12. Malik
MALIK
Iain’t even make it out the Target parking lot before my phone buzzed with a message from the chick Brandy telling me not to call her no more and that I had too much drama. Shit, I wasn’t, I ain’t known her long enough to give a fuck!
She was cool, but we had only been talking for a little minute.
Today was actually the first time we had hung out outside of a few conversations here and there.
And then Shante came through and blew that shit up in less than five minutes.
I pulled out of the parking lot, still pissed.
Not because ol’ girl walked off. I was mad because Shante had embarrassed me on purpose.
She saw me with another woman and immediately went into territorial mode like she hadn’t been the reason we weren’t together.
Talking about we got twins on the way. Bitch knew damn well them wasn’t my fucking kids!
But I wasn’t about to sit around replaying the same shit she’d done.
I had spent enough time being mad about it.
What had me fucked up was seeing her. I hadn’t been around Shante since I packed my shit and left.
Pictures didn’t count, phone calls I ignored didn’t count.
Seeing her standing right there in front of me was different.
Her stomach had gotten bigger. For a second, I damn near forgot everything.
My first instinct was to ask if she’d been feeling okay, if she’d been eating.
Then I remembered that wasn’t my job anymore.
That was the fucked up part about cutting somebody off after being used to taking care of them, your feelings didn’t shut off just because the relationship did.
My phone rang through the truck. I glanced at the screen before answering and it was my other homeboy Troy.
“What up?” I answered.
“Where you at?”
“On my way home.” I replied while maneuvering through traffic.
“You sound irritated.”
“I just ran into Shante.”
“Damn, where?”
“Target.”
He laughed. “Why the fuck y’all having relationship problems in Target?”
“I wasn’t the one having no relationship problems, I was minding my business.”
“Uh-huh.”
“I had somebody with me.”
He got quiet. “Oh.”
“Exactly.”
“What Shante do?” He laughed.
“Walked up acting a fucking fool.”
He laughed. “I already know.”
“Told the girl we had twins on the way.”
“No the fuck she didn’t.”
“Word for word.” I replied.
My boy started cracking up.
“That ain’t funny.”
“Man, yes it is she ran your little date off?”
“First of all, it wasn’t no damn date.”
“Whatever you gotta tell yourself my nigga.”
I shook my head. “She told me don’t call her no more.”
“Damn Shante is still blocking pussy and she ain’t even your girl.”
I laughed. “Man, shut the fuck up.”
“Grandma Lorraine wasn’t with her, was she?”
I got quiet, his ass started laughing even harder. “No!”
“Yep.”
“Aw, hell nah, what Grandma say?”
“Too damn much.” I laughed
“She knows why y’all broke up?”
“Shit if she didn't, she does now.”
That changed his tone. “Shante told her?”
“Had to, grandma was standing there when I said the babies were Deuce and Kim’s.”
“Damn.” He replied.
“Yeah.” I turned onto my street.
“That whole situation is messy as hell.” Troy said.
“Beyond messy.” I let him know.
“Alisha still don’t know?” Troy asked.
“As far as I know, nah.”
“That’s wild.”
I didn’t respond, that was the one part that had started bothering me differently.
I didn’t give a fuck about protecting Deuce.
And after today, I wasn’t too interested in protecting Shante from the consequences of her decisions either.
But Alisha was walking around blind. Everybody around her knew pieces of her own damn marriage except her, that wasn’t sitting right with me.
Troy interrupted my thoughts. “So what are you gonna do about the house?”
I pulled into my driveway and looked at it. “Live in it, what else?”
“You know what I mean.”
“Nah, I know what you mean.” I shut the truck off. “Nothing.”
“You ain’t told Shante?”
“Nope.”
“And you don’t plan to?”
“Nope.”
“Damn, that was supposed to be her push gift.”
“Was.” I looked up at the house. I’d spent months getting everything right.
I had been picky as hell about that bitch from the neighborhood to the backyard.
