“Did you make mommy mad?” he signed to me, and I chewed the inside of my lip for a second before I answered.
“Yes, but I don’t know why.” I signed back, choosing honesty instead of an unnecessary sugar-coating.
He looked at me for a second, and then, “I don’t like it when you and mommy are mad at each other.”
“Me either.”
“Oh, and I do?” Audrey snapped, out loud, and I rolled my eyes. I hadn’t even realized she was watching.
“Kyle Everett Junior?” The nurse finally called KJ’s name, and he jumped up and went running with her for them to check on his height and weight. Audrey and I stood as well, but I caught her by the arm, pulling her back.
“Look,” I started, ignoring the look on her face as she pulled away from me. “I don’t know what your problem is with me, and honestly… I don’t really care. But it’s bothering our son to see us not getting along. So figure your shit out, aiight?”
“Whatever,” she hissed, brushing past me.
I shook my head as I followed her back to where KJ stood, excitedly signing back and forth with the nurse. If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t have to deal with Audrey at all – would have closed that chapter a long time ago.
But, he was here.
And if keeping him healthy and happy meant having to get along with Audrey, we were going to make that happen. Whether she liked it or not.
&
“You do realize this shit sounds like the plot of a romantic comedy, right?”
Across the table from Rob, I laughed, then reached to pick up my beer. “She’s going to see right through your little bullshit plot, and crucify you. So then, you’re going to have a second bad review on the restaurant that doesn’t have anything to do with your food, and everything to do with you,” I warned, bringing the bottle to my lips.
Derrick scrubbed a hand over his face as he leaned back in his chair, staring up at the ceiling. “Shit, man.” He sighed. “Who the hell sleeps with the food critic for the biggest black publication in the city and then doesn’t call her? I’m that guy now? This is the shit I’m doing?”
I wanted to laugh again, but he seemed legitimately stressed about the whole thing, so I chilled. When I glanced at Rob though, that nigga couldn’t keep a smirk off his face, and with good reason. Apparently, he was the only one of us with no woman-induced drama.
I finished off my beer, then looked around for a server I could signal to bring me another one. I heard snickering behind me before I turned back around, and found both Rob and Derrick barely containing another break of laughter.
“What’s funny?” I asked, and Rob shook his head.
“You, bruh,” he chuckled. “Audrey has your ass so stressed you’re on what… your fourth beer instead of just getting a real drink.”
“It’s a Thursday.” I slumped back in my chair, and sighed. “Can’t turn up too much on a Thursday, gotta work tomorrow. I’d think you knew that, Mr. Mason.”
Rob waved me off. “Man, ain’t nobody thinking about that damn school,” he grumbled, and Derrick and I exchanged a surprised glance.
“Ay…” Derrick started, sitting up. “You good?”
“I am great,” Rob said, with a swig from his own beer. “Everybody knows it’s about to be Spring break, and they have been acting a goddamned fool all week. I’ve broken up at least three different fights, got caught in the cross fire of some little bastard throwing a damn pudding cup across the cafeteria, and the school counselor just doesn’t give a damn about sexual harassment laws or her marriage vows, apparently. I just have to get through tomorrow, and then it’s deuces and a middle finger to that place for a week. I’ll be beloved Mr. Mason again when we go back.”
“Nigga…” I started, as soon as he finished. “Did you say you got hit with a pudding cup? Man, hell nah.”
“How do you think I feel?” Rob leaned in over the table, showing us a scratch I hadn’t noticed, just above his eyebrow. “Bruh, I’m in the cafeteria bleeding cause this pudding cup busted my shit open, and these damn kids man – filming the shit. Put it on social media with Bill Cosby’s voice in the background talking about a damn “Pudding Pop.””
“They really did that?” Derrick asked, eyes wide as he pulled out his phone.
Rob nodded. “Yes, they did that. And then I’ve gotta intervene on their behalf, beg the police not to get called about the shit so they don’t end up with records just for being stupid. I need this break so damn bad.”
