Nookie's Secret (Nookie 2) (Nookie Series) (9 page)

“Joy Was sup?”

“Now is not a good time.”

“Yeah? You got company?” he asked trying to look behind her in the door.

“No and I don’t really want none either.”

“Joy why you acting like that. I came all the way over here to check on you and you being nasty.”

“Check on me why?”

“I had a bad case of food poisoning from the food we ate. Since I know we ate the same thing, I figure you was sick too.”

“I was with you?”

“Yeah I dropped you off here last night. Don’t you remember?”

“Damn. I was pretty fucked up I guess.”

“You going to let me in? I got something that will make you feel better.” He said, holding up two glass jars of haze.

Joy thought about it for a second. She did crave the relaxed feeling she knew that she would get from smoking. Without saying a word, she opened the door wide enough for Wayne to enter.

“Yo, you need some furniture in this bitch. My man got a living room set for sale. Sofa, tables and all that, I can hook you up,” he said looking around the living room.

“I’ll let you know.”

“You got something to eat.”

“I don’t have anything in my refrigerator. I was going to order out but I guessing that wouldn’t be a good idea.”

“We can run to the market. I can cook for you.”

“Yea okay.” You can cook?”

“What. I’m a gourmet chef.”

Joy laughed. “Alright let me get dressed.”

“Naw, you can go like that.”

She looked down at her pajama bottoms and shrugged. She stuck her feet into her flip-flops and followed Wayne out the door.

Chapter Twenty-One

When they returned, Wayne made his famous dish, tacos. Joy couldn’t stop laughing, as she watched him make them. “Some gourmet chef,” she joked, enjoying her time with him.

“Make jokes all you want. You have never had tacos like these in your young life. I even got dessert.” He pulled a Duncan Hines box from the bag.

Joy saw that it was double fudge chocolate and got excited. It had been a while since she had cake.

“That looks like it’s going to be good,” she said as she walked to the bathroom. When she came back, Wayne had mixed the cake and put it in the oven. Dinner was done and Wayne rolled up. In no time, he had four blunts lined on the table.

Joy had laid down pillows and blankets on the floor. She placed all the food in the middle, like a picnic. Wayne lit up one of the blunts, took a few hits and passed to Joy. She had no trouble as she inhaled and held the smoke. She let it out easy. She did this a few times before she passed it back, but Wayne waved her away as he lit another one.

With no astray, Joy jumped up and got a bowl from the kitchen. She put the L down and stuffed a taco full of meat, lettuce, tomatoes, and cheese. She poured sour cream and taco sauce on the top. On her first bite, she swore she never tasted anything so good in her life. She took turns eating and smoking. After 20 minutes, Joy’s mouth was dry. They forgot to get something to drink; she filled two cups of water from the faucet and gave one to Wayne.

After three slices of cake, she was so full all she could do was lay back on the blanket and stare at the ceiling. By then the weed was gone and Wayne wanted to go to the store and get some liquor. He asked Joy to ride with him but she couldn’t move. So, he went by his self.

Hours passed and Wayne hadn’t come back. Joy still was in the same spot. Finally, Joy rolled on her side and went to sleep.

A sharp, burning pain shot through Joy’s stomach waking her up out of a deep sleep. She jumped up and ran to the bathroom, barely making in it time as watery liquid shot out of her. Just when she thought she was done and was walking out the bathroom, she had to run right back in. She plopped on the toilet, trying to figure out what could be wrong. First the food poisoning and now she had diarrhea.

Her trips became less frequent. After an hour passed she continued to go off and on all day. Once she was sure that she was done, she hopped in the shower. She heard someone knocking on the door when she got out. She hurried to get dressed. The person knocked louder. “Hold on,” she yelled. She caught herself smiling at the thought of Wayne at the door and relaxed her face.

She went to the door and looked through the peephole. “Shit.” She stared at Simone for a moment and then opened the door.

