Jaded (16 page)

Had
Architectural Digest
an interest in profiling a one-bedroom Brooklyn apartment, this would be the featured one. Their lens would capture the perfectly aligned pillows on the sofa and the contemporary coffee table that doubled as a seat. It had a blanket thrown over the edge, just so, and a service tray with two juice glasses on it. Every time she came over, Syeesha visually inspected the glasses for prints. None. Not once.

“Come into the bedroom. I’m packing.”

“Where are you going?”

“Mexico. I’ve been dating a new guy for almost three months now.”

Syeesha wanted to plop onto the bed but was afraid of wrinkling the bedspread. She leaned against the wall.

“Oh no. I just painted that. There.” Trina pointed to a lounger in the corner of the room.

“This is new,” Syeesha said. She moved around the luggage in the middle of the floor and sat in the chair. “So when do I meet your new guy?”

“When I meet your new guy. Christian, is it?”

“We’re so bad, Trina. We live, like, twenty minutes away and yet we hardly ever see each other.”

Trina folded a blouse. “That’s the side effect of Dad raising us to be so independent. We’re independent of each other.”

“E-mail me the info about who you’re gonna be with and where you’ll be staying.”

Trina picked up a pair of shorts and held them out. “I so wished I’d lost fifteen pounds before going to Cabo.” She folded the shorts and tossed them in the luggage then propped her hands on her hips and looked at Syeesha. “You sounded on the phone like there was something up. Why do I feel as though you’re stalling?”

Syeesha was still conjuring the nerve to talk to Trina. How much could she say? That confidentiality agreement was no joke.

“How long are you going to be gone?”

“Two weeks. Leaving day after tomorrow. And you’re still stalling.”

Syeesha bit her lip. “I’m gonna be out of a job soon.”

“What? Why? I thought you were getting along great with Jade. That’s what you said in your e-mails. I’m still pissed it took you so long to tell me you were laid off in the first place.”

“I didn’t want to worry you.” Syeesha tucked her feet beneath her. “As far as the new gig goes, let’s just say the nature of my job has changed.”

“Yeah. So?”

“Jade wants me to do something that pushes the boundary of my morality.”

“Oh God.” Trina rolled he eyes and sat on the floor, still organizing the contents of her luggage. “Let me guess. She wants you to tell a caller she’s on another line when she’s really sitting right in front of you. Or worse, she wants you to omit a bunch of nobodies from a party invitation.” Trina placed the back of her hand on her forehead in dramatic fashion. “The horror!”

“It’s a bit more complicated than that, thank you very much.”

“Is it illegal?”

“No.”

“Are you or anyone else going to get hurt?”

“Not physically, no.”

Trina was taking this whole thing better than she’d anticipated, but then again, why wouldn’t she? She’d always been the one who bucked the rules.

“What do you stand to gain if you do it? You keep your job?”

“Actually, no. I don’t keep my job because she didn’t really hire me to do my job.”

“She’s gonna fire you? Fuck that, sue the bitch.”

“She’s offering me six figures.”

Trina stopped folding a black cover-up and looked at her.

“Are you serious?”

Syeesha nodded.

“Six figures?”

Syeesha nodded again.

“A hundred thou?”

“More.”

“Two hundred thou?”

“I’m not going to say exactly how much.”

“You’re seriously torn as to whether you should walk away from that kind of money?” Trina sounded almost insulted that Syeesha could even express doubt about collecting that kind of cash.

“It’s not as simple as you think.”

“Six figures. No one gets hurt. And you get to walk away like nothing ever happened with money in your pocket. Is that right?”

Syeesha sighed, but didn’t respond.

“Only a fool would walk away from that, Sy. And considering the fact you’re already flunking out of law school, I’d say this is a chance for you to prove that you’re not.”
             

***

Chapter 23

Back in her own apartment, Syeesha kicked off her shoes and opened a container of yogurt. She didn’t want to think about Jade for the rest of the weekend. Nor her sister’s reaction to Jade’s proposition. And she especially didn’t want to think about the other nights of school she’d skipped. How much longer could she pretend that becoming an attorney was a welcome dream instead of the reality: a looming nightmare?

“Scram!” she sneered at Monster. The cat lay on the windowsill, oblivious to anyone who wasn’t her mistress. Syeesha ignored her and padded to the front room with bare feet, tuned the TV to the Lifetime Movie Network, and prepared to do absolutely nothing but fantasize about Christian while watching one addictively formulaic movie after another.

She covered herself in a blanket and curled into a tight ball on the sofa. An hour into the movie she drifted into a peaceful slumber.

Ringing jarred her out of her sleep. Syeesha fumbled for the cordless phone on the table beside her.

“Yeah,” she answered.

“Put Kiki on.”

“She’s not here,” she replied and hung up.

Before she could get back into her comfortable position, the phone rang again.

“What?”

“Hey, you hung up pretty quick there.”

“I told you Kiki’s not here.”

“Maybe I don’t want to talk to Kiki this time. Maybe I want to talk to you.”

“Not interested.” Syeesha was just about to disconnect the call when she heard him say, “Just a minute, girl. Damn. I just want to apologize for the other night.”

“What other night?”

“Me and Kiki . . .”

Oh, right. The techno opera . . .

“No problem. Gotta go.”

“And,” he continued hurriedly, “I just want to compliment you on your work. It’s really pretty good. Not enough fucking for my taste though.”

Syeesha froze.

He couldn’t be referring to . . .

“What are you talking about?” she asked.

“That romantic shit you’re writing about the bounty hunter. It ain’t half as shitty as Kiki said it was.”

Her hands turned to ice. Syeesha threw off the blanket and stood.

“You read the story that’s saved on my laptop?”

