Nookie's Secret (Nookie 2) (Nookie Series) (8 page)

Chapter Eighteen

It was only five-thirty. There was so much stuff that Joy needed, she decided to hop back on the bus to got to Wal-Mart. She didn’t care that none of the stuff was name brand. She grabbed jeans, shorts, tee shirts and underwear. She got all the toiletries she would need. She even grabbed snacks and stuff to eat and drink, since the room had a mini fridge and microwave.

By the time she made it back to the room with the bags, she felt beyond exhausted. She plunked on the bed on top of the covers and went to sleep. She slept the whole night and most of the morning. Her head pounded from too much sleep. She sat up. The first thing she wanted to do was brush her teeth and take a shower. She searched through bags and gathered everything she needed.

Joy didn’t know her next move but she figured that she would stay there until something came to her. Two weeks passed and still nothing came to her. She cried everyday. The only enjoyment she was that the bleeding stopped. During the time, Joy only left the room to go pay for another week.

She remembered she saw a beer place down the street. They said that they sold hoagies and cheese steaks; Joy went to check it out. When she walked in, all eyes were on her. She went to the counter and ordered a cheese fries and a burger. While she waited, she looked around at the different beers. She saw a case that said Twisted Tea on it. It was a 24 pack with different favorites. Joy decided to get that. She struggled with it up to the counter. After she paid for everything, she turned to leave. At the door she bumped into a man. He was about 6’3’’. Joy had to look up to see his face. He had smooth dark skin like a special dark Hershey bar. His eyes were unlike she’d seen before. They were perfectly round and a deep brown. His lips looked smooth and kissable. He was kind of husky but in a muscular way. He had long dreads that hung passed his shoulders. She didn’t even process his looks. She tried to continue pass him but he stopped her.

“Wait honey. You need help with that?”

Joy wanted to say no but shook her head yes.

“Where you taking this, to a party?”

“No I’m staying right there.” Joy said pointing in the direction of the motel.

“What? You got me carrying your shit so you can hook up with ya nigga.”

“Hold up….”

“It’s cool, I was just playing. You don’t even need to get upset.”

“Oh.”

When they got to the entrance, Joy reached for the drinks.

“I can carry them for you.”

“Thank you, but I’m good here.”

“I wont try to come in your room.”

“Aight.” Joy gave in, unsure.

He sat the case at the door for her. “Aight enjoy.” He said, and started to walk away.

Suddenly something about him interested her. “Wait.” she called to him. He stopped but didn’t say anything.

“You didn’t even tell me your name.”

“Wayne. Yours?”

“Joy.”

“Aight Joy, I’ll see you around.” He said and continued walking down the hall.

Joy went inside her room. She pulled the case up onto the dresser and opened it. She put some in the refrigerator to get cold. She turned on the TV and sat down to eat her food. She hadn’t watched too much TV. She didn’t want to see no babies or kids. Just the thought of seeing one made the sadness that now consumed her heart worst.

Joy had to turn the TV off and she couldn’t finish her meal. She was bored and lonely. She thought about Kevin and the baby all the time. She refused to give the baby a name. She just wanted to forget. She wished that she would had told Kevin about the money. Maybe he wouldn’t have gone to work that day.

She replayed the message he left over and over. She couldn’t believe that she would hear his voice again. She didn’t know if the baby was his or not. She even thought about going back to see her but couldn’t bring her self to follow through. She only had to close her eyes to see her face.

Chapter Nineteen

Joy could no longer stand to be in the room at the motel. She didn’t even have any more clean clothes. She was wearing her last clean pair of under wear. She had to buy a trash bag from the lady vacuum the hallway, to put all her stuff in. She sat on the bed and finished off the cooler she was drinking. She couldn’t remember how many she’d drunk. She wished that she had something stronger.

For days now, she’d been drinking case after case of coolers. She didn’t know how many trips she made to the beer place. Since her initial visit, she didn’t see Wayne. She wasn’t really attracted to him but, he seemed to be the only dude she met in a while that didn’t try to get at her.

