Borrowed Time

Thirty Three

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"Toni," Mike spoke to me, while he was seated at my desk, searching through Facebook upon my office computer. "Are you sure that's that white lady?"

After seeing those texts sent to Janet's device, I couldn't stop thinking about them. I wondered who the hell that person was and what she could've possibly been talking about.

So, after wrapping up a second day at the salon since being reopened, I figured I could take the remaining time to look this woman up and asked my partner in crime to help me.
"Yes, Mike, I'm sure." I responded to the man, standing behind him. "I know what Karen looks like. It's just weird seeing her name as Meredith Fuller on Facebook and in Janet's phone."

"Hell, what the hell is her number even doing in Big Booty Janet's phone?" He asked, moving his head in disbelief.

I too couldn't believe it. It completely shocked me that Karen was the person who popped up under this strange and unknown name. I at least thought after I had beaten her ass for what she did to my salon, that I no longer had to deal with her. But apparently, she still found a way to get to me.

"Listen, you need to gon' head and hit up your lil entangler," Mike went on, motioning in my direction. "And get to the bottom of this because BBJ and Lil Meredith got something going on."

"What?" I smacked my lips, rolling my eyes. "No. There's no way that's even possible." I waved him off, not agreeing with his conclusion. "Janet wouldn't do that."

The man looked at me sideways, responding with, "And why the hell not? Toni, you know this is like the third time she den' ended up in some suspicious shit like this."
He had a point. Janet had given me multiple reasons to not fully trust her, to not believe much that she claimed. But still, we got over those things. We worked through them.

"Okay, so yeah there were times she wasn't exactly truthful to me and what not, but I really don't think she'd have something going on with Karen." I pointed toward the computer screen, allowing a disgusted expression to hold my face.

"Fine," Mike said back, shrugging his shoulders. "Then why don't we go to Janet's Facebook page?" He then began typing upon the keyboard, switching the screen.
Instantly, a profile belonging to Janet displayed. After scrolling through it, we saw inspiring statuses that she had shared and dancing videos she posted.

"Janet know she love that damn going-in-hashtag." The man continued browsing through her page, trying to find whatever he could. It goes without saying, there wasn't much to see as the woman's profile wasn't exactly open to the public.

"See," I began to say, smiling to myself. "She's private like me. That's so cute."

Mike turned from the computer, giving me very concerned eyes. I had never seen him look so serious, so critical. "How well do you really even know her, Toni? I mean, don't get me wrong, I love Big Booty Janet, but this is just weird." He breathed deeply, carrying a thinking face. "You don't think it's a coincidence that when we looked back over that footage to see who damaged the shop, we saw that it was Karen? But at first we thought it was Janet? Now all of a sudden they texting each other?"

I sighed, placing my head into the palms of both my hands. He wasn't wrong. In fact, he said everything I was thinking. He said everything I should've said. But, I didn't want to address any of this with Janet just yet. Not until I had more facts.
"Listen, do I think it's odd? Yes. And I also think it is very strange. But if something is going on, I'm just gonna wait until Janet comes to me about it. Last time I went to her about some shit, it went completely left. We're in a good place right now, and I don't want to mess that up."