The Diary of a Side Chick 4: A Naptown Hood Drama (Side Chick Diaries)

by Tamicka Higgins

  Tron shook his head, deciding to just put his phone back into his pocket. He was going to enjoy his time with his daughter. Desirae would just have to wait. Furthermore, Tron believed that Desirae should be grateful that a nigga did not decide to press charges. He knew that he took the higher road with that situation – decided to be the more mature one.

  “Well, that’s good,” Tron said, after picking up on Ebony saying that her Uncle Pete was opening another restaurant in Lexington. “Make sure you tell them that Daddy said hello.”

  “I will,” Ebony said.

  Ebony went on talking about some friends on her street in Louisville, names that Tron had only heard in passing. Yet again, Tron felt his phone vibrating. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and saw that it was Desirae calling again.

  “Damn,” Tron said, almost whispering to himself. He knew that if Desirae was calling back to back after all of this time, she was in one of her bratty moods. Desirae was the kind of chick that would call ten times if she had to, just to be noticed.

  Tron pressed IGNORE. Then, just like the first time, Tron saw that he had an UNREAD MESSAGE text alert. He unlocked his phone and went to MESSAGES. Once again, it was a text from Desirae – a new message. This one read: We need to talk, ASAP. Went to the doctor today.

  Tron positioned his hands on his phone to begin to text Desirae. He paused for a moment as he thought of what he wanted to say. He did not like the idea of the mother of his child going to the doctor on her own, as if the father was not present. However, much of that was Desirae’s fault. After a few seconds, Tron decided to just suck it up and text her back: With my daughter right now. Will text you back later.

  After sending that message, several minutes passed without a message popping up on his phone from Desirae. Eventually, he figured that she, for once, decided to be classy and show respect by not interrupting him if she knew that he was with his daughter. Praise be, Tron thought, remembering what his church-going aunt used to say all of the time when he was a kid.

  Soon enough, Tron and Ebony had placed their order with the waitress. As the waitress, who was a thick and shapely white girl with an okay face, walked away, Tron checked her out. He had never really been all that into white women. However, as he had problems with black women from time to time, he sometimes wondered what it would be like on the other side, so to speak. From what he had heard, white women knew how to take care of a man. He just didn’t know if he could get down with any woman that did not have a black woman’s ass, skin tone and all.

  While Tron and Ebony waited on their food to come, Ebony stopped talking as much as she did. Tron couldn’t help but notice. “Ebony,” he said. “Why are you quiet now?”

  Ebony shrugged. “You’re not listening, anyway,” she answered. “So, I’ll just stop talking.”

  “I’m not listening?” Tron asked. “What makes you think that Daddy ain’t listening to you?”

  “All day we been gone,” Ebony said. “It’s like you don’t do much talking. And now, you keep looking at your phone.”

  “Ebony,” Tron said. “You know Daddy gotta check his phone. It might be about money. You know that.”

  “I know, I know,” Ebony said. “That’s why I didn’t say anything. Are you okay, though?”

  The skin on Tron’s forehead wrinkled. He wanted to understand why his daughter would be asking him if he was okay. At her age, she ought not to know the difference, or so Tron thought.

  “What do you mean am I okay?” Tron asked.

  “Just cause,” Ebony said. “I don’t know. Just seems like you’re not okay.”

  Tron had already decided that he was not going to tell Andria or Ebony about being stabbed at the club. It was already on the local news. Tron could only pray that it hadn’t been a slow news day that day down in Louisville. There wasn’t much reason for the news down there to cover it otherwise. It had been nearly two weeks at this point and he had not heard anything out of his family or friends that he still kept in touch with in Louisville. He was cool with that.

  “I mean,” Tron said, looking at his little girl and realizing that she was really growing up. “Daddy’s just got a lot of stress right now. But I don’t want you to worry about it. It’s nothing serious, okay?”

  “Okay,” Ebony said.

  Tron played around with his Ebony, trying to see if she could name all fifty states. She named just about all of the states in the Midwest area, probably because she heard the most about them. Then she named places like California and New York and Florida and Hawaii – popular places that were far away. Tron helped her through words like Massachusetts and Connecticut. She still struggled with Mississippi, no matter how hard she tried. Time flew by until their food arrived.