She checked one last time to make sure that she got everything before she left. She had no place else to go but back to her apartment until she figured out what else to do. She still had the money. She knew that if she saw Simone, she would notice that Joy wasn’t pregnant anymore. She would just tell her that she lost the baby and leave it at that. She would act like she was too upset to explain what happened.

As Joy walked to the bus stop, she heard someone beep at her. She turned and looked in that direction but then kept walking. She heard someone yelling, “Aye.”

She sucked her teeth.
This dude won’t give up
. Then she felt him tap her on the shoulder. “Hold up,” she turned around and was surprised to see it was Wayne.

He looked different. He had a low cut. His dreads were gone.

“I didn’t even know that was you. What happened?” she asked, pointing at his head.

“I needed a change,” he said simply, like it was no big deal to him.

Joy studied his features. She could tell that he was at least in his mid thirties.

“I’m surprised to see you still here. I was driving by here on the way to pick my daughter up from the movies, when I spotted you.”

“Oh.” Joy said.

She looked in time to see the bus coming, but she wasn’t even close to the stop. She was mad that he made her miss the bus but didn’t show it. When she turned around, he was staring at her. She became self-conscience. Her clothes were wrinkled. Her hair pulled back into a ponytail.

“Yo, you need a ride somewhere?” he asked, breaking the silence.

“Yeah,” Joy wasn’t trying to wait for another bus.

They hopped in his car. He had a two door Nissan Sentra. Outside his car showed it’s age but on the inside everything appeared new. He had leather seats and plush carpet on the floors. The dashboard was wood and he had a CD player with a radio that named each song and artist that came on.

“Which way you headed?”

“Cottman and Bustleton.”

“Ok.”

He drove off in that direction. They were headed in the opposite direction of the mall. He said that he was picking up his daughter. Joy wondered if he was lying or was he making his own daughter wait, just to get at her. She dismissed it and decided she didn’t care one way or the other.

He turned the music up so loud that Joy felt the bass in her ears. He was playing some old school rap; singing along word from word. Joy was glad that he was doing like 80 the whole way because she couldn’t wait to get out the car.

Just when Joy thought she couldn’t take the noise any more, he turned it down.

“So where you headed?”

“Cottman and Bustleton.”

“Yea I know. But like to your man’s house or something?”

“No.” Joy kept it short. She didn’t understand why he just didn’t ask if she had a man or not. Instead of trying to get her to tell him.

“You stay out there?”

“Yeah.”

“You kind of quiet.”

They had reached Joy’s destination.

“Wait.” he said when Joy went to open the door.

“Is there something wrong with me?” He asked.

Joy wanted to say yeah but shook her head no.

“I know you know I’m trying to get at you, but you acting like you’re not interested. What you got a man?”

“No. I’m just going through some things.”

“You girls kill me with that. Why can’t yall be real?”

Joy didn’t answer him. She was lost in thought. She was thinking about just hopping on Greyhound and starting over some place else.

“Yo, you heard me?”

“No. What you say?” Joy said, her voice deflated.

“Can I get your number? Maybe if we talk, you’ll see I’m really a good dude.”

Joy gave him her number only because she didn’t know anyone else. She reasoned that he might become useful in the near future.

“I can take you to your house.”

“I’m good here.”

She got out of the car and crossed the street. She walked into the Sears and loaded a cart with everything she could think that she needed for her apartment. She even brought a blowup mattress to use until she got a bed. She spent over $1700. With no way to get it home, she pushed the cart all the way home.

It took several trips to take everything in her apartment. She took her time and put everything up. She then realized that she left her bag in Wayne’s car. She might have talked him up, she thought, looking at the screen on her phone. The number was blocked.

“Hello.” Joy answered.

“Yo, What you doing?”

“Nothing.”

“You want to get something to eat?”

“Umm, sure why not.”

“I’ll be there in a hour.”

