At Last (26 page)

             
“I guess you think cause you come here with your cornrows and your manicured nails, that better than everybody else, but you not.
You just another hoe with a baby trying to get a free ride.
You ain’t finna play my brother.”

             
“What did you just call me?” I asked about two seconds off beating her ass.

             
“Ma.”
I heard. It was Clifford, but at this point I didn’t care. I would have to hear God to step down at this point.

             
“Ma.”
  He repeated louder. I heard the door from his bedroom open, but I didn’t move one step.

             
“You heard me, hoe.”

             
I stepped closer.  She was maybe two inches from my face.

             
“I think you got some sense. You call me out of my name again or say something against my child and I’ma beat your ass.”

             
She stared back at me and didn’t say shit.  Just like I figured, she was just fucking with me to see what I would do.

             
“What’s goin’ on?” Cliff said as he walked up.

             
“The problem is you need to keep this bitch of yours on a leash before she
get
fucked up.”

             
See
she ain’t say anything until she knew he was in plain sight to save her ass.  She could talk as much as she wanted because she knew Cliff wouldn’t let us fight.

             
“Chill, baby.”
He said wrapping his arm around my waist and bringing me toward him. I still had my eyes on Carmen. Cliff turned his attention back to Carmen, “Why you always gotta start shit?”

             
“You gon’ take her side over me?”

             
“It is what it is.” He responded.

             
Carmen didn’t reply. She just turned her back and put her plate in the sink before walking upstairs. I broke from Cliff’s grasp and went into his room. I started to pack my things angrily. Cliff followed behind me.

             
“Yo, what you doing?”
He asked.

             
I didn’t respond. I wasn’t going to have that bitch keep disrespecting me and putting me in
a lose
-lose situation.

             
If I did anything to Carmen I’d be looked at as a problem, and it would probably jeopardize my relationship with their family. On the other hand, I wasn’t going to just accept this shit from Carmen. I refused to.

             
“Keisha, what are you doing?”

             
“What does it look like?” I asked agitated. I didn’t mean to snap at him, but I was frustrated.

             
“What I do? Yo, you need to calm down.” He said beginning to get agitated himself.

             
“I’m leaving. I ain’t gotta take shit off your family.”

             
He began to laugh.

             
“What the fuck is so funny?”  I said becoming that much angrier.

             
“You ain’t goin’
nowhere
.  How you gon’ get to the airport or wherever the hell you leaving from?  I ain’t gon’ drive you.”

             
“I’ll get a cab.”

             
“Right.”

             
He walked over to my suitcase and started to take my belongings out.

             
“What are you doing?” I asked.

             
“You ain’t going
nowhere
.” He said continuing to unpack my suitcase.

             
“So it’s alright for your sister to insult me and my child?  What happened to ‘I love her like she mine’?” I asked imitating him.

             
His entire facial expression changed. He went from slightly irritated to
infuriated
. I’d obviously struck a nerve with him.

             
“Your mother did everything except spit on me ‘
cause
she felt like I was beneath you and I dealt with that shit.  I let it be known to her and Yvette that I loved you and Taylor and that I wasn’t going nowhere.  Grow the fuck up.  Who give a fuck if Carmen
don’t
like you?”

             
“Ain’t nobody gonna disrespect my child, Cliff. If you don’t understand that, you need to grow the fuck
up!” I replied snatching my suitcase back from him. I threw it on the ground and sat on the bed.

             
I expected Cliff to sit down next to me and console me, but it never happened. He just stared at me for a minute, “You ain’t got nothin’ else to say?”

             
“No. You said enough for both of us.”

             
He shook his head and left the room as his cell phone began to ring.

             
“What up?” I heard in the distance.

             
I was pissed. I got up, walked to the mirror, and began to take down my braids. He might’ve had a point, but honestly I didn’t care. My mother never disrespected him like how Carmen had done me.

             
By the time Cliff returned, I had finished taking down all of my braids. He came back into the room and had a towel wrapped around his waist.  He had just gotten out of the shower.  

             
I was laying down on the bed, flipping through channels on the TV.  I didn’t even so much as glance at him.

             
“I’m ’bout to make a run with Jay right quick.”

             
I didn’t comprehend how he was just gon’ leave me here after me and his sister damn near came to blows?  I couldn’t believe him.

             
I turned to face him, “So, what am I supposed to do?  Stay up in your room all day?”

             
“Carmen is gone and Chanel just got back from school.  You can chill with her til I get back.  I won’t be long.” He started to get dressed.

             
I smacked my lips and rolled my eyes.

             
“What’s that all about?” He asked not even turning around to face me.

             
“Nothing, Clifford.  Do what you want.”

