Beautiful Liar (16 page)

              "Listen, I just wanna tell you that it's over ‘tween me and Derrick."

              I spun around quicker than a Tasmanian, "Really??? Since when? Why?"

              The manny flagged his hands. "Girl he had the nerve to dump me. He said I was ruining his life." He rolled his eyes and sucked his teeth. "No, I haven't ruined your life, yet!"

              I giggled, but then got serious. "No, don't do anything to mess up your job here. It won't be fair to Dominic."

              "I'm just so mad,” he said as he looked up at the ceiling like he was fighting back tears. "You won't see him around here much anymore, since I was the only reason he came to visit anyway... No offense."

              "What? None taken! You think I didn't know? They praise that man like he's Jesus, but as soon as he left for college he never looked back. He never called or anything until he brought you here."

              The manny nodded, "This is a closed chapter… And, I mean it this time."

              "Oooo… this is our song! Remember?"

              “Uhh yeah?”… It’s hard to forget it when it’s played on every DJ’s dance mix

              Bailey grabbed my arm, swayed her hips, and said, "Then let’s go stroll."

              "No! I don't wanna sweat my hair out."

              President Gabrielle and her husband Adonis threw themselves a vow renewal ceremony at a lovely banquette hall located in North East Philly. The guests were required to wear formal attire. They invited the entire chapter, other sororities, and fraternities from the region, as well as her church family. Of course, I had to splurge on the absolute best, so I purchased a lace Jovani gown with tulle and beading. Once again, Delilah came through with making my tresses look regal and my nails superb. My hair was pinned to the side with cascading curls that fell below shoulders, and my nails matched my dress to the exact hue.

              "Girl, bye." Bailey released her grip. "You're not gonna sit pretty all night. Let's dance!"

              "Where's Marley? Wasn't she invited?" From my seat, I tried to look through the throng of people partying in their gowns and tuxedos, as if it were prom fifteen to thirty years ago all over again.

              "Of course she was invited." Bailey whipped out her pocket mirror and teased her natural curls. She always wore it big - really big. Had she pressed it, she'd probably look like the black Rapunzel. "She's probably running late. You know she’s busy with wedding stuff." She closed her mirror.  "You better get up and dance before Soror President thinks you're bored."

              The truth was that I wanted to get up. I wanted to circle the place, mix and mingle, and even stand arm and arm with Gabrielle who adored me. I wanted to dance, and I wanted to eat, but I couldn't. I wanted to wait for Marley. I had a feeling she was trying to pull one of my numbers and arrive fashionably late. Why wouldn't she? She was already using my stylist, imitating my swag, and even picking up my habits. The last thing I needed was for someone to catch me with a curl out of place or my lipstick smudged, while she's waltzing in looking like Princess Diana reincarnated.

              Bailey gave up on begging and hit the dance floor without me, but that didn't stop President Gabrielle from finding me moments later. She looked absolutely gorgeous in a gold sparkling gown that had a long train. Her hair was styled in a sophisticated up-do. Her arms were stretched out as she came towards me.

              "Noooooola! There you are!"

              I rose and kissed her on the cheek.

              "I want you to meet my closest family friends!"

              Gabrielle took my hand as she weaved me through tables and around the dance floor. I smiled, nodded, and received loads of kisses on the cheek as she introduced me as "a young and emerging real estate mogul who is about her business, and something to watch out for." Various people gave me their business cards, and Gabrielle pressured me to give my number to people who were interested in doing business with me in the near future. My palms and underarms were beginning to get sweaty as I answered questions about my non-existent classes and my non-existent internship. I was rescued when Gabrielle's husband interrupted a conversation by pushing his way through our mini circle and landing an unexpected passionate, yet aggressive kiss on her lips. It caught us off guard, but I used that opportunity to back a few steps away and slide out of the circle. I watched from outside the circle as Adonis whispered something in Gabrielle's ear and stepped off. She excused herself from her friends and approached me with a slanted smile.

