by Lena Skye
I am now wondering what I ever saw in him.
*
I swear, my mouth gets me into the most trouble.
I lied and told Kenneth that Joshua and I smoothed everything over when we met for Coffee. Kenny was overjoyed and went on and on about how things are going to be better now. I didn’t correct him, and seeing him so excited about it warmed my heart. What he didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him, but it would annoy the hell out of me.
Now I’m in my own personal version of hell.
Kenneth couldn’t wait to invite them out for a double date. He seems to be really looking forward to the four of us all getting along and being couples together. I can not say I share the same enthusiasm as he does.
Sitting in this bar with them has ruined my idea of a good Saturday night. I would have much rather been out with Patrice and Jasmine. Instead, I have to be out with the exotic beauty and asshole Joshua. What a load of bullshit.
“I’m happy as hell to be out with the both of you right now,” Ken said, “And it’s nice to have you here too Loren. So let’s toast to new beginnings and drink until we forget the past,” he said with a laugh.
“Shit, I’ll drink to that,” Josh said.
“Indeed!” Loren said before she took a long sip of her seltzer water.
Who in the hell comes to a bar and drinks bubbly water anyway? She said that she doesn’t want the calories that come along with alcohol, and I tried my best not to say something snarky. But the truth was that she and Joshua had been rude to me the entire night. Kenneth was too busy being happy to notice. I chose to allow him to revel in his own happiness.
“Wow a girl could get used to this,” Loren said, “I’m surrounded by two fine men. I don’t know if I’ll be able to control myself,” she laughed and touched Kenneth’s thigh.
Who in the hell was she out on the date with? Joshua or my man? Double date didn’t mean that she would get tag teamed, maybe her idea was a little different from the norm. I hate it when people flirt with my man in front of me. I already have to tolerate it out at events, but I didn’t have to put up with it while I was on a damned date.
I knew that if I said what I wanted to say to her that I would have been accused of being catty. I was swallowing my words a lot lately, and I wasn’t sure if I liked it that much. Nevertheless it was the path that I’d chosen for myself.
“Don’t get too used to it,” I said before I drained my glass.
Everyone looked at me as if I was being a jerk. I felt like I had every right to be a jerk considering the circumstances. As far as I was concerned, I could have said a lot worse. I doubted if they all really wanted to know what I was thinking. I shrugged off their looks and readjusted in my chair. I wanted to get the hell out of there, and the clock wasn’t moving fast enough.
“My baby’s a little jealous,” Kenneth said trying to make light of my comment.
“That’s a little odd because she should be used to sharing,” Joshua laughed.
“Hey man watch it, if she cuts you then it’s out of my hands,” Kenneth laughed.
Loren joined them in their laughter and gave me a sly smile. She knew that I didn’t find any of it funny, and it seemed to be amusing to her.
“Well I can’t say that I blame you girl,” Loren said, “You have excellent taste.”
“Thanks, it’s no secret that I love my boo,” I said.
Joshua quickly gave me a dirty look and took a drink to cover it up.
“Oh my god! That’s my song,” Loren exclaimed, “Come dance with me boo,” she said mockingly to Joshua.
Joshua laughed and escorted her to the small makeshift dance floor.
While they were gone I turned to Kenneth.
“I’m sorry, but I just don’t like that girl. Did you see her flirting with you? She is being a bitch.” I asked.
“She was playing with you. Stop being so sensitive,” he said as he stroked my cheek.
“I don’t feel comfortable at all. They both seem to be giving me dirty looks, and they’re making little comments that are getting under my skin.”
“You know better than to let people get to you. Although I don’t think that’s what they’re trying to do. It seems to me like they’re the ones putting in effort to make everything lighthearted, but you’re taking everything so damned serious. Just lighten up, it is all just fun.”
“I’m sorry if I’m noticing everything that you’re overlooking, but you’re not on the receiving end of all of it. I really want to leave. Can we go to the movies or something?”
“No, I don’t want to leave. I’m actually having a good time, and I would be embarrassed if we had to go. They’re going to know exactly why we’re leaving. I really don’t want to deal with the drama. Can you please, put your attitude aside for me and try to have a good time. For me?”
I was annoyed with how naïve he was being, but I didn’t want to ruin his night.
“Fine, I’ll do it for you.”
“That’s my girl,” he said with a smile. That same smile that could charm me into doing anything.
The song ended, and Joshua and Loren headed back to the table.
“Whew! I need another drink,” Loren said.
“I’ll get us a bottle of wine,” Joshua offered.
I knew that I was going to need much more than wine to get me through the night. After the waitress brought the bottle of wine to the table I excused myself and went to the bar. I ordered 4 shots and took them all back to back.
“You aren’t driving right?” The bartender asked.
“Nope, my boyfriend is driving so everything is great.” I said.
