Jordan looked her mother in the eye and finally saw how exhausted she was.
“What are you saying? You’re kicking me out?” she asked, struggling to speak.
“Jordan, what are we to think? First you’re drinking—”
“Mom…”
“And then you’re what, into drugs? Sex? Lord only knows…Don’t you ever sit down and think about what kind of example you’re setting for your brother? Tariq doesn’t know any better at his age, and at this point the last thing I need is him copying your behavior.”
“Riq’s only six! What could he possibly do that I influenced? And whoever said I asked to be role model of the year anyway?”
“See, that’s what I’m saying. These days you never know. There are kids running around with guns at his age now. And that’s the sad truth.”
“Oh my God, I can’t believe I’m hearing this! How could you say something like that about me? It’s not like I’m a bad person. You guys know me.” Jordan could feel the muscles in her throat beginning to constrict, but she held back her tears. She looked over to the stairs and wished she could Tariq hanging over the banister, ready to save her.
“Not anymore we don’t. The Jordan I knew didn’t used to lie to us. I don’t know what happened.” Her mother threw her hands in the air in forfeit.
“Okay, I should’ve called and asked to go, yes, but I swear I didn’t do anything wrong. Me and Warren were just out having fun. That beer was the only thing to drink at the party.”
“Do you really expect us to believe that? You can’t tell me you couldn’t have gotten yourself some water.”
Jordan didn’t know why her father wasted his energy asking her that question.
“Yeah…I guess you’re right.” She dropped her head and sighed. She remained quiet for only a minute before blurting out, “Ugh! This never would’ve happened if it weren’t for Adrienne!”
“Adrienne? Adrienne? Are you serious, Jordan? I thought you two went your separate ways a long time ago! Why would you just mention her name now?” Her mother was getting louder and louder.
“We did! But I bumped into her, because someone shoved me, and—”
“Stop trying to use Adrienne as a scapegoat. You’re not going to get out of this. You’ve got to learn to take responsibility for your actions.”
“If Adrienne was there, why didn’t we see her there, too? I don’t remember seeing her when we picked you up,” her father said.
“Because! She pushed me to the floor so she could get away! What if I’d gotten trampled! Do you have any idea how many people were all trying to run out of that house at the same time? I might not even be here right now!”
“Look.” Olivia sighed. “We’re glad you’re okay and that you came home safe. It’s not like we don’t still love you or we want something bad to happen to you…” She was having a difficult time finding the right words to say, and it showed in her face. She swallowed hard, then opened her mouth to speak again.
“It’s just that we think you might be headed in the wrong direction…and if we can’t help you, maybe your grandmother can. Maybe she can be the one to talk to you and get you back on track.”
Her words left Jordan stunned, temporarily paralyzed. She refused to look either of her parents in the eye as she watched the two silently leave the living room. She was to absorb their lecture as she remained seated with a long face and folded arms.
Jordan knew parents would never disown one of their children. They’d probably only employed the deceptive tactic out of desperation, she reasoned. They just didn’t want to lose control of their daughter, as so many other parents did.
Jordan stared out the window as she listened to her parents shuffle around the kitchen in search of a snack. There was little doubt in her mind that they were scaring her, but the memory of the looks on their faces when they told her left her choked up.
Jordan slammed her door so hard her hair blew back and a stack of papers flew off her desk. After stomping her way up every last one of the twenty-odd wooden stairs and into her room, she flopped down stomach-first on her bed and buried her head in one of the soft down pillows. The shock of her parents’ threat had worn off, and sadness set in as its replacement. She’d postponed her tears as long as she could, not wanting her parents to see her break down. Now she finally let herself cry. It was obvious they were beginning to think the worst of her, and she knew she’d have to try hard in order to make them see things differently.
Jordan turned her head and repositioned her pillow. The wet pillowcase didn’t bother her as she lay sniffling and staring out her window. She watched the clouds float across the dark sky at their snaillike pace and wished she could escape her life and all the drama in it.
For as long as she could remember, her life had always been peaceful, and she longed for that sense of calm to resume. Maybe she should go live with her grandmother, or even another state. Maybe she could go live with her aunt Lisa. She was ready to experience new things and meet new people. She could start at another school next year and make new friends who knew nothing about her or Adrienne’s slanderous lies.
However, she wasn’t willing to maintain a long-distance relationship with Warren. She loved seeing him every day of the week, and the harder she thought about it, it convinced her to go on living under her parents’ roof.
Jordan wiped her eyes and released a grunt of frustration before standing to close her blinds. She envied the clouds for being able to drift wherever they pleased. No matter what place came to mind, including her aunt’s house, nothing sounded quite far away enough from her troubles right now.
By the weekend, Jordan had long forgotten her thoughts of running away and made herself at home. It was fairly late in the evening, and her parents had just rushed out the door to catch a new movie, leaving her to babysit Tariq. She wasn’t being paid for her services, but she didn’t mind. All that really mattered was that she was in charge: for the next couple of hours, Jordan was the boss.
“I am so bored.” Jordan let the refrigerator door shut by itself before returning to the living room with the phone to her ear. She kicked her sock-covered feet up on the long wooden table near the couch and proceeded to channel surf as she talked to Warren on the phone.
