Keeping Secrets (7 page)

“Oh, shit, damn, girl,” Lucky said as he clutched Taneshia's hair while ejaculating in her mouth.

“Mmmm.” Taneshia came up from under the covers while wiping her mouth. Even with all of Kat's pounding and knocking at the door, she was able to keep a good rhythm while bobbing her head. Halfway through giving Lucky a blow job, Kat's knocking had stopped, but the ringing of Lucky's phone started. The couple knew it was Kat calling to curse Lucky out good.

The phone hadn't rung in about five minutes. Lucky figured Kat had grown tired of her useless efforts to contact him. No sooner than that thought crossed his mind, the phone started ringing again.

“Damn, I might as well answer the phone,” Lucky reasoned. “This bitch gon' blow me up until she gets shit off her chest and cusses me out.”

“Well, I'm gonna go take a shower and get cleaned up,” Taneshia said, getting out of the bed, gathering her clothing, and heading into the bathroom.

“Yo,” Lucky said into the phone, without even looking at the caller ID. He simply prepared himself for the wrath of Kat.

As far as Lucky was concerned, this was his and Kat's weekly ritual. He'd do something to piss her off. She'd get pissed off. She'd cuss him out to the tenth degree, calling him everything under the sun but a child of God. He'd let her get that off then promise to make it better. He'd either make it better or fuck up again. This time he'd fucked up again. Either way, he knew Kat wasn't going anywhere. He'd been hitting that on and off since she was fourteen. Lucky had been her first, so he knew he had that type of hold on her. Besides, Kat was a hood chick, a bottom bitch. She knew her role. She may not have liked her role, but she knew it. So either she played the role she was given, or she bowed off the stage gracefully and let another chick be the leading lady.

“I'm in the streets,” Lucky would always tell her. “I'm a street nigga and you know how this life is. Ain't no rules. Ain't no schedules and agendas. Ain't no promises and commitments. This life is what it is. You either ride and die or find you a nine-to-five cat.”

That was the ultimatum Kat accepted, but even though she accepted it, that didn't stop her from putting up a fight. She knew Lucky couldn't live this life forever. And once he got too old for the streets and had to pass the reins and go settle down somewhere like the predecessors before him, she'd be right there waiting. She often referred to herself as one of those white-girl NBA chicks. They let a nigga do whatever and whenever, just as long as he wifed them once he got that big-ass contract. Kat was going to be there for Lucky, and not just for the money the life he lived granted him, but because she really did have a soft spot in her heart for Lucky. Of course, she'd never let him know that. That would have him running all over her all the more. But she always made sure she put up just enough fight to let him know when the time did come for him to wife her, she wasn't going to take all his shit.

“Yo,” Lucky repeated again into the phone receiver.

“Lucky? Is that you?”

He didn't recognize the soft, sweet, subtle voice he heard coming through the phone receiver. Lucky sat up in the bed with a confused look on his face.

“Yeah, this is me. Who dis?”

There was a matching soft, sweet, subtle chuckle now intoxicating Lucky's ear.

“Who is this?” He really wanted to know. He pulled the phone away from his ear to check the caller ID. The word restricted was on his screen.

“That's more like it; ‘who is this' versus ‘who dis.'”

“Well . . . who is it?”

“Hmmmmm. How about I give you a hint?”

Lucky imagined the owner of the voice licking lips that were smothered in pink glittery lip gloss.

“But just one. And if you don't guess, I'm going to hang up and you'll go to your grave never ever knowing who the girl behind the mysterious voice was who called your phone one Saturday afternoon in June.”

“Damn, it's like that?”

“Just like that,” the voice cooed.

“All right then, give me a hint.”

“Okay, let me think for a minute.” There was a few seconds of silence before the “shhhhhhh” sound came through the phone.

“Shhhhhhhhh?” Lucky repeated. “That's my hint?”

“Yep. That's your hint.”

