Can't Stand The Rain (4 page)

Chapter 5

October drug herself out of bed after a great night of partying and drinking with her friend. Kale and her ended up spending the rest of the day and half of the night together. Kale explained that Pit had other business that he had to take care of so he didn't really have time to spend with her, so October decided to keep her company. She was not the type to ever get a hangover after drinking; she was just lazy and did not want to move after the great time that they just had. She had promised herself that she would spend the whole day with her son, Quentin, and she was not about to let him or herself down on her promise. She always kept her promises to herself. Whenever she planned something wonderful for them to do,which was more often than not, she would refuse to let him know anything about it. She rather surprise him when the time came than tell him and get his hopes all up and set him up for disappointment just in case her plan fell through. She figured that there was no way she could go wrong with this method. She did not allow others to fill his head up with empty promises either.

Quentin was a fifteen-month-old ball of energy. He was just like your ordinary fifteen-month-old when it came to discovery and curiosity, but he was like none other when it came to intelligence and wit. He was the smartest and funniest child that October knew. October also knew that she was blessed to have Quentin in her life. He brought meaning and unexpected joy into her life and she thanked God every day for her blessing. Because she was away from him so much with school, work, and rest, she tried making up for it whenever she could by having special days where only she and he would go out or stay in and spend the whole day together. On this day, they were going out to run a few errands and pay a few bills, unfortunately. Then, it was off to Pizza Hut. They would both pig out, then October would take Quentin to the park so that he could run and play off most of his energy.

When October rolled over, she found Quentin in bed with her pouring out old juice from his cup all over her sheets. When he noticed that she was awake, his face beamed and he uttered the word ‘deuce’ in reference to ‘juice’ and threw his cup at her.

“Que! What are you thinking?! You have juice all over my good sheets. I hadn’t planned on going washing until the end of the week. Look what you did! And mama told you about throwing things. You do not throw; you either hand an object to someone or place it in their hand. You hear?”

She also showed him as she handed him the cup then grabbed his hand to place it in his hand for demonstration. Quentin’s eyes became sad for a moment. He understood that he had done something wrong.

“Get up and let me change these sheets and make sure my mattress ain’t stained.”

October picked Quentin up and sat him on the floor as she ripped her sheets from off of her mattress and slung them onto the floor on the opposite side of her room. She looked down at Quentin who had retrieved his cup and continued asking for juice.

She reached down and accepted the cup from Quentin, “You may have some milk, but no juice this early in the morning.”

She looked at the time on the microwave when she reached the kitchen and realized that it was a quarter to noon. She thought, should she even consider it morning since it was so late? She rinsed his cup out, filled it halfway with milk, and filled him up a bowl full of dry cereal. She reached down and picked Quentin up from his spot on the floor. She flooded his cheeks and lips with kisses and told him, “Mama’s gonna let you watch TV while you eat your breakfast. I’m going to go and get in the shower and then we will get dressed and go out, okay?”

“Okay.”

Quentin loved to go out and play at the park, and because he was a child full of energy, October loved to take him. She would let him play for hours and hours so that he would wear himself out. That way, the rest of her day would go by so smoothly. Quentin was so creative and witty that watching him play was amusing and exciting for October. She loved watching him play, and what she loved even more was just being able to spend time with her son. Her lifestyle was so hectic and busy that they were not able to spend as much time as she would like, but the time that they did spend together was always beautiful.

Even though Quentin’s father would help out financially from time to time, he was considered a dead beat father by October’s judgment. He was the type who liked to show and tell. He always wanted others to believe that he took care of his son the way that he should, when, in all honesty, he did not. October accepted his actions because she was not one to fight or beg anyone to be in her or her son’s life if they did not want to do it on their own. Also, she knew that he was a young parent just as she was and just because she matured quickly, does not mean that he would. She was basically giving him time to be young and dumb in the hopes that whenever the time comes, he would grow up and realize the severity of his stupidity and do all that he could do to make things better. Quentin was blind to his father’s down falls and she had planned to keep it that way. She refused to ever talk down on his father at all. She would not allow anyone to say anything bad about his father when he was around either. In her mind, he did not exist. She would just block him out of her thoughts altogether and never think about him until someone else brought him up or if Quentin did.

