"Okay I said I'll think about it. Damn." I replied and Tameeka threw up her hands as a form of surrender.
"Are you still coming with me to the party this weekend at Marquis house?"
"Oh I straight forgot about the party. Do I have to go?" I asked. I knew I was being a party pooper but I didn't like going to parties that much. Especially when I knew it was bound to end in someone fighting because their man is trying to push up on the next thot. I usually preferred to stay home rather than have to deal with it.
"Um, yes you have to go bitch. Damn, you always acting like somebody's grandma. Ahmad gonna take us so you can just come to my house and we will leave from there."
"Okay Tameeka. I guess I'll go." I shook my head. I figured I would just tell my best friend I was going rather than hear her mouth continue to tell me why I was still going anyway.
As we continued on the ride home, I couldn't help but think about running into Kwame in the store. I hadn't seen him in so many years that I had actually thought he moved away or got locked up himself. It's weird to always see a person and then all of a sudden you don't see them anymore.
I had become so lost in my thoughts that I didn't realize that my stop had come up but thank God my girl was paying attention otherwise I would've missed it and had to walk a long ass way back home.
"Girl, thank God I was looking ‘cuz you was bout to be mad as shit if you had to walk from my apartment complex to your townhouse."
I stood up from my seat and gave her a hug.
"Good looking out sis. I'll hit you up later on tonight."
"I'll just call you tomorrow. I'm getting ready to go over Ahmad's house and you know the last thing I'll be doing is being on my phone. That nigga broke my last phone because I was on Facebook too much."
"Alright girl, I'll talk to you later."
I had just enough change to make my bus fare and then I stepped off the bus and started to walk down the street to where I lived.
Once I got home, I saw my little brother sitting in the living room playing a game on his play station. My mother wasn't anywhere in sight.
"Hey Tahj where's mommy?" I asked as I dropped my Gucci bag on the couch and stepped out of my sneakers.
Tahj didn't even look up from his game. He was so hooked on playing his stupid game that he just shrugged his shoulders. All I could do was laugh. I told him he was addicted to that game but he swore up and down he wasn't. So I did the one thing he absolutely hates and stepped in front of the TV so he couldn't see what he was doing.
"Tahj, where's mommy at?"
"I dunno Kyhanna. Can you move? Mommy didn't say where she was going. She just said she had to go out for a little bit."
"How long she been gone?"
"She left at six-thirty." Tahj said as he pointed to the clock on the wall. So she had only been gone for a half hour. Usually, she never left my brother home alone, but she probably figured I would be home soon. I'm just glad I actually came home instead of hanging out with some of my friends. My mother always waited for me to come home so she could go out and do whatever her heart desired. She looked at me as her instant babysitter and most of the time I didn't mind but the way she left my little brother with me you would've thought he was my child.
I grabbed my purse off the couch, and walked up the steps to my bedroom where I pulled the things I'd taken from Macy's out of my bag. I laid them flat on the bed and smiled as I thought about how fly I would look in my brand new clothes. My phone started buzzing and I looked down to see that my ex-boyfriend Malik was calling me.
"Hey Malik." I said dryly.
"Don't sound happy that I called."
"It's not that. You just caught me off guard. What's up?" I said as I put him on speaker phone and started to try on the new shirt and pair of jeans I'd gotten.
"I was calling to check on you. I was trying to get at you after school but you left fast as hell. Where did you run off to?"
"Oh I had a few errands to run after school and I ended up going to the mall with Meeka."
"Oh okay. Well the other reason I was calling was to see if you thought anymore about you and I getting back together."
I should've known that Malik calling me would eventually lead to talk about whether or not we could be boyfriend and girlfriend again. It never failed. We'd broken up two months ago and even though he called me claiming to check up on me he couldn't resist asking me the so called status of our relationship. Believe me, I didn't have any problem with telling him that the status definitely hasn't changed.
"Malik, I told you I need time. What about I need more time to think about things don't you understand?"
"Come on Kyhanna. Now we've been separated for like two months and I feel like you've had more than enough time to think about things. Now you saying you need more time. How much more time?"
"Shit, I don't know. I need more time though and you constantly asking me every five minutes about how much time I need isn't helping me at all. Malik you hurt my feelings and I really need to see if I can move past what you did."
"See here we go again. I thought you forgave me."
"Just because I've forgiven you doesn't mean that I've moved past it. So if you saying you respect and love me then please give me what I'm asking for."
"Fine Kyhanna. I'm gonna do what you asking but I hope you ain't talking to some other nigga and trying to string me along and shit. You going to Marquis party this Friday?"
"Yes, I'll be there. And Malik you don't really have to worry about me entertaining some other dude cuz it isn't even like that. Although I would be well within my right in doing so."
"Okay Kyhanna I see you still don't wanna let it go. I'll just see you in school tomorrow." Malik said and then hung up without warning. I always knew how to get him to end our phone conversations quickly. Malik was the type of dude that didn't want to face the things that he actually did. He would rather a person just skip over them like they never happened. Malik was my boyfriend a few months back and we had a good relationship so I thought. I thought he was the one for me until word got around school that he was sniffing behind Traniece's hot ass. So me being the straight forward chick that I am I decided to confront him and you know what he did. He denied and denied it until he couldn't deny it anymore. Since Malik was my man I didn't think he was lying especially since he hadn't given me a reason to think otherwise. I probably wouldn't have even have found out the truth if it wasn't for Traniece's home girl tagging me in her Instagram videos of Traniece and Malik all hugged up I might've actually fallen for his lies. Even though I was pissed at the time I was still glad I knew the truth. Malik insisted on the fact that he was set up by Traniece but the fact of the matter was he still had managed to get himself into that situation in the first place. I loved Malik with all my heart, but I just wasn't sure if I wanted to go down that road with him again. A loud bang at our front door interrupted my current thoughts of Malik. When I got down the steps, I saw that my brother Tahj paused his game but stayed where he was on the floor. I had trained him not to answer the door for anyone. I signaled for him to go upstairs while I answered the door. He did as he was told.
I walked to the closet and pulled out my baseball bat that I kept for protection and had it concealed in my hand that opened the door. I always kept it close just in case. When I opened the door, I tensed up when I saw Zeke McCall standing there looking like he was angry at the whole world. I didn't know Zeke too well but I did know that when he showed up it usually wasn't a good thing at all.
"Hey Kyhanna. Is Brenda home? I need to speak with her asap." He asked calmly even though I knew he was far from it.
"No Zeke. She ain't here. She left like an hour ago."
"Okay well when you see your mama, tell her to come and get at me asap. I would hate to have to stop through here again."
"Sure. I'll tell her."
"Kyhanna, make sure you do." Zeke threatened and I knew in that moment that he was serious about whatever message he was sending to my mother. Just as soon as he'd come by the house he left even faster. I went to the window and peaked out making sure he got into his White Mercedes Benz and drove away. I wanted to make sure he was gone completely. I wouldn't rest until I made sure of it. Zeke wasn't the type of person you wanted around especially where you laid your head. He was one of the biggest dope dealers in our area and never really bothered with day to day operations of any kind. When he usually showed up on the scene is when it was time for someone to pay up or he was gonna make someone personally pay. Who knows what his true reason was for stopping by to personally pay my mother a visit. When it came to Brenda it could be a million reasons. I pulled her cell phone number up and pressed dial. Of course she sent me straight to voicemail and I didn't bother to leave a message. I figured I would just wait until she walked through the door to tell her about her little unexpected visitor. I couldn't wait until my mother got home so I could talk to her about Zeke's little visit face to face.