t take all of that damn crying anymore. You should’ve seen me helping her get their shit!”

  “Girl, you have a lot of nerve. I have got to give
you that because judging by how upset you say Tre is with Lala, he will probably beat the shit out of you if he finds out that you were pinching and shaking those girls.” Nelle wasn’t laughing anymore and her voice held a serious tone to it now. “You had better chill the hell out doing crazy shit.”

  “Damn Nelle calm down you act like I was beating them or something. I just pinched them a few times and I only shook Laila once.” Nelle just shook her head.

  This crazy bitch was actually talking like this shit was normal. I’d heard enough! I put the magazine back on the rack and tossed the food that I’d been holding in my arms on the little shelf right next to the counter. I grabbed the boys and started walking towards the door. Right before we reached the exit, I took the toys that they’d been playing with and tossed them on a shelf, never breaking my stride. They started whining, which I’d known they would do, that is why I hadn’t taken the toys while we were near Mina and Nelle because I hadn’t wanted for either of them to hear the boys and notice me. I had a trick for Mina’s ass. I was about to go and let Tre know about all of the shit that she’d been doing to his kids. He’d been running around talking shit about Lala to anyone who would listen and had been ready to beat my ass for trying to get him to get him to see that anybody could make the mistake of misjudging someone. I wondered what he was going to say when he found out that he’d been sleeping with the enemy all along.

  When I reached my car, I unlocked the doors and rushed the boys inside. “Get in and buckle your seatbelts.” I told them as I held the door for them to get into the backseat. Once they were inside, I closed the door and opened my door to get in.

  “Excuse me…excuse me beautiful.” A deep baritone voice called from behind me.

  I turned to see if the person was referring to me. When I turned around there was this tall brown skinned brother with almond shaped brown eyes staring back at me. The goat-tee that he sported on his face was trimmed to perfection. It looked like he’d just stepped out of the barber’s chair. He wore a black NY fitted on his head pulled down low to the point that I just could see his eyes.