I even made sure the primary bedroom was on the opposite side of the other rooms because Shante complained about hearing every damn sound in our apartment.
Now she didn’t even know the house existed and I planned to keep it that way.
“Look, I’m about to go in the crib.” I said while getting out of my truck.
“Aight.”
“And stop laughing at my shit.”
“Nigga, Shante ran your bitch off in Target in front of Grandma Lorraine, I’m laughing at this shit all week.”
“Fuck you.” I hung up and headed inside. As soon as I opened the door, that new house smell hit me. I tossed my keys on the counter and went straight to the kitchen. I needed a drink. I opened the refrigerator, grabbed a bottle of water instead, and leaned against the counter.
My phone buzzed again. This time, I didn’t have to look, my gut told me exactly who it was. I picked it up.
Shante: You didn’t have to embarrass me like that.
I stared at the message then laughed. “Man…”She embarrassed herself by approaching me. I typed back.
Me: You walked up on me.
The bubbles popped up immediately.
Shante: So you really talking to other females now?
I read it twice not because I didn’t understand, but I couldn’t believe she was out here really trying to play victim..
Me: I’m single.
Her bubbles disappeared, came back and then disappeared again. Then my phone started ringing. I looked at her name and then hit decline and she called again. She called back three times and I declined all three times.
Then a text came through.
Shante: You're doing this to hurt me.
I stared at it for a few seconds, I could’ve said a lot instead, I typed: Everything ain’t about you.
That stopped her no bubbles, no call. I set my phone down then I noticed something sitting on the counter.
It was a little folder from the realtor.
I opened it and inside was the picture she’d taken of me holding the keys the day I closed.
I remembered exactly what I told her. “My girl don’t know shit about this.
I’m surprising her after she has the babies.
” Everybody in that office had smiled like I was doing some big romantic shit.
I closed the folder, funny how fast plans could change.
My phone buzzed one more time. I thought it was Shante, but it wasn’t. It was Grandma Lorraine.
Grandma Lorraine: You could’ve left that girl some damn forks.
I stared at the message then busted out laughing. “Man, ain’t this some shit.”
I typed back. Tell her Target got plenty.
The typing bubbles popped up. Grandma Lorraine: Smart ass. And don’t think I ain’t got some words for you too.
I smiled and another message came through.
Grandma Lorraine: But she was wrong. I know that much.
I read that one twice, Grandma Lorraine wasn’t choosing sides.
She didn’t have to, she just knew Shante had fucked up.
I set the phone down and looked around my kitchen.
For the first time since I moved in, I didn’t think about what Shante would’ve changed or imagine her standing there.
I didn't wonder what she would’ve thought about the house. I just looked around at what was mine.
Maybe that was what I needed to start doing. Stop thinking about the life I had planned. And figure out what the fuck I wanted my life to look like now. A couple days later, I was coming out of Somerset with a bag in one hand and my phone in the other when I heard somebody call my name.
“Malik!”
I turned around and it was Alisha. She was walking toward me with a couple shopping bags on her arm. “What’s up?” I asked.
“Hey.” She hugged me, and I hugged her back. “You've been good?” she asked.
“Yeah, You?”
“I’m making it.” She responded.
I nodded, I knew exactly what she meant. With everything she had going on with Deuce, “making it” was probably the best answer she had.
She looked around. “Are you here by yourself?”
“Yeah, I just grabbed a couple things.”
She nodded, I thought that was going to be it, then she smiled. “I can’t believe y’all only got about a month left.”
My stomach tightened. “Yeah, that shit went fast.”
“Sure did.” She adjusted the bags on her arm. “Are you excited?”
I looked at her and she was smiling at me like she had no reason in the world not to believe those babies were mine.
“Yeah.” The lie came out easy. “Ready for them to get here.”
“See, I knew it.” She laughed. “Shante tried to act like you weren't driving her crazy buying all that baby shit.”
I forced a laugh. “You know how she is.”