“That ain't no hint. I thought you were trying to tell me to be quiet so you could tell me the hint or a secret or something.” No sooner than Lucky got the last sentence out of his mouth it hit him like lightning in the worst thunderstorm ever. “Secret?” Lucky let slip out of his mouth. “Secret, is this you?”

“If I tell you, will you keep me all to yourself . . . just like a secret?”

“You are one secret definitely worth keeping to myself.” Subconsciously, Lucky had a mile-long smile on his face that just wouldn't go away.

“I like that,” Secret said, busting out laughing, breaking character.

“I take it this is you? What's up, mama?” Lucky slid down a little, getting comfortable in his bed. “I'm glad you called. Now I can get rid of all these pins and needles I've been waiting on for the last forty-eight hours.”

“What? You mean to tell me it's only been two days since I met you? Dang,” Secret said with disappointment.

“Why, what's wrong?”

“My girl had told me to make sure I waited at least a week to call you so that I wouldn't seem desperate. I guess these past two days in wait have felt like a week.”

Lucky let out a cocky laugh as his ego grew. He knew when somebody was fucking with his head in order to blow him up. He'd frequented enough strip clubs to know the shit-talking game females put on a nigga. Still, he liked it. It was different coming from Secret. She was different.

“You know I'm just messing with you, right?” Secret said.

“Yeah, but sometimes a nigga need to be messed with.”

“As it is for a woman,” Secret replied.

“Yeah, but I'm sure you got dudes all over the place trying to win your heart,” Lucky fished. He had a sense that wasn't the case with Secret, but still he wanted confirmation from her own mouth.

“Actually, I don't. Honestly, men haven't been my focus. I was wrapped up in doing something the women in my family rarely did, which was graduate high school. And I did so with honors.”

“High school? How old are you? You are legal ain't you? I ain't trying to go out like Romeo.”

Secret knew Lucky was referring to the character Romeo from
The Steve Harvey Show
sitcom who'd been gunned down as a result of some underage female he'd had sex with. “Yes, I'm legal. Eighteen. How old are you?”

“I'm legal too. Let's just put it that way,” Lucky replied.

“And I thought it was a woman who never wanted to tell her age. You must be an old man. I'm not going to need to have you a walker waiting when we go out on dates am I?”

“Oh, so you're going out on a date with me, huh?”

Secret chuckled. “Dang, once again, I don't think my girl would approve of my moving so fast.”

“I like it fast. I like my shit now.” Fearing he'd sound too eager, give Secret the wrong idea, or just scare her away period, Lucky pulled the reins back some. “But we can take things slow if that's how you like it.”

“Mmmm, yeah. I like it slow, Lucky.”

Lucky pulled the phone away from his ear, looked at it, and whispered to himself, “Goddamn.” He liked how this girl was talking. He put the phone back to his ear. “Then slow it is.” Just then he heard the shower water turn off. He knew within minutes Taneshia would be making her way out of the bathroom. He decided to hurry along his conversation with Secret. “So what about that date? Do you think a brotha could pick you up sometime and kick it with you?”

“That sounds good.”

“So when's a good time for you? The weekend, the weekdays?”

“Well, school is out and I'm really not working right now, so I can go around your schedule.”

“Well, high school days are well behind me and I'm . . .” Lucky paused and thought for a minute. “I guess I'm what you would call an entrepreneur.”

“Oh, yeah, well what is it exactly that you do?”

“I do enough and make enough so that when I come pick you up for our date, you can go anywhere and get anything you'd like. So like I said, you name the time and place and let's make it happen.”

Secret set up a date to see Lucky in two days at eight p.m. She then gave Lucky the address for him to pick her up at.

“I got a feeling the next forty-eight hours is going to feel like a week,” Lucky said. “But I'll get through it.”

“I'm sure you will,” Secret replied. “Well, I guess I'll let you go. I look forward to seeing you, Lucky.”

“Same here,” Lucky replied and then ended the call. It was perfect timing, too, because just as soon as he hung up with Secret, Taneshia came out of the bathroom fully dressed, towel drying her wet and curly weave.