  As Tron and Ebony were eating, Ebony began to ramble a bit. Tron zoned back in when she began to talk about her mother.

  “Yeah, so we might be moving to there in the spring,” Ebony said.

  “To where?” Tron asked, wanting to quickly catch up.

  “In with mommy’s boyfriend,” Ebony said.

  Tron stopped for a minute, wondering why he did not know that Andria was getting serious with another man. Even if he could not be in his daughter’s life on a daily basis, he still did not like the idea of her mother living with a man that he did not know.

  “Oh, yeah?” Tron asked. “What’s Mommy’s boyfriend’s name? Daddy forgets, so you have to remind me.”

  “Eric, Daddy,” Ebony said. “Everybody knows that.”

  “Oh, does everybody?” Tron asked, rhetorically. “Isn’t that interesting.” Just then, Tron thought back to when Andria had dropped Ebony off on Friday. He had specifically asked her if there was anything that he should know. And of all the thing she brought up, going on and on about things that were really irrelevant, Tron found it interesting how she did not bring up the idea of her and Ebony moving in with another man. “So,” Tron started, wanting to know more. “How long has Mommy been dating Eric?”

  Ebony shrugged as she ate her food. “I don’t know,” she answered. “I met him some months ago now, back when it was around Halloween.”

  “Oh,” Tron said. “Okay.”

  Tron slid his phone out of his pocket, feeling a little aggravated that Andria did not mention this. He sent a text message to her: When are you moving in with Eric? Tron dropped his phone back into his pocket, deciding that he would simply check for her reply later on.

  “Well,” Tron said to Ebony. “I’mma have to talk to Mommy about that.”

  “Why?” Ebony asked. “Why you gotta talk to Mommy about it, Daddy?”

  “Cause,” Tron said. “Daddy cares about who you live with, so I just need to talk to Mommy about it.”

  “Well, Mommy and me was talking about me coming here,” Ebony said. “But I don’t know when and stuff.”

  “Comin’ where?” Tron asked, totally confused at what his daughter was saying. “What are you talking about, Ebony? Comin’ where?”

  “Up here,” Ebony told him. “Up to Indianapolis, to live with you. Mommy and me was talking about it for a while, but she hasn’t said anything for a long time now.”

  “Oh, she hasn’t?” Tron said. “I’mma have to talk to Mommy about some of this.”

  Tron thought long and hard for a few moments about any possible way that his little girl would misunderstand something like moving up to Indianapolis. What could she have confused it with? Could she have misheard? These were all questions that Tron wanted answers to. His life was not set up in any way for him to be taking on the responsibility of taking care of his daughter. Before he would ever think of doing something like that, he would have to make sure that Desirae is straight. And doing this was something that he already knew was not going to be easy. His boy Tyrese had clowned him when he got out of the hospital, telling him that he was the first nigga in Indianapolis to have made the news for being stabbed by his side chick.

  ***

  Tron pulled up outside of his townhouse. He a
nd Ebony had had a nice little day together. After they finished with lunch at Applebee’s, Tron took her over to a friend’s house – a friend who had children in the same age group. It was somewhat refreshing for Tron to hang around other adults who were not in the same life as his. While Ebony played with his friend Miles’ two kids, the two talked about this and that. Sure, Miles knew that Tron had gone into business with Tyrese to open Honeys East. However, Miles had been a tied-down man for all of his adult life, having gotten married to his high school sweetheart a year after graduation. Tron saw Miles as just a cool dude, and the pair like to go out for drinks every so often.

  “I don’t see Shawna’s car,” Ebony said. “She must not be back yet, is she?”

  Tron silently cringed as he turned the car off. Every time his little girl said something about Shawna, a glint of guilt would zip through his body. Then and only then, he would begin to feel a little anger. In his eyes, Desirae was the one who messed up this entire situation. And Desirae would be the one that Tron would have to deal with for the next two decades. Tron was sure that she had been texting or calling him as he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket while he drove home.

