by Dawn Desiree
Rain couldn’t believe her ears. She screamed out loud as if the message were from Puffy or some other big-timer. She was beyond excited as she squealed like a lovesick puppy at the sound of Terrance talking to her. She began to fan away the sweat beads that had already started to form. No matter how many asses she had to kick, she would always love Terrance.
Terrance must really be feeling me, Rain thought. He even took the time to leave a message. Most dudes she knew thought they were too cool to leave a message. They figured that their number showing up on the caller ID was informative enough.
Sunshine barged into Rain’s room, curious to see what all the excitement was about. “What’s going on? Are you okay?” Sunshine asked. “I heard you screaming from all the way in my room,” Sunshine added.
“I’m sorry, boo. I didn’t mean to scare you, but my baby’s daddy called me,” Rain said with enthusiasm.
“Your baby’s daddy? Rain, you didn’t tell me you had kids,” Sunshine said, clueless.
Rain shook her head in pity. “No, silly, that’s just a figure of speech. Oh, I forgot you from the suburbs and shit. I got to talk to you like I got some sense,” Rain kidded. “Let me put it to you in your terms,” Rain continued. “I was flabbergasted to hear from a dear old friend of mine, and so I screamed like so. I hope I didn’t frighten you.” Rain spoke, impersonating an old English woman.
Sunshine gave Rain a dirty look and said, “Don’t patronize me just because I don’t speak hood language.” However, she still didn’t understand why Rain referred to Terrance as her baby’s father if they didn’t have any kids together, and if other females were claiming him as well. “Anyway, so what did he say?” Sunshine asked.
“I don’t know yet. The way you ran up in here, I thought it was a raid and I threw the phone out the window,” Rain said, trying to be funny.
This time Sunshine had to shake her head at Rain. “It wasn’t even that serious, boo,” she said, stealing Rain’s words. “But anyway, I asked Cathy if we could go out tonight, and she said we could go, but our curfew is midnight,” Sunshine said.
“Midnight?” Rain repeated.
“That’s what I said; however, I explained to her that we’re going to a cozy little jazz spot, and things don’t even kick off until around midnight. When I told her that, she agreed to let us stay longer. She even said she would pick us up at two. She said she doesn’t want us to ride home that time of night with just anybody.
“The only dilemma is, we have to find our own way there, because Cathy is leaving to go on a business date. We could catch the subway, but we gonna be all sticky and sweaty by the time we reach the place.”
Rain looked at Sunshine in amazement. “How in the hell do you know so much about partying and shit?”
“Don’t sleep,” Sunshine said, shaking her ass like a natural-born go-go dancer. She laughed at herself, and then said, “No, seriously, I know so much because my mom used to party every Thursday through Sunday when she was alive. She would come home at dawn and tell me everything about her entire night. That’s how I know all about the club scene and I’ve never been to one.”
“Damn, your moms was cool,” Rain said with respect.
Sunshine suddenly drifted into a slight hypnosis while she reminisced about Ayanna and how she used to share all her wild adventures with her. Rain broke that spell real quick, dramatically snapping her fingers in front of her face.
“Shake it off. Earth to Sunshine . . . Earth to Sunshine,” Rain chanted.
Sunshine jiggled her head to bring herself back to reality.
“Are you back? ’Cause I lost you there for a minute,” Rain said. “It sounds like you and your moms were more like sisters. It’s all good,” Rain said, hugging Sunshine, who looked as if she wanted to break down and cry. “We are gonna party for your mother and my mother tonight,” Rain said, stroking Sunshine’s hair while she held her like a baby. Tears had already begun to fall from her eyes.
Cathy walked into Rain’s bedroom right into the emotional scene. She walked over to the two girls. At first she couldn’t tell who was comforting who, and then she saw the sweet teardrops escaping from Sunshine’s eyes.
“Oh, no. What happened, baby?” Cathy asked, concerned.
Rain answered for her, so she wouldn’t have to speak. “She’s thinking about her family,” she said.
Cathy understood now. “Well, I’ve got something that will cheer you up, Sunshine, and you, too, Rain.”
