by J Peach
“Well, I wanna meet the man that done turned my hardcore Angie into this mushy bitch,” Ebony laughed.
“I agree with E. I can’t wait to really meet him as your boo,” Peaches cooed through the line, making my smile widen.
“So when you wanna do this?” Kim asked.
I hummed. “I don’t know, but soon and in public—”
“Your birthday is next week. We should rent a place and throw you a party— we can use the Rex. I’m sure King won’t mind. It’s public, we’ll have drinks it’ll be fun. Yeah, let’s do that,” Missy suggested.
That wasn’t a bad idea and given that I’d never really celebrated my birthday, aside from having a few drinks with the girls, I never really did anything such as having a party. “We can do that. I’ll invite his sister to come too. She’s cool, y’all might like her as well. Since it was Missy’s idea to have a party, I think it’s only fair she plans it. Anyone disagree?” I asked them.
“Nope,” they course together.
“I got you, baby, don’t trip. All you have to do is show up.” Missy sounded excited. “Shit,” she cussed before letting out a sigh. “I’ight, y’all. My client just walked in so I’ll talk to you bitches later. Love you, babes. Mwah.” Her lips smacked as she kissed the phone.
“Love ya, bitch,” We all sang before laughing.
“Yeah, I have to go too. Parker’s sister is supposed to be picking me up soon and I ain’t even ready.”
“Okay, boo. Call me when you get back home, that’s if lover boy ain’t coming back with you,” Kim joked.
“Yeah, Angel, you been kinda stank since you and Parker started dating,” Ebony feigned an attitude.
Laughing, my eyes rolled. “Yes, bitch, I have. I’ve finally found somebody that’s dishing out dick on a daily and who wanna spend time with me besides you hoes. So yes, I’m acting real funny. But you bitches know I love you. Hold on, all you bitches done did the same fuckin’ thing. Peach with Blaze, E with King, and hell Kim ol’ multitasking ass, that bitch jumping from two dicks. Y’all, don’t play with me,” I burst out laughing.
“Fuck you, bitch!” They once again yelled at me.
“Love you hoes’. Bye,” I sang before hanging up on them. Then I jumped off of the bed and removed the dry towel from my naked body. I grabbed my underclothes, putting them on. My phone soon started ringing. Meka’s named popped up on the screen. I started pulling up my black jeans as I answered the phone, putting it on speaker. “Hello?”
“Hey sweetie, you ready?”
“Yeah, I’m on my way out. Give me a sec, okay?”
“Alright,” Meka ended the call.
I pulled on my royal blue fitted V-neck shirt. I stepped into my royal blue ballet flats then grabbed my phone and purse. Snatching Parker’s keys off the dresser, I left his room. Quickly, I made my way down the stairs. Once I set the alarm, I left out the house, locking the door behind me. Parker had too many damn locks for my taste. He needed to get rid of some of them. After I put in the four digit key code, the door was officially locked.
I made my way to Meka’s shiny red and black Range Rover and got in. “Hey, thanks for coming to get me even though you didn’t have to.” Since the other night when I got sick, Parker didn’t want me to be by myself, especially since he had to leave the next day. I had managed to get out of leaving the house for the past two days, but Parker felt as if I needed to be watched because he didn’t know what was going on with me. He made it clear that he wasn’t going to stop worrying until the doctor told us otherwise. I got tired of explaining that I felt fine to him and just shut up, letting him win that argument.
“Girl, it was nothing. I don’t know why you want to be in that big ass house by yourself. I’d be bored out my mind in there,” she said as she pulled away from his house. Meka drove out of the gate and then stopped to close them back.
“I wasn’t bored, I was doing the class work I missed out on.” Since I had been hanging with Parker, I’d been slacking a little in school. Even so, I always manage to catch back up on my assignments.
“What you’re in school for? I remember P-Nut saying you were going but he didn’t tell me what for, though.” Meka asked.
