Tara
I was dumb serious about skipping school. All this mama drama was unneeded. Me and Tati haven't seen her since we were six, so why was she even relevant?
Since I couldn't shake my crappy mood, I decided I needed to go see my fix.
I was walking down McKnight. I didn't like being on this street to be honest. It was too depressing. Trash was just thrown everywhere on the ground and piled up in the gutters. The air seemed thicker or maybe dirty, as if the poor had gotten in the environment. The grass never grew and always remained a dried-out brown, like the lettuce from Walmart. Too many abandoned houses were in the area, but my favorite Jamaican restaurant was a few streets away and Mr. Campbell always gave me extra oxtail for trying my best at school, so I guess it wasn't that bad.
When I got to Club Haze, it was pretty much dead quiet but that was expected during day. At night, the club was poppin. Being that it was the only decent club around here, was how I met Deon. Since he was the owner of the place, he was there every night making sure shit when smoothly and bitches were making money. The very first night I came, he zoomed in on my fat ass, cute face, and decided I needed to be with him.
Nodding to a wandering bouncer as I made my way through the club, I tried to figure out where Deon might be. He could be making the rounds, giving his staff directions for the night, or handling business past the VIP section.
I was nearing the bar, where a bunch of men were sipping on what I thought was Henny. Mind you, it was like ten in the morning. They were laughing at something that probably wasn't even that funny. Of course, I heard a couple of "damns" as I walked by them on the dance floor, acting like they never seen me before. It was a good thing they were drinking though. Deon could be crazy jealous. For their sake and my laziness, I didn't acknowledge them.
I went over and pulled back the curtains to VIP. It was always weird seeing it empty. Just a quiet place dimly lit by blue fluorescents with the slight smell of cheap cologne. I looked longingly at the plush sectional, wondering if I should just take a damn nap and find Deon later. I always get sleepy after talking about shit that annoys me.
Making sure there weren't any weird stains or panties lying around, I crawled onto the couch and passed out.
~
"Hey you two! No fighting!" Mom yelled trying to pull me and Tatiana apart. We were two chubby toddlers pulling at each other's hair, me growling at Tatiana, and Tatiana crying even though she had a tighter grip on mine.
She had knocked my flavored pacifier out of my mouth, so I threw her cookie to the ground and sat on it.
"Tatiana, let go of your sister!" Of course, Tatiana couldn't tell our mother what was wrong; we only knew like 3 words, (Mommy, food, and deadass) but she could see the hurt in our eyes. So, she reached down and tickled our sides. We shrieked and giggled, trying to get away. Mom picked us up and sat on the couch.
Grabbing a hold of our chins, she turned us toward each other. "Look and see what you did bad."
I stared at Tatiana's face and saw faint scratches, blotchy red cheeks, and a tear stained sister.
I felt awful and started to cry. Tatiana started crying even more before grabbing onto my neck, trying to hold me. Mom was trying to hold back tears.
"Hey, I want some love too! Come here you little boogers." She scooped us up into her arms and squeezed tightly.
"My babies, I love you so much."
~
"I love you so much" echoed faintly in my head as I laid there with my eyes open. So much for sleeping.
It was time to go see Deon. I got up and headed to the stairway at the back of the VIP lounge. At the top was his office. From up there, he could look out at the entire club. Making sure to knock loudly on the closed door, I waited for Neal to open it. Crazy how someone gets paid just to do that. Seeing me, he said hello before moving aside. Deon was sitting at his desk, talking to someone. He looked up once he saw me.
"You sure can sleep huh?" He asked. I rolled my eyes and made my way over to him, lazily plopping into his lap and cuddling up. I was still annoyed at my dream and I wanted comfort. Deon's rich cologne always smelled nice, so I took a deep whiff. "What's wrong with you?" He asked me. Ignoring him, I hmphed and cuddled closer.
