It is What it is: A Hood Love Story

by B. , Ivory

  Finally coming to her senses she walked to her car to leave and froze when she saw the carnage Mia and her goons left behind. Ty’s car had three flat tires and was keyed from front to back with dumb bitch, stupid hoe, jumpoff and to put the icing on the cake right across the front hood read ‘That’s why I’m fucking ya man bicth.’ Yeah they spelled bitch wrong. Ty would later find out that them silly bitches pried her gas tank open and put a Snicker candy bar in it, ruining the transmission, engine and a whole host of internal parts totaling out her car. Ty couldn’t believe it. There she was standing outside without even her cell phone to call AAA. She had left her pocket book inside the house.

  She ran back up to the house banging on the door. “Kamar I need my pocketbook!” She rang the doorbell and called out his name. Ty saw Kynah through the etched glass door attempting to run and open the front door only to be scooped up by Nice carrying her up stairs crying and throwing a tantrum. Bastard! Ty continued to bang on the door again. Suddenly she heard the window on the second level of the house open, out came her Gucci handbag slamming to the ground from the window above. Ty stood there stunned looking at her purse and some of its contents scattered on the ground like trash. With tears streaming down her face as she gathered her things up from the ground. She could not believe Nice was treating her like this. Ty called a taxi and waited out on the front steps until it arrived. She also called triple AAA to have her car towed from Nice’s home. By the time the taxi arrived to her house Ty had cried herself a river. She could only conclude that her crying fit was getting on the cabbie’s nerves because he had cranked the radio up in the first five minutes of the ride. Lucky was already there at Ty’s house, she had rushed right over when she got that heart breaking call from her cousin informing her that her and Nice were over.

  Ty’s heart was truly broken; she swore she would never deal with Nice again. They were more than through. “Awe Ty baby come here,” was the only thing Lucky got a chance to say as Ty sobbed and hiccupped in her ear. Lucky paid the driver and helped Ty in her house. Ty seemed just about damn near inconsolable until she calmed down enough to tell Lucky all of what had happened.

  It had been a week since the incident and to Ty’s heartbreak; Nice hadn’t contacted her even once. Ty had cried all she could over a love lost. All she wanted now was the hopes of one day being amicable with Nice for the sake of Kynah. Ty still very much wanted to be a part of her life; she had grown to love that child as if she were her own.

  Ty was in a rush to get to work. She knew she had to be on the highway within 10 minutes to beat Jersey morning traffic and make it to work on time. Ty had her laptop carry case strapped over one shoulder while she grabbed what she considered her breakfast which was an apple and bit into it while she used her hands to unlock her door. Ty opened her door and jumped back, startled as she noticed a dude with a hoodie pulled over his head sitting outside on her front porch. Ty knew immediately who it was without him even turning around, that’s how familiar she was with his body.

  The sound of the front door opening caught Nice’s attention. He stood up turned around and pulled hoodie off his head to expose his handsome face. Ty locked her door and took the apple out of her mouth; she shifted the weight of her body to one leg and sighed loudly. “What do you want?” Ty asked with lots of attitude. “I just wanna talk to you; give me like five minutes Ty.” “I’m on my way to work can’t this wait?” Nice noticed the way Ty kept cutting her eyes to the side avoiding eye contact. “Damn I really fucked up ha ma? You can’t even look at me.” Ty took a deep breath trying to muster up enough strength to look at him without falling apart. She looked dead in his eyes for just a quick few seconds before she flipped her wrist and looked at her watch. “You got 4 minutes now.” “Ty I’m sorry baby, I miss you.” Ty rolled her eyes as Nice approached her invading her personal space. “It’s fine Kamar, we good. No hard feelings. You have a nice life,” she said trying to walk by him. Instead he grabbed her in his arms and his embrace brought on a flood of emotions. “Get off of me!” Ty whimpered. Nice held onto her tighter. “I fucked up Ty. I’m an asshole, I know. But I love you.” Nice leaned in and kissed her gently on the forehead then brought his lips to the tip of her cute nose. Ty gave in and hugged him back crying into his chest, before pulling back wiping her eyes trying to gain her composure. “You don’t love me no more ma?” Nice asked. “You know I do, I’m mad at you. The way you treated me…you got a lot of making up to do.” Nice chuckled. “A’ight I’m willing to put in that work. When you coming home? Papa bear and Baby bear, miss Mama bear.” Ty giggled through her tears and wiped her eyes. “It’s going to be a while till that happens. Like I said you got a lot of making up to do.” She looked at her watch again. “Baby I gotta go.” She felt Nice’s reluctance to let her go. “Tell me you love me first.” Nice said pinching her ass. “Stooop! Kamar,” Ty said with a huge smile on her face. “Say it.” Nice said with a serious look on his face. “I love you, now will you let me go to work?” Nice kissed her once more before letting her go.

