by Deja King
"I need five hundred dollars, not tomorrow, not next week, but right now!" Tierra snapped, as she put on her Baby Phat denim jumper.
"What?"
"I didn't stutter. I need them coins. You been promising me the money for two weeks, and I'm still standing here with my hand out trying to make it rain. So you need to come off that money, like now." Tierra stood staring at Radric with her arms crossed and lips poked out.
"Baby girl, I didn't promise you shit," Radric said, coolly as he sat down on the bed, going through his text messages while smoking a Newport.
"Oh, you don't remember when I was on my knees sucking your dick, and between you oohing and aahing, you told me you'd give me that money so I could get caught up on some bills?"
"That shit don't count."
"Why not?"
"`Cause I was under duress. Shit, my dick was in your mouth. I didn't have no choice but to agree wit' whatever you said. You had me in a vulnerable predicament," Radric slightly smiled.
"Let's see how much you gon' be smiling when I call yo' girl and tell her you at the Ramada wit' me."
"Call her! Fuck, you can use my phone! I'll speak to her myself."
"Motherfucker, you ain't shit!"
"Damn right! And just like you know it, so do she."
Tierra grabbed her purse, pissed that she gave that nigga some pussy, again, when he hadn't hit her off with any money. But in reality, she would've fucked Radric regardless. She had been dealing with him off and on for over a year. Yeah, he had a girl, but so did just about every other nigga in these streets. But Tierra actually dug Radric. He was sexy as shit, and could fuck like no other. It just so happened that she was really hurting for the paper, and at the moment, had no time for free fucking. If Tierra had known Radric would be playing these types of games, she would've hit one of the low-level dudes around the way, who would've been throwing their dough to get down with a hood legend like Tierra, with no questions asked.
"Fuck you, Radric! I ain't got time for this shit tonight."
"Tierra, baby, where you going?"
"Don't `baby' me. You got me over here begging you for chump change. Fuck that! I got moves to make."
"I thought you was riding wit' me to LaGuardia to pick my man up from the airport?"
Tierra crossed her arms in front of her chest and stared at Radric like he was smoking crack. "Nigga, I ain't going nowhere wit' you. Dude, I got bills to pay."
"Shut the fuck up wit' that silly shit. You know I got you. Here, take yo' five bills so we can go," he said, pulling out a wad of cash from his back pocket and peeling off five Benjamin Franklin's.
"Why you play so fuckin' much?" Tierra moaned, relieved but exasperated for having to go through all these changes to get money she desperately needed.
"`Cause I like seeing you get all worked up."
"Well, since I gave you your entertainment for the evening, you can pay me for that too," Tierra hissed, grabbing three more bills off the top of Radric's stash before he had a chance to put it back in his pocket.
He started to frown up, but before he could say anything, Tierra cut him off. "Let's just call us even now."
"Whatever! Let's go," Radric said, grabbing his car keys as they headed out.
On their drive to LaGuardia, Tierra sat back in Radric's Range Rover, thinking about how fucked up the last few weeks had been for her. She was living in an apartment she couldn't afford, and scrambling to make this month's rent. She had gotten the final cut-off notices for her electric and cable bills. She hadn't paid her car note in two months, and knew the repo man would be showing up at any minute trying to take her shit. That's why she had it stashed at one of her girlfriend's crib. Tierra couldn't understand how her life had taken such a drastic turn for the worse so quickly. It seemed like yesterday that money was flowing in every direction for the chocolate-brown beauty. And now, at the ripe age of twenty-one, the well seemed to be drying up.
"Yo, there my man go right there," Radric belted out, breaking Tierra out of her somber thoughts. He pulled his truck over at the American Airlines terminal, and Tierra instantly zoomed in on the tall, slender cat. As he walked closer to the truck, she had never seen a man with such a rich, smooth auburn complexion. It looked like you could glide your finger across his face and, it would feel like silk.
Radric jumped out the car and gave the dude a hug, showing mad love. "Man, it's good to see you."
