Juice

by Nako

  Tia hugged her, tight. “Love you more.”

  She texted Juice, “Okay.”

  Her crew left, and she sat on one of the small couches and crossed her legs, patiently waiting on him to return.

  In the meantime, she texted Jhene to check on her. Tomorrow would be spent with her before taking her back to campus. Jhene couldn’t let that boy keep her out of the way. Tia wasn’t having it.

  It took thirty minutes for Juice to get Mahogany off the stage, undressed, make up removed, clothing changed and in the truck.

  “Where you going?” she questioned after noticing that he wasn’t getting in beside her.

  “I’ma fly out to LA. I’ll meet y’all there.”

  Mahogany knew that this had everything to do with Tia.

  “Juice.”

  He held his fist out for their infamous dap. “Text me before you take off.”

  She breathed loud enough for him to hear, “Alright.”

  Genesis already knew what the move was. Juice pedaled back into the arena. He had one of the employees bring Tia backstage.

  “I gotta sign this paperwork real quick then we can head out,” he told her quickly.

  She wasn’t in a rush. Tia was well rested, she slept all day once she got home from Chanda’s house.

  After he handled his business, he grabbed her hand, like he used too…and led her to a truck.

  “I got it,” he told the driver, who had hopped out to open the door.

  The car ride was silent. Tia didn’t plan on saying shit.

  Juice was on the phone with Genesis, firing off instructions for the next stop.

  It took them forty minutes to make it to the studio.

  “I promised my homie I would check out his artist. We not gon’ be here long.”

  Juice was still a busy nigga. Tia nodded her head, “I’m not tripping.”

  “You hungry?”

  Damn, he knew he had to stop ogling her. Luckily, his intense gaze didn’t bother her. A woman comfortable and confident in her skin was a major turn-on.

  “We can eat later,” she said as if she’d spend the rest of her night, or hell, her life with him.

  Juice kept it cool, nodding his head, “Alright. Come on.” He helped her out of the truck and grabbed her hand, again.

  Tia let him do whatever he wanted. She had already slapped him, that was enough.

  She turned her phone off. Tired of the constant buzzing in the group chat. The studio was well-lit but smoky as fuck. She grabbed the nearest seat and let Juice do what he came to do.

  Seeing him in his element for the first time in a long time reminded her of when he first got started.

  He had come a long way, they both had.

  Tia wanted to smile but didn’t.

  It was still fuck him.

  Juice heard about nine songs before giving his opinion.

  “I’m fucking with it, but how many other niggas out here rapping about this?” he was only stating facts.

  “When you get in the booth, ask yourself what will set me aside from everyone else. We not into one-hit wonders. Let’s create a legacy. That’s the shit I’m on.”

  Tia felt where he was coming from.

  The young hungry artist nodded his head and then shook his head, “I’m on it, boss.”

  Juice…being called a boss?

  Dreams came true. In that moment, she was proud.

  They left momentarily.

  Back in the truck, he asked her what she wanted to eat, and she told him, “I’m not really hungry but if you are…we can go get food.”

  “Nah, I’m good. I’m fasting which means no smoking and drinking.”

  Tia followed up with, “So, no appetite.”

  They shared eye contact as he said, “Exactly.”

  Juice licked his lips, hungrily… for something else. Tia looked edible. She still looked like she…belonged to him. He knew it was a far-fetched thought for him to hope and pray that no one had touched her body…other than him. Wishful thinking.

  “I can eat though…”

  She contained the smirk that really wanted to pop up on her face.

  “Yeah I bet.” She wasn’t letting this nigga eat her pussy ever again… or, at least that’s what she was trying to convince herself. However, the night was young and so were they.

  C H A P T E R 10

  It’s crazy I made her that way – 6lack

  All she could hear was Lauryn Hill singing, “Strumming my pain with his fingers,” as they somehow made it from the truck, to the parking lot of the hotel, to the lobby where they had two rounds of drinks, from the bar of the hotel, to the elevator where he never took her eyes off her. Then they slowly walked to his hotel room, him behind her, a few steps back which she was thankful for because her heart was beating like crazy. He couldn’t find the hotel key card in his wallet…so she nervously stood there while he emptied his pocket, finding the card, laughing slowly.

  “Yo, you got my head fucked up,” he admitted to her.

  She remained silent.

  “I done broke my damn fast,” he mumbled under his breath.

  The door opened, he allowed her to bypass him. She walked in and he followed.

  She heard him lock the door and turn the lights on. Clothes were scattered everywhere. He was still a junky man.

  Tia turned around and looked at him, waiting on further direction. He motioned for her to take a seat on one of the two couches in the en suite of his room. The bed was down the small hallway.

  Tia took a seat, it was now her turn to watch him. He didn’t do much though, placing his phone on the charger.

  “You’re not going to check on your fiancée?”

  Where did that question come from? She regretted it as soon as it slipped from her lips, but it was too late to take it back.

  He gave her a look that she couldn’t read…damn, she used to be able to read him so well.

  Juice asked her, “Does it matter?”

  His tone didn’t have any attitude in it, he merely wanted to know if she really cared or was looking for something to pick at.

