Thicker Than Water (2 page)

She spoke with a Valley girl drawl, and although it wasn't as pathetic as Clueless' Alicia Silverstone, it was just enough to know she wasn't from around these parts. She wore her hair loose and wavy, the leisure of not having to wrap it or braid it, courtesy of being her white-Irish mother and African-American father's product. She was slender, brown skinned, with an innocent looking face. Quiet and shy, with a heart of gold, and eyes as sneaky as a cat.

Sasha's black, 2007 Acura, with leather cream interior, pulled up onto Kim's block and parallel parked between a pick up truck and Neli's Jetta. Sasha always loved parking between two cars that made her car look even better. 

Damn my car looks good. Fresh rims, new TVs in the headrests, even my air freshener is bumping. I just wish my daddy would've got me the Benz so I really could've been flowing.  

She stepped out of the car, put on her alarm, and walked toward Kim's porch. She could see Neli staring blankly and brushed it off as just jealousy, a true compliment to her.
"Who this diva bitch coming to the hood?"  Kim screamed, joking of course. They definitely were home-girls like that.
"I like your shoes," Neli stated dryly, smiling, looking Sasha up and down. 

When they caught eye contact again, Neli smiled out of embarrassment. Somehow Sasha always caught Neli admiring her, and Neli hated that. 

She tried to not do it so much, and she tried to have enough confidence to make Sasha stare at her like that, but it never worked.
"Why yall not dressed yet?" Sasha asked with playful attitude, crossing her arms across her cleavage, frustrated and a little chilly. 
"Because I didn't get dressed yet," Kim said, matching her playful sassiness.

She was still sitting with her legs up and munching on some sunflower-seeds.
"Yeah, we didn't get dressed yet," Neli added, imitating Kim’s tone. 

Sasha shot Neli a look that read
'Quit co-signing'
. 

Neli got the hint and stood up, subtly rolling her eyes.
"Kim I'm going to get dressed in your room."

"Chris please, I have to go! The girls are waiting," Tatum pleaded.
"And they gonna keep waiting cause I got something to do," he answered, not taking his eyes off of his Xbox Game.

Tatum sighed deeply before responding, she was beyond aggravated.
"I can’t believe I'm begging you to watch your own damn kids! Listen Chris, you are my brother and I love you, but you are gonna have to get your own damn place. As much as I love those girls they are my nieces, not my children.”

Tatum noticed that he wasn’t paying her any attention and she became even more irate. 

“Therefore Chris, they are your responsibility, not mine!" 

At this point Tatum was so fed up with her tired ass brother she didn't know what to do.
"What you trying to say, I don't love my seeds?"  Chris asked, completely missing the point. Tatum rolled her eyes and let out a loud sigh.
"Goodbye." 

Tatum slammed his bedroom door and went into her room to say goodbye to her nieces. She gave them a kiss and left plastic wrapped sandwiches and fruit on the nightstand after turning on cartoons and taking out the coloring books. 

Who knew how long it would be before Chris looked up from his video game and acknowledged them?
"Bye babies," she said smiling at them.
"Bye Auntie Tatum," they said in unison. 

Tatum walked out of the house and jumped into her Escalade truck, heading for Kim's house. She applied her lip gloss as she drove finishing off the final touches of her natural look. 

Tatum was flawlessly beautiful. She had cocoa skin with long black hair. She always dressed stylishly and while Sasha always dressed the sexiest, all of the girls gave it to Tatum on her eye for fashion. She always put things together that you wouldn't see on the runway for months. She was good like that. 

Like tonight, she wore her faded vintage looking Seven jeans with a fresh Dior tee that fit her tight. Accessories were key to setting her apart. She wore a bunch of Bebe pearls along with her Juicy couture charm necklace and charm bracelets.  Her red and silver Manolo Blahnik pumps finished the outfit before it even got started. 

She and Sasha definitely went tit for tat on the shoe game.
"There goes the black bitch," Sasha said playfully to Kim, referring to Tatum who was now pulling up. Tatum was still pissed at Chris but immediately waked up to her girls.

She was happy to see them.
"W’sup yellow bitch, brown bitch!" 

Tatum greeted Kim and Sasha as she hopped out the truck and crossed the street to Kim’s house. This little greeting was something the girls had been doing since childhood and when Neli joined the circle, she became the white bitch.

"Where's the white bitch?" 
"In the house still getting dressed," Sasha responded, with slight attitude.

