Side Chic 3 (The Ratchetness Continues)

by West, La'Tonya

  “Nah…” My voice cracked. “It has nothing to do with her. It’s…” I paused because I was kind of ashamed to admit that I’d sit there and fallen for Tre all over again. I didn’t want her judging me and thinking that I was stupid for how I was feeling.

  “It’s what?” She sounded as if she was becoming agitated. “What’s wrong? Did Tre do something to you? Girl, you need to start talking because if that mother…”

  “No…no…Nisey, calm down. It’s nothing like that.” I tried to calm her down. It was funny how we hadn’t known each other that long but she had my back like we’d been friends forever. It made me feel good to know that she had my back.

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes, I’m sure.” At that moment Tre walked outside onto the porch carrying Lola. She was smiling like she was in the arms of the president. The girls had become just as attached to Tre as he had become to them. He handed Lola to me. “Hold on a second Nisey.” I sat the phone down on the swing and took the baby from Tre.

  “Laila is still sleep.” He told me. “I’m about to go. I’ll be back later on. If you need me for anything just hit me up.”

  “Okay.”

  He leaned over and kissed Lola on her cheek. “Bye-bye Fat Mama.” He told her. She just smiled up at him. He left and I picked the phone back up.

  “Hello.”

  “Yeah, I’m still here. Now tell me what’s going on.” Nisey responded.

  I took a deep breath. “I think I’ve fallen in love with Tre all over again.” I blurted. “I know that you are probably going to call me stupid and I know I must seem like the dumbest person in the world but I honestly didn’t mean for this to happen. I think it’s because I’ve been here under the same roof with him for so long. Seeing him day in and day out, us laughing and talking like old times and the man that he has begun to grown into right before my eyes, have all had an effect on me.” I explained myself all in one breath.

  “Are you finished?” She asked.

  “Yeah.” I waited for my friend to respond. I knew that she was going to keep it one hundred with me.

  “No, I don’t think that you are stupid. I knew that this was going to happen because of how you were about him when we first met. To be honest, I don’t think that you were ever really over him. You were upset with him because of how he was treating you and the girls before and then you tried to do the friendship thing because you felt like it was the right thing to do but deep down inside those feelings were always there. Plus, I think almost losing him may have a lot to do with it as well.”

  “Yeah, it did.”

  “So what do you plan to do about how you’re feeling? Are you going to tell him and see if he may be feeling the same way? I’m sure by having you there some things have probably changed for him as well. Especially, since you didn’t leave his side while he was in the hospital and you stayed even after he came home, waiting on him hand and foot until he was back on his feet completely.”

  That may have been true but it obviously hadn’t been that big of a deal because he’d gotten better and ran right into the arms of Mina! “Hmph…there isn’t any need in me wasting my time telling him anything. He has started kickin’ it with this chic named Mina that owns a hair salon here in town. As a matter of fact, he’s going over to her crib to watch movies tonight.”

  “Oh really?” I heard the surprise in her voice. “Well how serious is he with this chic Mina? I mean, is he claiming her as his woman? Are they sleeping together? Has she been by the crib? Has he introduced the two of you? Has she been around the kids?” She rattled off question after question.

  “Nah, he hasn’t introduced us and I don’t think it’s that serious between the two of them…yet. They’ve only been talking for a couple of weeks but he has been acting as if he isn’t used to her ass!” I felt myself getting heated at the thought of the two of them being together.

  “In that case, you shouldn’t be worried about ol girl. Tell him how you feel. If you don’t tell him then you will be sitting back looking stupid wondering ‘what-if’.”

  She was right. It wasn’t like Mina was his girlfriend or anything. “You know what Nisey, you’re right. At least if I tell him then I won’t be sitting back with any regrets wishing that I had opened my mouth. Whatever happens after I tell him is on him. At least I can say that I tried.”

  “That’s right.” Nisey laughed. “So when are you going to tell him?”