"No disrespect, but why does one of your girls have to be here? We're talking business, right?" That got my full attention. I raised my head to look at the man across the desk. This guy was probably just a few years older than me, with his Corbin Bleu curls. I didn't like him.
Deon chuckled and started playing with my hair, wrapping his fingers around the ends. "Tara isn't one of my girls. She's...different."
Woooow. I'm your girlfriend. Say it with me, "girlfriend".
The guy nodded in understanding. "My bad. She's beautiful, probably has an attitude though."
"You don't even know," said Deon, heavily rolling his eyes. Forgetting the other guy, I gave Deon a wtf look and got off his lap. Does no one love me today? She's different. I'm more than that, definitely more than his wife. I must be if he's entertaining a 16-year-old girl. Bootleg Corbin Bleu was looking at me as I walked across the room toward the door. What, you want some too?
"Where you going? You just got here," said Deon.
"And now I'm leaving. Deuces. Neal?" Jokingly, Neal opened the door with a bow.
"Thank you, Neal."
I couldn't go home since I skipped school, so I went downstairs and headed for the kitchen so John the cook could make me something. He was always nice to me and I think he appreciated that I liked his food. When you work in a place where people go to find a fuck buddy and get drunk, food probably wasn't ordered a lot.
I took a seat at the bar, far away from the group of guys, and checked my phone while I waited. Of course, it was dry as fuck. The only notifications I got were from Panda Pop.
I sat straight up once I saw John coming to the counter with my burger. He set it down in front of me with a smile. "And yes, I made sure it's well done," he added before I asked.
I grinned in appreciation. "Thanks John!"
I dug right in, getting ketchup all over my mouth. By now, the guys down at the other end of the bar noticed me inhaling my burger. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see them giggling and one dude fixing his eyebrows. He probably was the one who got the most girls. The rest of the guys were slapping him on the back and giving him dap all around. He was ugly though, so I was confused.
But I continued eating my burger since it was obviously more interesting than said guy heading towards me. Maybe he would consider leaving me alone.
"Hey girl."
I sighed. A girl could dream. Since I do have manners, I made eye contact and gave him a small smile. That's when he started licking his lips and rubbing his hands together like he was putting lotion on. Why do men think that's hot? Who asked you to do that?
"What's a cutie with a booty like you doing here?"
Eating. "I just came down to see Deon."
"Oh word? I feel ya. Getting some one on one time with the boss."
"I actually don't work here," I snapped back real quick. My annoyance was spiking. "But I'm going to finish eating right now."
"You can eat while I talk. It's no deal." He smiled, as if he was doing me a favor.
"No that's okay." For the record, I said this with another smile. Don't they say not to bother an animal while it eats? This dude was like some safari guy all up in my face and shit when all I was trying to do was feast on this nice piece of gazelle ass.
"What, you stuck up or something?" He asked, face scrunching up.
Yes. "No, but I don't wanna talk to you, that's it."
He looked so confused. Was I not speaking English? "So it's like that? That's bull shit. You fake anyway. Fake ass hair."
You know, it's not the first time I've heard these things, but I was having a bad day already. All I wanted was to eat my damn food in peace, but I guess that was too much to ask for. And this guy was corny, calling me fake because I wasn't interested. He was gonna need all the thoughts and prayers after I was done with him.
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Tatiana
Though my job wasn't demanding, I felt I needed a break from Ms. Jenkins' shenanigans. So, I called up Les and we made plans to hang at his house that night. This evening was no different than the others as we laid on his bed watching something on Adult Swim. I watched, amused as he shoveled potato chips in his mouth unaware that most of it was falling onto his shirt. He was cute when he was messy.
Leicester Jameson was the boyfriend I never thought I'd have. Being that I was from Southern Gardens and he, from Northern Gardens, said a lot. Les' family was well off. Their three-floor home consisted of six bedrooms, three bathrooms (one with a jacuzzi tub), an entire finished basement, a garage, and a pool. They also had a membership to a swanky club. The kind where people plan afternoon picnics in the Bahamas. I didn't even want to bother with the comparison to my family, but we didn't even have a Costco's membership.
