“Hey fellas!” I greeted my little men.
“Hey ma, where are we going?” Quan was the first to inquire.
“To grandma’s house.” I answered, he was in the front and Shaun was in the back. “Now sit back and put on your seatbelt.”
“Why are our toys in the car? Are we spending the night at grandma’s?” Shaun asked.
“Yep.” I replied pulling out of the driveway and onto the road.
“Why are we spending the night at grandma’s? Is daddy coming too?” Quan wanted to know. I really didn’t feel up to all of the questions.
“No, your daddy isn’t coming?”
“Why? Is he going to stay at home all by his self?”
“Quan, please quit with the questions!” I snapped, it came out much louder than I’d planned. I took a deep breath and then released it slowly, running my hand over my hair. “I’m not trying to be mean and I didn’t mean to yell at you. Mama just has a lot on her mind okay.”
“Okay.” He looked at me with big puppy dog eyes.
I turned my attention to the road and tried to concentrate on the traffic. I didn’t want to have an accident on top of everything else.
Tre
After getting off the phone with Kisha, I’d tried over a dozen times to call her back but of course she wouldn’t answer. I’m not even going to pretend and act like I thought that she would want to talk to me. I’d listened to her messages and looked at the post that Lala had posted on my Facebook page before calling her and so I knew that she’d be beyond pissed. I’d done a great job at pretending that I had no idea who Lala was or what she was talking about but Kisha wasn’t stupid and she wasn’t buying that shit.
I’d given up trying to call Kisha and tried to call Lala several times but now she wasn’t answering her phone either! She’d posted that bullshit on my wall and now she wasn’t even woman enough to answer the gotdamn phone! I can’t lie, I was mad as a motherfucka with her ass! If I could’ve gotten my hands on her I would’ve seriously fucked her up! I knew a lot of bitches who’d done shit like this but I never expected this type of shit from Lala! Not Lala! I never saw this shit right here happening! What was I going to do now? How was I going to fix this shit?
I paced back and forth up and down the floor racking my brain for an answer. I knew that I needed to talk to Kisha but what was I going to say? She wasn’t buying the story that I’d fed her over the phone. I grabbed the vacuum and turned it on. I decided to try and finish up my work while I thought of a plan. There was no need in rushing home when I wasn’t sure of what to do once I got there.
An hour later, I was done cleaning my first building and still had no idea what in the hell I was going to do to fix the situation with Kisha. I gathered my things, locked up the building and made my way to the van. When I got to the van, I got inside and took out my cell and dialed Kisha. It rang several times before her voicemail came on. I didn’t bother leaving a message because I already knew that it wouldn’t do any good. I pressed end and then called Lala, again the phone rang several times. I was about to hang up, when she answered.
“Yes…” She had the nerve to answer with an attitude like she had a fuckin’ reason to be mad!
“Bitch what in the fuck did you do?” I exploded! “What in the fuck were you thinking? Do you realize that you may have destroyed my fuckin’ family with this bullshit? I should’ve known that you would do some triflin’ shit like this! Here I was thinking that you were on some different shit but you are just like every other bitch! As soon as shit doesn’t go your way you go running telling my girl shit, trying to fuck up my home!”
“Mothafucka, your shit has been fucked up! I didn’t fuck up anything! You fucked it up so don’t call me bitching about how I’ve destroyed your family! Nigga, you were in the streets fucking other bitches way before me so obviously you weren’t all that happy with your situation! You want to blame somebody for destroying your family? Go look in the gotdamn mirror!” She roared! “I’ve tried for two fuckin’ months to be civilized with you but that shit is impossible because you can’t be civilized when you are dealing with a selfish mothafucka! You are so busy thinking that I want you to come here for me that you can’t even get your head out of your ass long enough to see the bigger picture, which is your daughter is sick! She has to have surgery! They are going to operate on her heart Tre! No one knows what will happen. Things could go smoothly or there could be a complication and she dies in that operating room!”
