Side Chic 3 (The Ratchetness Continues) (12 page)

             
“Where are the girls?” I asked leaning against the counter.

             
She jumped placing her hand over her chest. “Dag, you scared me.”

             
“My bad…I thought that you’d heard me come in.”

             
“Nah, I didn’t. I was deep in thought.” She replied zipping up my lunch bag. “The girls are over at my mama’s house. She wanted to spend a little time with them since we are living tomorrow. Plus, I have a lot of packing to get done and it would take me longer to do it with them. I am going to go and pick them up when I am done.”

             
“Oh okay. Well, I am going to try and get off early tonight so I can kick it with them for a while. I’m going to miss my two fat mamas.” I smiled thinking about my two little ladies. I’d become really attached to them and I knew that I was going to be miserable once they left. I really hated to see them go. To be honest, I was going to miss having Lala around too. I’d gotten used to her being around and it was going to feel funny not seeing her when I got home. I was definitely going to miss all of the home cooked meals and how good she’d been taking care of me. She made sure that my clothes were clean, meals were cooked and the house was clean. She was the perfect roommate.

“
The girls are going to miss you too. You’ve spoiled them rotten since they’ve been here, holding them all the time.” Lala replied standing across from me leaning against the other counter. “I’m sure not going to hold their little butts like that.”

“You’d better. Don’t be making my babies cry woman or else I am going to have to take a trip to Danville.”

She smacked her lips, waving me off. “You can take all the trips that you want. I am not about to hold those girls all the time. They are getting heavy as I don’t know what, especially Laila with her greedy self.”

“Watch your mouth talking about my baby.” I warned jokingly.

“Whatever, she’s my baby too.” She reminded me laughing. “Listen, I have something that I want to talk to you about before I leave.”

“Alright, what’s up?” I asked wondering what she had on her mind and hoping that it wasn’t anything drama-related. I’d had my fill of that for one day.

“It can wait until you get home tonight. That way I won’t feel rushed to say what it is that I have to say. I know that it’s almost time for you to get out of here and go to work.” Her eyes went to the clock over on the microwave and so did mine.

“Yeah, it is right at time for me to get out of here.” I said picking up my lunch bag off of the counter. “Alright then, we’ll talk later when I get off. I sure hope that it isn’t anything bad because lord knows I don’t need any more bad news today.”

“What bad news did you get today?” She asked her eyebrows wrinkled.

“It wasn’t nothing.” I told her because she didn’t need to know about the whole cousin situation with Mina and Kisha. Also because I wouldn’t have felt right talking about Mina or Kisha with her. “Thanks for hooking a brother up for lunch.” I reached over and playfully ruffled her hair.

“Boy!” She yelled smacking me on the arm and smoothing her hair back down.

I went into the living room and got my backpack before heading out the front door.
Lala stood in the doorway and watched me to the car. I opened the door to my Charger and tossed my lunch bag and my backpack over in the passenger seat. Then I hopped inside. When I looked back at the door Lala was waving. I waved back and then headed to work. On my way I called Mina, she answered on the third ring.

“Hello.”
She answered. I could hear her daughter crying in the background.

“Hey, I’m not going to hold you long. I just wanted to call and let you know that when I get off tonight I’m going to swing by your crib. I got something that I want to holla at you about.”

“Okay…” I could tell that her wheels were spinning by the sound of confusion in her voice. “Is everything alright?” She asked.

“Yeah, everything is cool.” Her daughter was wailing by now. “Listen, you go ahead and take care of Lil’ Mama and I’ll call you when I am on my way.”

“Okay, I’ll be waiting for your call.”

“Cool.” I pressed end and disconnected the call. When I got to the Service Master building I informed Mr. Johnson that I needed to get off early and he told me that it was fine. That night at work I thought about everything that had transpired over the past few months. My world had been turned
upside down, from Kisha leaving, to one of my daughters having to have heart surgery, to my best friend trying to kill me. Things had been downright crazy. I desperately needed a change.

I worked until nine o’clock and then I headed back to Boykins. Halfway to Boykins, I took out my phone and called Mina and let her know that I was on my way. She told me that she’d be waiting.
I stopped by the store and got two tall cans of Ice House. I popped the top on the first one no sooner than I got back in the car and was done before I made it to Mina’s. Knowing that my babies were leaving the next morning was weighing heavily on my mind. 

When I got to Mina’s crib, I parked behind her black Honda Civic. I
grabbed my other tall can, got out and walked up to the door. When I reached the porch, she was standing in the doorway

“Dag girl, you were looking out the window weren’t you?” I teased as I walked past her and into the house.

“Nah…” She laughed closing the door behind me and locking it. “I heard your music when you turned into the driveway.” She had her hair pulled back into a ponytail and was rocking a pair of sweats with a sports bra.

I leaned down and gave her a hug and a peck on the cheek. The aroma of kush smacked me in my nostrils. I wasn’t a fan of chics who smoked. I’d mentioned that to her before. “I see someone has been smoking something good.”

She looked up at me, giving me a lazy grin. “I needed something for my nerves after the rough day that I had. It was only a little bit.”

“I hear you.”
I popped the top on my beer as I followed her into the living room. She had music playing softly, candles lit and a glass of wine was sitting on the table. She took a seat on the sofa tucking her legs beneath her, before reaching over and picking up her glass of wine.

“So what is it that you need to holla at me about?” She asked taking another sip of
her wine.

I took a long swig of my beer before replying. “Kisha, came by the house earlier today…”

“Oh lord…” She cut me off letting out a dramatic sigh and throwing up one of her hands. She took another sip of her wine. “Am I going to need the entire bottle for this?” She asked.

