October 2006
(one year since last flashback)
"Love is not looking over shoulders
Love is you should trust what I told you
Lately it's like you been speaking fantasy
And I'm speaking reality
'Cause we got problems we ain't getting over
I think we breaking up
And not just on some boyfriend-girlfriend shit
I think we had enough."
"Yo..."
Chris looked up from his phone as Bow entered the room, the soles of his Nike slippers scratching against the floor. He dropped himself carelessly on the couch beside him, brushing his hair.
"What's good?"
"You back on that phone nigga." Bow chuckled, shaking his head. "Must be talking to your girl, huh?"
"Yeah." Chris answered simply, already knowing where the conversation was going. Not too long after they met, Bow made it clear he thought his long distance relationship with Naomi was a stupid idea.
Hanging out with Bow, Chris got a glimpse of the other side of this life. Different girls everyday, wild parties and public sex. Women of all ages and races were paraded in front of him all the time, and he'd be lying if he said he wasn't even a little tempted. Obviously the distance put a toll on him and Naomi's sex life, but whenever she was around he couldn't say he wasn't completely satisfied. His stamina and appetite picked up quite a bit the older he got, and they had no problem keeping up with each other sexually.
When they were together. But they were never together anymore.
"I don't get you bro. You could have any girl you want...they all over you. But you really still on this relationship shit." He laughed ironically, shaking his head in disbelief and disappointment. Bow could draw a crowd and a load of female attention on his own, but with Chris it was a different level. When they were together it wasn't safe for anybody. He became like a older brother, dragging Chris from New York, Atlanta, LA, Miami, Houston...showing him all there was to take advantage of. "I mean, I respect it. You love your girl and shit but.." he shrugged, signaling he was done with his thought.
"I keep telling you, me and my girl got something real. All this distance and shit don't mean nothing." Chris was saying the words but he didn't know how much he really meant them. The separation was killing him.
"She trust you?"
"Yeah nigga."
"She don't be thinking you fucking all these groupies and models and shit?" He smirked, putting his foot up on the table in front of them.
"Nah." Chris chuckled. "She ain't like that. If I tell her I'm not then she know I'm not."
"You a good nigga bro. Better than me." Bow laughed again, before he leaned in a little with a devious smirk on his face. "Keisha did tell me to tell you she feeling you though. Ever since we shot the video she been asking about you."
"What?"
"Yeahhhh. Keisha Chanté nigga. Sexy, singing ass. She on you, boy."
"Come on, Bow." He didn't want to react, because it would only give Bow some energy to go off of, but he couldn't help the smile that crossed his face. He and Keisha definitely had a connection during the video shoot, a friendly one. She was cool and real pretty— he's faithful but not blind.
"I'm just saying. You ain't gotta do nothing with her, but you know...you could kick it with her a little."
"My girl will kill me and her."
"She don't gotta know everything, CB. You could have a little fun my nigga, it ain't a crime!" The playfulnesses in his tone let Chris know this was nothing but trouble. "Look...me and Ang supposed to hang out tonight. I'll tell her to bring Keisha, we could all chill. Put ya phone down, tell your girl you busy and enjoy a little female company bro. If you not feeling it just leave."
°°°
"You said you going out?" Chris rose his eyebrow, listening to Naomi on the other side of the phone. Their usual routine was to get at least two phone calls in every day. Some days it was more, some days less...some days none. But it was one of the rare weekends Chris had off, and instead of talking Naomi to sleep like he usually would, he was listening to her get ready to go out and enjoy her weekend.
"Yeah...Sapphire is throwing a Halloween party so I'm going with the girls." She answered casually, and he could tell by the tone in her voice that she was focusing less on him and more on whatever she was doing on the other end of the phone.
Chris chewed on his lip, wanting to tell her to stay home but knowing he couldn't. She spent most weekends with her girls since he'd been gone, and recently she'd been frequenting house parties most Saturdays— it flared jealousy up in him every time. He knew the kind of attention she got when she stepped out the house.
"We're dressing up as the Clovers from Bring it On."
"Clovers?"
"The black cheerleaders babe. In the green. I got pom pom's and everything, it's so cute."
"Hm...you gotta send me pictures. I wanna see this cute cheerleader costume." He said sarcastically, listening to her laugh through the phone. But he wasn't joking.
"Don't be like that." She could hear the slight change in his tone, and she knew him well enough to know exactly what was running through his mind. Occasionally his jealousy got the best of him and he boldly spoke his mind to her, but ultimately every conversation ended the same. You trust me, I trust you.
"Like what?"
"All boyish and moody."
"I'm not being moody." He got comfortable on the couch, throwing his hood over his head. "I'm just saying, you gon' be walking around all cute without me there to beat niggas up."
"I can handle myself, you know that." She sat at her vanity and began carefully lining her lips with a dark brown lip liner pencil, setting her phone down and hitting the speaker button.
"I know baby." He swallowed his natural reaction and decided to change the subject. "I wish I was there to see how pretty you gon' look."
"I'll send you lots of pictures. Promise." She smoothed her hair up out her face, tying it in a messy bun and continued applying her makeup, focusing on herself in the mirror. "You doing anything tonight? Any big, fancy celebrity parties?"
"No." Chris chuckled, rolling his eyes. "I'm just chilling with Bow and some of his friends. I guess just...movies and shit."
"Ooow friends like who? Omarion gon' be there? Or Ciara?"