“Yes, I do.” She smiled. “She acts like she don’t like all that attention, but she do.”
I nodded. “Mmm-hmm.” I needed to get the fuck out of there. Every sentence made me feel worse. Then Alisha reached into one of her bags. “Look.” She pulled out two little outfits, one pink and one blue. “I know I need to stop buying stuff.” She laughed. “But I saw these and couldn’t leave them.”
I looked down at them. “They are nice.”
“Ain’t they?” She folded them back up. “I told Shante I’m done after this.” She paused. “Well… unless I see something else.”
I laughed. “That’s usually how that goes.”
“Exactly.” She put them back in the bag. “Those are my babies too.”
That wiped the smile right off my face. Alisha didn’t notice, she was still looking inside the bag.
“I’m ready for them to get here.”
I looked away, because that shit was getting harder to stomach.
This woman had enough going on already. Her husband was sitting in the county.
Some bitch had walked into her best friend’s baby shower and announced she was having twins with him.
And through all the bullshit, Alisha was still showing up for Shante.
Still buying shit for babies she thought belonged to us, still checking on her. Still loving her like none of the bullshit in her own life mattered when it came to her best friend. Solid was the only word for it. Alisha was solid as hell and they were doing her dirty Deuce especially.
“You good?” Alisha asked.
I looked at her. “Huh?”
“You got quiet.”
“Nah, I’m straight.”
She studied me for a second. “You sure?”
“Yeah.” I nodded toward her bags. “You just got me thinking about how close it’s getting.”
She smiled. “I know.”
Then she looked at me with admiration. "Make sure you take care of my girl.”
I looked away for a second. “You know I got her.” Another fucking lie I hated this shit.
Alisha smiled. “I know you do, that's why I don’t worry about her with you.”
I rubbed my hand across my beard. “You and Shante have been friends a long time, huh?”
“Forever.” She laughed. “That’s my bitch.”
I nodded. “Y’all ever fall out?”
“Of course.” She answered.
“Over some real shit?”
She thought about it. “Not nothing we couldn’t come back from.”
I looked at her. “What if it was something big?”
Her eyebrows pulled together. “How big?”
I immediately regretted asking and I shrugged. “I’m just talking.”
She looked at me for another second. “I don’t know.” Then she shrugged. “I guess it depends on what it is.”
I nodded. “Yeah.”
“But Shante knows me.” She smiled. “She knows the one thing I can’t stand is somebody lying in my face. Even if the truth hurts, just tell me.” She shook her head. “Don’t make me look stupid while everybody else knows what’s going on.”
Fuck, I looked down. That shit couldn’t have landed any harder if she knew exactly what was happening.
“You feel me?” she asked.
“Yeah, I feel you.”
She smiled. “Anyway, I’m about to get out of here.”
“Aight.”
“Tell Shante I said—” She stopped herself and laughed. “Never mind, I'll call her myself.”
“Yeah.”
She hugged me again. “Take care of yourself, Malik.”
“You too.” I watched her walk away. Yeah I could’ve told her right then and there all I had to do was call her name.
What the hell was I supposed to say? Your husband got his side bitch pregnant through a surrogate and the surrogate is your best friend.
Those babies you’ve been buying shit for aren’t mine and everybody's been lying to you. I couldn’t do it standing outside Somerset.
Not like that, but every time I talked to Alisha, minding my business started feeling more and more like I was helping them lie. I headed toward my truck. I kept telling myself it wasn’t my place, that was Deuce’s wife and Shante’s best friend.
But then I asked myself where did minding your business end and watching somebody get played begin? Because Alisha wasn’t stupid, she wasn’t weak. And she damn sure wasn’t the type of woman who deserved to have everybody around her knowing the truth while she walked around in the dark.
I unlocked my truck and tossed my bag inside. One month that’s all they had left. And if Deuce and Shante didn’t tell her before those babies came I wasn’t sure I could keep looking that woman in her face and pretending I didn’t know shit.