  “I don’t know, I will probably wait until Friday to tell him. That way if he tells me that he isn’t feeling me like that. I can just get in my car and take my red ass on home and it won’t appear that I am only leaving because he didn’t want me since I was already leaving anyways.” I explained.

  “What happens if he says that he’s feeling you too?”

  “Then…I won’t be returning to Danville on Friday. I will be in Boykins for a while longer.”

  “Well, I wish you luck but I don’t think you will need it. I have a feeling that he is going to inform you that he feels the same way.”

  I blushed at the thought. “I sure hope so.”

  “He will.” She assured me. “Watch you’re going to call me all excited and tell me the good news.”

  “Okay…we’ll see. I’m glad to see that someone is confident because I’m certainly not.”

  “You should be.” She replied. “Listen, don’t worry yourself about it. Everything is going to work out just fine. I have to go and start dinner. I will call you back later.”

  “Alright, bye.”

  “I’ll talk to you later.” We hung up and I went back inside.

  After changing and feeding Lola, I put her in her swing and got back to work on my book.

  Kisha

  It was Thursday morning, I moved about the kitchen cooking breakfast for Skeet and the boys. I’d been staying with him for the past month. I couldn’t take staying at my mama’s house for one more minute. She was beginning to get on my last damn nerve with her constant bitching! I couldn’t do anything to please her. Nothing was good enough! Staying with Skeet wasn’t proving to be easy either. We argued about everything. We stayed upset with each other more than we did happy with each other. This move was beginning to seem like a bad decision. He was very hot-headed, something that I hadn’t known before. He seemed to flip about everything, big or small. He couldn’t stand for me to disagree with anything that he said or did. There was no way I was going to sit around and be his ‘yes woman’. I had my own mind. That had been one of my biggest mistakes with Tre, going along with everything that he said just to ensure that he was happy. That Kisha didn’t exist anymore. She’d died the day that I’d found out about Lala and the twins.

  Quan and Shaun sat at the table coloring in their activity books waiting for me to finish cooking. They’d been enjoying the books so much that I hadn’t heard much out of them all morning. I was thankful and made a mental note to pick them up some more books.

  Skeet walked into the kitchen and smacked me on the ass before wrapping his arms around my waist from behind and planting a wet kiss on the side of my face. “Good morning wit yo’ sexy ass.”

  “Skeet!” I wiggled out of his embraced and pushed him off of me. “Don’t be doing that in front of my kids!” I didn’t like him smacking me on my ass and feeling me up in front of them and I’d told him that before but he obviously hadn’t taken me seriously.

  “Chill out. Damn…you act like I was rubbing on your pussy or your titties or something.” He spat sucking his teeth.

  “Will you please watch your damn mouth in front of my kids? They are not used to hearing stuff like that! Tre would have a damn fit if he heard you say something like that in front of them.” I shook my head, glancing over at the boys. Luckily they were still coloring in their books and weren’t paying the two of us any attention.

  “I don’t give a fuck about Tre having a fit! This is my motherfuckin’ crib and I will say what I want when I want. You must’ve bumped your head!” He leaned u
p against the counter and stared me down. I rolled my eyes and turned my attention back to the bacon that I was frying. “You can roll your eyes all you want but don’t be throwing that nigga’s name up in my face like I am supposed to be scared or something.”

  “Ain’t nobody say shit about you being scared of him, did I? I said that he would have a fit if he heard you speaking that way in front of the boys!” I slammed the spatula down on the counter! “He is funny over them. Would you want someone saying disrespectful shit around your kids?” I paused and waited for him to say something but he didn’t he just looked the other way. “Exactly, what I thought! And another thing, I know that this is your crib. I don’t need you reminding me of that every time that we have a disagreement. If you feel like that’s something that you need to do then let me know now and I can pack my shit, get my kids and get the fuck on! You feel me?”

  He closed the distance between us in on step getting in my face. “Yo, who do you think you are talking to? Don’t let your mouth get you fucked up in here!”

  “Do what you feel like you need to do!” I told him placing my hand on the handle of the bacon pan. I wasn’t about to allow another man to put his hands on me and if he did we would both end up fucked up.