“Yeah, it sounds like it,” I said, leaning over to look at Derrick’s screen as he showed it to me. There it was, loud ass cafeteria, just like I remembered from my own days there. Rob was in the frame, but it wasn’t focused on him, whoever was filming was going back and forth between two kids trading loud insults from different tables. The argument must’ve caught his attention, because Rob turned and started heading back that way, but neither kid was paying attention to whatever he was saying. And then… there it was – the pudding cup flying, catching Rob right in the forehead as Bill Cosby delivered his iconic “Pudding Pop” line.
“Yo...” Derrick said.
I nodded. “This is…”
We both looked at Rob, then each other, and I tried my best to hold it together, but…it was funny.
We both broke into laughter, and even Rob couldn’t help himself, he started laughing too as we played the video again.
“You fellas seem to be having a good time.”
I sat up from being bent over laughing, and opened my eyes long enough to see who’d said that. My eyes opened a little wider, I sat up a little straighter at the sight of Fine, and Also Fine.
“You mind if we join you?” Also Fine, asked, putting her hand on Rob’s shoulder.
He smiled at her, then nodded in the direction of me and Derrick. “Sweetheart, you’ll have to ask the single side of the table.”
She let her hand linger as she looked over at us, eyebrows raised before she exchanged a glance with her friend, who spoke up. “Well… single side of the table. What do you say?”
“We say the more the merrier,” Derrick answered, stretching his arms over the back of the seat.
The way the seating in this part of Stoney’s was setup, was that for each of the round tables, there were three low-backed, bench style seats. The seats were curved to match the table, and each one sat two or three people. Currently, each of us had taken a seat to ourselves, but at Derrick’s invitation, Fine and Also Fine sat down – one beside me, the other beside him.
“I’m Eva,” Also Fine said, putting her hand on my knee. “And this is my best friend, Jennifer.” She pointed to Fine, beside Derrick, and she waved. We offered quick introductions of ourselves, and then Eva spoke up. “What are your fine asses laughing so hard about?” she asked.
“Homeboy shit,” Derrick answered again. “What are y’all doing out here looking like this on a damn Thursday?”
Jennifer grinned. “What are we looking like?”
“Like exactly the kind of trouble I’m trying to get into after a rough week.”
“That’s funny,” Eva laughed. “Because before we walked over here… we were looking at you guys thinking exactly the same thing.” Her hand traveled further up my leg as she fully turned to face me, squeezing the muscles of my thigh. Eva looked good. Nice curves, glowing skin, pretty face. “So what about you, Kyle? See any trouble you want to get into?” she asked, a question that, in the past, would’ve had a very high likelihood of getting a “hell yes”. Tonight though… I don’t know.
And it wasn’t her, at all. There was nothing “wrong” with her, something I tried not to give an impression of by answering, “Not tonight gorgeous. Trying to stay out of trouble.”
“Oh,” she said, raising an eyebrow. Her hand went higher. “But your friend said you were single.”
I nodded. “I am.”
“So what, I’m not cute enough or something?” she asked, leaning into me, and I chuckled as I shook my head
.
“Nah, it’s not that. And you know that shit,” I told her, making her smirk.
“Then what is it?” she asked, looking me dead in the face. I glanced at Rob and Derrick, wondering if either of my homeboys was going to help me out of this, but they were both looking too, probably wondering the same thing she was.
Hell… I was wondering too.
“Just not feeling it,” I shrugged, and from the look on her face, there was no mistaking the fact that she was on the verge of being offended, but there wasn’t much I could do about that.
“Hey,” Derrick cut in, standing up. “How about you ladies accompany me up to the bar, let me buy you a drink? And… just how close are you as friends? Because I can get us into plenty of trouble on my own.”
I was grateful for the distraction of Derrick’s antics – and laughed as Eva and Jennifer hooked their arms through his to head to the bar. I shook my head as Eva’s supple, cinnamon-toned thighs moved away from me, then reached again for the beer I’d forgotten was empty. When I looked up, Rob’s eyes were narrowed at me.