By this time Kim had dressed in her allover denim cat suit that showed every angle of her curvy figure. 

Neli was still inside trying to perfect her look to outshine the crew. 
Finally she came out dressed in crème booty shorts, a crème and gold halter and all gold accessories including Kim's gold sandals.
"Okaaay white bitch!" The crew all screamed together then busted out laughing. 

Kim's nosy neighbor Ms. Ike just looked at the girls and rolled her eyes.
"Take your ass in the house! You just mad cause ya old ass aint going nowhere."  Kim made sure that she was loud enough for her to hear.
"Kim stop! Yall ready to go?" Sasha asked anxiously, who after all these years still carried her southern accent. 

"Tatum, you driving?” She threw in there.
"Why me?" Tatum asked, rolling her eyes.
"Cuz you got the truck, black bitch," Neli joked. 

They laughed and with that, headed for the chromed out Escalade. 
"Shotgun!"  Kim screamed, hopping in the passenger seat as Neli and Sasha got in the back.

The girls headed for the city bumping the new Beyonce while every group of dudes they passed tried to get them to stop.  Kim turned down the music.
"Yo Tatum, stop over there so I can get some bud." 

Tatum smiled at her crazy friend, and made a left turn, pulling up to the corner where all the hustlas were out.
"Kim, hurry up," Sasha whined, ready to go.
"Sash, shut it up! Anyway, aint that ol' boy?"
"Oh yeah," chimed Tatum, jokingly, "that
is
Chauncey, looking all good." 

Tatum was just messing with Sasha. Tatum looked in the rearview to catch Sasha's reaction but caught Neli with a crazy look on her face. 

She seemed nervous and Tatum wanted to know why.
Kim hopped out of the car and strutted over to Shoty, the dude that always had the haze. Kim didn't know if they called him Shoty because he smoked so much, or because he was always letting off his gun, or maybe it was because his sexy ass liked to give chicks back shots. 

Either way Kim was going to find out, he had just copped a new Audi and Kim was trying to get a piece of the pie, and if you didn't know it now ya do, dudes had to pay to lay. 

Kim felt as if her pussy was too good to be free.
"Sasha, run in the store please and get me some Big Red," Tatum asked, knowing Sasha was dying for a reason to get out the car and show Chauncey how good she looked. She also wanted to talk to Neli about that screw face look she had on.
"I'll go," Neli blurted out, with a little too much excitement.
"No, I got it," Sasha shot back, noticing Neli's eagerness and catching Tatum's hint. 

Sasha gave Tatum a smile and stepped out of the car slowly, showing nothing but legs.
"God damn." "Shit!" 

That's all you could hear from the group of thugs outside of the bodega. Sasha glanced over at Chauncey who sat with his door opened and one leg out of his 750Li BMW. 

He was still the most lickable chocolate man she'd ever seen and Sasha still loved him very much. 
Chauncey spoke on his cell phone with a serious look on his face and glanced up at Sasha as she walked into the store. 

Sasha didn't catch that glance.
She stared around the store, trying to buy time and not really wanting to walk back out alone.
"Can I have two packs of Big Red?" She finally asked.

She caught the Mexican guy behind the counter staring at her breasts. Just as she turned to walk out she felt a hand on her shoulder. 

She looked up and there were two ugly, rough-looking drunk guys.
"Get off of me!"  Sasha screamed, pushing them and trying to get by, but they were all up on her.
"Let me do some things to you ma," one of them said, a little too close for comfort.
"Yo Black, get the fuck off her!  Now, mothafucka!" 
Sasha immediately recognized that voice. 

That voice was one that spoke with so much authority, reminding her of her daddy. The men eased up immediately and their smiles faded to innocent looks. They obviously had no clue. Everyone else knew that Sasha was Chauncey's and nobody messed with her.  Everyone looked out for her; they knew she was the only woman that he ever loved.
"I can take care of myself," Sasha snapped, storming past him.
"It don't look like that to me, and what the fuck you got on anyway, out here on the Ave with Kim, huh?" 

Chauncey asked this in a way that demanded an answer.
"I got on what a single girl going to club to get a nigga would have on," Sasha responded, turning on her heels with her hand on her hip and staring him dead in the eye.

But on the inside she was shivering.
Chauncey paused for a minute and just smiled at her, he knew he still had her.
"Well be good kid, go find that nigga." 

