A couple of days later she had built up enough courage to call Trey’s mother.
“Hello,” Ms. Janie said.
“Hey Ms. Janie this is Laquita, how are you doing?”
“I’m doing okay baby. How are you?”
“I’m not so good Ms. Janie. I’m really gonna miss Trey.”
“Me too Quita that was my baby. I’ve been trying to take it one day at a time though.” Ms. Janie told her.
“How is Nathaniel doing?” Quita asked
“He’s doing alright, but he’s not taking the loss of Trey too good. Deep down I know he’s hurting. You know those boys were glued to the hip. He keeps blaming himself because he wasn’t with Trey that night,” Ms. Janie said.
“Momma who are you on the phone with?” Nathaniel asked grabbing the phone out of his mothers hand and telling her to go lay down. After a quick debate with his mother over the phone he finally said hello.
“Hey Nate, how are you doing?” Quita asked with genuine concern.
“I’m doing a’ight, who is this?” Nathaniel asked slightly irritated.
“It’s Laquita.”
“Oh, damn Quita, my bad my head is so fucked up right now. I didn’t even recognize your voice girl,” he admitted. She could tell that he had been crying by the way he sounded on the phone.
“Oh! It’s understandable. I can’t imagine how you’re feeling right now. Nathaniel, I really feel bad for what happened to your brother. I cared a lot for him.” She admitted.
“Man Quita, on the real, who ever shot my brother really fucked him up. He was shot four times,” Nate told her. With Quita on the line he knew he could open up because he honestly thought of her as a little sister.
Quita grabbed her chest in awe. “Oh my god, is you serious?” She asked in a low whisper. She couldn’t believe her ears.
“Yeah, he was shot twice in the chest, once in the leg, and a single shot to the back of his head,” Nathaniel said.
Quita broke down once again, but she quickly contained herself. She didn’t want to further upset Nathaniel. Even though she was in extreme pain over the loss of Trey, she also knew that Nate’s pain was far deeper than hers. She would have to deal with her pain silently.
“That is so fucked up. I swear Nate I hope I never find out who did that, ‘cause I’m would lose it. I might catch a charge my damn self. Anyway he came over my sister’s crib a few weeks ago and spent the night with me. We had a long discussion about our lives, and we made a pact.” Quita said trying to take Nate’s mind off of the way his brother was murdered.
“Oh word. What was the pact about?” Nathaniel asked her.
“We both agreed that there was still mad love between us, and if in five years both of us were single we would hook back up for good this time and get married,” Quita said smiling.
“Damn Quita, I knew y’all were young lovers, but I never expected y’all to speak of possible marriage. I would have loved to have you as my sister in law.” Nate told her.
“Yeah, he will be my baby for ever,” Quita said sincerely.
“Not to change the subject Quita, but my word is bond. If I find out who did that shit to my baby brother I’m catching a murder charge.”
“Well I can’t say that I blame you, ‘cause if it was one of my sisters I would flip the fucking script. So Nathaniel, when and where are the services going to be held?” Quita asked.
“One o’clock, Thursday. You coming right?”
“You didn’t really just ask that. Hell yeah, I’m coming. Oh and tell your mother I said goodbye,” Quita said.
“I got you. Call us back Quita, and don’t be a stranger,” Nathaniel told her wiith a wide smile.
“I won’t forget Nate y’all still my fam.”
“Alright that’s what I’m talkin’ bout. Later.” Nate told her hanging up.
Quita felt a little bit better after speaking to Trey’s family. Although it fucked her up inside to find out how it really went down with Trey’s murder, she felt a lot more relaxed just knowing what happened.
Quita lay back on her twin sized bed and flipped through the channels to find something on the television, but it seemed to be a lost cause. Finally she tuned into the cartoon network. Scooby Doo, her favorite cartoon, was on, so she rolled a fat ass Philly Blunt filled with some dro. She knew she would be laughing at Shaggy and Scooby act a fool. Just as she finished licking her blunt Dashiki walked into her bedroom unannounced.
Quita was about to curse her ass out, but she held her tongue. She saw the plate of food Shiki had in her hand. She had made Quita breakfast. Quita slid her blunt under her pillow before Shiki had a chance to see it.
“Aww thank you Shiki, but I’m really not that hungry.” Quita told her.
Quita grabbed the plate from Shiki’s hand, and thanked her again for bringing her something to eat.
“Look Quita I know you and I don’t get along at all, but I do love you. I know it must be really hard for you to deal with what happened to Trey. If you ever need to talk about it I’m here for you,” Dashiki told her.
Quita was speechless. Shiki was being extra nice and sweet, which was very rare. That wasn’t like her sister, so she knew Dashiki was really trying to make her feel better about what was going on.
For the last few days Quita’s cell phone had been ringing off the hook. Everybody and their mommas were calling to see if Quita had heard about the latest town gossip, or if she was okay about Trey’s murder. Either way she was sick of that muthafuckin’ phone ringing, so she kept it set to silent and checked it every few hours.
