Just A Story

“On today of all days” I said out loud to myself as I drove away from the college. Today was my college graduation, an amazing feat seeing that I had damn near flunked out of High School. It had been a beautiful day for the ceremony but as if the sky was in tune with my emotions the first few rain drops hit my windshield as the first few tears escaped my eyes. My boyfriend, as charming and handsome as he was, had no choice but to admit that he had been cheating on me for nearly all if not our entire relationship. His High School sweet heart/girlfriend, to my recent knowledge, had been invited by his mother as sort of a Graduation gift. I couldn’t believe it. She was waiting for him at the end of the stage when his name was called and tongued him down in front of everyone. I was so shocked I just got up and left without even waiting to cross the stage myself. Its not like I had any family there to support me anyway. I had ran away from Brooklyn to go to Florida the day I received my diploma, leaving my family behind. My father was an addict, and my mother had never been much of a mother to me. All of my siblings were in one foster home or another. So as far as I was concerned it was just me.

I walked into my apartment and stared at our stuff. Jason had gone half on pretty much everything in this apartment. I was so proud that we had or own, but looking at it now made me sick. I was beginning to wonder what was wrong with me. Almost every single boyfriend I ever had cheated on me… All except one, but he was probably somewhere back in Brooklyn living his own life. I sat down on the couch letting it all sink in when my cell phone rang. It was my best friend. I cried my heart out to her and told her what had happened. “Damn Mika, I’m so sorry. So what are you gunna do now?” she asked. I shook my head even though I knew she couldn’t hear me. I didn’t know. With me and Jason together the apartment and the bills were easy to split, but by myself it would be damn near impossible. “Why don’t you come out here?” she suggested. I thought about it. “You know what Monique, I think I will. As a matter of fact, I think that’s the best thing I heard all day.” I got off the phone and went to my closet and started packing. I threw everything I had in my suitcases, grabbed the biggest bag I could find, stuffed my shoes in it and shoved everything in my car. Before walking out for the last time, I sat down in the kitchen and wrote him a letter.



Dear Jason,

I knew you were a very clever man, but this here my darling takes the cake. I see now why we never went to you family affairs, or maybe you did and I was just left behind thinking you were somewhere else doing something else but I had no idea there was always someone else. How ever it goes, this has been a grand scene. I must admit your game is tight. In the words of Rihanna “you put on quite a show, really had me going… very entertaining” You really deserve a standing ovation, but consider your debt paid in full. Don’t wait up for me, I wont be back.

Fuck you very much

Tamika



I proceeded to the bedroom where I left the note on the bed. I took all of his clothes and put them in the bath tub and ran the hot water, adding a whole bottle of Clorox to the mix. When the tub was full I went back to the bedroom opened the window and began throwing his shoes out and into the pool. The neighbors started yelling but I didn’t give a rats ass. Three and a half years of my life had been wasted putting trust, love, and devotion into a man that was clearly leading a double life. Fuck him, I thought. I walked out the door never looking back.



The drive to Philly was a long one but I was glad I had made it. I occupied my time on the road continuing to get revenge. I called the bank with my brother on three way. I had given him all of Jason’s information so he could act as if her were him, and had his entire account transferred to mine. I was $12,000 richer and there wasn’t a damn thing Jason could do about it. I thought of it as a parting gift for myself. I pulled up into the drive way and Monique ran out to greet me. We had been best friends since the 2nd grade and no matter where I was, we always remained close. “I have a surprise for you” she said as soon as we let go of each other. “Come on Monique you KNOW I hate surprises.” I moaned, but she practically dragged me to the front door. “You’ll appreciate this one.” she promised. “Come on.” We entered the house and I didn’t see anything special. Then out of no where Eric appeared. I stood there for what I was sure at least 5 minutes with my mouth wide open. “Surprise!” Monique giggled. “I don’t get a hug or nothing?” Eric said holding his arms out. I was beyond surprised. Eric was that one who wasn’t like all the rest, the only one that hadn’t cheated, at least not to my knowledge. I was happy but not so trusting.

We all had a good time that night celebrating my graduation and laughing at me. “Seems like every time you graduate from something you take off running” Monique said. “Yea” Eric piped in “After 5th grade graduation, you moved, then after Jr. High you were gone again.” I laughed along with them. It wasn’t my fault. That was just the past my life was supposed to take I guess. Eric and I caught up on old times and I found out that he had just moved to Philly about a year ago. It was nice that he was here, another familiar face, but he didn’t get into detail about too much of anything. Same old Eric I thought. He used to always tell me “If I you don’t know too much, you cant say too much, so you can never get me in too much trouble.” That was back when we were Bonnie and Clyde, even though I never fit the Bonnie part well. He was probably deep into the drug game, probably deeper by now I thought. He had been hustling since I first learned how to eat sunflower seeds.

As time went by things got better. I got a good job thanks to my degree, and I moved into my own apartment. Eric and I continue to talk and soon we were an item. He slept over almost every night and had pretty much everything he needed at my house. He would send flowers to my job randomly but somehow it was always at the right time, when I was sad or stressed. One night while we were at home watching a movie he told me he had to go back to Brooklyn for a few weeks to handle some business. I wanted to ask what kind of business took a few weeks, but knowing him for so long, I knew that he wouldn’t go into detail so I didn’t bother. We made love that night. Well not so much love as he was pounding my back out. It was a crazy goodbye session that left my sore all over and my insides swollen. He left the next morning and as I watched him walk to his car my female intuition was screaming that something was wrong. I paid it no mind because obviously this so called intuition was on an extended vacation when Jason had done his dirt. I showered and dressed and rode over to Monique’s house. I had a key so I let myself in and made breakfast and Margaritas. Monique came downstairs being woken by the sound of the blender. “Breakfast smells good, but don’t you think its too early for drinks?” she asked. “What? Miss ‘let me take a shot because I’m thirsty’ is turning down a drink?” I asked handing her a glass and a plate. We both laughed. We were far from alcoholics but we both drank like fish.