“Criminal Justice. I like it. I just can’t wait until I’m done and can start my career.” Our conversation started with her asking questions about what direction I wanted to take when I received my degree.
***
“La’Var, you remember Angel, P-Nut’s girlfriend?” Meka asked her son as we walked into her living room.
“Yeah, I do. Hey, you see I got my jersey on,” he pointed out and then went back to playing his video game.
I laughed at him.
“Excuse him. When that damn thing on he don’t pay anyone no attention. You hungry or want something to drink?” She offered.
At the mention of food, my stomach growled loudly almost as if on cue. “I guess I am,” I laughed as I dug in my purse for my cellphone.
“Okay, I got some tacos in here. I’ll make you some unless you want something different,” she said.
I looked away from my phone to her. “No, taco’s are fine,” I said as I texted Parker, letting him know I was now with Meka.
“I’ll be right back,” Meka kicked off her shoes and sat her purse on the dining room table before walking out.
I started to walk toward the kitchen, but stopped once I heard the constant, “Psst!”
I glanced into the living room to see La’Var waving me over. Confused by his discreetness, I slowly walked over to him. “Yeah?” I asked.
He peeked around me. “Ms. Angel, don’t eat them tacos. They good, but you’ll be running to the bathroom. Tell her you want something else.” Then he turned his attention back to the game and started playing.
I started laughing, thinking it was funny. “Thank you for warning me.” I’m glad he said something because I did not want to fuck up her bathroom,
“La’Var, do you want some tacos?” Meka yelled from the kitchen.
“No. Can you fry me a burrito instead, please?” He called out to her.
A burrito sounded good to me. I walked into the kitchen where she was at. “I’ll take a burrito. I haven’t had one of those in a minute.” I sat on the counter stool.
“Girl, La’Var would live off these things if I let him.” She pulled the frozen food from the freezer, sitting them on the counter. Meka looked at me and smiled. “How’s everything going with P-Nut? You don’t seem to be in a rush to get back home.”
Laughing, I shook my head. “Is it that obvious?” I asked.
She nodded at me. “Unless you’re always smiling, then yeah. It’s very obvious. You just have this glow to you.”
My eyes rolled and I shrugged. “I like being with him. I don’t know how much he’s actually told you about me and dating. Parker’s like the first guy I’ve ever really dated. I’m not counting the first guy I talked to because I never felt anything like this. The things Parker and I do are so new to me,” I let out a groan.
“What?” She asked laughing.
Again, I shook my head and my eyes rolled. “It’s so bad because I actually look forward to our days and nights together. These past two days have been killing me. I haven’t slept by myself since me and Parker been together, you know. So it’s weird not having him there at night.” Parker made me feel safe and he filled that empty void I sometimes felt when I was alone.
“That’s not bad, it’s actually good. I know for sho P-Nut is loving you. I’ve never seen my brother this happy before or so carefree when it came to a female. I’m telling you, Angel, you’re the first woman he has brought around us. Girl, I thought he was going to come home early just to beat my ass because you wasn’t over here,” she informed me. “That damn man cussed me the fuck out like I was his little sister. And when I say cussed, I mean just that. That nigga told me if I didn’t get my stupid ass over there to get you he was gonna beat the fuck outda me,” her lips pursed together and her eyes
rolled.
“Now Parker and I might argue,” she continued, “but he has never been so harsh with me. Hell, I felt some type of way about that. I hung up on that nigga. I don’t know what’s going on with you, but that nigga is crazy worried and taking that shit out on everybody.” Her face turned into a slight mug and her eyes rolled, showing her annoyance with Parker.
I believed he really did go off on her because he had cussed me out the same way. “Why you think I’m here? I don’t have time to be arguing with that man. He been fussing at me since he left. I was all type of stupid mothafuckas,” I let her know. “Parker told me that once he got back home he was dragging my ass to the hospital. I’m just like okay, man, I’ll be over at Meka’s all day tomorrow. Girl, he was pissing me off. I don’t know how many times I have to tell that man I’m fine.”