The one person she hadn’t heard from was Timmy. She had called his phone fifty-eleven times in the past week and she had seen neither hide nor hare from his sorry ass. She wasn’t going to sweat his ass, ‘cause she was too concerned with what was going on with Trey.
The rest of that day Quita just smoked her green and watched cartoons laughing her ass off, high as a kite. Quita had been hold up in her bedroom since that day after Rae called her with the bad news. She had to do something to keep from being totally depressed, and stressed out.
Before she called it a night, she decided to look at her cell phone to see if she had any missed calls, which by the way was still on silent underneath her pillow. When she looked at her cell, she had seven missed calls and four new voice-mails. One of the calls was from Kali, but she disregarded that call because Kali had stopped by earlier to speak to her. The rest of the calls and voice-mails were from Timmy.
In each of the voice-mails he left all consisted of the same thing.
“Quita I done called you all fucking day! Where the fuck you at? Call me it’s important. I love you.” Quita contemplated on calling Timmy, because she knew he wasn’t calling to extend his sympathy. She knew he couldn’t stand Trey. Although Quita was curious about what Timmy had to say, she decided to turn her cell phone off and go to bed. Before she did she made a quick run to Dashiki’s room to let her know that if anybody came by or called for her let them know Quita didn’t want any company. Dashiki agreed to Quita’s request.
Quita decided against her better judgment, she turned her cell back on and called Timmy back. Timmy didn’t waste anytime answering the phone he picked up on the first ring.
“Yeah,” He answered flatly.
“Hey what’s up baby?” Quita asked.
“Yo where the fuck you been at? I’ve been calling you like whoa!” Timmy spat.
“Look nigga first of all watch your fucking tone talking to me, like you my fucking daddy. Secondly, I received some very bad news a few days ago, so since then my phone has been on silent. Hold up nigga, I have tried calling yo ass too. Why haven’t you picked up ya phone or hit me back?” Quita spat.
Completely ignoring everything Quita said Timmy cut her right off.
“Look baby fuck all that. I need to see and talk to you now!” Timmy was practically yelling at her.
“Damn nigga! I can hear you perfectly fine you don’t have to yell. If y
ou haven’t noticed Timmy we are talking now. What up?”
“Goddamn, Quita do you ever listen? I said I need to see you, and besides what I have to talk to you about can’t be discussed over the phone,” Timmy told her.
“Why didn’t you call me earlier today to see me? I’m ‘bout to go to bed. Why can’t we just talk now? I’m tired baby.”
“Like I said Quita, it’s important that we talk now. Baby, come on just do me this one favor.” He was practically begging.
“Okay baby, I’ll be there give me at least an hour,” Quita told him.
“What you need an hour for?”
“Cause nigga I need to call a Taxi, and you know it’s gonna be a grip before they get here, unless you coming to pick me up,” she said.
“Oh, yeah that’s right, my bad. Well I’ll see you then, and I’ll pay for it since I can’t pick you up myself. Thanks again baby for coming,” Timmy said hanging up.
Quita lay back on her bed, going back and fourth with herself on weither or not to go with Timmy or stay home. She was kind of scared. Deep down she knew something was bothering him, because she felt as if he were begging her to come over. ‘That is not his style,’ she thought to herself. Quita put on some sweats, and dialed a taxi.
“Thank you for calling Blue Light Taxi service. This is Erma how can I help you?” Quita paused and hung up.
“Fuck that nigga he wasn’t there for me when I needed him, so he short,” Quita said aloud.
She turned her cell phone off and went to bed. She needed to catch up on some much needed rest.
Chapter 8
The next afternoon Quita was sitting in the middle of her bed fully dressed. She felt stuck and had a lump in her throat the size of a golf ball. She was anticipating Trey’s farewell and her emotions were all over the place. She didn’t know how to feel. Quita did all she could do, so she got down on her knees in front of her bed and said a short prayer to help her through the day.
Dear God,
Please give me the strength to get through this day, because I can’t do this without your graces. Amen
All of her girls were there to support her. Lexi, her best friend for life, Rachel, Jade, and last but not least her sisters Kali, and Dashiki. She had to give it up to her girls, bcause they had her back when she needed them the most.
Quita’s head was spinning out of control. Everybody kept knocking on her bedroom door to see if she was ready to go, but she couldn’t seem to move. Boom…boom, someone was knocking again.
“Who is it?” She yelled through the door.
“It’s Kali, open up girl.”
“I’ll be out in a minute,” Quita said dryly.
“Well hurry up lil sis. We gonna be late.” Kali reminded her.
“A’ight, I said I’ll be out in a minute Kali, Damn,” Quita shot back.