Sunshine slowly lifted her head off Rain’s shoulders, and she wiped away her tears with her shirt. “What is it?” Sunshine asked, feeling better already.
Cathy went into her pockets and pulled out an enormous bankroll wrapped in a rubber band.
True baller, Rain thought.
She must have hit the lottery, Sunshine thought.
Cathy unraveled ten hundred-dollar bills and handed them over to Sunshine. Sunshine’s face lit up at the sight of the all the money. It temporarily eased her pain. Then, Cathy counted fifteen more hundred-dollar bills and handed them to Rain. Rain was in la-la land. Both girls were thrilled to have some more money in their hands. Cathy had replaced their funds from earlier as if it were nothing.
“This money is so you can both shop for some new clothes to get back what was taken from you. I told y’all earlier at the mall not to worry, because those material things could be replaced, and I meant what I said. Only this time I need you to be more responsible, because I’m not going to keep putting out all this money.”
“Thank you, Cathy,” Sunshine said. “But how come you keep giving me the least amount of money?” Sunshine whined playfully, like an ungrateful three-year-old. “That’s not fair,” she added, acting like it really bothered her to get less money than Rain.
Cathy could tell Sunshine was only kidding, and she was pleased to see her smiling and joking again. Then she said, “You don’t even need that much money. You’ve already got clothes out the ass. Matter of fact, take half of your stash and give it to Rain,” Cathy said. “She needs it more than you do.”
Sunshine put a tight grip on her stack and held it close to her heart and said, “You gotta kill me first.”
Rain leaped on Sunshine first and hit her with her best Chyna Doll move. Then Cathy jumped in the tussle. She dived in the middle of Sunshine and Rain and started tickling them. Rain and Sunshine filled the house with laughter.
“Just like a mother to play the tickle game,” Rain giggled.
* * *
Rain was alone again, after Sunshine went back to her room to get ready for her new friend Diego. She promised Rain that she wouldn’t wear her Donna Karan dress until Rain was able to replace hers, so she had to go through her whole closet to find something just as sexy to wear.
Cathy had gotten dressed and left to go meet with her mystery date. Rain heard her as she pulled out of the driveway alone, and assumed that Cathy was going to meet her date somewhere. Brian was asleep in his room with the door closed, like he was in a serious coma. Rain took the opportunity to listen to her message from Terrance.
“What’s up, sexy? I’ve been thinking about your fine ass ever since I saw you looking all fly at Royals. What’s up with you? I see you can’t even hit a nigga. It’s all good, though. I’m still trying to see you. I miss you. I even got a nice little surprise for you, something I think you’ll look tight in. Call me back, ASAP!” Terrance said.
Rain replayed the message again and again, taking in the deep, hypnotic sound of Terrance’s voice. She picked up the receiver and dialed Terrance’s cell phone.
“Who dis?” Terrance yelled from the other end of his phone.
Damn, he even answers the phone sexy, Rain thought.
“Don’t fake, nigga. You see my number on your caller ID,” she said.
“Oh, what’s up, Drizzle?” Terrance asked humorously.
Rain excused Terrance’s playful insult. She didn’t mind when he teased her about her name, because he sounded cute doing it. Anybo
dy else could get it.
‘I’m chillin’ right now, but I’m trying to hook up with you tonight. Are you down or what?” Rain got straight to the point.
“What you trying to get into, shorty?” Terrance asked.
“Me and my girl trying to go to Tacoma Station,” Rain answered.
“Is your girl trying to get with one of my boys? ’Cause I got my nigga Ron right here wit’ me, and he been trying to find some ass to get into all day.”
“It ain’t even that type of party, Terrance. She’s already got somebody she’s meeting there,” Rain informed him.
“I see. Well, I’ll bring my man anyway, just in case shit don’t work out with her and her dude,” Terrance said.
“That’s cool and all, but she might not feel comfortable riding with some nigga she don’t even know,” Rain said. She felt as if she knew Sunshine well enough already to speak for her.
“My man got his own ride. He can follow us.” Terrance had the final say. “Where you at?”
