3. Talia
TALIA
I sighed for the thousandth time as I listened to the sorry excuses.
“Baby, don’t you think it’s been too long? I mean, five months is a long time to not get over some shit and forgive a nigga, Chè.”
“No, five months is the perfect amount of time to move on with my life. You and Ro should be happy and settled by now. I don’t even know why you’re on my phone.”
“I told you. I fucked up. Ro was an easy ho, and I ain’t tryna be with her like that. Besides, she’s pregnant with some nigga’s baby, and she don’t know who the daddy is. I know it ain’t me, though, because I always wrapped it. When I think about my future, I think about you, baby.”
“I don’t know why. Because in my future, I don’t see a cheating ass man.”
“Chè, I’ve been sitting outside of your house waiting for you for the last hour. When are you coming home?”
“Ricky, please leave. I’m not coming home. Even if I were there, I wouldn’t be letting you in. Besides, my new man ain’t gonna take that shit too kindly.”
He sucked his teeth. “New man? What new man, Chè?”
“Not for you to worry about. Anyway, we’re out on a date, and he’s eyeing me coldly right now. I gotta go. Oh, and, Ricky? Lose my number.” I clicked the phone off and stared up at my brother. “What?”
“Why is that nigga still calling you, Chè?”
“Trying to get back with me and hoping that I’ll forgive him I guess,” I replied with a shoulder shrug.
“You guess? Either he is, or he isn’t.”
“He is, but I’m not on that shit.”
“Are you sure? Because I didn’t bring you all the way from Atlanta for you to turn around and run back to that bitch ass nigga,” Tahj stated.
“I’m not going back, T. It’s been five months. I’m good.”
“Then how did he find out where you live?” I sighed and rolled my eyes before I crossed my arms over my chest defensively. “Chè?” Tahj’s voice was stern as he mugged me.
I rolled my eyes again. “I gave it to him, okay?”
“Why the fuck would you do that?” Tahj asked as he raised his voice.
“I’m gonna need you to take all that bass out of your voice and tone that shit down, boy. My daddy in there in the den, and though you might look like him, you ain’t him.”
Tahj pinched the bridge of his nose as he tried to regain his composure and not snap at me further. He blew out several breaths just as his best friend and the object of my childhood affection, Izael, stepped into the living room.
We were at my parents’ house for a celebratory dinner for Izael. He had sold his house, but there was a quick turnaround that required him to be moved out this week.
“Aye, y’all good in here? T, we can hear you all the way from the kitchen. Your mama sent me to check on y’all.”
“We’re good, Zae. Thanks for checking,” I mumbled.
“Nah. Ain’t shit good. She got this nigga popping up down here after I got her away from his dumb ass. The fuck kinda shit is that, Chè?”
Izael eyed my brother and me back and forth. I finally sighed because I knew he wouldn’t take sides. He had never done that when arguments between Tahj and me became serious. He would always joke that Tahj had better leave his future wifey alone, but he wouldn’t intervene.
“Listen, I left some important items up there that I needed. I asked Ricky to mail them to me after I calmed down.”
“And so that’s how he got your address?” Tahj demanded.
“Yes.”
“This nigga gonna make me beat his ass,” Tahj stated and walked away, shaking his head. “Fuck!”
He punched the air as he walked down the hall to the front door.
“He’s gonna be okay. Give him a minute to chill out,” Izael stated, rubbing my shoulder.
My eyes closed underneath his soothing touch. Izael had always had the right words to say, and his touch always stoked a fire in me that shouldn’t exist. Well, maybe not always. After all, I met him when I was only five-years-old when he moved next door with his mother and brother.
My admiration for my older brother’s best friend turned into affection when I was twelve and he was eighteen. And through the years, no matter how hard I tried to ignore it, the feeling hadn’t gone anywhere. Those feelings had only grown stronger over time.
Although I had dated different men and had gone away to school, those feelings were just pushed down. His soothing words, gentle touch, intoxicating scent, and having him look at me with those beautiful eyes the way that he was looking at me now only caused those feelings to resurface with an overwhelming rush.
I inhaled deeply and stepped away from his touch before I did something stupid that might embarrass me and cause Izael discomfort.
“I know, Zae. I just wish that he wouldn’t blame me or think that I was about to do something stupid. I’m not going back to Ricky, no matter what.”
“You’re a smart girl. I know better than that, but Tahj worries more than he should. He just wants to protect you the same as I do, except I’d be in Ricky’s ass about this shit, not yours.”
I smiled at him just as I heard my mother’s voice.
“Zae, I thought I sent you to get those two. Chè, where’s your brother? I know I just heard y’all arguing a couple of minutes ago,” my mama, Linda Campbell, remarked, walking into the living room with Izael and me.
“He’s upset, Ma. He went outside to breathe for a minute,” Izael explained.
My parents had been like second parents to Izael from the time he moved into our neighborhood and befriended my brother. They took good care of him whenever his mother had to work late and his father couldn’t get him. His father was an over-the-road truck driver, and his mother was a nurse.
My parents’ jobs didn’t require any changing shifts or extended hours because they were educators. My father had become the Cherokee Springs County superintendent when my brother started high school, and my mother was a high school teacher. Luckily, none of us had her as a teacher.
“Tell Tahj that he’s had all the fresh air he needs, and if he doesn’t get his behind in here and wash up so that we can sit down for dinner, he won’t be breathing at all much longer,” Mama stated.
She walked off to the kitchen with a huff. Izael lifted his eyebrows and rubbed the back of his neck.