“Girl, I didn’t think you was ever going to open the door,” Simone said. Walking through the door she took a double look at Joy and then looked away. Joy grew more nervous as Simone continued, “Where you been? I came down here a couple times.” She continued not waiting for answers. “ I wanted to see if you needed anything.”

“I’m okay.”

“Well I don’t want to hold you up. You know where I’m at if you need something.” She turned, her hand on the knob. “Joy what happened to the baby?” she asked.

Joy thought she wasn’t going to ask. She wasn’t mad at her. She was there the day Joy first found out she was pregnant and when Joy had no one else there to support her. She wanted to tell her the truth. She stood there. The words froze in her throat. Tears fell down her face. She tried not to think about what she did.

“I lost the baby. She came too early.” Joy looked away. She couldn’t look Simone in the eyes. Simone came over and pulled Joy to her. Simone used the back of her hand to wipe away Joy’s tears. A few minutes passed, Joy tried to back up but Simone held onto her.

Their faces were so close, that Joy could feel her breath on her face. Simone leaned in and kissed Joy’s lips. Joy kissed her back. She felt Simone push her tongue in her mouth. Surprisingly, Joy thought of Wayne and stepped back.

They started at each other. Neither got a chance to say anything because there was a knock the door. Since Simone was closest to the door, she opened it. Ronnie stood there.

“What you doing down here?”

“I was just coming down here to check on Joy.”

“Why you wait until I fell asleep?”

“Look, go down the hall and we can talk about it.”

Joy, still stun, stood there after they left.

Chapter Twenty-Two

A few days went by and Joy spent half the time thinking about Wayne and half the time thinking about Simone. She thought about the kiss she had with Simone. She didn’t know if she liked it on it’s own or was it because during it she started thinking about Wayne. She didn’t kiss him yet. She tried not to think about the situation because she wanted to try to be friends with him. She didn’t think that she was ready for more, so soon after Kevin. She was still confused about the kiss. If she did like it, did that make her gay? She wondered what would have happened if Ronnie never came to the door.

She was bored sitting in the house so she decided to do some shopping. She was walking up to Cottman to get the bus, when she walked passed three cars that were for sale. The one in the middle stood out to her. It was a red Grand Am. The paint job looked new and Joy pictured herself riding around in it. She wasn’t sure that she should call the number. She didn’t have a license and she knew nothing about buying a car.

She weighed her options. She did need a car. She dialed the number and waited for someone to answer.

“Hello.” a nasally voice answered.

“Yeah, um I’m calling about the red Grand Am you have for sale.”

“Okay. Its $1800 and you have to pay for tags and registration up front.”

“Never mind,” Joy said and hung up.

She continued walking down the street. Her cell phone rang. It was the same man from before.

“Hello.” She answered.

“Well what’s the problem? We could probably work something out.”

“I don’t know. I don’t have a license.”

“Then why you trying to buy a car?” he asked before he hung up on her.

Joy hopped on the bus and went to Raymoor and Flanigan. She picked out a red leather sofa and two red leather recliners with two lamps. She got a glass coffee table and two glass end tables to match. She purchased an entertainment center for the new 52” TV. She also got a queen-size bed and a dresser and two nightstands to go in her room. After paying nine thousand, they set up and delivery date for two days later. Joy was on her way.

Her next stop was the Penn Dot. She had no interest in getting her license but she did need some identification other than her school. She waited in line, took her picture for a state ID, waited some more and then walked out with her new ID.

From there she went straight to the bank. She decided to open up an safety deposit box. She couldn’t walk around with all the money on her. She was slipping the other day when she woke up in her apartment, unable to remember what was going on. She could lose everything by being careless, and then where would she be?

She filled out the paper work. She had to open a bank account first. She put in enough money to pay the safety deposit box up to six months. Placing the money in the box, she exited with twenty thousand.

By the time she made it back to her apartment, it was well into the evening. She loaded the clothes in the washer and dryer because she had yet to go food shopping. She didn’t know what she would eat. She was starving after not eating anything all day. She wondered about Wayne. She thought about him all day and constantly looked at her phone hoping he would call. He didn’t give her a number to reach him. She would go by his house but she couldn’t remember where it was.

