This Could Be Us But You Playin' 2 (4 page)

Chapter 2

“Where the hell are you?” Shanice asked, as soon as she answered her ringing phone. She listened to the voice on the other end speak for a second before she sat up on the couch and yelled, “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me!” 

“I swear, Nicy. I didn’t even know she was going to be there. I literally ran into her,” Deondre explained.

“So, what took you so long to tell me about it? I’ve been calling your damn phone for the last few hours. You couldn’t pick up and say shit, Dre? For real? I’m over here packed and ready to go, and you disappear.”

“I’m sorry, but I was in the car with her and couldn’t answer when you were calling me.”

“What else is new?” Shanice blew out an exasperated breath, “So, what happens now? I can already see that we aren’t leaving tonight, so are you coming to pick me up tomorrow?”

“Ummm,” he paused, “I don’t think we gone be able to go.”

“And why the fuck not?” Shanice questioned. “We made plans, and now you’re calling to tell me that they ain’t happening? What the hell am I supposed to do while you sit at home under that bitch?”

“Calm down, and watch your damn mouth,” Deondre scolded. Even though he understood why she was so upset, that still wasn’t enough to let her talk to him crazy.

“How the hell can you tell me to calm down because I’m voicing how I feel? I’m pissed right now and can’t understand why you made plans with me in the first place that you knew you couldn’t keep.”

“Come on now, you act like I just changed my mind. I ran into her at the fucking mall, for goodness sakes. Ain’t no way in hell I could have predicted that,” Deondre explained.

“What the hell ever, Dre. I’m sure you could have figured out something. You do when it’s something that you really want,” Shanice snapped. She was so upset; she wanted to cry. “Where are you now? I know you can’t be around her because you’re calling me.”

“I’m on my way home from the Chinese place.”

“So, let me get this straight,” she started. “You are out grabbing food for y’all’s little
family day
, yet you brush me off and give me your ass to kiss?”

“Man, come on now, you know it ain’t even like that,” Deondre sighed because he knew it was coming.

Shanice smacked her lips. “I don’t know shit apparently because what I
knew
was that you and I were supposed to spend a few days together doing us. Now you calling me and telling me that the shit ain’t gone happen. I was looking forward to this, Dre!” She shouted.

“I don’t know how many times I can tell you that I fucked up!” Deondre yelled right back. He took a few breaths and calmed down a bit before he told her, “Look, I’ll make it up to you… I promise.”

“That’s what you always say, Dre. You are always making promises that yo’ ass can’t keep, and I’m getting sick and tired of it.” As hard as Shanice tried to prevent them from doing so, tears dropped from her eyes and slowly ran down her face. “I’m tired of you coming over when it’s convenient for you. Everything is on your terms, Dre. Don’t you think I get tired of sleeping at home alone at night, while you lay up in the bed with her?”

Now in front of his house, Deondre slowed down and pulled into the driveway. “Okay, I get that. You knew the shit wasn’t gone be easy, Nicy.

Deondre took his hands off the steering wheel, brought them up, and cupped his face. His patience was running thin, and he was trying not to flip out on her. Of course, he knew that she had a right to be angry. The plans they made were just for the two of them, and although Shanice didn’t know it, he was looking forward to it just as much as she was. Now, the plans were changed, and at the end of the day, it was what it was. Deondre knew he could have come up with something else to get away, but he really didn’t want to. He and Dominique were now in a happy place, and he didn’t want to chance messing that up. He would deal with Shanice when he was ready, but at that moment, he wasn’t about to go back and forth with her.

“Yeah, I knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but I damn sure didn’t think it would be this hard either! After all this time, I thought that things would at least be a little better,” Shanice explain honestly. “We are about to have two kids together, and I can barely get you to spend the fucking night. You come over and fuck, but be right back out the door like I’m some kind of booty call. How the hell do you think that makes me feel?”

“Come on man, now you tryna play crazy,” Deondre told her. “You can keep acting like a fucking victim if you want to, but you and I both know that shit is far as hell from the truth!” he barked. “You acting like a nigga tricked you or some shit, like you ain’t know Nikki and I were together.”