I cut her off! “Bitch, what am I supposed to do? I can’t determine the fuckin outcome!”
“No bitch but you could be there! You could fuckin be there!”
“I told you that I can’t just jump up and come there! You live three fuckin’ hours away!” I explained frustrated! “Why can’t you understand that?” I waited for her to answer but the phone was silent. I took the phone from my ear and realized that my screensaver was on my front screen. “Ugggh…stupid bitch!” I growled. She’d hung up the phone! I redialed her number but she didn’t pick up instead her voicemail came on. “Pick up the motherfuckin’ phone Lala!” I pressed end. Just as I was about to call her again a text message came through.
Lala: I am trying to put my daughters down for a nap if you don’t mind! I don’t have time to sit on the phone while you scream in my ear and call me every bitch you can think of. So please stop calling and texting my phone…or better yet don’t call me until you actually have something to say! Isn’t that what you told me? Lol
I read her message and thought about texting her back but then decided against it. I had more important shit to worry about rather than sit around and argue with this bitter bitch! I tried calling Kisha again but of course she didn’t pick up. I tossed my cell in the passenger seat and then took out my cigarettes and lit one up as I started up the van and backed out of the parking lot.
The drive back didn’t seem long at all. I dropped the van off in the Service Master parking lot and then got in my car and headed home. The first thing that I noticed when I pulled up in the driveway was that Kisha’s car was gone.
“Shit!” I cursed aloud. I don’t know why I’d thought that she’d be home when I got there! I should’ve known better! I jumped out the car slamming the door and rushed into the house. I hoped that maybe she’d just ran out to the store or had taken a drive to clear her head. I unlocked the door and went inside. The first thing to greet me when I opened the door was smoke! I left the door open and headed in the direction of the kitchen. The smoke was burning my eyes. I fanned my hand in front of my face. When I got in the kitchen I saw that the oven was on. I turned it off and opened the oven. Clouds of smoke hit me in the face! I grabbed two dish towels and took the pan out. I carried it outside in the yard and left it. Then I went back inside! I walked down the hall. First I checked the boy’s room, I saw that the drawers on their dresser was pulled out and empty. My heart fell to my stomach! I left their room and walked down the hall to the bedroom. The smell of bleach invaded my nostril before I could make it through the door. The room looked like a tornado had blown threw it! My clothes were in a pile on the bed as I got closer I could see that they were faded. That explained the smell of the bleach! I didn’t care about the clothes or anything else that she had destroyed! I could get all of those things back. I turned and left the room and walked back down the hallway to my boy’s room. It felt strange to not hear them playing or to not have them run down the hall and greet me when I’d come through the door. I sat down on the bed and looked around. I noticed that some of their toys were gone. I hung my head. What I felt at that moment couldn’t be explained. I knew that I’d fucked up! I’d allowed an outside bitch to cause me to lose what meant the most to me! I sat there holding my head in my hands. After a few minutes, I jumped to my feet. There was no use in sitting around crying over spilled milk. I had to try and clean that shit up! As much as I hated to go over to Ms. Betty’s house I knew that I had no other choice. I needed to talk to Kisha that night and try to
convince her to come back home. I had to make her believe that I really didn’t know Lala and that Lala was just some bitter ass chic trying to start some bullshit. I wasn’t sure of exactly how much Lala had told her but I planned to make all of that shit seem like lies. By the time I was finished she would be putting her shit back in the car and bringing her ass back home with my kids where they belonged!
When I pulled into Ms. Betty’s driveway, I saw Kisha’s car parked next to Ms. Betty’s. I parked behind Kisha’s car and got out. As I walked up to the door there was a nervous feeling in the pit of my stomach because I wasn’t sure of what to expect from Kisha or her mama but I knew for a fact that Ms. Betty would have her mouth all up in the mix! I swear I couldn’t stand her hatin’ ass! She’d never felt like I was good enough for Kisha and she’d never pretended to like me. She’d let it be known from day one that she didn’t like me and didn’t want me with her daughter! I could imagine the smile on her old wrinkled ass face when Kisha told her that she’d left me! Oh well she could stop smiling because Kisha’s stay was about to come to an end!