"Likewise. Now, let me get in before one of these knuckleheads come over here telling us to fuckin' move."
Radric popped the trunk, and his friend threw his bags inside before getting in the backseat. "Renaldo, this is Tierra."
"Hey, nice to meet you," Tierra grinned.
"Nice to meet you too. But nigga, you need to stop playing. Only my mother calls me Renaldo. You can call me Renny."
"Got you."
"You gon' always be Renaldo to me," Radric joked.
"Whatever, so what we doing tonight?"
"What you wanna do?"
"It's on you, but I damn sure want something good to eat."
"Yo, I know this new spot where the food is on point. We can go there. You rolling wit' me?" Radric turned and asked Tierra.
"I don't know. There were a few things I needed to handle."
"It can wait. Call one of your girls up. She can come with us."
"You so damn bossy!"
"You know it!"
"I'll call Nichelle... nah scratch that, she got school in the morning."
"School? You `bout to have my man on some jailbait shit," Radric teased.
"Nichelle got a man. Ain't nobody tryn'a hook her up wit' your people. I'll call Simone. She might wanna come." Tierra flipped open her cell phone and called her friend. Simone was always down for a free meal, especially one with a cutie like Renny.
The phone just rang, until finally she picked up. "Hello," Simone answered with an attitude.
"What's up? Everything a'ight?"
"My baby daddy trippin' and shit, but I'll be straight. What's up?"
"Nothing. I'm going out to dinner with Radric and his friend. Do you wanna roll with us?"
"Girl, yes! I need a good meal, and I know Radric ass gon' take us to a fly joint."
"Cool. So we'll pick you up in about an hour."
"Nah, I'll meet you there, `cause I have to find a babysitter."
"Make sure you come, Simone."
"I got you. Trust me, I want that meal and a few drinks too. Text me the location."
"I'm on it," Tierra said, flipping her phone shut.
"So, is your girl coming or what?" Radric inquired.
"Yeah, she's gonna meet us there."
"There was no need to bring a friend for me. I'm good," Renny said, leaning back in the seat.
"I know you ain't hard up, nigga. I just wanted someone to entertain Tierra so she wouldn't be all up in our shit."
"Fuck you! I ain't got no problem going home! You can drop me off now."
"Yo' ole feisty ass always gotta get extra," Radric said, playfully tapping Tierra on the head.
"Whateva, nigga! Being feisty is the only flow you respect, and that's real talk," Tierra smacked, as she gave Radric the side-eye and glanced back at Renny.
Tierra did hope Simone would find a babysitter and meet them for dinner. Renny was too cute to pass up, and being that he was Radric's friend, he was off limits to her. She couldn't help but think that it would be a damn shame to let all that fineness go to waste.
"Damn, Radric, I thought you said this spot was on point!" Tierra popped, squeezing into the small booth at the hole in the wall restaurant.
"I said the food was on point... and it is," he said, signaling the one waitress over, who was working every table.
"It's always the raggedy spots like this that be having the killa food," Renny commented, cracking open the menu.
"No need for that," Radric said, grabbing the menus. "I'll be ordering for all of us." He handed the menus to the waitress. "And yo, where y
our friend at? Call and find out if she still coming. Ain't no sense in ordering her some food if she ain't gon' show up."
Right when Tierra was about to hit the talk button on her cell, Simone came busting through the door in an outfit more appropriate for a nightclub than a dingy restaurant. Tierra waved her hand, getting Simone's attention.
"Yo, I just knew you must've texted me the wrong address when the taxi pulled up to this spot," Simone said, sliding her slim figure in the seat next to Renny.
"Girl, I said the same thing when we walked up in this place. But Radric swear down this food is the truth."
"Shit, I wasted a good outfit and a babysitter for this!" Simone complained, doing an intense stare down of the scene, until her eyes rested on the man sitting next to her. She had been so busy being disgusted with Radric's choice of restaurant, that she hadn't paid attention to the eye candy right in front of her. "And who might you be?"
