Damaged (9 page)

“Leta, what the fuck I say?” Nut hollered over his shoulder and then to Peaches he said, “Calm the fuck down, Peaches.”

She opened her mouth to say something, but before she could, Nut smacked her so hard Peaches’ whole body turned around.

“No, you didn’t,” Peaches said, holding her face. “You goin’ smack me, and not that bitch?!” I could see the tears swelling
in her eyes.

“I told your ass to calm down and go home!”

“Peaches, let’s go home,” I finally called out behind her. “Come on, girl.”

“Yeah, drive her ass home, Camille!” Nut said, pulling Peaches back toward the car.

Drive?
I ain’t never drive before. I mean, I drove the bumper cars at Six Flags and at Kings Dominion a few times, but that was
it. I walked around to the driver’s side since it ain’t look like I had a choice. Peaches was so mad when Nut put her in the
passenger seat, she was crying and punching the dashboard at the same time. Leta was still standing in the building’s doorway
waving her gun from left to right.

“Yeah, bitch! I don’t hear your ass talking shit now!” she yelled.

“Shut the fuck up, ’fore I come whip your ass!” Nut shouted at Leta and then turned to Peaches. “Baby, it ain’t what you think
it is.”

“What you mean it ain’t what I think it is?! You fuckin’ hit me!” Peaches said, wiping tears from her face. “And I caught
your motherfuckin’ ass with another ho! I’m through this time, Nut, for real.”

“No, you not. And stop saying that shit.”

Peaches sucked her teeth and shouted, “Let’s go, Camille!”

I looked at the car and tried to put the gear in drive, the way I seen people do it. The gauge clicked in gear.

“Y’all get home safe,” Nut said, backing away from the car. “I’ll call you later, Peaches. Let me just finish what I’m taking
care of.”

“Nigga, fuck you!” Peaches yelled as tears streamed down her face. “Don’t ever fucking call me again!”

I pressed the gas pedal, and the car lurched forward before I could pull away from the curb. The car jolted a couple times,
and then it eased out before jerking again. I kept forgetting which pedal was the gas and which one was the brake.

“Fuck that nigga,” Peaches cried.

I felt sorry for Peaches. Her whole world had been built up around Nut. We was practically roommates, cuz we spent so much
time at their apartment, and I saw how much she couldn’t get enough of him. Nut was totally different from Chu. One minute
Nut was talking to Peaches any kind of way, calling her bitch and tramp, and the next minute he was calling her baby and honey
and buying her expensive things and taking her to nice places. If I was confused, hell, I knew she was confused. But Peaches
did the same things to him, so I guess it was like they needed to hear those things, both the good and the bad.

I only drove a few blocks before I pulled the car over. I was too scared to keep going. Every time a car pulled up next to
me, it made me nervous and I felt myself drifting into their lane. I was relieved when Peaches said she could drive now, if
I wanted.

“Thanks, Camille,” Peaches said after switching seats with me. She rubbed her jaw as she made a left onto Good Hope Road.

“No problem,” I whispered. What else could I say? That was some wild and crazy shit back there. It was the first time I had
seen a gun in real life and the first time I felt like somebody might actually use it, too. Wait until I tell Chu about his
boy. Something told me Peaches wasn’t going to leave Nut alone, even after all that drama. That’s just the kind of relationship
they had.

A MONTH LATER

C
hu told me to put on something “cute and innocent looking.” I frowned, cuz he never asked me to wear something
innocent
. When I asked him why, he said it was a surprise.
I swear he better not be trying to take me to no church function.
I went to more than enough of those with the Brinkleys. Especially with Easter being around the corner, it seemed like they
wanted to go every other day. I dug deep in my closet for a soft pink sleeveless cowl-neck sweater and a pair of my favorite
Seven jeans. I put on my gray Jimmy Choo stiletto boots and some pink lip gloss. Pink was innocent, right?

When I walked around the corner to meet Chu in his truck, he said, “You ain’t put on a dress?”

“A dress?” I asked, confused, “Chu where the heck are you taking me?”

He shook his head and smiled. “You should’ve put on a dress.”

“You want me to go back in the house and change?”

“Nah, that’s okay. Your peoples will be all up in your business making a big deal out of you changing your clothes. You know
how they are?”