  Ty stepped off the porch with a smile on her face and headed towards her rental car. “Ayo Ty! Where you going?” Ty looked over at Nice like he lost his mind. “Kamar what it look like? I’m going to work.” “I know, but your car over there,” Nice said pointing to a brand new black Jaguar XJ. Ty looked at the car and her mouth dropped open. “Baby no you didn’t!” Ty ran over to the car and she couldn’t believe it. Damn her boo laced her something nice. Ty looked over at Nice as he stepped off the porch with an extra deep swag, wrapping his arms around her before kissing her again, while he placed two sets of keys in her hand. “Bring that ass home right after work.” Nice said cockily as he slapped her on the ass hard. Ty shook her head eagerly with a huge smile on her face reaching up kissing him deeply.

  Champagne Taste & Beer Money

  Karma is a bitch one month after Mia totaled out Ty’s car her truck was totaled in a car accident. Mia and her girls were on their way back from ‘The City’ New York, from clubbing all night; Mia let one of her friends drive her truck since she was too faded to drive. Being that she had been snorting lines and popping bottles with some New York Niggaz all night in VIP she knew she wasn’t in the best condition to drive home. The only problem with this arrangement was that her friend was just as tore up as she was. While on the turnpike back to Jersey they got into an accident that folded up the whole front end of her Benz deploying both front airbags and sending shards of glass from the windshield into the car cutting up everyone in the car.

  When Nice received the phone call about Mia being in an accident he rushed up to the hospital. After finding out that she only suffered a concussion some bruises, scrapes and she would be alright he left the hospital. Mia being true to herself and not knowing her priorities only felt the need of putting liability insurance on the Benz truck. Since it was paid in full she felt as if she didn’t have to waste money and pay for full coverage not while that money could have been spent on clothing, shoes and her drug habit. So although the insurance company was going to pay for the other vehicle they were not going to pay for hers. To make matters worse her so called friends that were in the back and weren’t hurt at all were suing her insurance as well. One of her friends told her it wasn’t personal but they were trying to come up. So there Mia was assed out without a car but she knew for sure it wouldn’t be for long. Mia knew that as soon as she was out of that hospital Nice was going to cop her another whip. She was so confident that she was already online shopping for whips through her Iphone at her local Benz dealership and called to set up test drives as soon as she was out of the hospital. When Nice told her no, she was mortified she couldn’t believe it.

  Nice heard his cell phone go off for the thousandth time that day and it was Mia. He had been telling her ass for damn near two weeks he wasn’t buying her a car. She obviously took him for some sucka for love, cornball ass nigga but she was sadly mistaken. Mia confused his generosity for his daughter’s sake as his v
ulnerability for her. Mia was acting up; she had been ringing his phones off the hook, even taking it as far as calling Cathy trying to go in on him, saying he was a dead beat father for not providing his daughter with transportation.