He hadn’t called in days. She hated that she didn’t have any way to get in contact with him. It was like he had all the power and she lost the power she had. They weren’t in a relationship, but Joy enjoyed the last time she spent with him. She wished that she had grabbed something to eat while she was out because she didn’t feel like going back out. She drank two glasses of water and tried to forget about it. For some reason Joy felt dirty. She walked to her bedroom, jumped in the shower and washed the sweat and dirt of the day off. She even washed her hair. She changed the sheets on her air mattress. She felt comfortable as she dozed off to sleep.

The next morning when Joy woke up, she felt well rested. She looked at the phone for any missed calls from Wayne. There were none. The good feeling she had left. A million thoughts ran through her mind. She couldn’t understand why Wayne hadn’t called in four days. She needed something to get her mind on something else. She thought about Kevin and the baby. She felt guilty that she was already moving on with her life. She didn’t know what else to do. She hated to be alone.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Joy was again tired of sitting around the house. Her furniture wasn’t coming until the next day and she needed to get out. She locked the door and walked to the elevator. She saw Simone standing there. She had funny feeling in her stomach from nervousness. She hadn’t seen her since the kiss they shared.

Simone had her back to Joy but turned around when she heard Joy walk up. Simone tried to smile but Joy was speechless. The whole right side of Simone’s face was swollen and both of her eyes were black. Joy could tell that Simone tried to hide it under the layers of makeup caked on her face but it only covered it a little bit.

“What happened to your face?” Joy screamed pulling back the hair that Simone tried to cover it.

“Oh my God,” she said, the bruises looked worst up close. “That bitch Ronnie did this, didn’t she?”

Simone shook her head yes; tears falling down her cheeks. Simone, the strong go-getter seemed defeated.

“I can’t believe that she beat you,” Joy said, sucking her teeth. They were standing in front of the building. Simone looked up and down the street, looking for Ronnie.

“She was so mad. I never seen her so mad.” Simone spoke for the first time since Joy met her in the hall.

“What happened?”

Simone hesitated but answered, “She caught me fucking the brother Jamek.”

Joy’s mouth opened but nothing came out. Many thoughts ran through her head at once, she didn’t know what to say. She didn’t even know Simone was in to dudes. Joy wondered why she kissed her and then fucks Jamek. Joy was quiet for to long and Simone started crying.

“I hope I’m not crossing a line but why would you even do some shit like that?”

“I don’t know. I was high on X and it just happened. Ronnie walked in on us in the living room. She came at him with a knife and he ran out the door butt-naked. I was still high when she beat my ass.”

“Damn that’s some crazy shit.” Joy said, ready to go on about her business. She was ready to ride with Simone and kick Ronnie’s ass but she couldn’t fault Ronnie. This explained why Ronnie was so crazy jealous. No telling how many men or women Simone cheated on Ronnie with. Joy made a mental note to keep her distance from Simone. She wasn’t trying to get caught up in her drama.

“I hope you feel better. I have to go. I’ll see you later.”

“Okay. Bye.”

Joy walked off in the direction of the bus stop. Simone was still standing in front of the building. She had no real agenda. She went to look in the stores at Roosevelt Mall. She window-shopped but did purchase a few outfits and shoes from Joyce Leslie’s. She got some food to take out from the Chinese Buffet and headed back home.

Wayne was getting out of his car as she walked up to the building. He smiled at her as they met at the steps. Joy kept her face straight and serious. She didn’t want him to know that she was happy to see him. She didn’t even understand the feeling of happiness she got every time she was around him.

He carried her bags for her. They entered the apartment. Joy dropped her bags in the bedroom and walked back out to the living room, where Wayne was standing. She studied his features for a moment. She didn’t know anything about him. What kind of job he had? How many kids he had, nothing? And he didn’t know anything about her either.

They sat on the floor and shared the food that Joy got earlier. They laughed and joked.