“So what did she say?” Taneshia asked Lucky.

“Huh?” he questioned, his thoughts being pulled away from the conversation he'd just had with Secret.

“What did Kat's crazy ass say?”

“Oh, that?” He looked at the phone. He then looked back up at Taneshia and said, “It's a secret.”

 

 

“Bitch, I feel like we on some Disney or Nickelodeon show where I'm feeding the nerd the lines she needs to speak to her hot date,” Shawndiece said as she snatched her cell phone from Secret's hands.

Secret couldn't help but sit there and chuckle as she fell back onto Shawdiece's bed.

“And you think this shit is funny? What the hell you gonna say when you face to face with dude and I ain't there to feed your ass no fly-ass lines? Let me see how funny you think the shit is then.”

“Oh, girl, stop tripping.” Secret sat up and hit Shawndiece on the arm. “That was cute and you know it. And I must say, you got some slick little lines. No wonder you be getting tennis bracelets and cell phones and stuff.”

“Um, hmmm. Now maybe you can get that nigga to buy you a cell phone so you won't have to use mine to call his ass.”

“What do I need a cell phone for? You're the only friend I have and you live five minutes away.”

“Yeah, well, it just ain't normal for a teenager not to have a cell phone. An iPod, something . . . if just for GP, general purpose, damn!”

“Well, I have bigger issues and needs than just some stupid cell phone.” Secret took on a serious tone.

Empathizing with the dilemma her best friend was facing, Shawndiece went and put her arm around Secret's shoulders. “Don't worry, mama. You got this. Everything is going to work out just fine.”

Secret stood up and walked over to Shawdiece's bedroom window. “I don't know. I don't feel right about all this. Lucky seems like a cool guy.” She turned to Shawndiece. “I feel like I'm maybe tricking him or something.”

“There is no maybe about it. Ho, you are tricking him.” Shawndiece began to laugh. After a few seconds she realized that Secret did not think her comment was so funny. “Look, chick. You knocked up. You want the baby but you want some help raising it. You act like the real father is Big Poppa from
Real Housewives of Atlanta
and don't want nobody to know.”

“It's not like that,” Secret interrupted.

“Well, whatever it's like, we've got a situation. And if you ask me, we now have a resolution.” Shawndiece spoke sternly and direct. “You hook up with Lucky. Spend every moment you can with him like you're in some whirlwind fantasy romance. Give up the nookie. A couple weeks later take a pregnancy test and let that nigga know he 'bout to be a daddy. Bitches do it all the time. Don't lose no sleep. That shit is just another Tuesday in the hood.”

Secret looked at Shawndiece and shook her head. “You act like this is normal. I mean, Shawn, this isn't just a little lie that I can eventually sweep up under the rug. I'm going to have to live and keep up with this one for the rest of my life.” It was clear Secret was having second thoughts. “I just don't know if I can go through with this.”

“Secret, do you know how many dudes are out there taking care of the product of another man's nut? The mama ain't stuttin' his ass knowing he probably done had God knows how many kids on her that she don't know about it. He taking care of other bitches' kids so he might as well take care of another nigga's.”

“You are so cold,” Secret said, stifling a laugh, not because she thought it was funny to play people like that. She thought it was funny how her best friend seemed to think it really was normal.

“Like I said; it's business as usual in the hood. Shit that's normal in the hood may not be the normal for society outside of our world. Just think, if it wasn't for rap music, people would still be clueless as to some of the shit that really goes on in the hood.” Shawndiece stated. “But you can look at it this way, too: let the lie be short-lived by going ahead and getting an abortion. Go ahead and hook up with this Lucky nigga and all that other stuff. But just when you tell him that you are pregnant, let him know you want to get an abortion. He'll pay for it.” Shawndiece wiped her hands clean. “Either way it goes, issue resolved.”

Secret rubbed her belly. “But I don't want an abortion. Not now. What's the use? This is my life. This is what it is. This is what it's meant to be. No need trying to fight it. It's ordained. If it ain't this baby it's going to be another one.”