  Nice snatched his buzzing phone off his hip as he entered his home. “Mia what the fuck is it you want!” He said skipping the pleasantries. “Nigga you know what the fuck I want. Nice I need a car,” She said lowering her tone. “Ayo Mia did you take the short bus to school every day or something? I already told you I’m not copping you no whip! Tell one of them niggaz you fuckin to cop you something.” “Them niggaz I’m fuckin ain’t Ky’s father, you are. And as a father it’s ya responsibility to provide your daughter with transportation.” “What?! Get da Fuck outta here wit that dumb shit. Ain’t no judge in America gonna tell me part of taking care of my daughter is buying ya stankin ass no new Benz, fuck outta here.” “How the fuck am I supposed to get around then Ha? How is your daughter gonna get way out there to that expensive ass private school you got her in? You know how far that shit is from our house!” “Yo Mia I don’t know what to tell you ma, that’s for you to figure out. You shoulda had full coverage on that Benz is all I can say. Who the fuck drives a newer Benz wit just liability on it? Yo, you can stop blowing my phones down callin my peoples and doing all the extra shit you doing cause I’m not copping you nothing, end of story bitch PS.” “End of story? Oh nigga you don’t even wanna take it there!” Mia screamed getting damn near irate. “Mutherfu…” Is all she got out before Nice hung the phone up on her. He was not going to get into it with Mia today. He wasn’t in the mood. Nice sat there in deep thought then suddenly he had an idea.

  “Ty Ty!” Nice screamed from the bottom of the grand staircase in the house. Ty heard Nice calling her and rolled her eyes. She was trying to get some work done at home to meet a deadline she specifically told Nice she had to meet. Ty removed her laptop off of her lap and placed it to the side before hopping out of the bed. “Baby what?” Ty called from the top of staircase. “Come here for a second,” he yelled back. Ty came down the stairs with an indifferent look on her face, arms folded across her chest. Nice bit his bottom lip and stared at Ty with lust filled eyes. He eyed those baby making hips and thick thighs in her Vicky secret little pink pajama shorts with the spaghetti string top exposing her hard nipples. “Kamar what’s the problem baby? I’m trying to get this project done; you know I have a deadline.” Nice walked over to her and pulled her into him grabbing up her fat ass with both hands. “Mmmm Gotdamn that ass is so fat,” Nice said. “Unh, unh baby stop, you said you were gonna let me get some work done.” Ty pleaded grabbing his hands off of her ass. “Damn, a’ight Mrs. Corporate America this is about business, I gotta business proposition.” Ty backed up and looked at him with a smirk. “Yeah so what’s up?” “Baby girl how much you want for that lil Benz? Ty frowned her face up. “The C250 baby? Why would you want to buy that? That thing is totaled; remember what I told you the Benz dealership said about the car being totaled.” “Yeah, Ty I know of course them niggaz gon tell you, you better off buying a new car. I got some Spanish dudes I know who will have that car up and running within a week. New engine, transmission all that. I mean they’ll have it running like a brand new car.” “But what about the paint job? Baby the scratches on the car was so deep you would have to strip the whole …” Nice cut her off mid sentence. “I know, I know all that ma. All I wanna know is how much can I buy that off you for?” Ty shrugged her shoulders; she could honestly care less about that car ever since she got her Jag. “Well baby I was just trying to be an honest business woman and disclose exactly what you were getting.” Nice chuckled “A’ight honest business woman now that I know what I’m getting what we talkin?” “A dollar,” Ty said holding her palm out for her payment. Nice dug into his pocket and came out with a crisp $20 bill placing it in her palm. Ty giggled went out to her Jag and retrieved the title for the Benz. Ty signed the title over to him and handed it over. “It was nice doing business with you baby girl.” Ty shook her head in amusement letting Nice pull her into his arms and kiss her before she ran back upstairs to finish working.

  True to his word Nice had that car running like new within two weeks. Ty could barely believe it when she saw him pull the car into the driveway. Although the car still bore those ugly scars it ran like new. However, Ty didn’t feel any remorse of getting rid of it. Nice was driving the car out to Jersey and had Real follow him out there so he could catch a ride back with him. The car had been detailed inside and had a tank full of gas.