Of course, that's not why I was with him. His mix of nerdy and stylish was what initially attracted me. From his fuck boy haircut down to the high-top Vans he was fond of, I thought he was cute. Usually his outfits were just funny shirts and jeans, unless he had to go to some fancy event with his parents. Sometimes he liked to shake things up with an open plaid button-up. He never took off his glasses though to my disappointment. I thought he had the prettiest brown eyes ever.
I think the only thing I didn't like about Les was his lack of motivation. With the resources around him, he could easily get into an Ivy League school. Les was very smart, but lazy, and didn't take his future as seriously as I took mine. He thought if he appeased his parents, they would get off his back. Sometimes it pissed me off because I wish I had those opportunities.
I rolled over to his side and laid my head against his. I heard his stomach growl.
"Sometimes I wonder if I'll resort to cannibalism one day," he said impatiently.
I pointed to the bag of chips in his hand. "You're eating something right now Les."
"That doesn't mean it's filling! I need real food. Come here!" He grabbed my head with his hands. "You'll be my appetizer." I screamed and flailed as he tried to lick my forehead.
"Get away Les! You're so gross!"
"No, my pretty!" I couldn't help but laugh. What an idiot! He was always messing around. At school and basically anywhere else, I was a socially awkward mess. Yet with Les, I didn't have to be serious or quiet. Oh no, I talked my butt off whenever we saw each other. I just couldn't wait to be around him.
"Okay, okay! Sheesh, I'm sure dinner will be ready in a bit," I said pushing him away. He reached over and gave my forehead a kiss.
"Fine, I'll just have to save you for another day."
I rolled my eyes, trying to hide my smile. "What are we having again?"
"I think my mom is making spaghetti. She hasn't made that in a while, right?"
I nodded in agreement. I came over to his house a lot, and usually stayed for dinner. Les mom cooked every night, but sometimes she made things that I thought were too fancy for my taste. One time we had caviar for an appetizer, and it was awful. Wealthy people sure did have some odd taste buds, but I wouldn't say his mom was a bad cook at all. In fact, I usually looked forward to dinner, but that was only if Les' father wasn't there.
That's when we had to make a big deal out of dinner. Formal casual dress was mandatory, the good china was brought out, and elbows were not allowed on the table at all. Heaven forbid if spaghetti was served.
"Do anything today?" Les asked, poking me in the side.
I shook my head. "Nope. Same old I guess." Suddenly, I remembered my spontaneous day off and frowned. "Actually, Ms. Jenkins is making me take the day off in two weeks."
"Why?" Les asked me puzzled.
I rolled my eyes. "She thinks I'm going to some party. This girl in my class invited me. She came by the flower shop today and bought self-appreciation roses. It was all so stupid."
Les frowned. "I didn't know you had a friend from school."
"I don't! That's the weird thing, I don't even talk to the girl, so I was like uh okay. It's really amazing that it even happened," I said shaking my head.
"Well you must talk to her at least a little bit. Otherwise why would she invite you?" His tone indicated he didn't believe me.
"That's what I said! She said something about...charity? Honestly though. I have no idea what's going on." I shrugged my shoulders.
"Yeah. Well you're not going anyway, so it doesn't matter. Right?" He asked looking dead at me.
"Well yeah. Duh."
"People like your sister go to parties," he said rolling his eyes. "And when you mingle around people like that, you become like them. Why do you think Southern Gardens is the way it is?" He finished saying, shrugging his shoulders again.
From downstairs, Les' mom called us for dinner. Les ran while I took my time. I admit, the conversation did put me off a little. I didn't even want to go to the party, but Les' comment had me irritated. I also just didn't appreciate the jab about my neighborhood. The area had its own issues but everyone from there wasn't some low life. I don't know, it was like sometimes Les forgot that even I was from Southern Gardens.
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