  Faaizah was staying at her parents’ house tonight, so he would most likely catch up with her tomorrow. That was fine with him because tonight he was occupied.

  “Juice, you’re really getting married…”

  She shook her head, still extremely shocked and somewhat disappointed.

  He didn’t know what to say.

  “Come here,” his voice wasn’t bold or commanding.

  She got up and then sat back down.

  “You come to me.”

  Tia was being childish.

  Juice would do whatever she asked of him.

  He flipped his cell over, which was a bad habit. He was a nigga. They did shit like that.

  “Why you gotta be difficult?” he asked her once he was on her side of the room. He forced her to stand to her feet and wrapped his arms around her waist. Juice couldn’t help but to rub all on her booty. She didn’t stop him either.

  Whatever happened past this moment would be overly blamed on the liquor and mixed fucking feelings that she never dealt with from many years ago.

  Juice wanted to know, “Do you miss me?”

  In which she told him with no hesitation, “Hell no.”

  He shook his head. “That’s cool, I can fix that.”

  Tia wondered how that would be possible with him having a damn fiancée. FUCK! She couldn’t stop thinking about him being tied down to someone else other than her. It had her mind boggled. Completely.

  “You hold her like this?”

  Juice smacked his lips, “You gon’ do this all night? Cus I can go to sleep.”

  He was grown. This shit right here was for the birds.

  “You think I give a fuck about you being mad that I’m asking you questions? I have the right…”

  “You don’t though. I’m not with you anymore.”

  “Well, what is this?” she shot back.

  He ran h
is hands over his waves.

  “Clearly a bad idea.”

  Juice had to ask himself the same shit… What was this? Nothing that needed to happen.

  “You’re right…let me go.”

  She reached behind her, grabbing her clutch.

  “Thanks for the tickets, you take care.”

  Juice didn’t stop her. He didn’t follow her to the door either. She was a big girl, she would get home just fine. He showered and called Faaizah, knowing she was sleep but would wake up to talk to him.

  “Babe, is everything okay?”

  He told her, “Yeah, I wanted to hear your voice.”

  She smiled in the camera, staring at him with so much love, respect and admiration in her eyes.

  “I miss you.”

  They’d been arguing about stupid stuff lately and she wanted it to stop.

  “I miss you more. I think I’m going to come home tomorrow. Genesis can hold it down.”

  His mind was foggy, and he needed to regroup. Tia could’ve been a fuck up and he wasn’t trying to make those kinds of mistakes in his relationship with Faaizah. She trusted him, never questioned him about shit and it was because he never gave her a reason too. That wouldn’t change.

  “I would love that. We can go bowling, it’s been a minute since we did that,” she said happily. Truth be told, his girl was lame as shit. She was corny, yet cool as hell and funny. She loved to cook. She was a homebody, a fun night to her was playing checkers with her family and having more than a glass of wine. Faaizah wasn’t into designer shit or fancy clothes. He could come home with roses and some I love you balloons versus a Saks Fifth Avenue bag and she was pleased. It didn’t take away from anything nor did he love her because of those things. Life with Faaizah wasn’t complicated. It wasn’t distant. It wasn’t forced or pressed. It flowed. She loved him, it was simple. They rarely argued and if they did, nine times out of ten it was his fault. She was easy to get along with. She didn’t have baggage or past issues that he was forced to deal with. Tia did. Tia came with a lot and why in the fuck was he up comparing them while on the phone with his fiancée making plans to go bowling where nine times out of ten she was going to invite her family.

  “Baby, you heard me?” she asked him, bringing him back to the conversation.

  “Yeah, yeah. That sounds like a plan.”

  “Okay, yay! I’m going to tell mom in the morning. Love you.”

  His point was proven.

  “Love you more, goodnight.”

  Faaizah told him, “Don’t let the bed bugs bite.”

  He couldn’t help but to smile, loving that corny ass shit.

  “Night boo.”

  He rolled over, placed his phone on the charger and went straight to sleep.

  On the other side of town, the roles have been reversed and now Tia was pouring her heart out to a confused and sleepy Jhene.

  “Did you want to do it with him?”

  Tia shrugged her shoulders. “I have control. I knew that it wasn’t worth my self-respect.”

  “What does that mean?”

  She sipped from a glass of water. “It wasn’t worth it… Okay, you’re grown and I’m going to keep it real with you…”

  Jhene wanted to scream, “FINALLY!” But she only moved her head a tad to let Tia knew that she’d heard her.

  “Why in the hell would I fuck him for a few hours?”

  She thought about it some more and then said, “All night cus he had crazy stamina.” She shook her head at the memories flooding her mind.

  Tia had so much to say tonight, more than she’d ever said about her personal life to anyone.

  “Anyway, it wasn’t worth how I would feel once it was over. He gets to go home to his fiancée. It’ll be me at work in my feelings, replaying the shit in my head all night. I can’t do that. I wasn’t going to do it. I deserve more from a man, any man, including him. I don’t settle. I don’t have casual sex.” She was actually preaching and reminding herself of her standards as she spoke.

  “You never heard of YOLO?”

  Tia was too damn old to be doing shit because you only live once.