My body felt warm, and I knew that it wouldn’t take long for the tequila to kick in for me. I stayed at the bar for another 5 minutes to give me some time to completely cool down. I wanted to be on my best behavior for Kenneth, and I couldn’t do that if I had an attitude. Once I felt more relaxed I headed back to the table. My fake grin and poker face were fully prepared.
“Welcome back,” Joshua said in amusement, “You were getting it in at the bar.”
“Well I just wanna have fun,” I laughed and took a seat.
Kenneth gave me a disapproving look, and I ignored him. Either he wanted me to be nice or he wanted me sober. He wasn’t going to be able to have it both ways. Over the next hour we all laughed and talked. The shots that I’d taken did their job, and I did two more for good measure. They got a few more verbal jabs in, but I decided to ignore them instead of taking the bait.
“So how is your brother doing?” Joshua asked Ken.
“He’s doing alright; he’s living it up in New York. I’m happy for my big bro, he is becoming a huge success and, trust me, the big apple is no joke. It is a hard place to make it.”
“Yeah, it’s pretty cutthroat down there, and it’s too damned cold.”
“Yeah, I couldn’t live there, I need a lot of heat in my life,” Kenneth said as he caressed my leg.
We all laughed and shared our personal horror stories of New York. Overall the general consensus was that we enjoyed the south and the city wasn’t for us. The people and the weather was a lot nicer where we were.
Loren was staring at me with a peculiar look and I wondered what her problem was.
“So Nicole, I’ve wanted to know. What exactly happened between you and Joshua? That seems to be the big elephant in the room, and I just want to hear it from you.”
I looked around at everyone from the table. If my complexion was light, I would have been red all over. I couldn’t believe that she would ask me something like that. Everyone knew what happened between me and Joshua and I’m sure that she was no exception. She only asked it to make me uncomfortable. Time stood still for a moment as I tried to work out a good way to get out of answering that question.
“Here’s another bottle of your favorite wine,” the waitress said as I quickly stood up from the table.
The timing was absolutely perfect, I lifted my arm up and I 'accidentally' collid
ed with the arm of the waitress. Causing red wine to spill all over Loren’s dress. Ooops!
“I’m so sorry,” the waitress said gushing over her, “I’m going to get some towels, let me help.”
“It’s not your fault,” Loren said angrily, “It’s that bitches fault,” she made a gesture towards me.
“Why would you do that?” Joshua yelled.
“I didn’t! I’m so sorry,” I said quickly.
“Whatever, you aren’t sorry. You did it on purpose,” Loren said accusingly.
Joshua stood up from the table and paced as if he was trying to contain himself, “You really took it too far Nicole.” Joshua said.
“Wait a minute now,” Kenneth said, taking my side, “She didn’t do it on purpose. She wouldn’t do that.”
“Yeah, there are a lot of things that we thought she wouldn’t do,” Joshua said angrily as he helped blot Loren’s dress.
“I’m so sorry,” I said drunkenly, “I really didn’t do it on purpose, it was an honest accident.”
I wanted to smile so much but I could save that for later. Loren’s only response was rolling her eyes.
“It’s getting late, we’re going to get out of here. Our night has gone on long enough,” Kenneth said.
After saying some strained goodbyes, we were in Kenneth’s car. I was still lightheaded from all of the shots that I took. Kenneth didn’t say a word to me since we left the bar.
“I don’t ever want to go out with them again,” I murmured.
“Are you serious right now?” Kenneth said angrily.
“Yes I’m serious,” I said looking at him.
He shook his head and tightened his lips. He kept quiet for the rest of the drive. He came to my apartment with me and made sure that I got into the bed. I reached for him to pull him into the bed and he took a couple of steps back.
“You are drunk Nikki. I’m going home, and I’ll speak to you tomorrow. I need to discuss something with you and you better be sober.”
He turned around and left. I pouted as he walked out, but I was too drunk to give him an argument. I snuggled under my covers and let my head sink into the pillow. I felt a little guilty about ruining Kenneth’s night, but it was great to knock that wine over Loren. The memory of the look on her face would entertain me for a lifetime. Sometimes God gives you the gift of perfect timing.
That was soooo worth it!
#Chapter4
“They better watch their apple because I’m sure that she’ll try to take a bite.”
Patrice
I was out with my girls at a local park. We’d all met to walk the trail because we were on our whole fitness kick again. Whenever one of us gains a few pounds, we become workout and food fanatics. The good thing about it was that it kept all of us within our individual target weights. I loved my workout gear; I was color blocking in green and pink and looked fabulous. I’m not an AKA, but I looked so good, that they would have wanted to recruit me.
“Alright,” Patrice said as we walked up the hill, “I have two pieces of juicy info for you chica, and you’re going to die when I tell you both.”
