by Lena Skye
“But he’s engaged now,” Jasmine said, “When a man is engaged, he’s off limits,” Jasmine said.
I gave Jasmine an imaginary eye roll because she was on her high horse because she was engaged. I didn’t take her to task over the issue because it was a sore spot for her. Amelia had slept with her fiance, and I didn’t want to stir those bad feelings up. But it was hard when she was being so condescending. Kenneth and I had a history, and we had unfinished business when he left for New York.
“I know Jasmine. But we both know that he only proposed to that girl because of the contract,” I said.
“No we don’t know that. He proposed to her because he wanted to, so please don’t start justifying your bullshit in your head. Also, please remember ‘that girl’ is our friend now,” she said.
I looked at Patrice, and she was looking around the restaurant as if she wasn’t a part of the conversation. She was doing it on purpose because she didn’t want to be put in the middle of our argument. But she was going to have to choose a side, I hated it when people stayed in the middle. She needed to have an opinion about the matter.
“What do you think Patrice?” I asked.
“Don’t put me in the middle of that. However, I do have to tell you that Amanda will be here soon because she wants to tell us something,” Patrice said.
I already knew what her news would be, and I didn’t want to hear it. I considered taking off before she arrived. But she was walking through the door before I could gracefully make my exit.
Amanda fluttered in with her usual exuberance and not a hair was out of place. I plastered my fake smile on my face as she approached.
“Hey ladies!” She said a little too loudly for my personal taste as she walked over to me and stood near my chair. She wanted a hug, I rose to my feet, and she hugged me tightly. My friends stared at me with amused expressions on their faces.
“Hey Amanda, good to see you again,” I said.
Everyone exchanged pleasantries, and she took the seat next to me.
“Whew! It’s been such a busy week, and I’ve been discovering so many new parts of Atlanta. I’m falling in love with the southern life. I never thought that I would like it because it’s not as fast paced as New York, but this is perfect for me,” she rattled off.
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. I wasn’t a very happy camper because soon she was going to drop the bomb on my friends before I had the chance too. That was the one part that I hadn’t revealed to them yet.
“Cool, maybe you can hang out with us on a girls night out,” Jasmine said. I glared at Jasmine and considered kicking her knee beneath the table.
I felt truly betrayed by my friends. Where in the hell was their loyalty? When Amelia cheated with Jasmine’s ex, we all iced her out. Amanda didn’t cheat with my man, but she was about to marry him. We didn’t have to be mean to her, but we didn’t have to make her our best friend either. I was going to have to tell my friends how I felt when we were all alone.
“I would love that! Maybe you ladies can help me with some really important plans soon,” she giggled.
“Oh?” Patrice asked.
“Kenneth and I have decided to move the wedding up. It will happen in about 6 weeks, it will be a small wedding, and nothing too fancy. Well Kenneth doesn’t want anything too fancy, I’m going to try to pack it with as much opulence as I can.”
“Oh wow!” Jasmine said before her eyes darted to me. I avoided eye contact by fishing in my purse for lip gloss that I knew was in my car.
“Well that’s a surprise,” Patrice said, “Congratulations.”
“Yeah, congratulations indeed. Why is there such a rush if you don’t mind me asking?” Jasmine asked. “Why not wait and have your dream wedding the way that you’ve always wanted it?”
I was going to blurt out, ‘because she’s safe.” But her facial expression stopped me in my tracks. I watched as her lower lip began to tremble, and tears fell down her cheeks.
The girls and I looked at each other in confusion. She didn’t seem to have any reason whatsoever to be sad. If I was marrying Kenneth I would have only had tears of joy. She was being ungrateful in my opinion. She had what I wanted and then had the nerve to cry about it in my face.
“What’s wrong sweetie?” Patrice said as she handed her a clean napkin from the table.
“My father’s cancer has returned, and he may not have much longer to live,” she revealed as she dabbed her eyes with the napkin.
My heart sank because I knew how much I loved my own dad.
“Oh no,” I whispered.
She smiled sadly, “He’s always said that he wants to see his all of his daughters get married before he dies. He wants to make sure that we’re taken care of. My other two sisters are already married and I’m the last one. Since Kenneth and I are already engaged, Kenneth was willing to push up the wedding when I told him. I really appreciate him for doing that.”
“That’s understandable,” Jasmine said, “I’m sorry to hear about your dad. We had no clue that you were dealing with that.”
“It was something that we had to deal with before but he went into remission. This time it came back aggressively, its stage 4, and they don’t think he’s going to make it,” she said before a fresh blanket of tears streamed down her face.