  AIDS was real.

  “Yeah but that’s not me.”

  Jhene then asked, “What if tonight could’ve changed things for y’all?”

  “How?”

  “Do you think he still loves you?”

  Of course, he did. Juice had been blowing her phone up for weeks.

  “Yeah.”

  “What about you?”

  She really didn’t know.

  “Not sure, I do a good job of…. ugh, I need a therapist,” she admitted.

  “I would go back,” Jhene gave her two cents.

  “Girl, I am not going back over there!”

  Jhene told her, “Okay, goodnight.”

  She was sleeping when Tia came home and turned all the lights on, demanding that she wake up and talk to her.

  “I’m not sleepy though.”

  Unfortunately, that wasn’t her problem.

  “Tia, I don’t know what to tell you. You like being single, you like being alone. You don’t want to have casual sex, but you do it with your friend when he comes-”

  “HUH?”

  She knew that Jhene didn’t just say that.

  “Oh, my bad I forgot I have to act like I didn’t know,” she playfully rolled her eyes.

  Tia never told anyone that her and Coop…sometimes had sex.

  “Who told you that?”

  “You made a mistake and called me one time…I hung up though, after like a minute,” she giggled.

  Tia was so fucking embarrassed. She dropped her head. “I am the worst mentor in the world.”

  “Why don’t you like him?”

  She paused before saying… “I do, he’s my best friend.”

  “If you had to choose between him and Juice, who would it be?”

  No hesitation, “Juice…but he’s engaged.”

  Jhene said, “If you say so, I’m going to bed though. Can you cut the light off?” They were going to have the same conversation over and over again.

  Tia decided to let her rest. She went to shower and slipped into her pajamas before laying down. She tossed and turned all night.

  Hours later, after she finally dozed off, her phone rung. It was Juice calling. She watched the phone ring until it stopped.

  She had to let him go…although, she barely let him come back. It was the right thing to do.

  He followed up with a text in which she didn’t see until she woke up in the middle of the afternoon.

  I know you don’t want to hear how you’ve made me a better person, but you did. It was good seeing you, Ms. DiCaille, keep grinding!

  She loved the text message and went to tell Jhene to get dressed so they could get their day started. However, she stopped mid-stride once she saw that the blankets she gave her was folded and her living room was put back together, as if the little girl hadn’t been there all weekend.

  Tia checked her phone for a sign of where she was and there was a message that told her, Thank you for holding me down. I went back to school to catch up on homework, plus you were snoring super loud, lol… oh yeah, I checked Juice’s page and that man is so FINE! Life is short Tia. Love you and I’ll see you soon.

  What was she supposed to do for the rest of the day? She had enough of her girlfriends this weekend and didn’t want to see them for a few days. Tia had always been an introvert and they’d been the ones to bring her out of her shell.

  She went back to her room and laid back down.

  Bored and her was rarely in the same sentence.

  As if the universe heard her mind rambling. Her phone vibrated to notify her that she had yet another text message. Sometimes, she wished that she could live without a cell phone.

  “You ate yet?”

  Tia sat up and wondered should she reply…

  “No.”

  “Meet me at the Breakfast Klub, I bet you eat there all the time.”r />
  “Can you be seen in places like that?”

  He sent back the laughing emojis, “This your city, not mine. I’m good though, get up.”

  “I stay up the street, so give me thirty minutes to get dressed.”

  “See you then.”

  She knew she was going back on everything she said last night, but what the hell. She ain’t have shit else to do today.

  Tia brushed her teeth, washed her hair, threw her hair in a bun and found a pale-yellow maxi dress that fit her body perfectly. She applied lotion to her legs, slid her toes into a pair of Prada sandals and grabbed her purse. Today, she was wearing her jewelry. Every single piece that he copped her.

  Tia didn’t apply her favorite lipstick, BitterSweet Me by Mac until she pulled into a parking spot.

  “You need to get this damn truck washed.”

  Juice scared the heck out of her.

  “DON’T DO THAT!”

  She had her hand on her heart as she took deep breathes to calm her heartbeat.

  “My bad,” he backed up from the window and waited on her to pull it together.

  When she got out, she eyed him with attitude sketched all over her face. He thought it was cute.

  “I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking,” he told her as he smoothed her hair back.

  Tia told him, “I haven’t had any time to get my car washed. I be busy.”

  “Well, when we leave here that’s where we are going.”

  She asked, “Thought you was leaving today?”

  “Pushed my flight back…”

  “Why?”

  He shook his head, “I really don’t know.”

  Juice slept good last night but woke up in sweats. He kept having that same stupid ass nightmare about having to consider pulling the plug on someone he loved. He had no idea what it meant.

  The first person that came to his mind when he regained his thoughts was Tia. She kept being on his mental and he wanted to know why.

  “I’m starving, order me whatever you get,” he told her and then walked off to answer the phone.

  Tia went into the restaurant, hoping they could get a table. Sundays was the worst time to eat here because it was crowded, but she didn’t see a line which told her there was hope.

  “Hey baby, I called you this morning,” Juice told his fiancée.

  “We were in the garden. What time you land?”