“Of course, I do,” I said climbing in the truck. I frowned my face up again and leaned back in the seat.
Where is he taking me?
I watched as he made a left on South Dakota Avenue. We rode down Missouri Avenue and then we merged onto Military Highway.
We was headed way uptown.
Who do he know around here?
Chu made a left on Nebraska Avenue and then parked the car in front of a real nice white house. I could see straight into
the living room cuz the curtains was wide open. The black wood furniture looked like it was straight out of a magazine.

“Where are we, Chu?” I asked as we walked up the stairs.

“You’ll see,” he said, smiling and holding my hand.

He rang the doorbell and smiled when a plump woman with auburn dreadlocks opened the door.

“Hi, son,” the woman said, beaming. “Are you going to give Mommy a hug?”

Mommy?
I thought the two of them wasn’t speaking since she put him out. But he wanted me to meet her, so I really felt special.
Chu smiled and wrapped his mother up in a strong hug. I smiled at his tenderness.

“Ma, this is Camille. Camille, this is my mother, Bernetta Abani.”

I reached out to shake his mother’s hand. She said hello and told us to come inside. I was confused. When did the two of them
start speaking again? I looked around the house, while his mother teased Chu about me. She had African-looking wood sculptures
and big, bright paintings hanging from the walls. In some pictures on the bookcase, Chu was doing karate when he was a little
kid. I smiled at his toothless grin in another picture. A boy who looked just like Chu, only a shade lighter, was in some
of the other pictures. I picked up one picture that was on a shelf of the two of them together.

“That’s my Imhotep back when he was a good little boy,” Chu’s mother said, standing behind me. She smelled like vanilla and
cocoa butter mixed, the same way Mama used to smell. I smiled and inhaled the scent.

“Come on, let’s take a seat,” she said. “I fixed something I hope you’re going to like, Miss Camille.”

I walked over to the table where covered decorated glass dishes waited for us.

“I made some of your favorite dishes, Chukwuemeka. Jollof rice, goat, and iyan,” she said, smiling and lifting the tops. “Camille,
iyan is just mashed yams.”

“Mmmm. Make sure you try it,” Chu said, turning to me. “Yummy.”

I smiled. It did smell good, and it looked like something Nana would make. But I ain’t know about eating no goat.

“What about my soup?” he asked, like it was candy or something.

“Your father used to love my groundnut soup,” Ms. Abani said, raising a wicked eyebrow. “And that’s exactly why I don’t make
it anymore.”

Chu laughed. I thought he said his mother was born in D.C. She seemed to know a lot about African things.

“Ms. Abani, how you know so much about Africa?” I asked as I made my plate.

“Oh, good question, sweetheart. I guess I first became interested in it when I was in college. That was a long, long time
ago,” she said, laughing. “I had a class where I studied African philosophy, and it just opened my mind to so many different
beautiful things about that culture. I couldn’t wait to visit Africa. I heard so much about the Tarzan and jungle stuff before
I began studying them, so I was so surprised when I learned about how vast the land was, about the gigantic waterfalls and
serene mountains. The many beautiful rivers and lush valleys. About all the original species, exotic plants, and animals.
And oh… the people and the many different native tongues. The gold and diamond mines. I just knew I had to go see it for myself
one day. When I was a senior, I took a study-abroad class in Lagos, Nigeria, and ended up staying for three years after that,
teaching English through the Peace Corps.”

“Oh,” I said, amazed.

“And that’s how she met my father,” Chu said.

“Yes, Lord,” she said before taking a bite from her plate. “But that’s enough about memory lane. So, Miss Camille, what grade
are you in at school?”

“Eleventh,” I lied. I didn’t want her to know I was so much younger than Chu, since he was eighteen, going on nineteen, and
I was only fifteen.

“Oh, so one more year, huh? And you’re going to study in college?”

I felt like I had to say something besides what I planned to say, which was I wasn’t going to college but cosmetology school
like Peaches had said she was gonna do. While I thought about what I was going to say, Chu answered for me.

“Camille’s been thinking about a lot of different things. Right, babe?”

“Yes. I ain’t really thought about it all like that,” I said.

“
Ain’t?
You mean
haven’t
?” Ms. Abani said, correcting me.

I looked down, embarrassed, and played with my food.

“Ma, please don’t start,” Chu said.

