by B. , Ivory
It Is What It Is: A Hood Love Story
(Hood Series) By Ivory B.
Copyright © 2013 by Ebony & Ivory Publishing
All rights Reserved. No parts of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieved system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written authorization from the publisher.
All stories are a work of fiction from the author and are not meant to depict, portray or represent any particular real person. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either product of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously, any resemblance to an actual person living or dead are entirely coincidental.
Cover artist, Donna Collier
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The Beginning
Lucky rolled her eyes with annoyance as she looked down at her phone screen before pressing the off button. In her haste to make it to class on time she’d forgotten to put the phone on vibrate. Her negligence resulted in her phone ringing loudly during an exam. Despite, hurriedly searching through her Gucci purse to turn her phone off, Professor Magnie cut his eyes at her as if her ringing phone was the biggest distraction he’d ever encountered in all the years of his teaching career.
Half an hour later, she stood before his desk handing in her exam, which she’d completed considerably faster than many of her classmates who were still hard at work on their exams. Her professor didn’t waste the opportunity to check her for the phone incident. “As adults in higher education one should know to take others into consideration, by placing electronic devices on mute before entering an exam,” Professor Magnie said in a condescending tone. Lucky’s chinky green eyes slanted into evil slits before she pressed her lips together to keep some fly shit from slipping out. She didn’t care what anyone said, Professor Magnie was a closet racist who seemed to get annoyed with the fact she excelled in his class. Although, today was clearly her fault for not remembering to turn off her phone. He continuously looked for anything to nitpick about when it came to her and several other black students. “It was an accident, it won’t happen again,” Lucky said dryly. Despite the fact she really wanted to cuss his ass out for trying to publicly chastise her as if she were his child.
Not even 5 minutes from the time she powered her phone back on her cousin Shasona was calling again. She had no idea what her cousin wanted, for that reason she’d been dodging her phone calls on both her home and cell phone for the last couple of days. It was actually odd that Shasona was blowing her phone down anyways. Yes, they were first cousins, but they weren’t exactly close. As a matter of fact they were like night and day, they really had nothing in common besides their blood line.
Naturally Lucky was very close to her cousin Tyeena aka Ty. They considered each other more sisters than cousin’s since Lucky was adopted and raised by Ty’s parents only months shy of her 6th birthday after her mother passed away from cervical cancer. Lucky’s mother’s brother Kevin and his wife Tina took her in without hesitation when no one else in the family volunteered. Tragedy seemed to follow Lucky wherever she went because her Uncle was killed while on the job working construction for the city of Philadelphia when she was only 10 and Ty was 12. His death both devastated and divided the entire family.
Tina’s homemaker days were suddenly over and she was now thrust into the real world of finding a job and raising two girls on her own. The three of them were all they had; no other family lent a helping hand when Kevin who was the bread winner for the family passed away. There were times when things got rough. Lighting the house with candles or heating the house with space heaters and the oven became a norm when paying a bill or two came second to putting food on the table. Tina filed a wrongful death suit against the city of Philadelphia and after two years of legal wrangling, the city settled the wrongful death suit for 1.5 million dollars. Still no amount of money could ever compensate for the loss of a beloved husband, father and uncle. Tina never experienced the feeling of closure or vindication she desperately sought when she originally filed the lawsuit. The money did nothing to ease her grief and she would surely trade it all to have her husband back. However, the money provided her with the means to give the girls the type of life she never had growing up.
That’s when shit got real. For the average person 1 million dollars sounds like big money so 1.5 had people especially family members going Ape. The same people who wouldn’t lend a helping hand during hard times now had their hands out waiting to be greased. Those people included everyone from Kevin’s mother to his sister Mae, Shasona and Latoya’s mother. Kevin’s family felt that being family alone entitled them to some type of compensation. Family feud is an understatement to what happened when Tina told Kevin’s family who were suddenly stopping by and ringing the phone off the hook to kick rocks. Lucky’s grandmother and Aunt Mae filed lawsuits against Tina after coming to her home and trying to beat the brakes off her ass in front of both Lucky and Ty. The lawsuits were ultimately dismissed since Tina was his wife and primary beneficiary. After the courts determined that Tina didn’t have to legally give the family anything she still voluntarily gave his mother and sister what she felt they deserved and that didn’t sit too well with them, thus the rift began.