  “Leave my mama alone!” Shaun jumped up and ran over to me hugging my legs. Quan was right on his heels. He stood next to Shaun looking up at Skeet.

  “I’m not going to mess with your mama.” Skeet assured them still eyeing me.

  I took my hand off of the handle of the pan. “Y’all go back and sit at the table. The food will be ready in a minute.” Neither of them moved. They stood still staring up at Skeet. “Go ahead, I’m fine.” I told them. They hesitated for a moment before doing what they’d been told.

  “I’m out yo.” Skeet told me before storming out of the kitchen. A few minutes later I heard the front door slam. I finished cooking and fixed the boys and myself a plate. I took their books and crayons and placed them on the counter. Then I sat down at the table to eat.

  While we were eating, Quan asked. “Are we still going over to grandma’s and papa’s house today?” I’d promised them that I’d take them over to Tre parent’s house.

  “Yes as soon as we finish eating and I clean this kitchen back up because I have a hair appointment and I am not about to take y’all with me. I don’t have time to be up in there telling y’all a million times to sit down.”

  “Yay!” Shaun cheered. “We get to play with the pool table. Ma, did you know that papa has a pool table?” He crammed a whole slice of bacon into his mouth and looked up at me waiting for an answer.

  “You and Quan tell me about it every time you two go over there and come back.” I laughed.

  “Oh, do you like to play pool?” He asked.

  “No, I don’t know how.”

  “I could teach you.”

  I laughed reaching over and rubbing his head. “Okay, that would be nice. Now go ahead and finish up your food.”

  We all finished eating and then I took them over to Tre’s parent’s house. After dropping them off, I drove to Roanoke Rapids, NC to get my hair done where I’d gotten it cut. On my way back my cell phone rang. I reached over in the passenger seat and picked it up. Skeet’s name was flashing on the screen. I started not to answer but then I figured that it might be something important so I pressed send. “Hello.”

  “Yeah, where you at?” He asked. The attitude from earlier was now gone. Just like always, he’d get mad, act like an ass and then a few hours later expect everything to be cool.

  “I’m on my way back from North Carolina. Why?”

  “What you mean why?” He snapped. “You’re my woman. I have a right to know where you are, don’t I?”

  I ignored his question and asked. “Did you want anything else?”

  “Kisha, for real drop the attitude. You get mad over dumb shit. You know that I didn’t mean any harm this morning when I walked into the kitchen and smacked you on the ass. I always do that shit.”

  He still wasn’t getting the point. “It would’ve been different if you and I had been alone. I wouldn’t have minded but my children were sitting right there at the table. I would think that you could see my point…obviously not.” I explained frustrated and ready to end the call.

  I heard him let out a sigh. “I get it, okay. My bad, I guess I’m just not used to having kids around.”

  “I understand that but there are some things that are just plain common sense.” I wasn’t about to let it go that easily. I needed him to know that certain things would not be accepted. “Then on top of everything you want to throw in my face that, that’s your spot. I don’t have time for that shit for real. I know that’s your crib but you also knew when you asked me to move in that we were going to have disagreements. Yet every time that something doesn’t go your way you want to throw in my face that’s your house. If you feel like you need to keep reminding me of that every time you get mad, let me know now. I will go back to my mama’s house.”

  “Damn Kish, I said my bad. It’s just that when you bring up Tre’s name that shit be pissing me off. You always be doing that shit, Kish! Tre, wouldn’t do this or Tre don’t like that.” He mocked. “I don’t want to hear that shit. You are with me not Tre. You claim that you’ve moved on but every time I turn around you are bringing up his name! How do you expect me to react?”

  I rolled my eyes because he was exaggerating. “Skeet that is not true. I may bring up his name every now and again but not all the time. The only reason I brought up his name this morning was because of the situation with the kids. You don’t know my kids like I know them. They tell their daddy everything. All it would take is for them to go back and repeat some of that mess they heard you saying or tell Tre how you were feeling all over me in front of them. I would have to fight his ass for sure.”