“Me, too,” Warren agreed.
“Oh, please. I don’t even want to hear it. At least you’re not the one stuck watching your little brother on a Friday night.” Jordan could think of so many things she’d rather be doing, one of which was spending some quality time with Warren. It had been almost a week since their run-in with the law, and she still hadn’t had a sentence officially handed down to her from her parents. She knew it was better not to push them, though, and decided against even asking. The last thing she wanted to do was remind them to punish her.
“Well, if you’re so bored, why don’t I come over there and keep you company? We can order a pizza and maybe rent some movies or something,” Warren suggested.
“Oooh, I wish you could, but I’m going to have to pass on that one. Do you know what my dad would do to you if he came home and saw you with me in here? And there’s no adult here.”
“Yeah, you’re right. I know they’re still mad at me for what happened after Spring Fling, aren’t they?”
“I already told you they said they weren’t.”
“I’m tight on that…Did I ever tell you I was sorry about what happened?”
“Yeah, only a million times.”
“Well, count that as a million and one, then.”
“Wow. It’s not that serious.”
“Yes, it is! I saw how your dad looked at me.”
The two enjoyed a good laugh remembering the fierce look on her father’s face. Over time they’d grown able to reminisce on that night and find it somewhat entertaining.
“I miss you.” Warren’s admission was random after they’d settled, but Jordan didn’t hesitate to reply.
“I miss you, too.”
“This sucks that I
won’t be able to see you all weekend. And to think this is all my fault.”
“What did I tell you about that? It’s not your fault. If it’s anybody’s fault, we all know whose it is.”
“Why? What’d she do?”
“Not only did she put her hands on me, when I was trying to run out she made it so I’d get caught. She set me up. When I see her, there’s going to be problems. I’m sick and tired of being nice. I’m done.”
“Don’t do nothing stupid, Jordan,” Warren warned. It was as if he could read her mind. It wasn’t uncommon for beef to be addressed on the final day of school.
“Like what?”
“Like go to school and fight her.”
“So, what? You’re saying as long as I fight her out of school, it’s okay?”
“Naw, that’s not what I’m saying. I don’t want you fighting, period. You’re my girl. You’re not supposed to fight. You’re too pretty for that.”
“Uh-huh.” Jordan’s response was nonchalant. She was beginning to focus on a rerun of Flavor of Love: Charm School.
“Jordan?”
“Yeah.”
“I’m for real. Tell me you’re not going to do nothin’.”
There was silence.
“Jordan!”
“Okay, okay. I’m not going to fight her…maybe.”
“You don’t listen, do you? Your badass ain’t even out of the last mess you got yourself into before you go creating another one. You’re going to get in so much trouble.”
Jordan knew Warren was trying to talk her out of resorting to violence, but it was too late. She had made up her mind. Now all she had to do was wait.
“Huh? What’d you say?” She chuckled.
“Real funny. Where’s Riq at? Put him on the phone.”
“Straight up? You don’t even want to talk to me no more?”
“Sho don’t,” he joked.
“Hold on. Let me run upstairs real quick so you can say hi. You know he leaves for basketball camp in a couple days?”
“Really? Damn. It feels like you just told me about that yesterday.”
“Yes, and I can’t wait! I’ll have the house all to myself all summer with no one here to get on my nerves,” she breathed into the phone as she tapped on Tariq’s door, then entered his room without permission.
“You need to be hoping you’re not stuck in the crib by yourself all summer. How about you start there? Knowing you and how you’re talking, I’ll never see you.”
“How about you be quiet before I hang up on you?”
“Well, that’s what’s going to happen if you and Adrienne go at it.”
“Five, four, three…” She jokingly counted down the seconds as though she were about to disconnect the line.
“I’m not even worried. Do I sound like I’m trippin’?”
“Yeah, well, you should be.”
“Whatever. You wouldn’t do that to me.”
“Why not? Give me one good reason not to.”
“Because you love me, that’s why.”
“Get out of my room!”
“Shut up!” Jordan covered the mouthpiece to block out their bickering. Her eyes had widened as a result of Warren’s comment, and she felt grateful for her brother’s interference. “Tariq, someone wants to say hi to you.”
Tariq remained on his bed, spacing out to the Nickelodeon cartoon flashing across the small TV screen.
“Riq, come get the phone!”
“Hello?” His greeting was polite, but he snatched the receiver from Jordan’s hands and shot her an undeniably dirty look.
“Hey, Warren…Nothing, just watching Sponge-Bob…Yeah…” He trailed off, once again absorbed in the adventures of the yellow sponge.
“Tariq, here. Give me back the phone.”
“Warren said I should say no,” Tariq told her after a second.
“Well, Warren isn’t here to save you if I turn off the TV and make you go to bed right now, now is he?”
“Bye, Warren.” Tariq gave up without a fight and handed off the phone.
“Hello?”
“You know you bold for that.” Warren chuckled.
“So? I want to talk to you.”
“I want to talk to you, too, but—”
“But?”