Over the years the family had become amicable but never close. The long standing beef in the family resulted in the girls, although first cousin’s not having the close relationship they could’ve had otherwise. There was never a question of where Lucky’s loyalty lied, it was with the woman who took her in and raised her as her own, and continued to do so even when her husband who was Lucky’s real blood passed away.
Ty lived back in Philly and was currently working towards her MBA at Temple University, while working at a financial investment firm. Lucky was the only one who had moved 4 hours away from Philly where she was born and raised to attend college in Connecticut. She attended SCSU Southern Connecticut State University. It wasn’t IV league but her high GPA from high school got her nearly a free ride her first year there. She liked the vibe of Connecticut and decided to stay out there for the remainder of her schooling. That decision nearly killed both Tina and Ty since the three of them were so close, they weren’t too happy that Lucky chose to go to school out of state. Lucky talked to (Matoo) is what she affectionately called Tina, everyday and Ty sometimes two or three times a day. Going home on weekends, breaks, holidays and summers was always a plus for Lucky simply because she had both Ty and Matoo fighting and fussing over her. Lucky now in her junior year of college working towards her Bachelor’s degree in Biology with a minor in Psychology, on top of having a job rarely had any free time. She was what some people would call an undercover nerd. One would probably assume just by looking at her that she was all beauty, fashion and no brains but that was the furthest thing from the truth.
Shasona and her sister Latoya were polar opposites of Ty and Lucky; the two sister’s names rang bells back in Philly. They had made quite a name for themselves as being hoes. Lucky was almost sure that Latoya was going to grow wings any day now, she was a certified bird. She was sweet as pie but nasty as hell and that was putting it in its simplest terms. It seemed as if Toya fucked for sport. She didn’t discriminate either; she would fuck a man who was blind, crippled or crazy she just didn’t care. Then there was Nona, she was a whole other story. The girl refused to become gainfully employed; she had big dreams of becoming a kept woman by any means necessary. Shasona called herself hustling ni
ggaz but she always seemed to be the one who got hustled. She bagged get money niggaz for the sole purpose of getting them to take care of her but she was always broke. They never hit her off with anything bigger than crumbs. Lucky still couldn’t figure the rationale in her cousin’s thinking. Was that the same thing as niggaz hustlin backwards but in Nona’s case it would be gold digging backwards?
Lucky answered her phone reluctantly not really caring to deal with the bullshit her cousin was most likely on. “Hello.” Lucky said while rushing to the parking lot to get her car. “Damn, Lucky you can’t return my calls? I been calling ya ass for the last couple of days.” “Yeah I know I’m sorry, been busy with exams but what’s up?” Nona paused, “Lucky I need you to do me a solid and come out on this double date with me.” Lucky screwed her face up like hell no. One had to know her cousin to know exactly why no one in their right mind would want to be mixed up in the type of dudes she messed with. “You still on that bullshit about some date Nona? I thought you were calling about something different, girl hell nah!” Lucky rolled her eyes; Shasona had called earlier that week leaving a message on her voicemail about some double date on Friday. “Damn Lucky why you acting stank? Why won’t you just come? Pleeeease Lucky. Do your big cousin this one favor,” Nona begged sounding desperate. Lucky hesitated, something didn’t seem right about this whole situation, why her? Why didn’t Nona ask her sister or one of her girls? “Why don’t you just ask Toya to go with you? You know she would rock with you for sure. Better yet, why didn’t you ask Ty? Or your girl Des? They right there in Philly. I’m way in Connecticut that doesn’t even sound right. What am I supposed to do? Drive back to Philly tomorrow just to go out with you and some dudes I don’t even know?” Nona had to think fast on her feet. Lucky didn’t sound like she was going to take the bait and if she wouldn’t go Nona was pretty much assed out.
