RedBone (31 page)

“This your cousin now?” Lady laughed, holding her stomach. “Damn, y’all ain’t been in here that long, have you?”

“Yeah, Lesa ... what y’all gonna be doing next? Eating each other’s pussies out?” Courtney added.

“Picture that shit, bitch!” Lesa remarked. “You always talking sideways.”

Everyone was laughing at Farah’s expense and she felt the room spin. Everything in her wanted to beat both of their asses, and she realized Elise was a liar. She didn’t know anything about life because if she did, why would she be going through this? Things were even worse since she confessed. “We not real cousins,” Farah interrupted. “We just call each other that because we have so much in common.”

“Whatever,” Courtney said, waving her hand at the foolery. “Anyway, Lesa, what you doing tonight? You coming with us to the party or what? A friend of mine owns a catering company in DC called E.A.T. with his partners.” Farah remembered Coconut inviting her to that spot. “At night they rent it out for parties and shit like that. It’s real fly, Lesa. You gotta see this shit. Anyway, Juice and his boys celebrating some business venture and they want us to come.”

“Yeah, it’s supposed to be like that,” Lady added.

“Y’all not gonna hang out with us here?” Roth said, looking at Lady. “I was trying to get to know you better.”

“How you gonna get to know me more, when you here with Lesa?”

“He wasn’t with me,” Lesa said. “Farah brought them in here.”

“It don’t matter if he didn’t try to holla at you or not, I got a man.” Lady told him. “Plus you can’t afford me, daddy. I will admit, you kinda cute though.”

Gary, irritated with all of the shit, stood up and patted Roth on the shoulder. “Let’s roll, man. Ain’t shit jumping off in this joint.”

“I ain’t ready to go,” Roth said.

“You must be trying to get left,” Gary sounded off. Farah thought his comment was funny being that he was the passenger. “Since we did ride in my car.”
So it was his car?
Farah thought. It didn’t matter. Right now all she wanted was both of them gone, because they were constant reminders that she made a character judgment mistake by inviting them over.

“A’ight, ma. I’ma get up with you later, cool?” Roth said to Lesa.

“Whatever.” She brushed him off.

When they left, Farah sat down on the recliner and said, “So what time is the party? I got some real fly shit I want to wear, that still got the tags on it. My boyfriend Zone bought it for me before he died, when he fell out the window.” Lady and Courtney gave her a puzzled look. “We never went nowhere so I didn’t have a chance to wear it. Maybe I should put it on tonight.”

“Uh ... Who said you were invited?” Lady asked.

“Yeah ... I don’t remember giving you an invitation either,” Courtney said seriously.

Farah looked at both of them and then at Lesa. The room was silent for forty seconds, as she waited for them to say they were joking. This reminded her of how she felt when she invited herself to Coconut’s slumber party. “Are you serious?” she asked. “I really can’t go?”

“You’re lame, Farah,” Courtney continued. “Plus, we don’t know you like that. So why would you think you could just invite yourself to our shit?”

Farah put her puppy down and ran into her bedroom. With her bedroom door closed, she looked at herself in the mirror.
You a dumb ugly bitch. Look at you. Your lips are big. Your eyes are far apart. Nobody wants you around them. Look at you. You can’t even talk in front of people. You’re stupid. You’re dumb! Spotty-faced Farah! You gonna always be ugly!

Picking up the brush off her dresser, she brushed it over her lips repeatedly until they were inflamed. When the tissue was broken, she set the brush down and hit herself in the mouth over and over until blood splattered on the wooden dresser and floor. Her mouth was so red she looked as if she drank blood. She was about to hit herself again when Lesa entered the room without asking.

“Farah, they just playing ...” She stopped herself midsentence when she saw blood everywhere. She rushed up to her and said, “What happened?”

Farah covered her mouth. “Nothing. I ... I hit myself in the mouth with my brush by accident.” She smiled, exposing her bloody teeth. “I’m fine. Really.”

“How did you do that with a brush? You should go to the hospital.”

After being in the hospital for most of her life, going tonight was totally out of the question. “I said I’m fine. Now what do you want, Lesa?” Farah grabbed a few tissues from the box and wiped her mouth. “Go be with your friends since you don’t wanna be around me anymore. I may be lame, but I would’ve taken up for you if my friends talked to you like that.”

