»Two can play that game«
»C'est un jeu qui se joue à deux«
March 3, 1993
"Échec et mat, nigga!" I yelled, beating DeVanté at chess once again.
"Man, I let you win that." He kissed his teeth. "You let me win over fifty two times? How generous." I said sarcastically. He just rolled his eyes and said 'Whatever'.
"Knock, knock, open up bitch!" Lisa shouted and straight up walked into our house. She also dragged along Tionne and Rozonda as usual.
"Why say knock knock if you're just going to bust in anyways?" I raised my eyebrow. "To build dramatic effect, but how you children doing?"
"Nothing much, except I'm whooping DeVanté's ass in chess." I giggled. "I heard that!" He yelled from the kitchen. "Alright, onto more important matters, when she coming out because I'm starting to lose my patience." Rozanda said.
"Yeah, the more time she spends in there, the less time she has for me to help her find a boyfriend." Tionne added on.
"Like I said before, she ain't having no damn boyfriends!" DeVanté walked back into the living room. "Not on my damn watch."
"Tuh! Who you think you stopping? My god daughter is going to having all the little niggas looking once she hits kindergarten. A B C D look at me. I'm so fly as you can see. Stare at me, I don't care, just don't look at my derrière." Tionne chuckled at the little freestyle she made.
"Nice song. Now she going to be home schooled until she turns 94. Thank you." DeVanté smiled in satisfaction. "Can you two stop arguing, y'all are going to upset the baby." I rubbed my belly.
"Sorry baby, I just-"
"Open the fuck up!" Dalvin, K-Ci, and Jojo walked in unexpectedly just like my friends did. Weird.
Tionne almost jumped out of her seat when she saw Dalvin, which was weird because I remember her seeing, well, screeching over him at the baby shower three months ago.
"Hey, Carmen." Jojo greeted me sweetly. Jojo was the nicest one in the group, he was more off to himself and never gave anyone any trouble. "Hi, Jojo." I walked over to give him a hug.
Rozonda must have been bitten by the same bug that Tionne was bitten by, because she was staring at Jojo like he was a slab of meat. "Uh, Ro, you good?" Lisa waved her hand in front of her face.
Rozonda blinked a couple of times before snapping back into reality. "Uh, yeah! I'm fine here. It's all good, great in fact. I'm amazing." She rushed out entirely. Aww, she has a crush on Jojo.
"What the hell are y'all doing here anyways?" DeVanté asked all six of our friends.
"We can't check on your lonely asses?" Tionne said.
"No, now get out." DeVanté got up and directed them towards the door.
"Ow." I felt a sharp pain around my belly button.
"What's wrong, C?" Rozonda asked me. "It's probably nothing, I'm perfectly fi- shit!" The pain grew tremendously to a point where I couldn't take it anymore. It felt as if someone was shoving machetes through my stomach one by one. Suddenly, so fluid leaked down my thigh, looking much like I pissed myself.
"Ew, did she just pee on herself?" K-Ci yelled in disgust. He just has to be the one.
"Nigga are you dumb? Her water broke." Both Tionne and Dalvin said in sync. They looked at each other like they were the only two left in the world. Dalvin licked his lips and walked up to Tionne.
"Wassup, I'm Dalvin." He took her hand into his. "Hey, I'm Tio-"
"Can you guys stop making plans to fuck each other for a minute, and focus on the woman that's about to give birth?" Rozonda shouted at both of them. "Always ruining something." Tionne mumbled under her breath.
Everyone tried their best to help me into the car. After we got in and De started driving, Rozonda, Tionne, Lisa, K-Ci, Dalvin, and Jojo tried to calm me. Although, K-Ci and Dalvin weren't much of a help.
"Try telling the baby to stay inside." Dalvin said idiotically. Everyone, including DeVanté, looked at him because of the looney that just came out of his mouth. "Nigga what in the living and breathing hell is wrong with you?" Lisa said.
"She's right. Girls are stubborn, so shove her back in instead." K-Ci happily suggested. I really hate these two.
"I have a question, did you pack a baby bag before we left?" Rozonda said, ignored everything K-Ci said. "Um, n-"
"I packed one into the trunk." DeVanté butted in. "I knew something like this would happen, so I got one for you, along with her car seat."