Parker was getting himself worked up for nothing. I knew nothing was wrong with me and I couldn’t wait to show his ass what I knew so he could leave me the hell alone. Even so, it was nice to have someone worrying and fussing over my wellbeing.
“If you don’t mind me asking, what is wrong with you?” She asked.
My phone started ringing, cutting my reply off. “Hold on.” I pulled out both of my phones, my old cell was ringing. Ever since I talked to Martell I started carrying that phone around with me so he could call me about his money. I damn sure wasn’t going to give Martell my new phone number, especially given that I wasn’t trying to have anything else to do with him once I paid his money back to him.
But it wasn’t Martell that was calling me.
Because when I looked at the phone, Leon’s name showed up on the screen.
Chapter 14
Angel
The phone stopped ringing, but started right back. My finger hovered over the screen as I thought about answering it. My head shook and I rejected the call. After that shit happened between us and then Jerron’s ass snatching me up, I didn’t want to talk to him at all. My head shook as I thought on Jerron’s threats. And I didn’t want to risk talking to Leon only to have him be on his bullshit and dragging his brother into our shit.
Suddenly, my text notifications went off. I pulled up my messages and saw that it was from Leon.
Ang, I’m sorry how shit played out with us and how I was acting. The shit I did wasn’t cool. We was way better than that and the bullshit I was doing shouldn’t have never happened. I’m sorry, real shit. When you get the chance hit me up. I wanna make shit right between us.
Apologizing wasn’t something Leon did often whether he was right or wrong. So to read his message, I couldn’t lie and say it didn’t make me feel a little better. Especially if he was serious in realizing the bullshit wasn’t cool. I knew the friendship we had was dead, there was no coming back from everything he had done and caused. However, it wouldn’t hurt to get an honest apology and became cordial again because we wouldn’t be able to avoid each other forever.
I read his message once more and then put my phone back into my purse, deciding to deal with it later on. I turned my focus back to Meka.
“Sorry about that. There’s nothing wrong with me, it’s just a little bug that hasn’t fully passed yet. Parker thinks it’s something serious, whereas I don’t feel like it is. He feels that since he hasn’t gotten sick, it’s something more. I made a doctor’s appointment for next week so I could shut him up,” I shrugged because I didn’t think it was anything serious.
“Here,” Meka handed me a plate with two burritos on it. “La’Var, come get your food,” she called to her son. “How long have you had this bug?”
“Hmm,” I hummed as I thought about how long it had been since I’d been getting sick. “Umm, I don’t know. A few months, somewhere around there. At first it was like everyday, now it’s every other day. But it literally drains me afterwards,” I explained truthfully.
She turned and looked at me like I was crazy. “A few months? What the hell is wrong with you? No wonder he’s worried. Girl, don’t no damn bug last for no damn months if it’s nothing serious. A bug lasts from twenty-four to seventy-two hours. Anything longer than that and you need to be at somebody’s hospital. What symptoms are you having?”
I took a bite out of my burrito and started to chew. It wasn’t until I went to swallow that my stomach turned. Why did she have to ask that damn question? I grabbed a paper towel and spit the food into it.
“Where’s your bathroom?” My hand covered my mouth as I started taking deep breaths, but it wasn’t helping and I started to gag.
Meka led me to the restroom. “Right here,” she hurriedly pushed the door open and got out of the way.
The breakfast I had that morning came back up. There was nothing left in my stomach but that didn’t stop my body from still trying to be sick, as I began to dry heave. Meka held my hair and rubbed my back in a comforting manner. Regardless of the fact that I felt like nothing was seriously wrong with me, I hated being sick. Once I finished, I grabbed some tissue from the roll and wiped my mouth.
“Is this the bug that has Parker losing his shits?” There was a slight bit of amusement in Meka’s tone of voice.
My head nodded as I took deep breaths and felt myself about to get sick again.
“What are the other symptoms?” She helped me off of the floor and then went to the pantry and grabbed a new toothbrush. “Here,” she handed it to me.