Naomi knew Chris lowkey had a crush on Ciara but she was such a fan, it didn't even bother her. Especially because she knew he would never actually act on it. It was like her crush on Ginuwine, a nice little fantasy.
"They broke up." He laughed. "But nah, the same girls we shot the video with. Angela and Keisha."
"Oh...just the four of y'all?" She paused, setting her lip gloss down and crossing her arms. Her girlfriend antennas were officially up, and Chris cursed himself for being so honest. "Like a double date or something?"
"No, ain't no double date. That's his friends and I'm just hanging out with them."
"Y'all couldn't find nobody else to hang out with y'all?"
"Baby, it's not like that. We just watching some scary movies and listening to music." It was Naomi's turn to bite her tongue, fighting the urge to scream at him. How could he not see how this made her uncomfortable? Was he crazy? "I'm telling you because it's not a big deal."
"But do you see how it sounds? I tell you I'm going out to a public party and I can hear how mad you get. This is way worse."
"Yeah, I know. But I swear I'm not doing anything."
Naomi got quiet...glaring straight ahead at her bedroom wall. She was afraid of sounding crazy and insecure. She preached about trust to him all the time, but how many tests can trust take before it gives in? Neither of them even fully understood the damage it would do once it was broken.
"Fine, C. I trust you. Just don't make me regret it."
"I won't. I love you baby."
"Yeah, remember that while you're watching scary movies in the dark with another girl tonight." Rolling her eyes, she focused back on her reflection in the mirror.
"Baby." He laughed, shaking his head. I'm not the only jealous one.
"Im just saying."
"Say you love me back, girl."
"I love you too Mr. Brown."
"Have fun tonight...be safe and behave yourself."
"Yeah you too. Talk to you later?"
"Call me whenever you want. I'll sing you to sleep if you want." He joked, making her giggle and blush slightly.
"Bye babe."
As soon as the call ended, a lump formed in her throat. She trusted Chris with everything but she couldn't help the worry in the pit of her stomach.
°°°
"Is it me? Am I trippin?"
An hour later, Naomi had broken down her phone call to her girls in Kenya's car on the way to the party. She couldn't help the feeling she had. She even paused in the middle of getting dressed to watch him and Bow's music video obsessively.
"Hell no bitch!" Raven rolled her eyes, already riled up at the story. After Andre cheated on her freshman year, she'd been on a 'all men are dogs' rampage. Any little suspicious thing could set her off, especially when it came to her best friends."That nigga is on a double date right now."
"C wouldn't do that." Skye protested, giving Naomi hopeful eyes from the back seat.
"I know he wouldn't but...am I wrong for feeling this way?"
"Nah you not wrong." Kenya assured her. "That shit sound sus as hell."
"That girl ain't even that cute for him to be cheating on you."
"Nah she's cute." Naomi crossed her arms, pouting and forcefully sitting back in the passenger seat. She was usually confident in her looks, but something about these famous girls just got under her skin. "And she over there probably all on my man right now."
"He so lucky he's in New York because you know we would've did a drive by." Kenya fixed her ponytail in the mirror as she spoke. "It's no point obsessing over that shit Nae. If you trust him then let it go girl."
"Yeah, we gon' go up in this party looking good as fuck, and we gon' have a good time. You too pretty to be worried about a nigga tonight." Raven leaned forward between them in the front seat, making Naomi drag her eyes over to her.
"And you got a good boyfriend who's obsessed with you. You don't even have anything to worry about." Skye assured optimistically, smiling softly. "He loves you, Nae."
"Y'all are right." Naomi sighed, calming herself down. "I do have a good boyfriend...and he loves me. Imma just relax, and enjoy my night."
°°°
"You ain't call me when you got home last night." Chris scolded Naomi through the phone, while he ate his cereal the next morning. He was so caught up in the movies that he didn't notice until 1:00 in the morning that he hadn't heard from her. At the time he figured she was just having fun at her sleepover but it started to bother him.
He only didn't call her phone back to back all night because he didn't want her to think he was being jealous or controlling. Competing with her friends for her attention had been an ongoing argument for years, and he was trying to respect 'girl time' for once.
"Well you didn't call me either." She retorted smugly, annoyed that he didn't bother to call her until this morning. The nerve. "Guess you was caught up."
"Come on man, don't do that." He sucked his teeth, tossing his spoon down. "You said you was having a sleepover so I wasn't tryna press you."
"Since when C?"
"Wait so you mad because I ain't call and interrupt your night with your girls?"
Now he was genuinely confused. It was like he was damned if he does, damned if he doesn't.
"First of all, I ain't mad. I'm annoyed because I told you I was going out and I was out late and you was so busy doing whatever you was doing that you couldn't even call and check on your girlfriend."
"I told you I wasn't doing nothing with that girl, Naomi."
She had one more time to accuse him before he lost his temper. If he wanted to cheat he easily could, but he wasn't, so he didn't care to hear all this complaining.
"So who had your attention all night?!"
"Nobody! We was watching a movie!"
"Well it was obviously more important than me."
"Naomi don't start no stupid ass argument with me girl. I'm calling you to check on you."
"Check on the bitch you was with last night Chris." She abruptly hung up, throwing her phone across the room onto the opposite couch. She slumped down in the chair, getting angrier by the second.
She knew he wasn't cheating on her—in her gut, she knew it. But it was unlike him to not check in, especially if she was going out. He always made sure she got home safe. It felt like as time went by she became less and less of a priority.
Her phone rang from across the room and assuming it was him, she rolled her eyes and ignored it.
Right now all they were going to do is argue. She was sick of it.