“Farah, sometimes you act like a kid, and I don’t like it. I thought you would be cooler when I moved in here. That’s why I said you could call me your cousin. But you said that shit twenty times in front of other people and it’s embarrassing. Especially when people know we not related.” She paused. “But don’t be so serious. Now ... get dressed, you going to E.A.T. too.”

Farah’s eyes widened and a smile spread across her face. Just like that, all was forgiven. “For real?”

“Yeah ... I told them you my roommate and to not do you like that.” She rubbed her hair. “So I did take up for you. Just make sure you look fly because the niggas they hang with got money and they don’t fuck with busted bitches.”

“Naw ... I’m gonna look real cute. Trust me.” When Lesa left, Farah looked through her closet. She already made a bad impression and didn’t want to make another one by choosing the wrong gear. After moving hangers back and forth, she settled on a black cat suit by Chanel, along with her leopard Christian Louboutin heels, to showcase her toned calves. After taking a shower and fixing her makeup properly, she realized she didn’t have her medicine, so she decided to drive her own car so she could make a stop and meet them at E.A.T. later. When she walked into the living room to let them know, Mia and Chloe were sitting on the couch with their luggage by their feet.

“Farah, we home!” Chloe sang.

Chapter 26

“How much longer though? I got somewhere to be!”

—Chloe

Chloe was alone in the apartment for five minutes and already she was going through Lesa’s shit. Her closet doors were wide open as she pushed hangers back and forth. Lesa had all the labels a girl could ask for, from Chanel to large, beautiful Hermès bags in assorted colors. She was a hustler’s bitch and she had the threads to prove it. When Chloe found a black dress by Gucci, she wiggled out of her clothes right where she stood. Naked in the middle of the floor, she eyed the beautiful gown. Chloe had a tattoo of an eyeball on each ass cheek, complete with the lashes. So when Mia looked in her sister’s direction, the eyes appeared to be staring at her.

“I swear that fucking tattoo is creepy!” Mia said, sitting on Lesa’s bed. “I don’t know why you got that shit anyway. It’s ghetto to the hundredth degree.”

Chloe turned around. “Girl, bye! Men love to see pretty lashes staring at them when they hitting this from the back.” She focused on the dress and pressed it against her titties to judge the fit. “I get mad praise when I push this thing on they dick.”

“They?” Mia was disgusted. “You better slow your roll before you come up missing. Anyway ... couldn’t you have just turned around and showed them your eyes? Did you have to get a tat?”

Chloe was silent for a moment because she never considered the possibilities. “No, that’s dumb. I love my tattoo and like I said, I get compliments on it all the time.”

“Whatever, young bitch.”

A hot, sweaty mess from running around DC all day, Chloe eased into Lesa’s new dress, which was supposed to be worn at the fashion show. Since the tag dug into her skin, she pulled it off and it floated to the floor like a leaf off a tree. As she pulled the straps over her shoulders she was amazed to see it fit like a glove. Chloe walked toward the mirror on the door and looked at her reflection. “Damn, me and this bitch gonna be the best of friends.” She turned from side to side and saw her ass was perfectly round. “My time in the gym is finally paying off!”

“Farah gonna be mad as shit when she find out you going through her roommate’s closet! You know she don’t want you here anyway.”

Chloe fanned the air. “Like I give a fuck.”

“You can fake with your friends if you want to, but I know it hurt you that y’all haven’t been talking,” Mia continued. “When you gonna tell me what it’s about? You and Farah act like its top secret.”

“Never. So stop asking.”

“Did you have to pull the tag off? Ain’t nobody trying to fight this bitch because you done left evidence that we been in here.”

“Damn, I hate when you act all long in the tooth. It’s gonna be cool. She might not even know this joint missing with all the shit she got in here.”

“Chloe, you worrying about bullshit,” Mia said, lifting Lesa’s mattress to see if she had anything stashed. When she located a small Baggie of weed she smiled. “This is what I’m talking about right here.” She shook the bag knowing it would change Chloe’s focus.“Leave all that other shit where you found it and come put some smoke in the air with me.”

“So I can’t steal the dress, but you can steal a bag of
smoke?
And she won’t know that’s missing?” Chloe laughed.

“What do we care? We Cottons!”

“You right about that! Fire that shit up!” Mia and Chloe lay face up on Lesa’s bed, smoking the best shit they’d ever had in their lives. “So when you think Shadow getting out?” Chloe asked, running her fingers through her toes as she held the blunt in the other hand. “I fucking miss him.”