My heart dropped, and I then understood why Kenneth made the decision that he did. He went back with every intention on breaking up with her but once he heard the news, he couldn’t desert her. The situation sucked but maybe it’s what was meant to happen. Maybe it was the Universe’s way of telling me that someone else was out there for me, and it wasn’t Kenneth. I couldn’t stand in-between something like that. Amanda was the innocent one in the whole situation, and at that moment I decided that it was time for me to stop fighting.
#Chapter4
“Who gets in a relationship with the side chick?”
Nicole
As usual I threw myself into work full force. So the previous two weeks were filled with clients, bookings, and shopping. I did my best to avoid any questions or comments on Amanda and Kenneth’s upcoming wedding. The only people that I would discuss it with were my two friends, if anyone else tried to bring it up, I avoided the question.
I also took that time to terminate my working relationship with Desmond. It was great timing because our final contract has just been completed. He was a little upset because the boutiques that I deal with didn’t pull from his new line. Once I said that I was no longer working with him, they took it as a sign, and they moved on as well. I loved my customers because they showed great loyalty. I never had to say why I wasn’t working with him anymore; they just took my word for it. I also had a line to replace him with anyway. When an original comes on the scene, there are bound to be copies. I pulled the line of an amazing copycat, and he was giving Desmond’s male line a run for its money. Desmond is going to be up against it if he wants to break it big somehow but he has made in his bed and is now lying in it.
I’d considered still working with him, but I’d heard a week before that he and Loren were officially an item. They were more than welcome to each other, and I doubted that they would last long, but that did sting a little. Who gets in a relationship with the side chick? Apparently Desmond prefers trash over treasure so he was more than allowed to dumpster dive. But he would have to create his own connections in Atlanta without me, and without my clientele.
On my way back to my car, I called Michael back. He’d called me while I was with a client, and I do my best to avoid phone calls when I’m working because it’s rude and unprofessional.
“Hey Mikey!” I said.
“Hey Nikki,” he greeted.
“Sorry I missed your call, I was with a client. I figured it would be quicker to call you back than to check the voicemail,” I said.
“Oh my goodness, what’s up with your generation and your hatred of voicemail? I bet you would have read it if I texted you.”
“Of course, that’s
easier old man.”
“Please don’t remind me of my age, it makes me sad.”
“You don’t have any reason to feel sad because you’re looking great,” I laughed.
“Yeah, on the outside. On the inside I feel my age,” he teased.
“I’m sure you didn’t call me to tell me about your Bengay woes, so what’s up?”
“True, Anyway, I’m having a little party to try and reintegrate myself back into the Atlanta society and to catch up with some old faces. I would love it if you could come,” he said.
“I’m there! When is it?”
“Tonight,” he said.
“You sure work fast,” I said.
“Well, I’m still pretty popular it seems,” he said playfully.
“That you are. Text me the details, if you know how that is.”
“Very funny, see you this evening.”
*
It was easy as pie to get Jasmine and Patrice to come with me to the party. As soon as I mentioned who it was for, they were on board. The fact that they were still crushing on him was funny. He’d always been attractive, but I only had eyes for his brother, and that was probably why he seemed more like a big brother to me than anything. To the other girls he wasn't just pretty fly he was super fly.
At the party I caught up with Reuben, one of my old friends from high school. He’d been back in town for a couple weeks, and we’d been vowing to catch up but we hadn’t found the time. He left to pursue a career in fashion, and he took the fast track. After we graduated he went straight to Paris. He now works in Paris, France and has a really high profile job. Overall he’s a pretty good looking man. I used to think he was gay because he had an overly strong passion for fashion, but he took every opportunity that he could to let me know that he liked women. If anything, he was able to get even more women since he was a hot commodity within the industry.
“I’m happy that we finally have been able to catch up,” he said into my ear so that I could hear him over the loud music.
“Me too, I’ve missed you. Nobody else will watch Cops or Cheaters with me,” I said.
“What? Those are the best shows ever,” he said.
“I know right.”
I was addicted to those shows when I was in high school, and he was the only person that would sit down and watch them with me. We always enjoyed our time together, and I could talk to him about anything. It was sad that we parted ways, but that had to happen so that we could pursue our dreams. But I easily got over it once I met Patrice, Jasmine and Amelia. However, it was great to touch base again.
“You’re looking really good. You’ve grown into that scrawny body,” he said.
“Shut up! I was never scrawny,” I laughed.
“That’s debatable, but you don’t have to worry about that anymore.”
“Uh huh, you better watch yourself Mr. Tate. I’m still a fighter,” I joked.
“I have no doubt about that. You have to be a fighter to thrive here.”
I shrugged, “I was born for this.”
He looked at me curiously, “Indeed you are.”