“Sheesh. Remind me not to get on her bad side.”
“As if you ever could,” I replied with a smirk as I left the living room.
“Talia…” Izael called me by my first name.
“Yeah?”
“Tahj will be all right. Don’t stress. But you’re too good for that nigga Ricky.”
“I know,” I replied and watched as Izael headed out the front door.
I shook my head again at his fine ass and continued down the hallway to the dining room. After Zae got my brother from outside, they came to the dining room and we started to eat.
“This food is delicious, Ma.” Izael complimented my mother after he had dug into the veggie lasagna she had made.
“Thanks, baby. I know that you love pasta.”
“What about me?” my daddy asked, pretending to pout.
Mama smiled at him and swatted him playfully on the shoulder with her hand.
“Walt, quit that. You know you’ll eat everything I cook and love it.”
“And will, because I love you.”
He leaned over and kissed her lips, and she smiled. I saw my father reach underneath the table and take my mother’s hand in his. I always wanted a love like theirs. Although they’d had their share of arguments through the years, they always showed one another love and affection, and they weren’t afraid to express their feelings in front of us.
“Cut that out.” Tahj groaned.
“You got a problem with how I show my woman I love her, boy?” Daddy asked.
“I think it’s sweet. I want a man to love me that way someday,” I replied.
“That’s not happening as long as you keep messing with these knuckleheads out in these streets,” Tahj remarked.
“Boy, hush.” I fumed. I was over him complaining about me as if I actually had done something wrong.
“What happened now?” Mama asked.
Tahj gave my parents the run down.
“Is that gonna be a problem for you, baby girl?” Daddy asked.
“I doubt it.”
“This nigga is sitting outside of her house waiting for her to come home,” Tahj shared.
“Language,” Mama remarked.
“Why are you ear hustling, Tahj?”
“You had him on FaceTime. Can’t help but hear it. I can walk in my mama and daddy’s living room whenever I please.”
“Seriously? Are you two six and twelve again?” Mama asked.
Tahj and I both looked down sheepishly at our plates.
“What are you doing about living arrangements?” Daddy asked Izael.
“I haven’t found anything suitable for me to move into short-term while I search for a new house. I could move into a hotel’s penthouse suite, but I don’t want to.”
“I know your dad’s got that new baby, and your mom’s on the move again, right?” Daddy asked.
“Yeah.”
“What about Rashad?” Tahj asked about Izael’s older brother.
“Nah. You know I don’t get along with Shad’s wife like that. Celina be on some other stuff.”
“Well, you could come stay with me if I hadn’t just moved out of my crib and into my girl’s. You know Dahlia has that one bedroom.”
“You could always come stay here with us,” my mother suggested, and my father bobbed his head in agreement.
Izael visibly cringed at the suggestion.
“No offense. Y’all know I love y’all, right?” They were still bobbing their heads and smiling like they couldn’t fathom he might say anything that would offend them. “But moving in with y’all is like moving in with my parents. I can’t even do it. But I love y’all.”
“We’ll respect your privacy.”
“Yeah. It’s gonna be a no for me,” Izael stated.
I snickered because I knew what he was thinking. My parents had an open-door policy when it came to our home. They seldom locked the front door. Last year, Izael had come over to return something to my father and walked in without knocking, and he walked in on my parents getting busy in the kitchen.
No one wanted a repeat of that. My brother had been messed up in the head after hearing about it. As much as I loved black love and how they loved each other, I don’t want to see them having sex—ever!
Everyone must have remembered the same thing I did because my mother cleared her throat and excused herself from the table to get the other pan of lasagna. My father tried talking about basketball stats, and then my brother spoke up.
“Yo! I got the perfect solution,” Tahj stated.
“What?” Izael, my daddy, and Mama, who had just returned, asked at the same time.
“You can stay with Chè.”
I choked on a piece of salad, and my daddy, who sat closest to me, moved closer and patted me on the back.
“It’s a great idea,” my mother chimed in happily.
“I mean, think about it. Ole boy has started coming around again. I don’t know what he up to, and I don’t trust that nigga as far as I can see him. This way, Chè is protected, Zae has a place to stay until he finds a new spot, and that nigga gets the message to stop fuc?—”
“Language!” my mother shouted.
“My bad. But you see what I’m saying?” Tahj asked.
I grabbed my glass of lemonade and took several swigs to clear my throat. My eyes were stinging, and tears ran down my face. Despite all that, my heart raced wildly in my chest.
The idea of Izael in my apartment was overwhelming on so many levels. I couldn’t fathom living with a man who might not be as neat as I was. The thought of him bringing in his harem of women through my place burned my cheeks with anger and tortured my poor heart. And finally, being that close to him on a personal and intimate level was too much to consider.
My thighs squeezed at the thought of seeing, smelling, and talking to him that much. I thought about the tattoos I had seen on his upper body when he’d gone around shirtless. The thought of seeing any other parts of his body set my body aflame.
“I like it,” Daddy commented as though that finalized it.
“Wait. I hear y’all, and while I don’t mind, we need to consider Chè,” Izael stated.
“Chè?” Daddy and Tahj called my name at the same time. Four sets of eyes turned expectantly my way.
“Well…uhm…I mean, I…”
“It’s all good, sis. I’m not trying to put you out. I’ll figure something out,” Izael quickly stated, seeing my dilemma.
That shit made me feel bad when he said it like that, and the way my parents and brother were looking at me also made me feel bad.
“I really don’t mind. And like you said, Tahj, it will send a message to Ricky.” I agreed lightly, but my insides were twisted in knots.