Because October was a single mother, dating of course was different for her. She refused to have any guys that she dated around her son. She was not looking for a serious relationship and her son loved his father and knew who his father was. She was not at all trying to find a father for her son, so she preferred to not let the guys that she dated meet her son. and She found it rather amusing yet sometimes annoying when she would meet a guy who would see her out with her son and try and use him in their pickup lines. They would always insist on being able to help her take care of her son and be a good father to him and she would think that when the right one comes along, she would know. As of right now, she was not in a position to be getting herself caught up in the web of lies that most males she met were constantly spinning. She would rather be free and date whenever she felt like it or when she had the time and continue to take care of her son on her own. Besides, she refused to allow anyone to get close enough to the being that she loved more than anyone else and cause him to be disappointed.  She did, however, keep a few friends around that she trusted to keep her happy without having to be in an actual relationship and there was always one that she allowed to satisfy her needs. At this point in time, Rick was her go to guy. She talked to Rick via text during her sons play time to set herself up to be a late night snack once her date with her favorite guy was over. Rick, she knew she could keep around for a while because he understood the rules and did not ever try to bend or break them. After several hours of play time for October and Quentin and several blushes and dismissals of guy’s flirtatious comments, October decided it was time to take it on in to the house.

On the ride home from the park, Quentin begged for a happy meal and some ice cream. But October is rather frugal and hated buying fast food when she did not have to, so she found a way to talk him out of his thoughts and hopes for his favorite nuggets and fries.

“Well, mommy had already purchased an extra pizza from Pizza Hut for us to eat. Plus, we have popcorn and snacks at the house.”

"Donald’s, mommy!”

“I promise you, we have so many snacks at the house that you won’t need or want any nuggets and fries. Don’t you want pizza?”

October took a peek in the rearview mirror at Quentin and his face showed that he was really pondering the idea.

“Pizza? And cream?”

“Yes we can have ice cream. And we already have the ice cream at home waiting for us. So what you say, are you ready to get home to it so that we can eat it?”

“Yes ma’am.”

As soon as October and Quentin made it back to their apartment, they did just as she promised. October bathed Quentin and showered herself. Quentin was so pooped from the long day of play time and errand running that he was out of there right after he feasted on half the house. His eyes did not even make it past the opening credits of his favorite movie, The Wizard of Oz, before they threw up the white flag in surrender.  Once he was out cold, October decided that it was time for her to do a little playing that would knock her out just the same. She finally sent a message to her boo letting him know that the coast was clear for him to come over and then she brought Quentin in his room to lie down. Then, she went and returned to her favorite spot on the couch and watched Dorothy and Toto cut up until she heard the knock on the door that she had been waiting for. She smiled hard as ever because she knew that it was on.

Chapter 6

Denver was fed up. She had given Keith chance after chance and this time, all of his chances were used up. She was through. Enough is enough and she had definitely had enough. When Denver first found out that she was pregnant with his child, Keith denied the child and did everything in his power to slander her name. He even had the nerve to talk her into getting rid of it and volunteered to pay for the procedure. She found out later that he was in a whole other relationship at the same time they were and the other female had a lot to do with his actions and words of venom.  To make matters worse, even after she gave birth to their daughter, he denied her still and forced Denver to give him a paternity test to prove that their daughter was indeed his. For the first three months of her life, he had nothing to do with her. He claimed that he did not want to get too close to the child and have to pull away once he found out that the child was not his. You know the usual lie men try to tell so that they can be trifling for a little while longer before being hit with real responsibility. He did not care about the fact that they were in an actual relationship during the time of conception.

Feeling like a fool when the results finally came in proving that the baby was in fact his, Keith begged and begged Denver for her forgiveness and after saying the right things, he was back into Denver’s life, heart, and panties. They had been an official couple once again for a measly two months when all hell started to break loose.

“So, basically what you telling me is that you only wanted to get back with me so that I wouldn’t put child support on yo’ sorry ass?”

“Hell nah D, I don’t even know why you listening to these liars out here.”

              “You the only liar that I been listening to this whole time. I wish I wouldn’t have ever believed your lying ass either. But no, Denver had to be the dummy yet again and take you back. You knew that I would be stupid enough to believe you and fall for your lies. That’s why you came back to me. Got me out here looking stupid.”

“No, I asked you to take me back because I loved you. I wanted to make the best of our family situation. Do what was best for my daughter and show her that I loved her and her mother enough to at least try and build a relationship with her. That’s why I’m here. How come you can’t ever see that?”