  “Naw, Ebony,” Tron said. “She probably ain’t comin’ back tonight. You know Shawna don’t like the snow. And I think it is supposed to snow again tonight, so she gon’ prolly get on the road in a couple of days and come back, when it ain’t supposed to be snowing like this.”

  “But I leave tomorrow,” Ebony said. “I hope she can come back tomorrow.”

  “Yeah,” Tron said, pushing his car door open. “I do, too,” he added. “I do, too. Come on, Ebony. Let’s get inside.”

  Ebony did just as her father said, pushing her own car door open and jumping out onto the crunchy parking lot. She giggled a little when she stepped up onto the sidewalk. Tron noticed and got an idea. Quickly, he bent over, grabbed a handful of snow and patted it softly until it was shaped like a ball. Gently, he tossed the snowball at his daughter. She laughed as the ball collided with her coat before falling to the ground.

  “Daddy!” Ebony yelled, smiling. “Why you do that? You ain’t seen my snowballs, have you?”

  “What snowballs?” Tron asked, acting surprised. “You can’t make no damn snowballs… Not like me, you can’t.”

  “Oh yeah?” Ebony said, ready to show her daddy that he was dead wrong. “Watch this!”

  Just then, Ebony kneeled down into the snow and began to make her own snowball. Tron watched, smiling, wishing that he could have these kinds of experiences with his daughter every day. As she made the snowball, she pumped herself up, talking about just how good it was going to be. Within a matter of seconds, Ebony actually had a pretty decent snowball put together, to where Tron was nodding his head and recognizing that his baby girl had indeed inherited some things from her father. He could not help but smile.

  “Okay, okay,” Tron said, nodding.

  Just as Tron looked away, a car turning into the parking lot of his apartment community got his attention, he felt Ebony’s snowball come right toward his face. He ducked, causing the snowball to hit him on the side of his head. He quivered a little from feeling the little chunks of snow get into his ear. All the while Tron got back on his game from being clobbered with Ebony’s snowball, Ebony laughed, jumping up and down where she stood.

  When Tron looked back at his daughter, having fully recuperated from the surprise attack, he nodded and gave her props. Just as he was bending down to make another snowball, he noticed a car pull into a parking spot across from where he and his daughter played together. Immediately, he recognized it as a car that he knew. In fact, it was the same car that he had noticed turning the corner when Ebony hit him with her snowball in the first place.

  “Desirae,” Tron said, totally zoned out from whatever Ebony was saying.

  There could never have been a worse time than right now for Desirae to roll up and park outside of Tron’s place. He was sure there was no way she could have found out that his daughter would be in town this particular weekend, on this particular day, which was Monday. Tron almost wanted to look up at the sky and say “God, why me?” However, his eyes were locked on the rear of Desirae’s car. He knew that in a matter of seconds, she would be climbing out of the front seat and forcing herself into a situation. She had become rather good at forcing herself into situations where she had no place being, and her doing so left this bitter taste in Tron’s mouth.

  Just then, Tron felt another snowball hit him. He put on a smile and looked at Ebony, seeing that she was still in the happiest mood that he had probably seen her in many years. Just as Tron was coming up with something to say about getting her inside, he could hear a car door open – Desirae’s car door. Immediately, the sound of crunching feet came closer. Tron’s nostrils flared as he thought to himself about how hard it was about to be for him to not lose his cool with her.

  “Ebony, we better get you inside so you don’t get sick,” Tron said. However, it was now too late. Desirae was practically about to step onto the sidewalk, her presence having grabbed Ebony’s attention.

  Desirae walked up to Tron. She smiled, looking at a father and daughter interact with one another in a Hallmark-movie way. It was sweet. She rubbed her hands together and looked at Tron.

  “Hey, Tron,” Desirae said. She then leaned in, forcing Tron to hug her briefly so things would not look strange to his daughter.

  “Wassup?” Tron said, clearly not even wanting to hear anything that Desirae had to say. If he did not answer the phone, nor any of her text messages, then why would she think that it would be okay to just show up at his place? This chick was really testing his patience.