“Lucky I asked you cause you live right there in CT. You don’t have to drive back to Philly. Like I told you in the voicemail I left, we can come scoop you up since we coming to Connecticut anyways to fuck wit the casino out there. Lucky c’mon, tomorrow’s Friday. What else ya ass gotta do? I would’ve asked Toya but she already got something to do. And you know damn well why I ain’t ask Ty. You know we can’t stand each other for more than an hour. We like oil and water we don’t mix,” Nona said with a laugh.
Nona hated that she had to beg her uppity ass acting cousin for anything but her back was up against the wall. She needed Lucky to agree to go with her because she really had no one else to ask. Her first attempt at going out of town with Nice failed miserably when his conceited ass brother bailed out on them on the way to the casino once he found out Toya was supposed to be the chick keeping him company. Knowing how Nice moved he wasn’t going to CT by himself, so his brother was tagging along, which left her trying to get someone to keep him company. Besides, she had already confirmed with Nice that her cousin was coming before Lucky had even agreed, that’s why she was so adamant that Lucky say yes.
By now Nona had just about worn Lucky down with all the begging. Lucky exhaled with defeat loudly, “Okay, okay I’ll go. But don’t expect me to give the nigga no play.” “Ahhhhhh! Yes! Yes! Yes!” Nona screamed for joy. Lucky had to snatch the phone from her ear due to all the screaming. “Lucky on some real shit you won’t be disappointed, you gon thank me later, trust” Nona said excitedly. “These muthafuckas are caked up, straight Duncan Hines girl!” Lucky rolled her eyes as her cousin went on and on sounding thirsty as hell. “And the nigga Nice I’m fuckin wit is in line to be my next baby daddy, real talk. I need a nigga like that in my life to take care of me. If I play my cards right tomorrow I’ll be conceiving. You know all it takes is a lil poke, poke in a condom with a safety pin and a bitch set for life. Ya heard?” Lucky froze dead in her tracks as she went to press the start button to power her ignition. See this was the shit Lucky was talking about when it came to her cousin. She didn’t want to get caught up in one of Nona’s get rich or die trying schemes. “Um, Nona,” Lucky began. Shasona sensed the apprehension in Lucky’s voice and knew she had to clean up that last statement or Lucky’s scary ass would pull out, and she couldn’t have that. “Lucky you know I was just playin. I said that to see if you was paying attention. But listen, I gotta go, I’ll hit you up tomorrow when I’m on my way. Just make sure you ready cause a bitch tryna hit up them outlet malls down by you. I heard they be having mad shit there, I’ma make that nigga spend some gwap on me, a’ight see you tomorrow,” Nona said before hanging up. “Oh god, what the hell did I just get myself into?” Lucky spat while looking at her phone.
Today was Friday and Lucky couldn’t help but feel slightly irritated as she texted her cousin directions for the second time to the campus student center. The student center was located in the middle of campus and one of the biggest buildings on campus. Somehow, her cousin couldn’t seem to find it and her aggravation was starting to show through her texts, like the last one she sent in all caps. Lucky took a deep breath trying to calm herself from getting upset. This was her own fault for even agreeing to some crazy shit like this in the first place. It was a little too late to change her mind now or complain, since her cousin and companions were already on campus somewhere. Lucky’s phone dinged as she browsed through tees in the bookstore inside the student center. WHERE R U? WE HERE, I DON’T SEE YOU. If there was one thing she couldn’t stand that was to be rushed. Her cousin was acting as if she was doing Lucky a favor and it wasn’t the other way around. Lucky wasn’t feeling this shit no way, and that’s exactly why she didn’t put much effort into dressing up for this so called date. Nope, she was wearing exactly what she wore to take her exams today.