“What’s up with you bruh?” he asked.
“No idea what you’re talking about.”
He scoffed. “You let her,” – he gestured in the direction where Eva had disappeared with Derrick—“walk away, no interest at all. Something is up.”
“Nothing is up. I’m just chilling.”
The skepticism on Rob’s face was clear as he sat back, shaking his head. “What… you’re trying to get back in good with Audrey or something?”
“Man, hell no,” I answered, finally catching a server’s attention. I asked for two – one for me, one for him – then turned back. “That’s… done, as far as I’m concerned.” His mouth twisted in disbelief, and I laughed. “Nah, seriously this time. We’ve been stuck on each other too damn long, and I’m sick of the games.”
“You’ve said that before.” When I shot him a scowl, he threw his hands up, shrugging. “I’m just saying man, you have. So what’s different this time? Besides her doing the pediatrician?”
I returned his shrug. “Hell if I know. I just know that before, even when I was saying I was done… I knew in the back of my mind I really wasn’t. I knew I didn’t want to see her with anybody else, knew I wanted her to still be all about me and my son. But now… I just don’t care anymore. I mean, of course I still care about her, that’s the mother of my son. I need her healthy and whole for him. But as far as this other shit? I just want some damn peace, and I don’t see that happening with her, not on a romantic level. Too much shit between us.”
Rob nodded. “I feel that. You know I feel that. But… that don’t explain you turning Eva down. And knowing you like I know you… there’s an explanation.”
“I told you there wasn’t anything to explain. Keep that emotional honesty stuff over there with you and Iris, this ain’t the fucking sister circle, nigga.”
Rob threw his head back, laughing. “Aiight, fair enough,” he replied, clutching his stomach as he laughed. “Sister circle though, bruh? This is the shit I get accused of for trying to make sure you aren’t going off the deep end?”
“I’m just saying,” I chuckled. “I’m good, seriously.”
If I cared to investigate that further, I’d have to admit that “I’m good” was a more accurate statement than “nothing to explain”. Because, though I was talking around it, I knew just like Rob did that there was something to me not being all up under Eva right now. Maybe I’d see it when I thought back on this while I was sober, but for now… I couldn’t figure out what that “something” was.
A smile spread over Rob’s whole damn face, the kind of smile only one person could get out of him. I looked over my shoulder to see that Iris had walked in, and was just a few feet away, waiting on her friend.
Waiting on Brandi.
The two of them were holding hands, but Brandi had gotten stopped by some dude who was standing closer to her than he needed to be. She was smiling at him though, blushing when he leaned in to say something in her ear, that she shook her head in answer to. I turned around before I got caught staring.
Almost.
Rob was already shaking his head. “Kyle… nigga, hell no. That’s Iris’ best friend. You can’t mess up the dynamic with that.”
“With what?”
“I saw how you were looking at her, like you need a damn fork and napkin.”
I sucked my teeth. “That’s how I’ve always looked at her, ain’t nothing changed.”
“Nah, this was different, and you know it. I know you like to find women who are with that “no-strings” stuff, but bruh… nah. Feelings are gonna get caught, get hurt, and then it’s gonna be all awkward and shit.”
“So you’ve just already figured it out? That’s what you decided?”
He sighed. “I’m not deciding anything, I’m predicting. I’m just saying… we’re family, man. Brandi is family. Don’t mess with her like that. Don’t mess her up.”
“So I’m gonna mess her up?” I asked, frowning. 99.9% of the time, it was all love between me, Rob, and Derrick, but that little statement hit me all wrong. “You think that’s what I do, that’s how you see me?”
Rob shook his head. “I don’t mean the shit like that. I know you wouldn’t purposely, but… shit happens.”
“Right, shit happens. So you mind your shit, and let me handle mine.”
He opened his mouth to respond, but before he could, Iris was right beside him, bending to kiss his face.
“Hey baby,” she said to him, then stepped over to me for a hug. “What are y’all talking about over here that has you looking so serious?”