I rang the bell and waited. A minute passed but no one came to the door. I rang the bell again still no one came to the door. I saw the curtain in the front window move and either Ms. Betty or Kisha was looking out and then it closed but still no one came to the door. I knew then that they were ignoring me but I wasn’t about to leave until someone answered the door. I rang the bell two times back to back! A few seconds later, the door swung open!
“Will you stop ringing the damn bell?” Kisha snapped! Her eyes were red and puffy from crying. “What do you want?” She asked that dumbass question like she had no idea why I was there!
“Can we talk, please?” I pleaded.
“Talk about what? We don’t have anything to talk about!”
“Y’all sure don’t!” Ms. Betty said appearing next to Kisha in the door! “If you know like I know you will get your ass back in whatever you drove over here and take yourself off of my property!”
I let out a frustrated breath and tried to remain calm! I knew cussing her out would only make the situation worst. “No disrespect Ms. Betty but I am trying to talk to Kisha. She is a grown woman. She can decide for herself whether or not she wants to talk to me.”
She placed her hand on her hip. “And no disrespect to you either but this is my damn house! Not Kisha’s! So you can either leave or I can get you an escort!”
I ignored her and turned my attention back to Kisha. I didn’t give a fuck if she called the police! I was fighting for my family! “Kisha, can we please talk? Just give me ten minutes…please.”
She looked over at Ms. Betty and then back at me like she was torn. “Ma, I’m going to talk to him for a minute. I’ll be right back.”
“What? Why Kisha? All he’s going to do is lie like he always does to get you to go running back?” Ms. Betty exploded! “Why? Why do you want to continue to be lied to? Don’t you feel like you deserve better than that? Did I fail you as a mother? Is there something I didn’t do to make you feel like you weren’t worth more or that you needed a man to survive? Did your daddy fail you? He couldn’t have because I know for a fact that the one thing he always showed you was lots of love. I also know that he always taught you to be a strong woman and to never allow any man to walk all over you and treat you like crap! Your daddy is probably turning over in his grave right now!” She became emotional and her voice cracked. I saw the tears in her eyes as she looked at her daughter. “Don’t you see how much this is hurting me?”
Kisha reached out and touched her arm. “Ma, I’m sorry. I’m not trying to hurt you.”
Ms. Betty reached up and wiped the tears that had escaped her eyes and were now rolling down her cheeks. “You are my baby so naturally when you hurt, I hurt. I’m not trying to run your life, contrary to what you and other people may believe.” She shot me a nasty look and then looked back at Kisha. “I just want to see you happy. I don’t want to see you crying and upset all of the time.”
“I know ma. I will only be a minute…okay?” Instead of replying Ms. Betty walked back into the house. Kisha pulled the door closed and we walked out to the car.
“Do you want to sit in the car?” I offered.
“Nope.” She was short. “Talk…”
I knew this wasn’t going to be easy. Especially not now after Ms. Betty’s heart-warming ‘you don’t need no man, you are a strong black woman’ speech! I turned to Kisha and tried to take her hand but she snatched back.
“Talk…” She repeated.
I rubbed my hand over my head. “Kisha, this bitch is lying! I don’t know that chic no more than working with her! I have no idea why she put that shit on my Facebook page or why she is accusing me of being her kid’s daddy but I have never touched her! That girl is crazy!” She took her phone out of her pocket and started pushing buttons. “What are you doing?”
She handed me her phone with her Facebook page pulled up on it. I saw that it was open to her inbox and there were messages between her and Lala. “Prove it! Message her and let her know that it’s you messaging her. Tell her that since she is accusing you of being her babydaddy, you would like a blood test!”