"Psst." Lisa whispered in my ear. "Suck his dick after you give birth, cause girl-" I shouted 'ew' in disgust, which confused everyone in the car. "We're here." DeVanté quickly got out of the car and carried me into the hospital. I was finally able to get a room and the doctors cut my pants off. My expensive pants to be specific.
It took I'd say, three hours of pain, sweat, loud cursing towards DeVanté and tears but it was all worth it. My- I mean our babygirl, Diane Danielle DeGrate, was finally born. She reminded me much of my mother, her cheeks, her lips, and her button nose. She was beautiful, she also had DeVanté's eyes, which he was very proud of, and his ears. I fell in love with her in just a matter of seconds.
"Aw, look, she has DeVanté's eyes." Rozonda squealed with glee. "And his big ass ears too." Dalvin joked.
DeVanté looked as if he wanted to throw Dalvin out the window, but calmed down because he was holding her.
"Hey babygirl, I want you to know that daddy loves you more than anything in this world. I promise to never let anything or anyone hurt you." He kissed her chubby cheeks. I almost cried right then and there.
"Congratulations man." Jojo patted him on the back. Everyone took turns in holding her and I eventually got her back. "Hello?" Someone walked into the room and knocked at the same time.
"Hey, Mary." Mary J. Blige walked towards me and gave me a hug. K-Ci can call her crazy all he wants, she's amazing as hell. She also brought along Andre Harrell, the CEO of Uptown records, Heavy D, Christopher Williams, Father MC, Al B Sure and Kim Porter along with her.
"Hey, Car. Sorry we're late, MC was too stubborn to use a damn map." She glared at him. "I jus-"
"Anyways, how is she?" She looked directly at Diane. "She's fine, do you wanna hold her?"
"Of course." I gently gave Mary my baby and everyone around her stared in awe. "She's so cute, look at her chubby little cheeks." Kim cooed. "Her name is Diane right?" I nodded yes.
"I think I'll call her Annie for short."
"Annie? As in that orphan with the dusty ass hair?" Dalvin raised his already arched eyebrows. "Hey, I played that orphan with the dusty ass hair when I was nine." I pretended to be offended.
"Makes sense." He scoffed. I looked at him in silence after what he just said. "Get out."
"I didn't eve-"
"I SAID GET THE FUCK OUT!" I shouted a bit too loud. "Why would you say that?" Rozonda, Lisa, and Tionne all said in unison. He didn't respond and walked out. I burst into tears in front of everyone not caring to answer as to why I kicked Dalvin out.
"What happened to Carmen?" DeVanté asked confused. "She didn't tell you? Her father killed her mother when she was ten right in front of her, and that left her as an orphan." Lisa explained. "Oh shit, why didn't she tell me?"
"Beats me, but don't bring that topic up out of nowhere when you ever get the chance to talk to her. It still hurts her to this day."
DeVanté walked up to me and gave me a gentle hug. I didn't want to feel this way on a day like this. I just had my daughter, who I already adored so much, and her uncle decides to say some insensitive shit. Just great.
"Do you want me to give Diane back to you? I think it's time for us to leave." Mary said while handing me back my baby. I have to admit, even though I'm in full tears about the whole situation, I couldn't cry in her presence. She gave me immense joy and I couldn't trade it for anything else in the world.
"Excuse me, but visiting hours are over." The nurse popped her head in the door and left as quickly as she came. "Are you gonna be okay, C?" Rozonda asked.
"Yeah, I'm just peachy."
"The last time you were peachy, you ended up with a baby by this big ass nigga." Lisa stared DeVanté up and down. "I mean, he is hu-"
"Don't finish that sentence, we are leaving, we love you and little Annie, and don't fuck this up kid." Lisa scolded me while pointing at DeVanté. She then basically dragged Tionne and Rozonda out of the room before everyone else had finally left. "So, how are you feeling?"
"Well, my vagina hurts, I have dry tears on my face and I have a child now. So pretty good actually." I laughed. He laughed along with me until Diane started crying.