He and I smiled at one another for a few moments and then I noticed Kenneth again out of the corner of my eye standing with his brother and Amanda. During the course of our conversation he kept looking over at me as I talked to Reuben. If I didn’t know any better I would have thought he was jealous. I didn’t understand his concern because he’d made his choice, and he chose to marry Amanda. I respected his decision, and he needed to respect his decision as well.
“I’ve gotta get around and mingle some more. Let’s exchange numbers,” I said.
“Sounds good to me,” he said as he took my phone from my hands and put his information inside, “Let’s catch up the next time I’m here.”
“When will you be back?” I asked.
“I’m not sure but you’ll be the first to know when I am. You also have my number, so feel free to use it,” he said with a wink.
I gave him a hug and walked away. I hoped that he would be back soon, he was always flying between Paris and the States but there wasn’t any guarantee when he would be back in Atlanta. He seemed just as fun as he did when we were younger and a hell of a lot sexier. He’d grown into his looks quite nicely. I laughed inwardly because I just seemed to have a thing for white boys. My great granny was probably rolling in her grave.
I looked around to find my friends but I was in for a bit of a shock. I spotted Desmond and Loren walking in arm in arm. They headed for the bar and ordered drinks. Everyone kept staring and whispering to one another. They had a lot of nerve showing their face, especially considering that Michael had hired most of the bar for this private gathering. Most people knew of the drama that had taken place, and so there was no reason that they should be arriving at Kenneth’s brother’s party.
“Am I missing something?” I heard Michael ask from behind me. I turned on my heels to look at him.
“Kenneth hasn’t updated you?” I asked.
“He’s been a little vague,” Michael responded.
“Oh, well long story short. Desmond is my ex-boyfriend, and he cheated on me with Loren. Loren is also one of the reasons that me and your brother are no longer together. Like I said, it is a long story, you could probably write a book series on all this.”
“Oh so that’s the infamous Loren,” he responded.
“Right.”
Without another word Michael walked towards the troublemaking couple, and I followed him so that I could get within ear shot. I was being too nosey for my own good, but I couldn’t fight my curiosity.
“Hello, the two of you will have to leave because this is a private engagement, and I don’t believe that either of you are on the list,” Michael told them.
Loren looked appalled that he would come up and speak to her, but Desmond did his best to keep his cool. However, I knew that he was simmering beneath the surface. It made me deliciously happy, I liked that he was being embarrassed in front of everyone. It was nothing compared to what he did to me, but his discomfort was palpable.
Desmond looked around the room, “Oh, I didn’t notice. I didn’t see many important people in attendance so I thought that this was open to just anyone. My lady and I will leave.” He clasped Loren’s hand, and they headed towards the door but before they could get to the center of the room, Kenneth made a beeline for them and he looked seriously pissed off. Loren pulled her hand from Desmond’s and Kenneth sped up his pace and punched Desmond square in the face before he could say anything. Desmond flew back and was sent crashing into a cocktail table and chairs. It caused a fair bit of noise and the whole room was now looking over.
I stood there in disbelief because I didn’t see it coming. Everyone watched as Loren helped him stand upright. “Baby are you okay?” She asked, before she glared at Kenneth. “We could sue you for this shit!”
Desmond stood to his feet and wiped the trickle of blood from his lip. He glared at Kenneth who was standing his ground, probably ready to punch him again. “Well, I guess I had that coming,” he said sarcastically and walked away, causing Loren to have to jog to keep up with him.
Before I could ask Kenneth what it was all about, Michael dragged Kenneth away. “What in the hell is wrong with you?” I heard him say before they disappeared to the back.
Everyone at the bar was stunned by what occurred. The whispering began immediately and one by one they made excuses to go home. I guess everyone loses their party spirit after a fight breaks out. The party ended just as quickly as it began, but my friends stayed with me. Amanda wouldn’t look at me, and she disappeared to the back as well.
“Am I the only one that’s happy about what Kenneth did?” Patrice asked.
“Nope,” Jasmine said, “Desmond needed that smug ass smile punched off of his face. He should be ashamed of himself for even showing up. He knew what he was doing.”
“I don’t even know what to say,” I responded as we stood outside to wait for our taxis.
“Don’t glorify that, he has to learn how to control his temper. One day he could get into a lot of trouble, some things his money won’t be able to save him from,” I said angrily.
I couldn’t pinpoint exactly why I was so upset because Desmond needed an ass kicking. But I was growing weary of the drama and the public scenes. We’d been through enough and we were at the point where we didn’t have to do things like that anymore. He and I weren’t together, he was engaged, and it was time for us to stop this cycle of nonsense. I could only imagine what Amanda must have been thinking about everything. She didn’t need the added stress, she deserved better.