Quita took a double shot of Hennessey, and smoked the roach of the blunt in the ashtray that was under her bed out of Dashiki’s view. She needed to do that just to calm her nerves. She wasn’t trying to get drunk or disrespect God by being buzzed, but she needed to be relaxed for this day.
When they arrived at the church they were astonished at the turn out. They had to park all the way down the block and walk to the church. Quita figured that when you die everybody knew and loved you, especially your enemies.
‘Hey baby, she said looking up in the sky. Remember you said nobody loves you? Look at this turn out, one would think it was free drinks on ladies night at the Spot’. Her thoughts were so real she laughed out loud. Kali and her girls were walking ahead of her they turned around to make sure she was okay. Kali was the first to say something to Quita.
“You ok lil sis?” She questioned.
“Yeah I’m good, I was just thinking ‘bout something,” Quita said with a smile on her face.
“Are you sure?” They all asked in unison.
“I’m very sure. I was just thinking about something, that’s all, my bad y’all.” Quita reassured them upon entering the church.
They all entered the church in twos. Of course Lexi and Quita walked in together. Jade and Rae, and Dashiki and Kali were also hand in hand. Right away Quita spotted one of the mothers of Tre’s kids. He had three baby’s mamas in total. She was a mess as she screamed and cried her eyes out.
Quita quickly retrieved the picture she had in her purse of Trey, Lexi and herself on the merry go round in elementary school. She planned to place it in the casket with him. As they got closer to the front of the church where the casket was Quita’s heart started to pound. She thought she’d pass out, but she kept her composure.
When they finally reached the front of the church, Quita saw Trey’s lifeless body. Tears filled her eyes, but she smiled. His mother made sure his was dressed in his best hood wear. There was no suit and tie for him. Quita was glad to see him like that. ‘Hell who made up the dress code for funerals anyway? Always formal, who said you can’t wear everyday clothes? You know, dress like you’ve always dressed.’ Quita’s thoughts were disturbed by loud screaming.
When she turned to see who it was she wasn’t surprised to see Ms. Janie in the front pew crying out of control, Nathaniel did his best to hold her up, and poor Jeff was looking so confused. Quita’s girls took their seats on the other side of the church for friends and associates of the deceased. Quita stayed behind them, so she could give his mother and brothers her sincere condolences for their loss.
“Hey Ms. Janie I am so sorry for your loss,” Quita managed to tell her with a face full of tears.
Ms. Janie didn’t say a word. She grabbed Quita by the arm and hugged her so tight she almost lost her breath. She thanked Quita for coming, and made her sit with her for the rest of the service.
An usher came to where Quita was sitting to give her an Obituary and some tissues for her tears. Quita looked at the picture and smiled. They had used one of his high school pictures. ‘He looks so innocent and sweet.’ Quita thought. She read the front of the obituary and dropped a few more tears. This is a farewell for Demontrey Alexander Johnson. Angels walk this earth and soon return home to join our father. You will be loved and missed, but we shall cross paths again. She read the words through teary eyes. Quita noticed Trey’s baby’s mommas, and a couple of his other bitches hating on the fact that she was invited by his mother to sit with the family in the front pew of the church, while they had to sit in the friends section, with his kids throught the services. Quita just looked at them and turned her head because this was not the time or the place for drama.
The service was really nice. There were flowers and potted plants all over the church. Quita had to admit she was still surprised at the turn out. There were so many people there. Most of them had to stand along the walls and others were in the hallway.
Dashiki, Quita and Kali’s Uncle William conducted the whole service. He was boring as hell and tried to bring up every negative thing about Trey. As a final farewell Trey’s cousin Kamile to sang Precious Lord.
Quita ended up riding in the family car with Nathaniel and Ms. Janie to the gravesite. Everybody was gathered in the mausoleum awaiting the pastor’s t last words before Trey would be finally laid to rest.
Quita had to admit she felt kind of bad because although she was with Trey’s family Timmy was weighing on her mind. He had been blowing her phone up. She ignored all of his attempts to contact her, because dealing with him and the loss of Trey was entirely too much for her to handle at the moment.
The fact that Timmy had called her in the past few days more than he had their whole relationship and that made Quita think. ‘What’s really going on with this nigga?’ Quita put her thoughts about Timmy in the back of her mind.
After the service was over everybody went back to the church. That was something that also confused Quita. ‘Why every time people die there always gotta be food after the funeral.’ She pushed all of those thoughts to the side because she was hungry as a hostage. There was a delicious layout of food from, fried chicken, macaroni
and cheese, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn on the cob, green beans, ham to all types of desserts.
Quita and her girls fixed their plates and stuffed their faces. Especially Quita since she had the munchies like a mufucka from the lil fatty she had smoked earlier. They all ate their food and prepared to leave. Qutia made sure to stop by the family table before she left to let Ms. Janie and Nate know that she was leaving, and if they needed anything to not hesitate to call her.
Allergic 2 Broke Page 12