“I sometimes feel frail, that’s it.” I turned on the water and rinsed my mouth.
“How many times out the day are you running to the bathroom?” Meka leaned against the wall with her arms folded under her chest, a slight smile tugged at her lips.
“Two, sometimes three times a day or every other day depending on what I eat or smell.” I started brushing my teeth. I glanced at her through the mirror and I could tell from the look on her face she wanted to say something else. After I rinsed my mouth a second time I put the toothbrush back in the pack. “What?” I turned to face her. “Why are you staring at me like that?”
Her mouth opened and then closed. She let out a sigh while scratching the side of her head. “Angel, do you think you might be pregnant?”
A loud laugh left my mouth before my hand covered it. “Oh, my God! I’m not pregnant.” My head shook at the absurdity of that even happening.
“Are you sure? Angel, the symptoms you’re having all points to that. Seriously, who has a bug for months at a time? No one. Unless it’s dire and you’ve already said you felt fine besides the vomiting. I think you might be pregnant,” she pointed out.
Again, my head shook. “No it’s not that. I’m always careful so that doesn’t happen—”
She cut me off. “So you’re on birth control?” She asked. I didn’t respond. “You and Parker use condoms every time you have sex?”
Oh, my God!
I leaned against the sink. I could admit that we had been careless and I honestly couldn’t remember the last time we used a condom.
“When was your last period?” She continued to question.
Now that she mentioned it, I realized I haven’t had one. Hell, I couldn’t remember the last time I had a fuckin’ period.
My breathing picked up. “No, I’m not pregnant. I can’t be.” My hand went to my chest as I tried to calm myself down, but the thought of having a little thing growing inside of my body scared the shit out of me. “I’m not pregnant.” I wasn’t pregnant. I couldn’t be. My chest heaved up, shaking as I breathed. Suddenly, I was panting. I couldn’t have a baby. I wouldn’t know what to do with it.
“Angel, you need to calm down.” Meka rubbed my arms as she breathed steadily. “Sweetie, we don’t know if it’s true. I could be wrong and you’re not pregnant, it could really just be a bug,” she tried to convince me.
“But I missed my periods,” I slid down the sink to the floor.
Meka came down with me. “You missed your periods? How many?”
My head shook. “I don’t know, maybe three.” I stared at her hopelessly.
&n
bsp; Her eyes went wide before she controlled herself. “That don’t mean anything. It could be stress.”
“Yeah, it could be stress,” I repeated, but I didn’t believe it. I’d been stressed my entire life and had never missed a period.
“Angel, you’re really scaring me. I’mma call Parker—”
“No!” I yelled grabbing her arm. “Please don’t call him. I’m fine, I promise. I’ll figure it out.” I wanted more than anything to get high at that moment. I took my shaky hands and rubbed them against my jeans.
“You’re crying. Oh, my God,” Meka said as she pulled me into a hug.
I was trying hard to hold myself together, but I couldn’t and broke down. “I don’t know what to do. I can’t be pregnant.”
“Sweetie, none of us ever do at first. That’s the good thing about having folks that love and care about you around. Because you don’t have to do it on your own. And trust me, as long as you have Parker, not knowing what to do is never going to be an issue, because he’ll have you. I promise. So this that you’re doing, stop it. Please,” she pleaded with me. “Whatever doubt or fear you have, erase it. I’m telling you this is one thing you don’t have to worry about or do alone. Okay?” Her head nodded, reassuring me of her words.
My head movement mimicked hers. Meka saying that kind of reassured me a little. But I hoped to God that I wasn’t pregnant and if I was I didn’t know what I was going to do. I didn’t know how to be a mom. Hell, I didn’t have a good experience with the one I had. So how was I to raise a baby? I didn’t know.
“You’re cool?” Meka asked.
“No. But I’ll be.” My head shook before it fell onto my knees, this was too much to take.
“Momma, Lexi here for you,” La’Var yelled from the hallway.