“Can’t you stop doing that nasty-ass shit?” Mia said, looking at the way her sister’s toes spread as she played with them. “And as far as Shadow is concerned, if you miss him so much, how come you don’t go see him?”

“Because I’m not seeing him in no fucking cage,” Chloe responded, dropping a little fire on Lesa’s expensive down comforter. “I told you that already.” She passed the blunt to Mia.

“Listen, Chloe, I know you the baby of the family and all.” She took a pull and hit her chest twice. “But you gotta do better when it comes to him. We all we got and Shadow needs you.”

“You wanna know the real reason I don’t go? They give you a hard time about how you dress and it don’t matter if you follow their rules or not. For real it’s based on whoever is running the visitation desk at that time. It’s fucked up. It seems like all them COs do is hate on bitches who be trying to see the people they love.”

“Not all of them, Chloe.”

“Enough of them to get on my fuckin’ nerves.”

“Well, I get in all the time,” Mia added. “Ain’t nobody ever turn me around and say I can’t see him.” Chloe shook her head. “What?”

“Look at yourself.” Mia looked down at her body. She was overweight and she didn’t take care of her personal appearance. “Look at your shirt.” She pointed. “How the fuck you keep getting lipstick on the middle of your shirt? I mean, damn, the food go in your mouth, the makeup on your face, what part of it don’t you understand?”

“Everybody don’t have a gym membership. Some people work twelve hours a day and don’t got time for all that.”

“Why the fuck not? Every bitch fucking should have a gym membership. And that doesn’t have anything to do about you looking dirty. I’m just saying.”

Mia was irritated her sister was pulling her card. “Fuck you know about fucking? You ain’t nothing but nineteen.”

“I been fucking since I been fourteen, Mia. Don’t play with me. You and me both know it’s true.”

“It don’t matter how I dress and look, it’s my fucking business.” It bothered her that both Farah and Chloe could run rings around her in the looks department but she never felt like a glamour girl. Give her a beer, a young boy, and a blunt, and you could leave her the fuck alone. “Back to Shadow, hopefully it won’t be too much longer. He was supposed to come home last week but he got into a fight with some dumbass nigga, and they held him up.” She shook her head. “I wish he just calm down sometimes.”

“Why? Whoever got in his face should’ve left him the fuck alone. I’m sick of feeling bad when people get us wrong and we step to ’em hard.” When the phone rang, Chloe hopped off the bed and answered. “Farah’s residence,” she sang.

“Yes, is Farah Cotton available?”

“Hold up, is this Dr. Martin?” Chloe smiled. “What you doing, calling here this late at night?”

“I figured it’s the only time I can get Farah on the phone. May I ask who this is?”

“Chloe!” She giggled. “You should know my voice by now. As much as I call you.”

“Sorry ... How are you and Mia? With your meds?”

“We fine I guess. Still gotta watch certain stuff.”

“I know. It’s a life process. Is Farah there?”

“No ... but can I take a message?”

“Yes. Give her this number—”

“Hold up,” Chloe interrupted. “I got to find a piece of paper.” She opened one of Lesa’s dresser drawers and pulled out a pink stationary pad with green flowers throughout. Using the matching pen she said, “I’m ready.”

“Have her call 202-555-8999.” He paused. “How does she look?”

Chloe folded the paper and left it on the dresser. “She looks good. I don’t know what she’s doing but whatever it is, it’s working.”

“Oh ... well ... that’s good to hear but I’m still very concerned. I just spoke to Elise and she told me some disturbing news. It sounds as if Farah is using very unconventional means, based on an urban legend. She’s gonna end up in jail or worse off ... dead.”

“I don’t understand. Like what?”

Dr. Martin cleared his throat. “Can you please have her call me? I really want to talk to her. Maybe even visit her at home. I really would appreciate it.” He hung up.

Chloe shrugged and put the phone down. “I’ma go get something to drink. You want anything?”

“Yeah ... bring me a beer. What’d Dr. Martin say?”

“He talking crazy. Saying Farah doing unconventional something or another. Anyway, you know how weird he is sometimes.” Still wearing Lesa’s Gucci dress, she walked barefoot into the kitchen and grabbed a beer for Mia. Then she opened the icebox and was pissed when she didn’t see any ice for her drink. “Damn! They don’t even have no ice up in here!”