"That's Renny," Tierra answered, before anybody else had a chance to say anything.
"Nice to meet you, Renny." Simone extended her hand, and at the same time gently kicked Tierra's leg under the table. Tierra smiled, knowing her friend's disappointment had quickly shifted after seeing what she could possibly have for dessert.
"Good to meet you too. For a minute we thought you wasn't gonna be able to make it."
"Luckily for me, I was able to," Simone said, casually licking her lips in Renny's direction.
"Oh, so you good on the restaurant now, huh, Simone? You wasn't saying that a minute ago."
"Radric, ain't no need for you to get testy. I don't have a problem admitting when I'm wrong. This place definitely has a lot more to offer than I originally thought," she said, giving Renny a flirtatious smile.
It was Tierra's turn to kick Simone's leg, and both women gave each other an undercover wink, which they knew meant, Good looking out!
ern eJ~G~I~~
(~Jll'ePt6
They say life is what you make it, and as Nichelle sat in her sixth period class, bored with listening to the English teacher, clearly she wasn't making much of hers. She stared at the clock on the wall, counting down each minute and waiting for the bell to ring so she could break out. Let's just say, scholar she was not, and she had no intentions of ever being one. Nichelle felt what they were teaching in class couldn't prepare her for the survival tactics necessary to exist in the streets.
Instead of using the hour to absorb knowledge from the books, Nichelle would reminisce back on the period in her life when she thought shit was sweet. This was in Charlotte, when she lived in a nice house with two parents. Money wasn't an issue, and her mother stayed in the mall, shopping all the time, and buying her new clothes and toys.
That quickly changed, like so many other things, after that fateful day. Their journey had led them from shacking with damn near complete strangers, to staying in homeless shelters, to finally planting roots in Queens, New York. Reliving that painful voyage kept a dark cloud of depression over Nichelle. The only way she found solace back then, was in her belief that somehow a better life awaited her, and one day that was exactly what happened.
"I'll see you all tomorrow, and don't forget your essay is due on Friday," the teacher told the class after the bell rang. Hearing that announcement instantly brought Nichelle out of her daydreaming.
"Nichelle, can I speak to you for a moment?"
"Sure. What is it, Mr. Chambers?" she asked, chewing on her watermelon flavored bubble gum.
"How's your essay coming along?" Mr. Chambers sat down on the edge of his desk and lowered his glasses to the tip of his nose, waiting for her response.
"It's coming," Nichelle answered, nonchalantly.
"Nichelle, you're on the verge of flunking this class. If you don't do well on this essay, you will no longer be on the verge... you will flunk."
"I got you. I'm almost done," she lied, knowing that she hadn't even written the first word."
"Excellent. I'm glad to hear it."
With that, Nichelle turned to walk away, anxious to bail on her uptight teacher.
"Oh, Nichelle," he called out before she had a chance to leave.
"Yes?" she turned her head around quickly to see what else the teacher had to say. That's when she caught him giving her ample ass that same lustful glare the boys in her high school did.
"If you need any help on your essay, please don't hesitate to ask. That's what I'm here for, to help my students," he added.
"I'll keep that in mind. But... umm... I need to be going," she said, dismissing her teacher as she walked out the classroom thinking one thing: The lust of the flesh )ras the same for all men. Whether they were dope boys from around the way, or so-called upstanding men wearing a tie and slacks, they all had pussy on the brain.
Nichelle had that opinion about all men, until she met and fell in love with Carmelo Clayton. Carmelo was the man who swooped in and gave her that better life she thought was out of her reach for so long. Before he came along, it was all about watching, and sometimes helping her girl, Tierra hustle dudes for whatever she could get. But that was no longer necessary, because Carmelo fulfilled all of Nichelle's needs. If Nichelle had her way, she would say, "Fuck school" and spend every minute of every day with him. But Carmelo insisted that she graduate and get a high school diploma, so that's what she intended to do.