“Why you say that?”

“No offense Tremaine but anything dealing with Kisha can’t be good. I don’t know what you are about to say, I’m hoping that you’re not about to say that the two of you have decided to try and work things out.”

I let out a chuckle. “Nah, I don’t think you have that to worry about.” I assured her.

“Whew.” She let out a breath of relief. “Good.”

“Actually she told me something that I am hoping isn’t true.” I looked at her
becoming serious. “She said that the two of you are related.”

“What? Are you serious?” She all but screamed. “That girl has some serious issues! Kisha and I are not related. How?”

“I don’t know.” I replied shrugging my shoulders. “I’m just telling you what she told me. She was really pissed.”

Mina shook her head and rolled her eyes. “Well she is one hell of an actress and liar. That girl knows damn well we are not related. If we were related then how come you are just now finding out? We live right here in the same small ass town and she has never been to my house, we have never hung out. Shit she barely speaks when she sees me. The only reason she told you
that is because she heard that the two of us were dealing with each other. I swear some bitches are really pathetic.”

I could see that she was pissed. I reached over and touched her leg. “Calm down, Lil Bit.” I called her by the nickname that I’d given her. “I don’t know why she said it but…”

Mina sucked her teeth. “You do know why she said it.” She accused. “Because she can’t stand the thought of you moving on to someone else. She sees you moving on from all of that drama between her and your other babymama and she is doing whatever she can to keep you from doing that.”

I have to admit that what she was saying was making a lot of sense. It did seem funny that Kisha had never mentioned the two of them being related before. I’d couldn’t remember ever seeing Mina at any of Kisha family’s gatherings throughout the years. This further proved that it was time for a change. I couldn’t see myself continuing to deal with the drama and bullshit. Kisha had turned into someone that I didn’t even recognize anymore. Her attitude was on 1000 now-a-days and now she was making up lies and shit. I understood that I’d hurt her but that was no excuse for her recent behavior. She’d turned into a straight bird! It seemed to me that she’d be doing the
opposite of the shit that she was doing to show me that she could do better without me but she wasn’t doing that at all.

I turned my beer up to my lips and bucked the remainder of what was in the can before taking it down. “I don’t know what to say.” I said rubbing my head frustrated. I didn’t know how to feel about the situation anymore. I’d been blaming myself for Kisha’s behavior because of the things that I’d done but I wasn’t exactly sure if I was completely the blame for the person that she’d become. Lala’s words from earlier played back in my mind.
Bitch, you laying up with his best friend! So what does that make you? You want to keep calling me a hoe and making like I am the only fucked up person in this situation but common sense should tell anyone that you ain’t just started fucking his boy! Ain’t no way y’all broke up and you moved in with his boy in less than two months if that shit wasn’t already going on
! Those words made a lot of sense. They made me wonder, had Kisha been on some foul shit for a minute and I never realized it because I was so busy living foul myself?

“What are you thinking about so hard?” Mina asked placing her wine glass on the coffee table and crawling over to me. She took the empty beer can from my hand and placed it on the coffee table too. Then she straddled my lap
caressing the side of my face with her hand. She pressed her lips against mine and gave me a small peck. “Talk to me.”

I placed my hands on her hips, letting out a sigh. “I’m just sitting here thinking about Kisha. I don’t understand her. I know that I hurt her…I get that. I accept tota
l responsibility for my actions. It just don’t see why she wants to continue the drama and unnecessary bullshit. Why can’t we be civilized with one another? She has moved on and I am trying to do the same. I don’t want to argue and fight with her. I want to try and make things right. Meaning, I want to be there for her and my children in any way that I can. Even though we aren’t together. I still love her and I always will. I feel like I owe her to be there for her after all that I put her through but she is making this shit so difficult. She’s always pissed about something or ready to flip about something. I am getting fed up because I feel like the more I try the worse shit gets.”

“I understand
but don’t let it get to you. I wish that there was something that I could do to make you feel better.” She kissed me again.

“Do you have anything to drink?”

“I have some Henny.”

“Give me a little bit.”

“Tremaine, are you sure that you need to drink that liquor and drive?” She asked looking concerned.

“Yeah, I’m not going to drink that much just pour me a little bit.” She got up and went into the kitchen. When she came back she handed me
a small glass of Henny and ice. “Thank you.”

“No problem.” She sat down next to me.

I took a sip of my drink. “You know that I don’t like you smoking, right?” I decided to let her know again that I didn’t care for her weed habit.

“Yeah, I know. I told you why I was smoking.”

“I know what you told me but that doesn’t change nothing. That shit ain’t attractive, Mina. I ain’t trying to come in and change you but I am just letting you know how I feel about that.” I finished my drink and sat the empty glass on the table before standing to leave. It was already a little past eleven. I knew that the girls would be asleep when I made it home.

Mina stood scratching her head. “I’ll try to keep that in mind.” She said nonchalantly. “You do realize that it’s something that I’ve been doing for a while so I can’t just quit overnight. Besides, I am respectful enough not to
smoke around you because I know that you don’t like it. I believe that’s damn good.”

“I appreciate you not smoking around me but y
ou are in here getting high with you daughter in the crib. That ain’t what’s up.” I told her point blank. “At the end of the day you are grown though so do what you want.”

She
stepped back placing her hand on her small hip and cocking her head to one side. “So what, are you trying to call me a bad mother?”

“I am saying that weed smoke doesn’t stay in one spot. That shit is in the air, in your clothes, and hair. She doesn’t need to be around that.” I explained. “I am also saying that I don’t want to smell that shit when I kiss you or hug you.”