I think that my heart stopped beating. “You want me to do what?”
“You heard me!”
“Even if I say it’s me. It’s being sent from your page so she may not respond.” That was all I could think of to say. I knew that Lala would be more than happy to give my ass a blood test! Fuck!
“Oh she’ll respond. If she’s telling the truth, which I believe that she is. You acting like you are Lil’ Wayne or somebody important where bitches just want to go around blaming babies on you! Boy bye! You ain’t nobody special like that! Why would that girl just chose you out of all of these men in the world?”
“I don’t know Kisha but I am telling you that she did! Why can’t you just believe me? You say that you want us to get married, right?” I didn’t give her a chance to respond. “Well would you believe the next chic over your husband?”
She looked at me and rolled her eyes. “That marriage shit ain’t gone work this time! Every time we get in an argument you want to play the ‘what if we were married’ card or the ‘how are we supposed to get married if you don’t trust me’ card! I don’t want to hear that shit! You need to be sending your babymama that message telling her that you want a blood test!”
I typed in the message and sent it already knowing what Lala’s reply would be but I had to do it in order to please Kisha. At this point I had no other choice! “I did it. So now can you and the boys come back home?”
She started laughing. “You really do think I’m stupid don’t you? I will come home after I read the results of the blood test! Good night Tre!” She tried to walk off but I grabbed her arm.
“Wait a minute! What if she doesn’t agree to the blood test? Then what?”
“Then that will tell me that she has something to hide and that I owe her two ass whoopings when I lay eyes on her instead of one!”
“What about you coming home?”
“We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.” She snatched away from me and went inside the house.
I got in my car and backed out of the driveway feeling defeated.
Kisha
Four days later…
After getting the boys dressed and off to school. I sat down at the computer to check my Facebook page. I was still waiting on LaQuela to reply back to the message that Tre had sent her from my page. Deep down inside I was hoping that she wouldn’t reply. I was hoping that maybe for once, just once Tre was actually telling the truth and that she was the liar. I was hoping that she was really some desperate crazy bitch who lying on him but all of my hoping proved to be futile once I logged into my Facebook page. I went to my inbox and saw that there was a message from LaQuela. She had agreed to give Tre the blood test, which confirmed what I’d been hoping wasn’t true. She’d scheduled an appointment in four weeks at 11:00am at a place
called Rapid DNA Testing in Danville, VA.
“Gotdamn it, Tre! Why couldn’t you have been telling the truth just this once?” I thought about texting him and telling him about the message but then something crossed my mind. She had his number so he probably knew about the appointment before I did. I felt like such an ass for even considering texting him.
I sat there reading over her message and finally I had the urge to drink. It was only 8:45 in the morning but I needed a drink and something to help numb the pain. I’d taken a shower after putting the boys on the bus so I logged out of my Facebook page and got up from the chair that I was sitting in and went into my old room to find something to put on.
I chose a pair of dark blue jean capris, a pink halter top and some pink flip flops. I took off my scarf and combed down my wrap and put on a little bit of lip gloss. I grabbed my pocketbook and my keys. After locking up the house, I got in my car and popped in my Nicki Minaj cd. I drove down the streets with the windows down snapping my fingers and singing along to the music. I wanted to be free of all of the pain for a little while! I was tired of hurting! I wanted to be free of all thoughts of Tre, LaQuela and their babies for just a little while.
My first stop was at the corner store. The first person, I saw when I pulled up was Skeet. He and Tyson were posted up in front of the store as usual. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what they were doing. For a second, I thought about leaving and going to another store. I didn’t feel like talking to either of them and I knew that Skeet would want to hold a conversation. I wasn’t in much of a talking mood. I got out of the car and headed inside the store.
“What’s up fellas?” I spoke on my way inside the store.
Side Chic 2 (A Ratchet Mess) Page 10