  Nice pulled up into Mia’s driveway and beeped the horn. When Mia stepped out onto her porch she was stunned to see the bitch Nice was fucking Benz out there. She had thought she put an end to that car personally by putting the candy bar in the gas tank. Just then Real pulled up in back of Nice and hopped out. “Ayo Mia here you go,” Nice said attempting to hand the keys and title over to Mia. Mia jerked her neck back and squinted her eyes into evil slits at Nice. She looked at him as if he had lost his everlasting mind. “What? Oh nigga you must be crazy! I know you don’t hardly think I’ma push ya bustdown hand me down. Nigga are you sick!?” “Mia ain’t you the one calling my phone screaming you ain’t got no way to get around? So here you go.” Mia scoffed with offense. “I’m not driving that! Look at it, uhh.” “What? Ain’t nothing wrong with it, it’s a Benz! This shit all new everything, all new insides, engine, transmission, tank full of gas, I even popped some brand new tires on that bitch, you good to go. Oh you don’t like the art work? That’s funny; I thought you would like it since you did it.” Real had to purse his lips together to stop himself from laughing, his nigga Nice was a fool. “Listen Nice, I’m not about to sit here and play games with you, cause obviously you wit a whole lot of em today. Take that lil piece of shit Benz and give it back to ya jumpoff. I wouldn’t get caught dead in that shit, that bitch got the cheapest damn Benz in the brand, are you serious?” Nice chuckled “Oh I see what’s up ma; you got Champagne taste and beer money. I think you need to reevaluate your standards, especially since you walkin,” Nice advised. “No nigga cause you gonna come out here tryna style on me, but I’ma get the last laugh. Trust. I’m tired of doing you favors by keepin this shit outta court. You ain’t doing me no favor by having me and mine bumming rides to get around. I’ma take ya no good black ass to court for child support! Now style on that shit muthafucka!” Nice laughed. “Uhh huh girl tell em, bring that nigga to court! Don’t do him no favors!” One of her girls yelled. Mia’s sister’s and girl’s had gathered on the porch around her and they egged and hyped her up. Nice laughed at how animated Mia had became, maybe she was trying to put on a front for her peoples but either way he didn’t care. He tried to help her all he could and obviously she was too much of a 5 star bitch to take what he had to offer, so he washed his hands with it.

  “Man look at that shit son, a flock of angry fuckin birds,” Nice said to Real through laughter. Nice and Real fell out laughing together as the angry birds shouted obscenities and got angrier with them laughing. “Laugh now nigga but I’ma have the courts make you take care of your responsibilities and then I’ll be able to afford my Benz.” “Go head wit that shit Mia! Who the fuck you think you talkin to? I take care of mine, always have. You can listen to them bum bitches all you want, keep letting them broads put that battery in ya back, shit ain’t gon end like you think they will. But you do you ma, I’ll be waiting for them papers in the mail. I’ll send a car service to pick Ky up for school,” Nice shouted back hopping back in the Benz and pulling off, tired of Mia’s antics.

  The Cookout

  Lucky ran through the house getting everything ready for her and Los’s very first cookout. She could hardly believe that Los agreed to host the get together. The only people that were allowed were close family and friends of course, but Lucky was happy that he finally let his guard down a little to host the cookout. Lucky was emptying some grocery bags that had just been delivered by the grocery service when
Los wrapped his arms around her from behind. Lucky closed her eyes loving the embrace and let her body fall into his strong arms. Carlos noticed that Lucky had been zoning lately as if something was bothering her and it was bothering him. He bit down on her neck like a vampire softly, Lucky giggled and turned around to face him standing on her tippy toes she kissed him deeply. After their kiss they gazed at each other and in that time just looking at her Los knew something was up.

  To Lucky her relationship with Los was so complex. He played so many different roles in her life, he was like a best friend, brother, father and lover. She never wanted to disappoint him or fall short of his expectations. That’s why it was so hard for her to tell him that she had dropped out of school this semester. The more she went to her classes the more she realized that obtaining a Masters in Biopsychology was something she just didn’t want to do anymore. She realized that once her grades started to reflect her interest in the subject and her GPA began to slip, so she just withdrew from her classes to protect her GPA from dropping. “Ma what’s wrong?” Oh my god how does he always do that shit. Lucky shook her head “Nothing baby.” People was scheduled to arrive any minute now and what she had to tell him would take longer than 5 minutes, so she didn’t want to even get into it with him. Los lingered at her squinting his eyes slightly as if he were reading her soul. He noticed the way Lucky squirmed under his gaze. Carlos couldn’t understand why Lucky always found it so hard to talk to him and he had to pry things out of her. Ding Dong the bell rang and Lucky could not have been happier, saved by the bell. “Oh somebody’s already here,” Lucky stammered looking up at him with innocent and nervous eyes. “A’ight.” Los said nodding his head up and down before kissing her on the forehead and reluctantly letting her go.