“I was gunna ask you to come up with me to Brooklyn” Monique said between sips

“Eric just left this morning to go up there.” I said.

“Oh yea?”

“He said he had some business to attend to”

“Well while he takes care of our business we can take care of ours”

“Aight” I said. “Sounds like a plan. What you wanna go up there for anyway”

“I got this new boo I met out here last week, but he live in Brooklyn, so I figured why not. I can go see my boo, get some shopping done, see the family and kill madd birds with one stone.”

We finished breakfast her running her mouth all the while about her boo “Dice“. I helped her pack then we rode over to my place so I could get my stuff and then we hit the road. I made her drive since I was still sore not to mention tired.



Brooklyn was well… Brooklyn. Monique politely dropped herself off at Dice house and after introductions were made told me to pick her up at 11 so we could go party in the city. I took my free time to go back to my old block. I chilled with all my old friends and later scooped up all of my siblings and took them out to IHOP. After dropping each one off at their respective address I realized that I never settled and unpacked. Up to now I didn’t think about where I was going to stay. I called Eric planning on surprising him, but he didn’t answer so I decided to go visit his mother. When she opened the door she was more than happy to see me. She invited me in and we talked for about an hour. When I told her that Eric and I were back together her only reply was “Is that so?” with a strange expression on her face. Suddenly she said she had some things to do and told me I should go. She rushed me out of the house so fast I forgot my keys on the table. I turned around and knocked on the door but she didn’t answer. I banged harder. “Mrs. Dafiere I left my keys! I cant leave if I don’t have my keys.” She finally returned shoving the keys through the barely cracked door. “Hold the door open Ma.” I turned to see a group of girls walking up the steps. Mrs. Dafiere looked like she had just seen a ghost. I turned to leave, all of the girls staring at me. “Who was that” one of them asked. “No one” Mrs. Dafiere replied. My intuition was yelling at me again and I couldn’t help but listen this time. “You wanna come to the hospital with us?” was the last thing I heard before I started my engine and music came blasting through my speakers. The girls were still looking back at me. I should have turned down my music to hear the conversation but a part of me didn’t want to know. I decided to just check into a hotel in the city and have Monique take a cab to meet me up there. I took pleasure in getting a full body massage in my suite. I hadn’t pampered myself like this in… well… never. Thought I deserved it though, my nerves were a bit rattled from the pale look on Mrs. Dafiere’s face as well as the faces of those girls watching me suspiciously. Monique called to cancel on me for our party plans because she was sore, but I had a feeling she was trying to stay with Dice for a few more rounds. I didn’t mind. I told her where I was and to meet me in the morning. I ordered a bottle of wine and chilled in the room dancing naked to the sounds of Jah Cure mesmerized by the beautiful scene of the concrete jungle.

Early in the morning Eric called me. He told me he was just calling to check in on me. I was still half asleep and mumbled something back to him. He told me he would be really busy the next few days so not to be worried if he didn’t pick up and he would call me when ever he had a chance. We exchanged our goodbyes and I immediately fell back asleep. When Monique arrived later we took a sweet guilty pleasure in shutting the city down. We hit up all the stores that had something pretty in the window. Up until now I hadn’t spent the money I took from Jason, but now I was burning a serious hole in that shit and loving every minute of it. After a day full day of shopping, eating, and shopping again we were exhausted but ready to party. We got all dolled up and decided to call some of our other girls from Brooklyn to come party with us. I was planning on picking everyone up myself but no one could decide who would be the designated driver and Monique had pretty much texted every girl from our old clique there was no way 12 girls were going to fit in my Lexus. “I have an idea!” Renee yelled suddenly. “Why don’t we just get a limo?” she was practically jumping up and down like a little kid. “Seriously Monique? A limo?” “Why not?” she asked. “The girls haven’t seen you in forever, you doing good for yourself, and if we going in VIP we might s well do it all the way legit.” I thought about it for a minute. “Fuck it, why not” I finally agreed. We didn’t tell the girls that we were coming in a limo, we just showed up. Everyone was excited. We decided to go to Webster Hall. We walked in like a celebrity entourage, the crowd parting like the red sea as we made our way straight to the front of the line and right up to VIP where our section was waiting with bottles on deck. We started popping immediately and began to have a good time. There was a sudden uproar of cheers coming from our right and Moet was flying everywhere. I was pissed it had gotten on my new dress but I was tipsy enough to let it slide. However, being nosy, I made my way over to the group guys from where the liquor had flown. Surprisingly I knew most of them. I hugged the guys making my way of the center of the group where one guy was ecstatic. “My Nigga is a mutha fuckin father!! I cant believe it! My manz is a fucking father now!” I smiled, thinking it was nice it was for a bunch of guys to be celebrating fatherhood, even though I thought the ‘Father’ should be with the baby and its mother. There was a huge cake on their table that said “Congratulations” with the newborn’s first picture on it. Just then Eric turned around. I sauntered over to him and gave him a hug and kissed him on the lips pressing my body against his. The cheers from the crowd suddenly stopped. Just then the DJ made a shout out “Big up to my boy Eric on your first born. I see you!” All of my girls had gathered around and watched as I pulled back and slowly walked away and out of the club. I was devastated. More so I was pissed the hell off. Why was it always me. I was about to go back in the club and raise hell but Monique came running out of the club looking for me. “I’m so sorry! I was gunna tell you but…” she was still talking but the first part of her sentence was stuck in my head. I was gunna tell you but…



To Be Continued...