  “Oh, just out and about today, Tron,” Desirae said. “And I was calling you, but I didn’t know if your phone was off or something. So, I was just riding through the area and thought that I’ll just stop and see if you were home. If you were, then great. If not, I’d just catch up with you later.” She opened her arms, pointing toward Ebony and Tron. “And look what I rolled up on. You out here, playing with your niece.”

  Tron looked at Desirae, wishing that he had never been led down a path of even knowing her. At this point, the very thing that attracted him to her in the first place – her body – was something that he could not even appreciate anymore, or at least not in the same way that he used to. Her demeanor had changed so much that she was now just unpleasant. Furthermore, purposely trapping him really put her onto his “bad” list. He specifically remembered telling her that he had a daughter who lived down south. Why would she walk up saying anything about a niece? Tron could see what Desirae was really trying to do. No sooner than he could look at Ebony, she was already saying something.

  “I’m not his niece,” Ebony said, smiling. “I’m his daughter.”

  “Oh,” Desirae said. She smiled, with her eyes open wide, trying to be as nice as possible while she talked to the little girl. “Well, excuse me. I don’t think we’ve ever met, have we? I thought he had a niece about your age. And what did you say that your name was?”

  “Ebony,” she answered, proudly.

  Desirae reached out and shook the little girl’s hand. “Okay, then,” she said. “Ain’t you so cute. I’m Desirae.” She glanced up at Tron. “I’m a special friend of your father,” she added, just as she stood back up.

  “Yeah,” Tron said, now visibly angry. “Ebony, let me let you on inside so you won’t be gettin’ sick before you go back home to your mother. Definitely don’t need that problem.”

  Not even looking into Desirae’s eyes, Tron pulled his keys out of his pocket and signaled to Ebony that she needed to follow him. Ebony waved goodbye to Desirae, with Desirae waving back, as she followed her father up and inside of the house. After Tron told Ebony to make a sandwich while he talked to his friend, he turned the heat up a little for her then headed back outside. Now, even though he was out in the bright daylight, he was at least not going to be seen saying anything wrong and disrespectful to ano
ther woman with his daughter watching. He prided himself in at least not being that kind of father.

  Tron quickly walked up to Desirae, who was still standing on the sidewalk.

  “What the fuck do you think you doin’?” Tron asked.

  Desirae dropped her pleasant front that she had put up for meeting Ebony. The news she got today trumped whatever little bullshit feelings Tron would call himself feeling. She came here to talk business. It was not her fault that he did not answer the phone when she called, let alone respond to her text messages.

  “Tron,” Desirae said, shaking her head. “I ain’t even come here for no bullshit. But, damn, can you invite a bitch in or something? Why we gotta stand out in the cold talking? Why Tron?”

  Tron looked back at his front door then back to Desirae. After getting a quick glance of her shape, he looked back up to her face and shook his head. “I swear you crazy,” he said bluntly. “Here I am, spending time with my daughter and shit, and what do you do? Come rollin’ up on a nigga, try’na ruin it and shit. What’s next? You come to stab me again, Desirae?”

  Desirae rolled her eyes. “Damn, nigga,” she said. “I told you I was sorry. Get over it. I been callin’ you and textin’ you to tell you somethin’.”

  “I know,” Tron said. “But why you act like you can’t wait till I respond or something. I saw you callin’ and shit, but I ain’t wanna be rude to my daughter. It’s not exactly like we get to spend a lot of time together anyway. This is the longest I done spent with her in a long time. And now I gotta stand out in the snow, talkin’ to some bitch who tried to kill me.”

  Just then, a car rolled by in the parking lot. It was Tron’s neighbor across the way, Mr. Trotter, a white man. Quickly, Tron waved and smiled, nodding his head.

  “There you go callin’ me out my name, Tron,” Desirae said. “And you know you just ain’t gotta do that. That’s what got you in trouble in the first place. Look, I swear I ain’t here cause I want no more of that dick or nothin’. It caused more problems than it was worth, if you wanna know the truth. I told you that I went to the doctor today.”