“I’m not saying I ain’t know, so don’t put fucking words in my mouth! What I’m saying is I’m your baby mother too, yet you treat me like I don’t even matter and I’m tired of this shit!”

“Alright, you’ve said you’re tired a few times. What I wanna know is what it is you saying? You saying that shit over and over again to tell me something, so quit beating around the bush and spit it out,” he commanded, ready for her to really say what was on her mind. 

Shanice took a deep breath. “I’m saying I don’t know how much longer I can take of this.”

“Okay, but I don’t know what the fuck that’s supposed to mean. You still ain’t saying shit.”

“Why do you have to be such an asshole?” Shanice burst out crying. “You don’t have to be so fucking evil towards me, Dre. I’m crying while explaining my feelings, and you’re acting like I don’t have that right. No matter what the situation is, I love the hell outta you and you always try to make me feel like shit because of it.” She continued to sob. “I know I’m not your
precious Dominique,
but I have feelings too, and just once, I would love for you to act like you care about them.”

Deondre immediately felt bad because making her cry was not his intent. He did love Shanice, but at times, she could get on his nerves. Never did he want her to feel like he didn’t care because he did. “Look, you just need to just calm down. Quit getting yourself all upset about this shit. I said I’ll make it up to you.”

Shanice sniffled a few times, “Wha… whatever, Dre—”

“Aye, let me call you back,” he told her, cutting her off. Deondre quickly pushed the phone button on his steering wheel and disconnected the call from his Bluetooth system. With his eyes focused on the front of the house, he watched Dominique in the doorway with their son on her hip. She smiled when she saw him looking, pointed toward him and seconds later, DJ waved.

“Huh-” Shanice asked, but never got a reply.  She didn’t realize that Deondre had hung up until she looked at her phone. “Aaahhh!” she screamed, “I swear I fucking hate him sometimes!”

Shanice continued to sit on same spot on the couch crying. She stared at the adjacent wall in a trance as she thought about Deondre hanging up on her. No doubt it was because of Dominique, because other than her, there was no other reason for him to disconnect so abruptly. After a few minutes, the front of Shanice’s t-shirt was wet from all of her tears. Her shoulders trembled and snot ran from her nose, but she didn’t bother to wipe it away, because to her, there was no need. Once again, Shanice’s feelings were hurt. This was not the way she planned to spend her night at all. She and Deondre were supposed to be relaxing by the water in Myrtle Beach, and not close to seventy miles apart. They had made their plans a week ago. Shanice had given Deondre a pity party about never spending time with her, and he in turn promised to take her away on a short get-a-way.

Deondre planned to lie to Dominique about where he was going, so that he and Shanice could do their thing without worrying about her popping up. Since it was a six-hour drive to South Carolina, instead of catching a flight, they instead were going to make it a road trip. The drive was actually something that Shanice had been looking forward to since the plans were made.  As the days drew closer, Shanice fed her mother the lie about going away with one of her other close friends, and of course, Mya took the bait. She was glad that her daughter had cut all contact with Deondre, so she didn’t mind keeping London until Shanice came back from her girl’s trip. Of course, the part about not dealing with Deondre was a lie, but Mya didn’t need to know that. Now that Deondre had cancelled their plans, Shanice didn’t know what she was going to do with the almost full week she had child-free.

With her phone still in her hand, Shanice lit her screen up and entered her password. Her destination was to her call log, and when she saw the name she was looking for, she tapped the screen and put the phone to her ear. 

“Hey bitch, what you doing?” She asked when the call was connected.

“Shit, hoe. I’m just lying here in the bed trying to figure out what the fuck I’m about to get into. What’s up?”

“Nothing,” Shanice sniffled. “I was calling—”

“Hold on, are you crying?”

“Girl no,” Shanice lied.

“Uh huh, don’t make me hafta fuck nobody up,” Paris warned. 

Shanice chuckled. “Calm down killa, I’m good. I was just calling you because I wanted to see if you wanted to go to Myrtle Beach with me tomorrow.”

“Hell yeah! Bitch, you know damn well I wanna go to the beach!” Paris yelled into the receiver, getting hyped.

