Aphrodite #2
“Like a lil baecation? I fucks with it. I’ll look into and get back to you. That work?”
Excitement filled my body because I already knew that he was going to come through. “Whatever you can do, I’ll be happy with. The effort is more than enough.”
Anthony stared at me with the curious but resigned awe that he always had on his face. “You gone have me even more gone off you ain’t it?”
“What you mean?”
“I mean, just knowing I’m part of the reason that smile is on your face makes me feel proud as hell.”
“You already said that you had your whole ho’ phase so I won’t even question if you’ve said that to someone else. You’ve already proven you don’t lie.”
“I don’t but you’re right about me not saying no shit like that to someone else.
Since I was an athlete and girls were always trying to shoot their shot.
Especially the white girls. They were the majority of the women around me at my schools and they wanted to have that crazy ass Patrick and Brittney Mahomes kinda love.
Only I ain’t a self-hating muthafucka and I don’t date women who can’t braid my hair properly and know the struggles of our people intimately. ”
I gasped mockingly, which made him crack up. “Damn, I can’t braid for shit. Guess I’m out of the running.”
“I’ll teach your pretty ass whatever you needed to know.”
I was surprised at what he was implying because his hair was always so neat. “You braid your own hair?”
He ran a hand over the braids that I’d been intimately acquainted with as grips for my hands while my legs were over his shoulders.
“I used to rely on other folks to do it, but when I got put out of school folks showed their true colors. So I hopped on YouTube and made sure that even if I still didn’t have it like I used to, I wasn’t walking around looking like I was going through shit.
The only lesson my mama ever taught me that I still listen to today is to never let a nigga or a bitch think they got one up on you.
The second someone thinks they’re better than you, they never let you forget it.
I wasn’t about to walk around looking homeless just cause I was. ”
“Damn. That’s crazy.” I was getting irritated at these people I didn’t know but I hated the idea that they were out there mistreating him.
“Nah it’s what I deserved. But I’ve known your name was out there for a minute. I’m pretty sure your daddy was beating the people off with the butt of a shotgun.”
I sighed because things were about to get real. Instead of avoiding the odd conversation I pulled back the covers and settled in to tell him the entire ugly story.
“No. It’s actually not the kind of story that you think it is.”
He sat up in the bed like he was ready to slay whatever was about to come out of my mouth that was negative. “What you mean?”
I should’ve known since he put Leo’s employee in his place that Anthony had a touch of YN in him. He was the most zen YN out there but his craziness came out when necessary.
“My first everything was somebody I found out my father had basically paid to be with me.”
His head dipped, with his eyes closed and he motioned with his fingers in a come-here motion. “Wait. Run that back.”
I could only laugh at his shock but truly nothing about any of this was funny. “You heard me.”
His eyes were staring at me through the phone like he was gauging whether I was damaged by any of the things I was telling him.
“The only person I vaguely remember you being attached to was the tennis dude. The one whose elbow got shattered or whatever.”
“One and the same.”
He ran a hand down his face and I could see that he was trying to calm himself down. Anthony worked his neck from side to side before he nodded and took a deep breath. “I get the feeling I’m about to get pissed off.”
“It isn’t a pretty story.” I hadn’t talked about this with anyone mainly because the only people around me already knew and didn’t really care.
“Damn, I wish I could smoke a blunt right now. Aight, cool. Go ahead.” He nodded again and laid back down like it would help him keep his attitude in check.
“My father wasn’t too sure if I was going to be worth investing time in—”
He sat back up quick as hell causing me to laugh at how animated he was being. “Yo, I never want to meet this nigga, AP. Like the fact that he's not protecting you in any manner of your life and now he pulling shit like this? Unacceptable.”
“Few people like him so I’m not surprised you don’t either.
But that’s the truth. He didn’t know if he should endorse me as a phenom and so he hung his hat on my ex, Chris Valentine.
My father thought that, with my name being what it is and his last name being what it is the marketing would write itself.
Chris got PR for being around our family and my father got a phenom to hang his hat on. ”
“What the fuck did you get out of the deal?”