Lucky was rockin comfortable attire. A fitted three quarter length tee that had the words SCSU written across the front. Dark denim Armani skinny jeans and a pair of UGG woven boots with the cute buttons on the side of them. She looked like any other female student walking around campus as far as her attire. However, her natural beauty definitely made her stand out amongst the rest. She stopped at one of the full length mirrors in the bookstore for the hell of it. Running her fingers through her long dark brown tresses styled in big loose curls, she decided to place a fresh coat of MAC lip gloss on her pouty full lips. Her green eyes were almost doe like but slanted exotically in the corners giving them a chinky look. Standing at 5’5 with a mocha complexion and a small shapely figure Lucky was the definition of a dime, although she was very humble about her beauty which made her likable. Unlike some attractive women Lucky never bragged or flaunted her beauty. She tossed her hair over her shoulder to hang down her back to only sweep it back over her shoulders seconds later, unsure about how to wear it. Oh well, what the hell? I really don’t care anyways. That nigga probably out there looking like King Koopa.
Stepping out into the late April weather she wrapped her arms around her body to try and shield herself from the cold breeze. The weather was deceiving, although the sun was shining bright and it looked really warm the air had a slight chill to it. Looking up and down the street she didn’t see her cousin anywhere, just as she looked down at her phone to text Nona a car horn beeped stopping her. Lucky’s eyes fell on a new dark red Range Rover Sport that crawled to a stop beside her. Giving the truck a once over she had to admit the truck was hot and the shoes on that baby were sick. The dark tented passenger side window came down and out popped Nona’s head, her shoulder length luscious jet black bob with sharp baby doll bangs looked freshly done. The jet black dyed hair made Nona’s light skin look even paler. Nona was what some people would call a redbone or yellow bone. “Girl c’mon what you just standing there for?” Lucky took a few steps towards the truck reaching for the back passenger side door to open it. “Nah Lucky get in on the other side,” Nona instructed. Lucky shot her a confused look but walked around the front of the truck to get in on the other side.
“Damn that’s ya peoples?” Nice asked as he took Lucky in. “Yeah that’s my cousin,” Nona answered dryly. “
Y’all don’t look shit alike,” Nice added as he smirked cutting his eyes towards the rearview mirror to peak at his brother. He could tell Los liked what he saw from the way he was looking at Lucky. He was glad ole girl turned out to be arm candy because he knew Los wasn’t happy at all about being here in the first place. The whole double date, slash blind date thing wasn’t either of their thing. Neither of them had any problems bagging bitches, as a matter of fact maybe their only problem was overindulging in women and money. It was Nice who was pressed to come back out to Mohegan Sun one of the Indian casinos out in Connecticut. Since going out of town dolo with a chick who could’ve set him up for all he knew wasn’t an option he dragged Los with him.
“Hey Lucky!” A dude called out from across the street. Lucky looked up and smiled at Andre aka Dre the campus weed man, class clown and stoner. He waved her over to him; Lucky turned towards the truck and put a finger up in the air signaling to give her a minute before hiking her Gucci book bag up on her shoulder and crossing the street towards him.
“This one thing that got me trippin! this one thing that got me trippin!, everydayyyyy oh oh oooo!” Dre sang as Lucky approached, even doing a little dance to it. Lucky cracked up laughing shaking her head at his antics along with passerby’s that saw him acting a fool. To Dre and many other people Lucky favored the singer Amerie with green eyes and a better body. He opened his arms for a hug and Lucky walked into his embrace. Dre was harmless and cool as hell. He’d tried his hand at asking Lucky out so many times, only to get shut down that he stopped trying a long time ago. Their relationship was strictly platonic; they were just really cool with each other.
“Oh hell no! Ain’t nobody got time for this lil bitch to be on no social calls,” Nona fumed as she watched Lucky talk with some broke ass looking college student. Nice shot her a look of irritation. He knew why she was so hard pressed to get to the casino she thought she was going to hit him up for major stacks but he wasn’t having that. He’d only been dealing with her for about two weeks and he was already getting bored. Her head game was the truth, his nigga Buj ain’t never lied about that, but ole girl was a straight gold digging smut that had been blowed down and passed around by niggaz like a blunt. This was actually one of his first times ever out in public with ole girl during the day, and he was only making this one exception because they were going out of town. She wasn’t exactly the type of chick you wanted to be seen walking around holding hands, claiming and shit, no that just wouldn’t be a good look.