Rain thought it was best not to bring Terrance to Cathy’s house until Cathy told her that it was okay for her to have visitors. She wasn’t going to do anything to disrespect Cathy, because she fucked with her like that. Rain thought for a moment about a good place to meet, and then she gave him the address to the house three houses up from theirs. That way they wouldn’t have a long walk, and she could always give him the right address later, after she discussed it with Cathy first.
“I’ll be there at eleven thirty, so be ready.”
“Perfect. By the way, I got a bone to pick with you,” Rain said.
“I’m already hip. I heard about how you whooped Simone ’cause you thought we was messing around. But Simone ain’t my girl and neither are you, Rain. No disrespect, but we just kicking it, baby.” Terrance summed it all up for Rain.
“I know we never put a title on us, boo, but you know and I know that we are more than friends. If you want to go all the way, then we can, but you can’t be messing with those scalawags.”
“Rain, Simone is nothing to me. I never fucked her, I never kissed her, and I don’t even think she’s sexy, so you definitely don’t have to worry about her. But if you still trying to go all the way, I can come get you right now,” Terrace said half jokingly.
“Boy, you crazy. I’ll see you at eleven thirty.” Rain hung up the phone and ran to inform Sunshine, who was almost already dressed and coming along quite nicely. Rain took a speedy wash up to freshen up before she left. She had one hour to get ready.
Forty-five minutes later, Sunshine and Rain were dressed to kill. Sunshine’s cherry-red Baby Phat body suit was so vicious and skin tight that she could stop a man’s heartbeat. She hooked it up adequately with a pair of sizzling red leather stilettos, showing off her freshly pedicured toes. The silver chain belt that hung from her tiny waist couldn’t do anything but emphasize her perfectly round, curvy hips that protruded from each side. Her small, sexy cleavage was just enough to make a grown man whimper. She hooked it up with a dangly pair of Baby Phat earrings to go with the Baby Phat necklace that hung from her neck. The outfit lived up to its name as she wore it well, showing off all of her baby phat. Her soft lips were in flames from the red-hot M•A•C lipstick she had on, and topped with a thin layer of lip-gloss, they looked almost edible. She replaced her everyday ponytail with a long ,stylish Cher look.
Rain was on the same level as Sunshine, the high-class diva level that many chicks attempted but could never achieve. She didn’t have much to choose from, and so she decided on one of the outfits that Cathy had bought her from Georgetown. Under ordinary circumstances, she wouldn’t have worn such an everyday outfit to a club, but after the way she hooked it up, one would have thought it was made just for the club. She damn sure looked pretty, hot, and tempting wearing an off-white halter top with a hefty pair of double Ds pouring out from the top. She wore a tight pair of denim booty shorts that left almost nothing to the imagination. The white thigh-high boots that Sunshine let her borrow set it off. She kept her makeup light and simple, applying just a layer of clear lip-gloss to her mouth. Her hair was swept up in a casual bun. Rain knew that buns were played out, so she sized it up with a few spiral curls falling down her face. Perfect!
ELEVEN
They were headed out the door to meet Terrance when Brian appeared at the top of the stairs. He was rubbing his sleepy eyes, trying to get a better focus. That didn’t help, so he flipped on the hallway light. He had to do a double take before he realized who the two babes were standing at the front door.
“You better go and get that duct tape. You look like you on the rise,” Rain yelled up the stairwell to Brian.
Brian flew down the steps and said, “Y’all can’t do nothing for me.” Then he looked both of them up and down and said, “Uh-huh, y’all dead wrong. How y’all gonna just roll out on me like that? Y’all ain’t right. Rain, you could’ve woke me up and said something. And Sunshine, you could have slipped a note up under my door or something. Where are we going?” Brian asked as if he were going too.
“We are going to hang out with some friends,” Rain said, specifying Sunshine and herself only. She didn’t want to be invisible tonight, and if Brian went, he would hog all the attention with his pretty self.
“Maybe you can go with us next time,” Sunshine added, eager to leave. “Come on, Rain, we have to go before our ride leaves us,” she said, pulling at Rain’s arm. She didn’t want to keep Diego waiting at the club any longer than she had to.
“Y’all hookers really gonna leave me, though? A’ight, I see how y’all is. I ain’t even gonna trip. I got some more beauty rest to catch up on anyway. Y’all don’t have too much fun without me, though,” Brian said.