"Shh, it's alright baby. Calm down." I fed her some milk, burped her, changed her diaper and she went fast asleep. I took advantage of that time to take a quick nap.
March 18, 1993
"Wah!" Diane screeched from her room. It was the third time that she woke up and loudly cried for something. Either she was hungry, needed a changing, or wanted to be put back to sleep.
"DeVanté, please get her for me. I'm too tired to move." I rolled over wanting to go back to sleep. He groaned in response and dragged himself out of bed. He took care of her and she finally went back to sleep. I tried to sleep but the phone started to ring.
Not wanting the baby to wake up again, I quickly picked it up and answered. "What the hell do you want?"
"Damn girl! Who pissed in your Cheerios?" Lisa laughed on the phone. "Diane did, now what do you want? It's 4:00 in the damn morning." I croaked.
"I just wanted to say hello, and I'm bored. Let's talk."
"Bye."
"But wa-" I hung up and put the phone back on the hook, not even caring to hear what else she had to say. Just in case she called again, I unplugged it to make sure I'm not disturbed.
"Who was that?" DeVanté stood behind me and was raising his eyebrow. "Lisa, bugging the hell out of me again." I chuckled. He didn't laughed, nor cracked a smile and just squinted.
"Alright." Was all he said as he walked back upstairs to our bedroom.
"Okay?" I shrugged and followed suite.
What's his problem?
June 15, 1993
"Peek a boo!" Rozonda played with Diane for the fourth time today. I have to admit, she and Diane already had a cute little relationship going on. Plus, while they play, I can take in as much sleep as I need.
"You look so cute, Annie!"
Unexpectedly, the sound of a pager beeped from under the pillow I was laying on. I soon saw that this was DeVanté's pager. I wanted to put it away and mind my business, but something was yelling for me to dial the number to see who's calling him.
That something was Rozonda.
"Be nosy, see who's calling your man, spy on that nigga." She shouted from across the room. I guess snooping wouldn't harm anyone.
I got up and decided to call the number. The phone kept ringing and ringing until a voice answered it. "DeVanté, I need to talk to you. It's urgent, should we meet at our usual spot?"
The voice of a woman...
I stayed silent not knowing what to say. Should I cry? Should I hang up? Should I grab him by his parts and throw on the floor?
"Hello?" The woman on the other line said. I hung up instead of listening further. When I turned around, Rozonda was there with sad eyes. "I heard everything, I'm so sorry." she gave me a bear hug. "Should I chop his balls off?" she disgustingly suggested.
"No, in fact if he wants to play games, we can play." I slightly smirked. "Ooh, what does your devious ass have in store for him?"
"I'm not revealing, but please do me a favor and take Diane to your house tonight at around 8:30."
"Shit, I'll take her right now." She went to pick her up and gave her little cheeks a kiss. "Thank you, and I'll have to call Lisa. She'll have to help me if I want my plan to work out smoothly."
"Why her? What about me?" Rozonda pouted. "Lisa has to help because she was there the night I first met DeVanté. I have nothing against you, Ro." I laughed. She always did this when she felt left out, but I don't blame her.
"Alright, let me go get her things." I ran up the stairs and collected all of her things in her baby bag. "Oh wait, I need her blanket." I went into DeVanté and I's room and grabbed her blanket from the drawer. A photo fell out on the floor along with it. It was a photo of me, my mother, and my grandmother at the theatre.
I was about eight or nine in this photo, but I remember having an amazing time. I wish I could turn back the time and save my mother. I wish I could've searched for my brother the minute he disappeared. I wish I could've-
"Girl what's taking you so long? Annie is getting cranky." Rozonda snapped me out of my thoughts when she popped into the room. I hid the picture in my back pocket so she couldn't see it.
"I was just looking for her blanket, here. And you know what to do right, Ro?"
"Of course, I ain't new at this, go on and get revenge on your man."
"Thank you, I love you both." I gave her one last hug before she was on her way. I then dialed up Lisa, told her my plan, and she thankfully agreed.
"Are you sure you wanna do this, C?"
"Positive."
"Alright, I'm in." I hung up the phone and proudly smirked to myself.
Two can play that game...