“Just coming to an understanding,” he answered, wrapping an arm around her waist as she sat down, practically in his lap. “What’s up B?” he greeted Brandi, who walked up a moment later. I watched as she hugged him, then dropped into the empty seat Derrick had left.
“Uh… hey Kyle,” she said, eyebrow raised. “Why the hell are you looking at me like that?”
“Because you’re looking like I need a fork and napkin,” I told her, and somewhere in my peripheral, I knew Rob was rolling his eyes. But Brandi? She blushed.
She leaned toward me, hands on the seat. “I don’t know about the fork, but you’ll definitely want to tuck your napkin for this feast.”
“I like to use my hands when I eat anyway, so that works too, gorgeous.”
Brandi bit her lip as she sat back, pretending to fan herself. “Boy you better stop playing with me before I find a table and spread out.”
I slid to the end of my seat so that I was closer, and leaned over in her direction. “Ain’t nobody playing with you girl.”
“Y’all are a mess,” Iris giggled from across the table. Rob was looking sour, but I didn’t care. I knew, and honestly appreciated, that he was concerned for Brandi, and didn’t want to see her get hurt, but the implication that I would be the one doing the hurting? That got under my skin.
Brandi and I were cool as hell. I honestly looked at her as a friend, just as much as someone I wanted to be inside of at all possible times. Hurting her wasn’t even an option to me, and it pissed me off that even my boys who’d known me since forever had gotten the impression that I was into that shit. I’d only ever really been with Audrey for any significant time, and though I’d made my mistakes there, she’d done her share of dirt too.
Most of the relationships I’d tried since then ended up right back where I knew they would – nonexistent, with me back with Audrey. That was just the way our cycle had gone. As soon as that crossed my mind, the reason for Rob’s little spiel came into hyper-clear focus.
He was concerned I would get with Brandi, then end up leaving her feelings hurt while I went back to Audrey. He’d seen it a million times, and had no reason to believe it would be different now.
I knew different though.
“Come dance with me,” I said as I stood up, and grabbed her hand. She offered no resistance, just easily
moved with me as I headed away from the table. I had no desire or intention to actually dance, I just wanted to get her alone, but as soon as I had her in a dark corner of the dance floor, the song changed.
Brandi looked up at me with a grin as Trey Songz’ “Animal” began to blast through the speakers, and I shook my head. She turned around, ass right up against me as she began to move to the music – with lyrics a little too specific to the exploring she and I had done with each other for my thoughts to not go somewhere explicit.
“You know damn well I wasn’t trying to dance with your ass,” I bent to speak into her ear, wrapping an arm around her waist to tug her against me and keep her still.
Her hands stayed between us as she twisted around to face me, and she slipped them underneath my shirt. She bit her lip as the pads of her fingers ran over my bare skin. “I do. But you asked, so…”
“See what you did?” I took one her wrists and led her hand further down, groaning when she cupped me through my jeans. “That’s all your fault.”
“Oh, it’s my fault?” she smiled. Pretty ass smile. “Well… maybe later, I can handle that for you. Give you some… relief.”
I pressed my hand to the wall on either side of her. “Shit, we can leave right now.”
“I can’t. Kicking it with my girls. Gia and a couple of others are on the way. We only came by your table to say hello.”
I nodded. “Okay. So later…you coming through?”
“You know damn well…”
She laughed at me as I groaned. I wouldn’t call it a source of contention, but there had been plenty of discussion about the fact that we – quite literally – never went to my place. Brandi had never stepped foot there, even once, because she preferred to be in her own space, which had been fine for a while. But… we’d been doing this for weeks at this point. I wanted to bring her into my space.
“You still on that bullshit?” I asked her, and she rolled her eyes.
“I really would think you appreciated that I wanted to keep things in one place, instead of being all in your business, looking through your medicine cabinet, leaving panties for your other women to find…”
The Lies: The Lies We Tell About Love, Life, and Everything in Between Page 13