  “Fight him for what?”

  “Because it was disrespectful Skeet!” I yelled into the phone as I hit the steering wheel. “You can’t say and do stuff like that in front of kids.”

  “Maybe I did do too much this morning and I apologize for that but you act like when they are with him, he’s a damn saint!” He laughed into the phone. “Shit, they are probably confused as hell. Every time they go over there he got a different bitch up in the crib. At least you don’t be having them around different niggas. So stop acting like he’s father of the year or something.”

  I was confused as to what he was talking about but I assumed that he was referring to Lala staying at Tre’s house. I wasn’t too crazy about her being there or around my kids but what could I do about it.

  “You be trippin’ me out. One minute you are all like, Tre is still my boy and we cool. Then the next minute, you are talking slick about him.”

  “Hold up, we are cool and I’m not talking slick about him. I’m just saying you are constantly throwing in my face what he doesn’t allow around his kids but he got his other babymama staying over there and Mina shacking up over there whenever she wants. That can’t be good for them either. Those kids have only known for you to be in that house with their daddy. Now all of a sudden their seeing different women in there every time they go over there.”

  I was still on the part where he’d mentioned some bitch named Mina shacking up over at Tre’s house. The only Mina that I knew was the one that owned the salon in Boykins and I knew for a fact that he couldn’t be talking about her. At least she’d better hope like hell it wasn’t her. That bitch was my folks!

  My phone beeped letting me know that the battery was about to go dead. I was kind of glad because I didn’t feel like talking to him any longer. There was only one person that I wanted to talk to and that was Tre. I agreed 100% with Skeet about it not being good for the kids to be seeing different bitches running in and out of his house. I didn’t care for Lala as it was but from what the boys had told me she was pretty good to them. I’d been waiting for them to come home and tell me that she’d yelled at them or did anything that she wasn’t
supposed to so that I’d have an excuse to go over there and whoop her ass again but so far everything had been cool. However, I wasn’t feeling the idea of all of these different chics being around my kids and I damn sure wasn’t feeling the idea of my cousin fuckin’ my babydaddy. Somebody was going to give me some answers today. “Look, can we finish this conversation when I get back. My phone is about to go dead.”

  “Yeah…no problem.” Skeet replied. “Are we good?”

  “Yeah, we’re good. I’ll talk to you in a little bit.”

  “Alright…one.” We hung up and I plugged my phone into the car charger.

  I was so mad that I could barely see the road as tears filled my eyes. It was worst enough all of the humiliation that Tre had put me through in the past few months, with me finding out about Lala, her kids and then Tamika but damn now Mina! I wasn’t sure if he knew that she and I was kin because it wasn’t like she and I were close or that we went around claiming each other. Still I couldn’t help but be hurt by how he’d moved on like I never existed. I’d thought that after getting shot and nearly losing his life he would take a break. Take some time to be by his self but instead he hadn’t missed a fuckin’ beat. I knew that his first defense would be that I was with Skeet now so what he was doing shouldn’t matter. But it did. It mattered a lot because there would be no me and Skeet if it weren’t for his fuck ups! Tears fell from my eyes. I felt like a fuckin’ fool. I wiped my tears away and tried my best to focus on the road.

  Kisha

  Thirty minutes later, I was turning into Tre’s driveway. I parked behind his Charger and got out slamming the door. I didn’t see Lala’s car but it didn’t matter whether or not she was there. I wasn’t there to see her so all she needed to do was mind her business and everything would be cool. I rang the bell and waited. A few seconds passed…no answer. So I rang the bell again. Still no answer. That’s when I remembered that I still had my key. I stuck my key in the lock and unlocked the door. As I was opening the door, I thought to myself that I may have just made a mistake. What if I walked in on something that I really didn’t want to see? Like him and Lala getting it in or him and Mina. I took a deep breath and entered the house. It was quiet inside. I didn’t even hear the TV playing. I walked down the hallway and into the living room. Tre was stretched out on the sofa snoring.