             
He laughed, “Oh so now I’m Clifford?”

             
“You’re whoever you want to be.”

             
“Alright Keisha, since we on government names and such, I’ma give you a minute to cool out cause, it’s clear that anything I say is going to piss you off. “By this time he was fully dressed.

             
“Yeah, maybe you should do that.”  I replied dryly.

             
He shook his head before chuckling, “Call me if you need anything.”

             
“Mmmm.”

             
And with that he was gone.  I couldn’t believe he left me by myself.  I mean, I wasn’t really tripping off Carmen.  I could handle her if it came down to it, but I was heated that he would just up and leave me after we’d had an argument.

             
Suddenly, I heard a faint knock at the door.

             
“Keish, its Chanel.  Can I come in?”

             
“Sure.”

             
Chanel came and sat down on the bed next to me.

             
“C.J told me what happened between you and Carm.”

             
“Yeah.
  We got into it.”

             
“Don’t worry ‘bout it.  She got a bad attitude. I’m done with classes for the day though. I know I’m not C.J, but you wanna hang out?”

             
“Yeah.
That’s sounds like fun. Just let me get dressed.”

             
“Okay.”  Chanel said starting towards the door.

             
“Thanks, Chanel.” I said as she reached the doorway.

             
She smiled, “No problem.”

             
Once I got dressed me and Chanel headed out. We went to the spa for pedicures before going out to do a little more shopping.

             
I even got to ride the subway for the first time. It was an adventure for me, but I could tell it was a chore for Chanel. She was nice about it though. When it was all said and done though, we went to a Soul Food restaurant grabbing a bite to eat.

             
Nearly six hours had gone by and Cliff still hadn’t called me.  I kept looking at my phone to make sure it was on ring and not vibrate.

             
“Keisha, he’ll call don’t worry.” Chanel assured me.

             
“Oh, girl I know.  I’m not worried about him.”  I said trying to play it off.

             
“Humph.”  She said before laughing.

             
“Shut up.” I replied. I couldn’t help but giggle though.

             
Chanel picked up the bill and we were off to the house again. While we were walking back, she got a call.

             
“What up? 
Nothing…coming back from hanging out with my brother’s girlfriend.
Well, I gotta see if she up to it. I’m down if she wanna go.
Alright.
I’ll call you right back.” She said before hanging up the phone, “You wanna go to the club tonight?
My friend DJ’ing tonight.
He said that everything is on him if you want to go.  I know you waiting on C.J and all.”  She gave me that same smile that her brother gave me all the time.

             
“Girl, you crazy.
  Ain’t anybody waiting on
Cliff.
”

             
“So you down to roll or what?”

             
“Of course.”

“Oh Keisha, you look so pretty.”  Chanel said as she walked into the bathroom. She looked pretty as well. She wore her freshly corn rowed hair to the side off her shoulders.  She was wearing a pair of fitted black pants and a sleeveless black low cut blouse. Chanel wasn’t really blessed in the breast department so she could wear cute little tops.

             
I looked into the mirror and I was flawless.  My thick hair was crinkled and hung way past my shoulders from recently taking down my braids.

             
The Oh Baby, Mac lip glass on my lips was shimmering and my long lashes were complete with Clinique mascara.  I wore the short, tight, black dress that Clifford had bought me at the mall.
The “I gotta be around you if you wear this” dress.
Please!!!

             
The sleeves were all lace and off my shoulders. The neckline was plunging and showed off my ample assets.  The dress stopped mid-thigh I wore my diamond heart pendant, oversized diamond hoops and my diamond bangles around my wrist.

             
I wore a pair of black Manolo Blahnik pumps with a four inch heal and lace straps that wrapped around my ankle.  I smelled of Christian Dior and class. Nobody could tell us shit!  We looked good.

             
We left out for the club and I still hadn’t heard from Cliff’s ass. I couldn’t front like I wasn’t angry about it either.

             
Once we got to our point of destination, we got in for free just like Chanel promised.  We were sitting in VIP on the second floor and had all types of drinks waiting for us.

             
I was getting so much love from the New York men.  I just soaked up all of the compliments as we
made our way through the club. We were seated by some brown skin guy that was talking Chanel’s ear off. 

             
By now I was feeling real nice. I stood up and looked down at the dance floor and it was packed.  All the fun was down there. 
“Ballin”
by Jim Jones was on full blast and I wanted to dance.

             
“Chanel?”  I called out her name and she turned to face me.

             
“Yeah?”

             
“Let’s go dance.”

             
She stood up and smiled, “Let’s go.”

             
We went down the steps and to the dance floor. The overzealous dude who was hounding her was angry, but we didn’t care. We were there to have fun, not to appease busters.