“Got it right here. You want me to read you my favorite parts?” He laughed into the phone.

Syeesha ran into her bedroom and looked on her bed for her laptop.

It was gone. She must’ve forgotten to lock her door.

“You bring it back to me right now.”

“Kiki was just borrowing it. Said you wouldn’t mind if she brought it over. Wait. Hold on. I think this might be her at the door right now.”

Syeesha paced the room as she heard low murmurs over the phone and a muffled curse from Kiki. Her hands began to tremble. Years of writing was on that computer and she had no backup. If anything happened to it . . .

“Sy?” Kiki said. “Don’t be mad.”

“You had no right, Kiki. I want it back now.”

“I was just borrowing it. I’ll bring it back in the morning.”

“You will bring me that laptop now!”

Chuckles from the guy in the background made Syeesha’s blood spike higher.

“You know, I really don’t like your attitude, Syeesha. I’ll come home now or what?”

Kiki didn’t value much in this world. But as Syeesha fumed, she thought of one thing that Kiki did value above all else. Syeesha dropped the phone from her ear and walked into the kitchen. Monster was still perched on the windowsill.

Syeesha targeted Monster in her sights and wiped the sweat beading on her upper lip. Slowly, she put the phone back to her ear and purred in the sweetest, calmest voice she could muster, “Here, kitty, kitty, kitty.”

Silence on the other end.

“You wouldn’t.” Kiki’s voice quivered.

“I want my computer here within the next sixty minutes or you’ll never see this fucking cat again.”

“I can’t get over there in an hour.”

Syeesha dipped her fingers in the standing water in the sink and flicked it on Monster. The cat arched her back and hissed as if she’d been struck by lightening.

“Okay!” Kiki yelled. “I’m on my way, you lousy—”

Syeesha hung up the phone and paced around the apartment. She didn’t have it in her to do any real harm to the stupid cat, but she had had to think of some way to show Kiki she meant business.

She’s got sixty minutes exactly or . . .

Or what?

She had an idea.

After five minutes of planning and twenty minutes of pacing, Syeesha heard Kiki burst through the front door. The laptop case dangled from her shoulder.

“Where is she?”

“You had no right putting your hands on my computer.”

Kiki dropped the bag from her shoulder. It landed on the hardwood floor with a hard thud. Syeesha rushed to retrieve it. Kiki jumped in front of her and pointed her finger in Syeesha’s face. “Don’t you ever threaten my cat again.”

“Take your finger out of my face or lose it.”

Kiki lowered her finger but took another step forward. “Just so we’re clear, I hate living with you just as much as you hate living with me. You’re a snobbish little prude. Thinking you’re so much better than everyone else.”

Syeesha took a deep breath. “Let’s try to be civilized about this, okay? We hate living with each other and this is my place. The only way we’re going to be happy is if we never see each other again. So why not just leave?”

Kiki stepped around her and called, “Monster? Come to Mommy, sweetie.”

No sound from Monster.

Kiki whipped around to face Syeesha. “Where is she?”

“Are you going to agree to leave?”

“Where is she?” Kiki demanded.

Syeesha shifted her weight to one leg and crossed her arms. “Did you know that you can kill a cat by feeding it aspirin? Just like that.” Syeesha snapped her finger. “Dead.”

“You wouldn’t.”

“Hell hath no fury.”

“But you’re not a woman so that wouldn’t exactly apply to you, now, would it?”

Monster hissed from the bathroom.

“Oh my God!” Kiki yelled. “Is that water I hear running?”

Kiki pushed Syeesha out of the way and ran into the bathroom. Monster was inside her plastic carrying case, which Syeesha had placed inside the bathtub. Steaming water trickled from the faucet.

“Monster!” Kiki yelled. She shut off the faucet and removed the dripping carrier from the tub. Kiki freed the cat from the carrier and came back into the living room. Then she lunged at Syeesha like a woman possessed.

Syeesha felt Kiki’s hard fist connect with her upper lip. She stumbled backward, surprised by the force, and landed hard on the floor. She tasted blood. When she looked up she saw Kiki massaging her hand.

“You punched me? What the fuck are we, fifth graders?”

With eyes wide with rage, Kiki grimaced and stepped forward with her high-heeled black boots, aimed at Syeesha’s face. Thinking quickly, Syeesha grabbed her foot and yanked it toward her, causing Kiki to lose her balance and bringing her down on her behind.

Syeesha scrambled over to Kiki, ready to give her a swift punch in the face, but Kiki was fast, and shoved her backward with a foot to Syeesha’s chest. The heel on the boot felt like a knife piercing her skin. With a hard thud, she hit her head against the wall.

“You tried to hurt my baby,” Kiki whined.

Kiki pulled herself from the floor and grabbed Syeesha’s hair as if she were trying to rip carpet from a floor. Syeesha cursed aloud at the pain. Tears clouded her vision. Blindly, she let her hands search behind her until it finally connected with something. Her laptop case. She lifted it with all her strength and hammered Kiki on her hip. Kiki cried in pain and fell to her knees.

“You violated my privacy, Kiki.” Syeesha climbed to her feet. “Not nice.”

Kiki grabbed the spoon from the yogurt cup on the coffee table and threw it at Syeesha. When Syeesha brought her hands up to block her face, Kiki was up in a flash and stunned Syeesha with an open-handed slap on her cheek.

Syeesha cried out in pain. But before she could process a thought, she lunged forward, wrapping her hands around Kiki’s thin neck. She plowed Kiki backward until she fell on the sofa. Kiki’s eyes bulged. Her arms slapped the air wildly.

Is this really happening? Am I really fighting with my roommate?

When Syeesha saw red, squiqqly veins appear in Kiki’s eyes, she released her.