“How come? How come?! Because that is not what you show me, ever. You always telling me you love me, but talk is cheap and your actions are always contradicting your words. Telling me you love me right after you spend your entire check on yourself and then going out and fucking other girls is how come I never see that!”

“I haven’t been fucking no other girls. I keep telling you that. You need to quit listening to these lonely ass females. You keep allowing them to pump your head up. They just mad because they can’t keep tabs on they man and keep they man at home, so they want to hate on what me and you got.”

“What do we have for them to hate on? I can tell you right now, I ain’t got shit but a lousy, lying, selfish ass baby daddy who I’m fucking tired of lying to me. Who the fuck would want that? Ain’t nobody jealous or hating on the way that you treat me. You out there lying and telling people what you want them to believe and I am lying right behind you because I am too embarrassed to tell the truth, but my true friends already know the truth. I don’t even have to lie to them because they know.”

“What you mean they know? No, they think they know but they don’t know shit about me. Only what you be telling them. And that’s another thing, stop running and telling them all our fucking business. If you would keep them jealous ass hoes out of our business, then we would be alright.”

“No we wouldn’t be alright. We would still have this fucked up relationship and I would be worse off than I am right now. The only reason why I am still sane right now is because of my friends. And the reason why they know all of our business is because I tell them. You damn right I do; because, unlike you, they are here for me when I need them. When yo’ ass is out in the streets ho’ing around, they are there to hear me vent and complain. And when I’m up all night crying, I have them there to listen. And October was there for the last two doctor appointments that I had to take our daughter to when you were not there to go with me.”

“Man, I don’t even want to deal with this right now. I ain’t got time to sit up all night arguing with you. I’m out.”

With that said, Keith started to put his pants and shoes back on, ready to head out of the door. He could not stand Denver’s friend, October. At the mere mention of her name, he knew that was his cue to leave. He used to fall into the trap of lashing out and expressing his hate for October and his anger with Denver for always bringing her up, but then afterwards, Denver would always run off and tell her that as well and he knew that he did not want to hear the backlash of that. It was enough dealing with one bitter woman. There was no need for her to even mention October’s name to him in the first place, because he knew that when she first started speaking, questioning, and accusing him that it was all October’s doing. Nobody but her. She would always shine light on Denver’s mind when he had been keeping her in the dark so well. He knew it wouldn’t be long before he could count on ‘Little Miss Confident’ and ‘Independent and Smell a Snake From Twelve States Away’ to rat him out any time he was trying to do some dirt. This time, he was knee deep in it. He did not come in the house prepared with his shovel and was not about to be able to dig himself out of this one without some thinking and planning. His best bet was to move around and give Denver some time to cool off before he did any more talking to her. He figured if he could get her alone somewhere and away from October and her other friends for a while, he could get Denver to act right. He decided to go and stay with his other woman. He had just taken her shopping and spoiled her all weekend, so he knew he would not be receiving any grief from her.

“That’s right leave. Do what you do best. You can’t ever handle the truth or a piece of responsibility, so you always running from it. Well, I don’t want to do this no more anyways. So when you leave, make sure you get all your shit out of my house. Don’t expect to come crawling back to me when Shandi gets tired of your ass and throws you out too. And don’t worry about coming to see Rya, because until you get your shit together, I don’t want you around my daughter. And I will still put child support on your ass. You better believe your trifling cheating ass is gonna pay!”

Denver was so fed up that she did not know what to do. She had been a fool for him for too long, and she was done. She had had enough. She wanted to call October and let her know that she finally left Keith for good, but she knew that October knew how weak she truly was and knew that October probably would not believe her anyhow. Instead she decided to call Azylae.

“Hello,” Azylae answered her phone sounding truly disturbed.

“Hey, girl. Can you talk?” Denver asked, sounding hopeful.

“Not really. I’m on the phone with Ma and Jas and these bitches are really pissing me the fuck off. I’ll call you later.”

With that being said, Azylae ended the call.

Frustrated and fed up, Denver sat in her bed feeling and looking lost. She needed some type of company and attention in her life and it seemed as if all of her friends were too busy and too preoccupied to show her any. She decided to call up her new friend Richard and invite him over. Besides, after all of the drama with Keith, she needed a good lay.