“We’ll try not to,” Rain said, laughing. “Lock the door behind us,” she told Brian.
As they approached the designated house, they could hear Terrance honking his horn. Rain grabbed Sunshine’s hand, and they took a detour around the back of the residence. Rain was laughing; Sunshine wasn’t.
“Rain, this is silly. Why didn’t you just have them meet us at our house? These people are going to kill us if they catch us in their lawn this time of night.”
“Stop crying and come on,” Rain said, pulling her harder.
Rain was glad when Terrance finally saw them walking from the side of the house, because he could release the pressure from his loud-ass horn.
Terrance was frustrated. He had been waiting outside of the dark house for over fifteen minutes, and he didn’t understand what could be taking them so long. He saw somebody peeking out the window a few times, so he knew that someone was inside.
Rain got in the front seat and was gone off the familiar sweet scent of blunts and Newports. She felt like she was back home again.
When Sunshine climbed in the back seat, she was afraid that she might insult the trifling mess with her presence. He had everything under the sun right there in his back seat: CDs, tennis shoes, old cigarette wrappings, old cigarettes, empty soda bottles, condoms, and more.
While Terrance pulled off, he blazed his blunt, filling the car with the sweet aroma of purple haze. After a couple of pulls, he handed the blunt over to Rain.
Rain felt Sunshine hit her on her shoulder with her fist, and she told Terrance, “Nah, go ahead. You straight.” Rain wasn’t going to hit it anyway; not with Sunshine right there.
Terrance couldn’t care less whether she hit it or not. That meant more for him.
“Where’s your friend Ron at?” Rain asked.
“He said he might meet us up at that joint,” Terrance answered.
Rain and Terrance continued to hold light conversation. Sunshine could sense that Rain wasn’t going to make any introductions, so during a brief interval, she introduced herself.
“Hello, Terrance, my name is Sunshine. We kind of sort of met at Royals.”
Terrance was so smacked from the green he was smoking on, and with Tupac blasting from his booming speakers, he could barel
y hear the shorty in the back seat. “What you say?” he asked while exhaling a mouthful of smoke.
Rain turned Tupac down and apologized for their rudeness. “My bad. Terrance, this is my girl, Sunshine. Sunshine, this is my . . . this is Terrance.”
Sunshine sat up in her seat and whispered to Rain, “You forgot the baby’s father part.”
Rain reached her hand back and pinched Sunshine on her knee.
Terrance turned Tupac back up. He never even turned to acknowledge Sunshine. Sunshine wondered what Rain even saw in him. His braids were long, but they weren’t even done. His talk was cheap, and his style seemed weak. Sunshine would make a mental note to work on finding Rain a more polite, less junky, smoke-free, non-hustling boyfriend with manners. Maybe Diego would have a friend for her. She would be sure to find out.
Tacoma Station was small and relaxed, just as Sunshine’s mother had said. She felt uneasy at first, being in a place where her mother had partied on many a night. Uneasiness turned into eagerness once she spotted Diego on the stage playing.
She walked past the bar and found a table directly in front of the stage, where she could give Diego plenty of eye action while he played. The seating area was a little small, and the entire club was even smaller than she had imagined. Cathy’s house was bigger. Fortunately, it wasn’t too crowded, and she had plenty of legroom to stretch her long legs.
Rain and Terrance went straight to the bar.
Not only does Rain have herself a pothead, but he’s a drinker too. How sexy, Sunshine thought.
Diego noticed Sunshine immediately. She stood out amongst the “first of the month” females who were strolling up in the place. They would spend their entire first-of-the-month check, which was supposed to be used for taking care of their babies, trying to put themselves together. Sunshine was already well put together, and she didn’t need no check. He winked his chinky eyes at Sunshine to let her know that he saw her sitting there. Out of reflex, Sunshine winked her big baby browns back at him.
A tall guy who shined like the midnight sky came and sat in the seat right beside Sunshine. She was confused at first. He held two glasses in his hand and placed one in front of Sunshine. She wondered for a second if he was a friend of Diego’s.