“I got a call coming in on the other line. It’s long-distance,” he explained.
“Oh, okay.”
“Let me call you right back. I gotta go grab my cell.”
“Just hurry and call back,” she said.
“A’ight.”
“You better call me back.”
“I will.”
“Okay…bye.”
“Bye. I love you.”
Click!
Warren hung up the phone before Jordan could answer. It took her a moment to realize what he had just said to her, and she just held the phone, staring at it in awe.
“Jordan?” Tariq brought her out of her daze.
“What do you want, Riq?” she snapped.
“Can you put in the Boogeyman movie?”
“Uh-uh. You know Mommy and Daddy don’t want you watching that. I thought it scared you. Don’t you remember how it gave you all those nightmares?” She recalled several times when Tariq had woken up in the middle of the night, crying and screaming. He’d claimed the boogeyman was in his closet, and nothing could hush him.
“It did. But I’m not scared anymore.”
“Oh, Riq! Watch out! The boogeyman’s behind you!” She pointed behind him, and covered her mouth with her hand.
“Ahhh!” Tariq screamed in a high-pitched voice and jumped off the bed before finally turning to confront the monster.
“See, I knew you’re still scared. How many times do I have to tell you the boogeyman isn’t real? He doesn’t exist!” Jordan said, noting the displeasure he showed for her trick as he climbed back into bed.
“How about you watch something else? How about this?” She held up her suggestion: the Spider-Man 2 DVD. He’d already watched it enough times to memorize every line, but she knew he’d watch it anyway.
“Yeah! Put that in!” he cried enthusiastically as he situated himself under his blanket.
“I’ll be downstairs if you need me.” As the beginning credits rolled, Jordan stood up from the DVD player and headed out the door. Her destination was the kitchen, and her mission was to silence her growling stomach.
Tariq had no objections until she flicked the light switch, darkening the room.
“Keep the light on!”
“It’s almost eleven-thirty. You need to at least be trying to go to sleep,” Jordan answered, but granted his request to stop his yelling.
“It’s the weekend,” he objected, pouting and folding his arms.
“So let Mommy and Daddy come home late and see you’re still awake. They’ll be really mad, even if it is a Friday.”
“Not-uh,” he whined.
“Yes-huh. Now lie down.”
“But, Jordan, I’m scared of the dark!” Once the lights were out again, he resorted to his state of fear and panic. Jordan flipped the switch again and put her hands on her hips. She felt that the television provided enough light, and his behavior was annoying her.
“Where’s your night-light?” she asked, scanning the floor of his bedroom.
“It’s broke.”
“Well, who broke it?”
Tariq sucked on a corner of his blanket. He didn’t offer a response, and Jordan interpreted his reaction as a means of stalling.
“Tariq, go to bed.”
“Wait!”
“What?”
“Stay with me?” he pleaded with open arms. Jordan tiptoed across his messy floor but stopped at the edge of his bed without accepting his invitation to a hug.
“Tariq, I am not even about to sit here and watch that movie with you.” Her stomach growled again, louder this time.
“Please? You don’t have to watch the whole thing. Just stay with me until I fall asleep? Please…” Tariq gave h
is older sister puppy-dog eyes and tugged on her baggy T-shirt to influence her answer.
In seconds, Jordan could no longer refuse her brother’s begging. “Oh, okay, I guess I can do that.” She bounced on the small daybed and scooted back until she was against the headboard. Tariq quietly laid his head in her lap, and within minutes she could hear him breathing heavily.
“See. Look at you. You did all that fussin’ for nothing.” Jordan sucked her teeth and shook her head. She then fell quiet and caressed his hair while he slept. Slowly but surely, his hair was growing out to the length of an Afro; he was overdue for a haircut.
Jordan waited for him to slip deeper into his dreams before carefully peeling him off her lap. She felt for the remote to end the movie but paused just as her fingertip grazed the power button. The bright light coming from the screen shone on Tariq’s peaceful face, and she almost didn’t recognize him as the four-foot-tall terror who tore about the house wreaking havoc every day. Her brother knew all the right buttons to push, and did so mercilessly.
And yet, for some odd reason, Jordan still didn’t want him to go to basketball camp. Before, in her conversation with Warren, she’d acted relieved that he would be gone, but she had to be honest with herself and admit she would miss having him around. Tariq was the baby of the family, and when he was around, there was rarely a dull moment. Her kid brother could be quite the entertainer when he wanted to be.
She smiled at the memory of the show he’d put on at their family Christmas gathering. It was never hard for him to be the center of attention. He’d been adorable since the day he was born. Jordan still remembered the smallest details about that day, could still picture him as that baby in the hospital, and it was hard to get used to the idea of being apart. They had never been away from each other for long, and if anyone tried to pick on him at that sports camp, she wanted to be there to defend him.
Jordan took a deep breath as the room became pitch-black with the push of a tiny button on the remote. She kept a close eye on Tariq as she tiptoed out of the room, leaving his door open just a crack and the hall light turned on. She was ready to retire to her room and settle for anything on TV interesting enough to hold her attention until Warren called her back.
16 Isn't Always Sweet Page 13