Joy hung up and jumped in the shower.

Joy was dressed and ready in 30 minutes. She didn’t ask where they were going because any place was better than being cooped up in the house. When he called and said he was outside, Joy went out and got in the car. She never questioned the fact that she didn’t give him the direction to her apartment building.

Chapter Twenty

They rode in silence, no music, no talking, nothing. Joy started to ask where they were going, when Wayne asked, “Do you want to get out this heat?”

Joy thought that was a weird question to ask but answered yes. Three blocks later, he pulled over and parked the car. He jumped out of the car. Joy looked around for a few seconds before she got out. Wayne was already at the front door to a house. He took out some keys and opened the door. Joy followed him in. She didn’t understand why they were here but she didn’t ask any questions.

She sat on the sofa. The first thing she noticed was how neat everything was. The hardwood floors shined, not one drop of dirt or dust. The mirrors and the glass tabletops were the same. It was a row home, so everything was on the same floor. Joy watched Wayne in the kitchen, pouring them something to drink.

He came back with some red kool aid. “We are still going to eat because I’m starving.” she said and took a sip.

“Yea. I thought we watch a movie and order out. We could get a few different things like pizza and Chinese, or whatever.

“You can just take me back.”

“You tripping. Take you back. How you sound?”

“I’m not playing.”

“Look. Relax. Go in the room and pick out a movie.”

Joy took out her phone to call a cab. She didn’t know what she was thinking by even coming the house with him in the first place. Wayne got up and went into the bedroom. He walked back out, with a stack of movies. He handed them to Joy. She relaxed when she realized that he wasn’t trying to lure her into his bedroom. She looked at them. He had all the new movies. She picked out the Beyonce movie
Obsessed
.

“I want to watch this one,” she said, handing him the movie.

“Ok. Did you decide what you want to eat?”

“No. You pick.”

He ordered an extra large cheese pizza, Buffalo wings, onion rings and two strawberry milkshakes. Joy was so engrossed in the movie, she didn’t look away when Wayne handed her the food and drink.

When the movie was over, Wayne asked, “Do you want to watch another movie?”

“Umm.” Joy suddenly had trouble talking. She couldn’t think clearly. “I. I. You.” She tried to stand up. Her knees buckled and she fell. She stayed still, fighting to keep her eyes open. Seconds later, blackness surrounded her.

The next time Joy opened her eyes she was on her air mattress, in her apartment. She tried to sit up but fell back from the sharp pains shooting through her head. She was fully dress, she even had on her sneakers. She looked around, realizing she was in her apartment. The bag of clothes she had left in Wayne’s car was sitting in the corner. She didn’t want to move but she had to pee quickly. She rolled onto the floor and crawled her way into the bathroom. Her entire body ached. She leaned against the bathroom door and kicked off her sneakers. Her pants were unbuckled but she had trouble getting them off.

She had some discomfort in her vagina. She thought it was normal to have pain from time to time because she just had a baby not too long ago. It burned when she peed.

She soaked for forty-five minutes in the tub and that helped a little. As she was drying off, she looked in the mirror and noticed that her eyes were blood shot. She had deep bags under her eyes. She didn’t want to do nothing but climb back in the bed. So she did and slept the rest of the day. When she woke up, she laid there, staring in the dark for another hour and a half, thinking about what could have happened before she got up. She wanted to get something to eat but her stomach felt funny and nauseous.

She searched for her cell phone. She had twelve missed calls, all from a private number. She didn’t have any menus so she couldn’t order anything, she would have to go out or see if one of her neighbors had anything. The phone vibrated in her hands. She was sitting on the edge of the air mattress, looking down. It was a private number. She didn’t feel like talking to anyone, she pressed ignore. Five seconds later there was a knock on the door.

She walked tiptoed to the door and looked through the peephole. Wayne stood outside the door. He had his phone in his hand. She waited, hoping he would go away. But he continued to knock. Finally she opened the door enough to stick her head out.