“Cool. We’re going to stay for about a week, so make sure you pack enough clothes.”

“Alright, but who all going and how much I need?”

“It’s just me and you and you don’t need anything. Dre is footing the bill on this trip,” Shanice explained. Even though she and Deondre were only supposed to stay for a few days, she planned to extend her trip for a full week. 

“Well in that case, tell them muthafuckas to make sure the mini bar is stocked, room service is on call, and there’s a masseuse on site because I plan to get drunk, eat good, and get rubbed down, and it will all be on his ass.” Shanice couldn’t do nothing but laugh at her crazy relative because she was honestly a damn fool.

Paris was Shanice’s cousin on her father’s side. She was a military brat who moved around a lot because both of her parents where in the army. Because of this, she and Shanice could only keep in touch by telephone and letters. Only a year apart, Paris was Shanice’s favorite cousin because she was exactly like her. Not only was she spoiled rotten and got everything she wanted, but she was also manipulative and sneaky, which was why Shanice’s mother couldn’t stand Paris. Mya thought Paris was a bad influence on Shanice, never knowing that it was Shanice most of the time that came up with all of the ideas that got them both in trouble. Paris did pretty much anything Shanice asked her to do. It wasn’t because she was stupid or a follower; it was just that she was a free spirit who loved her cousin dearly and loved wanted to see her happy. The cousins were honestly two peas in the pod and now that Paris had officially moved to Georgia, they were going to make up for all the lost time they missed apart.

“You need a damn check.” Shanice continued to laugh.

“I know I do; shit, you ain’t the first person to tell me this. Anyways, what’s wrong? I know Dre ain’t just paying for our Myrtle Beach trip for the hell of it. What he do now?” Paris asked, already knowing that her cousin’s baby daddy had done something.

“Same shit he always does,” Shanice sighed. She didn’t feel like giving her cousin the whole story. “I just need to get away.”

“Well, let’s go. Fuck that, we gone have some fun and you gone forget about his dumb ass.”

I wish
, Shanice thought. “Yeah, I know. I’m over it. I ain’t worried about him right now,” she lied.

Paris laughed loudly. “Shit, me either.” 

“Alright. Well, I’ll be to get you around ten in the morning. It’s a six-hour drive, so I want to get their early,” Shanice told her cousin.

“Okay.”

“And bitch be ready, ‘cause I’ll leave yo’ ass!”

“Whateva hoe, you ain’t leaving shit.” Paris giggled, “Okay, I’ll see you tomorrow. I love you.”

“I love you too.”

After Shanice hung up the phone, she smiled at how silly her cousin was. Paris knew just what to say to make her feel better. She got up off the couch and went upstairs. When she was in her room, she sat her phone on the nightstand on the charger. Shanice rolled her eyes when she realized that she had to repack.  All of the clothes she had placed in her suitcase were strictly to entice Deondre, and since Paris was now going, there was no need for all the sexy lingerie. Picking her suitcase off of the floor, she laid it on her bed and unzipped it. One by one, she removed all of the clothing she no longer needed and placed it all on top of her dresser before walking over to her closet and grabbing a few other things to replace them. Once she had a couple sundresses, bikinis, shorts tank tops, and a few pairs of sandals inside her suitcase, she closed it and laid it down by the door of her room.

Back alone with her thoughts, Shanice flopped down on her bed and lied back against her pillows. Although she was glad that her cousin was accompanying her on the trip, she still wished it could have been Deondre. She was still upset that he’d so easily up and changed his mind about going. Shanice figured that even though he had bumped into Dominique at the mall, he could have still made up some other excuse to leave if that was really what he wanted to do. Instead, he cancelled their plans, deciding to spend the next few days happy at home with his nagging ass bitch and their son. Knowing that Dominique had all of Deondre’s attention made Shanice sick to her stomach. She wanted so bad to tell her so-called best friend that her fiancé wasn’t as loyal to her as she thought, but knew better. Deondre wouldn’t go for that, and that was something that Shanice was sure of.
She’ll find out one way or another,
Shanice thought,
and that’s something I can bet on.