“Well don’t tease me, spill it,” I said. I do love gossip.
I looked at Jasmine, and she was grinning from ear to ear.
“Well I talked to Desmond the other day and he said that he had a run in with Kenneth at the Jasmine’s party.”
“Oh yeah, what kind of run in?”
“Girl, Desmond said that Kenneth took him to the side and told him to stay away from you.”
I laughed and shook my head, “That’s terrible. I can’t believe that Ken would do something like that. He knows that he doesn’t have anything to worry about when it comes to me.”
Jasmine laughed, “He’s threatened girl, and can you blame him? Desmond is a fine piece of eye candy. If I wasn’t with Cedric I would be all over that.”
We all laughed and talked about how good Desmond looked. I filled them in about how I had to turn Desmond down at the party.
“See that’s why Ken’s on the edge. He’s worried about sexual chocolate taking his girl away,” Patrice said.
“Speaking of away,” Jasmine said, “Did you hear about Amelia?”
“Nope, what about her?” I said.
“She moved to New York. I guess she was embarrassed about the way Kenneth dropped her.” Jasmine said.
“I’m sure she’ll blend in there. I’m sure she’ll find a group of evil man stealing sluts to cozy up to,” I said shortly.
“Well damn,” Jasmine said, “And I thought that I was happy to see her gone. You seem to rival me in that area.”
“I’m glad that I do,” I said, “That means that you’re moving forward with your life. You’re no longer pissed at her for what she did to you.”
“Oh I’m still pissed,” she corrected me. “I’m just not hurt anymore. She did me a favor. I would have married him if she hadn’t of slept with him. It would have been even worse if I married a lying cheating scumbag. Divorces cost a lot of fuckin’ money that I’m not trying to spend.”
“You are so damned silly,” Patrice said, “But you’re right, and I say good riddance to her. She’s New York’s problem now. May God have mercy on their souls. They better watch their apple because I’m sure that she’ll try to take a bite.”
“Well I’m happy that she ran away in shame. That at least shows that she has a little bit of a conscience,” I said.
“She doesn’t have a conscience,” Jasmine retorted, “She just didn’t want to be embarrassed. You can only pull the same stunt a couple of times in a group before you get ostracized. She knew that word was getting around about the kind of person that she was, and she couldn’t handle people thinking that she was a slut.”
“Yeah,” Patrice chimed in, “She could have stuck around and become a better person but instead she tucked her tail and ran. She hasn’t grown at all if you ask me.”
Amelia disrespected me and Jasmine’s friendship by becoming involved with our men but I still didn’t wish any harm to her. I would never forget that at one point she was my friend. I loved her like a sister and that kind of love didn’t just go away even when you wanted it to. I hoped that she was making the best of her life in New York and that she was changing for the better.
“Okay so what is the second piece of gossip,” I asked.
“Okay don’t scream or anything but I saw Ken talking to a realtor yesterday.”
“What?” I squealed, “Are you serious?”
“Yep and you know Ken doesn’t play. When he wants to do something, he does it. Do you think it’s a place for the both of you?” Patrice asked.
“I really do,” I said excitedly, “He’s mentioned it once or twice but he hasn’t said anything about it lately. I guess he plans on surprising me with it.”
“Awww yeah,” Jasmine said, “It’s time for the both of you to take it to the next level! I’m excited for you,” she said as she ran circles around Patrice and I.
“I guess so,” I said happily as I picked up my pace.
“Oh I see that you heffas are ready to run. Let’s do it,” she said as she took off.
We ran around the trail and were exhausted when we finished. We collapsed on a park bench, and my phone buzzed. Kenneth was calling me.
“Hello,”
“Angel face, what are you doing?”
“Out with the girls at the park, just finished working out.”
“I want to pick you up in a few hours is that okay? I need to show you something.”
“Ummm okay,” I said.
“Cool, so get yourself together and I’ll see you soon.”
“Okay babe, see you soon.”
After I hung up, I felt like my energy was renewed.
“Girls, he said that he wants to show me something! He’s going to pick me up in a few hours.”
“Promise that you’ll let us visit. I know that any place you get with Ken is going to be fly,” Patrice said.
“You t
wo will be our first visitors, but you’re going to have to wait a few days because we’ll be busy,” I giggled and winked.
“Freaks,” Jasmine mumbled under her breath, sending us all into a fit of laughter.
I was so excited.
*
I went home in a hurry and started my beauty regimen. I wanted to make sure that I looked immaculate when he came to pick me up. Who knew? Maybe he even had a ring to give me when he showed me our new place. I want to look flawless when he gets down on one knee, or at least when he hands me the keys to the place that we’ll share together. We’re all about photos and I’m sure they would be plastered all over Facebook, I had to be sure that my clothes, hair, and makeup were beautiful.