He smiled, turned to walk away, and got in his car where some girl was now sitting in his passenger seat. Sasha could feel the tears welling up in her eyes as she hurried back to the truck, and remained quiet throughout the entire ride. 

When they finally arrived at the club everybody was in a completely different mood. Tatum was relaxed and nonchalant, Kim was high, Neli was amped and ready to meet some dudes, and Sasha was in a zone thinking about Chauncey. They got out of the car and the breeze in the summer's air greeted them, kissing their beautiful faces and introducing them to the city.
The club was packed, and from the moment they flashed their ID's, Kim's fake of course, all the guys, even the ballers, were going crazy trying to get any one of their attention.
"I definitely need some drinks!" Kim screamed over a dirty south track telling all of the females to shake it like a saltshaker. The other three girls headed over by the VIP.  Everyone knew the drill, if it was a night like tonight and the VIP was booked, hang out by the VIP until one of the clown ass niggas invited them in there, and then they would totally ignore him and use him for his drinks.
"Tatum, do you know who that was in Chauncey's car?"  Sasha asked, speaking for the first time since they entered the club.
"Get over him," was Tatum's blunt and simple answer.
"I am," Sasha lied. "But who was it?" 

Tatum just rolled her eyes and took the drink that Kim handed her.
"What's this?" Tatum asked, smelling the concoction.
"Grey Goose and cranberry, courtesy of the lame by the bar with the braids." 

The girls all took their drinks, raised them in the air, smiled at the lame, and drank them down.
"Tasha," Neli whispered in Sasha's ear.
"Girl you drunk already?  My name is Sasha."
"No. Tasha is Chauncey's new girl," Neli responded.
"Tasha from East-wick?" Sasha shouted hurt, upset, and surprised all in one. Then she turned to Tatum.
"Tatum, Tasha from East-wick?"
Tatum shot Neli a look that could've killed. 

She didn't understand why Neli felt it necessary to tell Sasha that.
"What about Tasha?" 

Kim asked, completely gone and already downing her second drink.
"That's Chauncey's new girl. It's only been a week!" Sasha screamed over the loud music, hurt and mad as hell simultaneously.
"That is not Chauncey's girl and Tasha's a fucking slut," Tatum snapped, knowing damn well Chauncey would not even play himself by stepping out with a low class bird like Tasha.
"Tasha's a fucking jump-off!"  Kim added, as if she wasn't the same.
"Don't worry about her Sash." Tatum reassured her, ending the discussion as she grabbed Sasha's hand and pulled her on the dance floor. Jay-Z's "Excuse Me Miss" was playing and that was Sasha's song. Neli wore a smirk that read
'I'm satisfied'
.  The girls danced all night and laughed and drank up the bar and danced some more, until their feet were sore and it was time to go.

4:15 am

Everyone started clearing out of the club due to serious overcrowding. All four girls tired and drunk, some more than others, stumbled out of the club laughing at some cornball dude that tried to get a ride home with them. Tatum handed the valet her stub for the truck, and as she glanced around the crowd, she caught eyes with the sexiest man she'd ever seen.  She quickly looked away seeming uninterested. 

Just in that second of a glance though, Tatum had seen it all.  He was brown skinned with shoulder length dreads pulled back into a ponytail. He looked Jamaican. He looked important. 
"Damn girl, that nigga look like somebody from Shottas!"  Kim screamed drunkenly. The other girls looked to see but Tatum knew exactly who she was talking about. 
"Kim stop being so damn loud," Tatum demanded, in an irate whisper. Kim snapped back with her garbled drunken slur.
"But the nigga look good as hell. If the nigga look good, Imma say he look good, if he look like the nigga from Shottas, Imma say he look like the mothafuckin nigga from Shottas!"
"He looks crazy, like a killer," Neli said, dismissing the sexy dread.
"Like a Shotta!" Kim repeated
"Shut up Kim!" Tatum and Sasha screamed.
"Nah don't worry about it shorty, I get it now and then, ya know," the sexy dread spoke in his deep voice with a slight Jamaican accent. 

The girls turned to face him and were speechless. He was the shit! He turned his attention to Tatum.
"Ya know I caught ya eye a second ago and I was wondering if later on I can put something in ya tummy?" 

The girls sat there with a shocked look.
"That's what the fuck I'm talking about," Kim smiled, giving him the fuck me look. "I love a dude that gets to the point."

He chuckled before answering.
"I was talking about food, for ya friend here.”