I barked a laugh because the situation was one that no longer actively bothered me so I could speak on it without getting too pissed off.
“Lied to, cheated on, and put down. Having the only two men you are around question your talent, work ethic and your ability to play really messes with your self-esteem. I went to my dad about it, but he didn’t mind. He agreed with Chris.”
“He not walking you down the aisle, AP. On God. My brother can do it.”
I laughed again because he was talking about it as if he had a ring in hand already. “Stop being silly, Anthony.”
“You can think I’m playing if you want to. Your daddy knew that a nigga was gone want some ass from his girlfriend and he was cool with that nigga playing around with you. That shit ain’t right. How much older was he than you?”
“I was sixteen and he was twenty. Nobody said much because my daddy gave it a public stamp of approval.”
“Not even in the same city again, Aphrodite. I ain’t like how that nigga was moving when y’all were doing the photos but ‘Twan told me to keep it cool so I did. But this is some bullshit. For you pops to set you up like that? That’s unforgivable.”
I opened my mouth like I was going to say something but then promptly shut it.
I shifted around in the bed thinking about the stress that time had put me through.
We’d dated and a lot of my success was put down and belittled.
When I broke away from him, it was around the same time that I was moving away from dealing with my father as well and signed on with Billy.
“You good?”
“Yeah, I’m just suddenly disgusted.”
“Nah, we not doing that. We not wearing other people’s sins as our own. That’s his cross to bear not yours. And look how ol’ boy got paid back. A shattered elbow that’s gone have his ass teaching tennis instead of playing it.”
“I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.”
“I ain’t that saved yet so I’m glad it happened before we met so that you wouldn’t look at me differently. ‘Cause hearing this shit got me ready to Tonya Harding his shit. Have me ready to jig all on that man’s head for pulling that shit with you.”
His violence made me smile even though I knew it was a promise and not a performance. “I’m good, I swear.”
“It’s cool. It just gives me more drive to treat you the way you always should have been by all the men in your life. We gone make sure that they and their bullshit are in the rearview mirror. I gotchu, Phro. And I mean that.”
“Thank you for coming to eat with me.” I stood up from my seat and reached over to hug the beautiful woman who’d flown in to see me.
She looked every inch a woman who had hopped states just to meet her friend for lunch.
She had on a floor-length coat that looked to be fully cashmere with a fur collar.
It was March but we wouldn’t get spring temperatures until closer to mid to late April.
When she removed it and sat it down on one of the empty chairs along with her bag, it revealed a black turtleneck dress.
“Girl, you act like I don’t eat food. Besides, you’ve been running away from me all year I feel.”
I chuckled and tried to stop being nervous.
So much of my time had been wrapped up in training and work that I didn’t have typical social skills of someone my age.
Being around Anthony for that one night made me feel normal.
Like a girl who had a crush on a guy and everything was good. But it wasn’t all good.
I didn’t know how to really go with the flow of how things were going to happen between me and Anthony.
That first night was a fluke in my personality but now I was waiting for the next time that we were around one another to see if it was going to be like that first night.
Every phone call had been special and we were making plans to see each other.
Which was why I wanted to talk to Billy and I was grateful she’d flown in to see me.
“I know you’ve been busy. Work and then everything with the family. I’m still not sure how you handle it all. Hell, I’m wondering if I’ll be able to.”
Her brows perked up over the menu she’d been holding and I could see the wheels in her head turning. Billy was one of the smartest women I knew so I wasn’t going to hide anything from her.
“Something on your mind?”
I nodded jumping right into the biggest thing on my brain. “Yeah, what do you know about men?”
The menu went down onto the table and she propped her hand beneath her chin. “They can be amazing and aggravating but when you get the right one you always want them around. Why do you ask?”
“I just remember that back then you hadn’t had a lot of experience with them and wondered how you got it?”
I was thankful we were in a private room so that we could have this conversation without anyone interrupting us.
Billy’s eyes widened, and a look of joyful surprise was on her face. “Hold on, we talking about fucking or we talking about dating?”
“They go hand in hand, Billy.” I felt like a kid talking to their parent about the birds and the bees but I knew she would answer my questions without judgement.