Nichelle grinned as she walked out front to the school parking lot and saw Carmelo waiting in his regular spot to pick her up. She loved how all the females would be sizing up her man, wishing they were the ones sitting in the passenger side of his silver, chromed out Benz. Some of the chicks in her school truly had no shame. They would damn near throw the pussy at him. They would walk in front of his ride and act like their skirts were somehow accidentally being lifted up. But yet, they were panty-less, and all you saw was bush. Others would walk right up and knock on the driver's side window, handing him their digits. He would give them that million-dollar smile, and simply toss the paper on the ground.
"Watch where you going!" one of Carmelo's annoying admirers barked as she purposely bumped into Nichelle as she was walking to Carmelo's car.
"Lerrick, why don't you watch where you going, since you bumping into me, not the other way around."
"Ain't nobody doing shit to you. Please! She think she so damn cute," Lerrick hissed, to one of her friends as she brushed her shoulder against Nichelle.
"Oh, you dying for an ass whooping out here, ain't you, Lerrick?" Nichelle put her hand on her waist, letting her adversary know not to let the innocent face fool you.
"Baby, is everything a'ight?" Carmelo called out, stepping out of his Benz.
Both Nichelle and Lerrick turned in Carmelo's direction, and then back at each other.
"I'm straight, boo, unless Lerrick got something to say." Nichelle folded her arms and gave Lerrick the standoff look.
Lerrick rolled her eyes and went back to talking to her friend.
"Oh, that's what I thought." Nichelle tossed her hair in Lerrick's face as she turned and walked towards her man.
Lerrick and her friends stared in disdain as Carmelo greeted Nichelle with a hug and kiss, lifting her slightly off the ground. "That bitch make me sick! But she gon' get hers one day, just wait and see," Lerrick seethed.
"What happened over there?" Carmelo asked, as they got in the car and he drove off.
"Hating ass ho's, that's all. Nothing you need to worry about, baby."
"Anything that involves you, I'm gon' always worry about," he said, reaching for Nichelle's hand.
"And that's why I love you, because you always got my back."
"And your front," he grinned.
Nichelle squeezed Carmelo's hand and smiled. To her, Carmelo was the best thing in her life. She would never forget the day she walked into the corner store over a year ago, as he was coming out. She had never seen a boy so cute in her entire life. His pecan complexion glistened in the sun. When he smiled at her, she was in awe of his perfectly straight teeth, mainly
because she was wearing braces and was dying to get them taken off. Her long black hair was up in a ponytail, and she had some cut-off shorts and a tank top on. It was one of the hottest days of the summer, and she wanted to reach for the bottle water he was holding and pour it all over her body.
When Carmelo smiled at her, she couldn't help but smile back, and was immediately embarrassed by all the metal decorating her mouth. She knew for sure he was turned off and thought he was wondering why this awkward girl was all up in his face. But instead of walking away, he stopped and said, "Where you get those cat eyes from?"
"My grandmother. Yeah, I got them from my grandmother," she repeated, as if this was going to be the only time she had a chance to speak to the guy she decided she wanted to be the father of her children.
"Is your grandmother still alive?"
"Yes."
"Well, next time you speak to her, you need to thank her for blessing you with those pretty eyes."
"I will," Nichelle replied, knowing she would probably never speak to or see her grandmother, since her mother said in no way could they have any communication with people from their past life. But Nichelle continued to grin and nod her head at the stranger as if he had her in a trance. The funny thing was, before that moment, Nichelle never did like her grayish-green eyes, because she felt they made her look weird. But hearing the compliment from the man that she instantly had a crush on made her pop her eyes open even wider.
"Promise?"
Nichelle just nodded her head yes, as she begged the Man up above not to let this dude walk out her life. He must of heard her, because by some miracle when she came back out of the store, Carmelo was waiting for her, and they had been together ever since.
"Girl, Radric is on his way. Where yo' peoples at? We can't bring Lil' Anthony with us on our date," Tierra huffed, as she watched Simone change her son's dirty diaper.
"My cousin was supposed to been here like twenty minutes ago, and she ain't answering her cell or her home phone."