“Son, I can’t help it. I teach English, for Christ’s sake,” she said and then turned to me. “Don’t take it personally, sweetheart.
I’m only trying to help.”

I smiled with my lips closed and nodded. I went back to eating, since I didn’t want to make the same mistake again.

“Well, you should definitely start thinking about your future. It will be here before you know it. You don’t want to be like
my son. A high school dropout! Now how does that make me look, Chukwuemeka? An English professor with two high school dropouts
and a convict for children! Nonsense,” she said, shaking her head.

Chu cleared his throat, wiped his mouth, and backed away from the table. “Come on, Camille,” he said.

“Your father would be so proud of you both!” Ms. Abani said with an attitude. “I tried my best, Chukwuemeka. God knows I did.”

“Ma, we ain’t come over here for all this,” he said, helping me from the table. I looked at the two of them go back and forth
for a minute, and then I told Ms. Abani it was nice meeting her and thanks for dinner.

“Take care of my son,” she said at the door.

“I’ll talk to you later,” Chu said, walking down the stairs.

“You know I love you, son,” Ms. Abani said with a sincere tone.

“Ma, I love you, too,” Chu said over his shoulder.

In the truck, Chu was quiet for a minute and then he started talking about how he had decided to get back in touch with his
mother as soon as he came back from North Carolina with Rob.

“I felt a little jealous when we got to A&T,” Chu said. “When Rob was talking to his coaches and looking around the school,
all I kept thinking was, that could’ve been me.”

I rubbed his thigh as we rode down the street. Chu kept talking about his mother and her always being disappointed and how
she always blamed him and Tep for everything, especially after their father moved back to Nigeria to marry a woman his parents
had chosen for him.

“He actually wanted Ma to say she would be his second wife.”

“What?!” I asked, stunned. “Second wife? What kind of crap is that?”

“You know how they do over there? Husbands can take on as many wives as they can afford,” Chu said, shaking his head.

Well, at least he seemed to have a problem with it, thank God. I couldn’t imagine what sharing one man would be like, especially
knowingly. I shook my head, cuz I ain’t never heard of no crap like that.

“Even though we all use my father’s last name, they never got married,” Chu admitted. “My mother still wants my father, but
he never even looked back after he left. I feel sorry for her sometimes, but she forgets that he left me and Tep, too.”

“That’s sad,” was all I could say. I knew a similar kind of pain. “I understand how you feel, a little. My mother never looked
back, either… after she chose drugs over me.”

Chu looked at me and then squeezed my hand that was sitting in his lap. Without even saying anything, I knew we had just shared
something special with each other.

A couple days later Chu told me him and Rob was heading back to North Carolina and that he wanted me to hold something else
for him. I told him okay, since nothing had happened the last time. Chu had put the stuff in another shopping bag like he
did the first time, so it wouldn’t raise any eyebrows. As soon as I came in the house with the Macy’s bag, Mr. and Mrs. Brinkley,
who happened to both be sitting in the living room watching
Jeopardy!,
looked up at me. I took a deep breath, before I cut through the living room to the stairs.

“Jayson called looking for you,” Mrs. Brinkley said, looking up from the scarf she was knitting.

I forgot I had turned my cell phone off when I went with Chu. Jayson had moved out at the beginning of the year, cuz he said
he couldn’t take them all in his business anymore. Mr. Big had given Jayson the blues about not going to college, and especially
about not playing college football. He was working as a waiter at a five-star restaurant on Capitol Hill. I wasn’t supposed
to tell the Brinkleys where he was living at, either. There was something like a mini-war going on between the three of them,
and I wanted to stay as far away from it as possible.

“You went shopping, yet again?” Mrs. Brinkley asked, just as I was about to put my foot on the first step.

“Um, yes, ma’am,” I said, becoming nervous.

“What you get?” Mrs. Brinkley asked.

“Where she get the money is a better question,” Mr. Big said, rising from his armchair.

He hadn’t touched me since March, a long stretch for him. I was starting to hope he changed his mind about what he had been
doing. I wasn’t sure why, but I did notice that him and Mrs. Brinkley had started staying around each other a little longer
than usual. Just like now. She was actually watching TV
with
him and not in the den reading her Bible like she used to do. I guess life was different now with all of their children out
the house.