              "The hubby needs me at our table."

              I smiled, "Aww. I envy you two. You’re just perfect."

              "There's no such thing." Gabrielle's smile faded and she added, "I'll tell you a little secret that I told Marley last week."

              She looked behind herself and then back at me. Her eyes locked with mine, and she spoke low enough for only me to hear "Behind what seems like perfection is a beautiful lie threatening to erupt."

              I grimaced. What was that supposed to mean? And, what made her tell Marley that?

              Gabrielle glided off to join Adonis. They locked hands and kissed again before posing for their photographer. I was balling up business cards and tossing them in my clutch when Bailey approached me again.

              "Check your phone for an email!" she cheered.

              "Why?"

              "Marley’s bridesmaids sent an evite to her surprise bridal shower. It’s so cute!"

              Bailey pulled it up on her phone. There was an animation of a champagne bottle popping out the word. "Shhhh..." along with confetti. Underneath that, glittery words appeared with the event's description, location, and time.

              I smirked, "Looks cheap."

              Bailey nudged my arm.

              "Don't be mean."

              "I'm being real. I would never send an evite for a bridal shower. That's so tacky. It's a wedding - a once in a lifetime big deal. You're so supposed to go all out for the bride and send actual invitations not this crap."

              I pushed Bailey’s phone away.

              "If I ever get engaged again and make you my bridesmaid, you better not!"

                Bailey laughed as she tucked her phone in her purse.

              "Well if you do plan to be engaged again, you better snatch your future husband while you’re here. These men have it going on."

              "They have nothing on my boo," I spoke confidently.

              Bailey's jaw dropped as she playfully slapped my arm.

              "Why didn't you tell me? Shoulda known... A woman like you could only stay single but for so long. I wanna meet him."

              "You will at the right time." I smiled as I thought about entering formal events like this, while arm-and -arm with a dapper dressed Ronnie.

              The dinner was over after an hour. Marley never showed up and neither did her evite.
Those ratchet birds didn't send me one
.

              I kissed Bailey on the cheek and waved goodbye when valet returned with her car. While I waited for them to return with mine, I spotted Gabrielle's white Audi pulling from the VIP parking area. She was in the passenger seat and Adonis was driving. They looked to be in an intense argument as Gabrielle's hands wagged in Adonis’s face. As I watched them argue, I heard a couple behind me speaking lowly, in almost a mumble.

              The man said, "Look. Those two are at again.”

              The frustrated woman replied, "Gots to be kidding me. Told, you. He's no good. I wish she'd forget what the bible says and just leave."

              The rest of the crowd, who obviously didn’t catch the altercation, clapped, cheered, shouted “Woohoo!” as Adonis screeched off.

              “Hello, Jerks! Don’t just stand there. Help!”

              The three college boys that were in line looked stunned as they walked over to me. They were stunned that I just snapped on them for staring at me as if I was a circus freak, and probably stunned at the fact that a woman dressed in a formal dress was alone at FeliciTEA’s at 9 p.m. I couldn’t blame them. I loved FeliciTEA’s dearly, but being there on a Friday night
was
pretty pathetic, especially for a woman in her late twenties. I just wasn’t ready to head home. Had I known Gabrielle’s Vow Renewal ceremony would end so early, I would have tried to make plans with Ronnie.

              After the guys helped me free the bottom of my gown which got caught underneath the door, my eyes instantly fell on a man who was rising from a table all the way in the back. His back was towards me and he had a baseball cap on his head, but from observing his posture, I knew it had to be Silas. I picked up the tail of my gown, walked over, and tapped him on the shoulder.

              “Leaving so soon?”

              The guy, who certainly wasn’t Silas, nor was he easy on the eyes, turned around and pulled his headphones from his ears. “I’m sorry. What was that?”

              I pointed to his chair. “Oh… oh, I asked were you leaving. I wanted the table.”

              “Oh, yeah. Yeah.” He grinned and stuffed his books into his bag. “It’s all yours.”

              I sat down and watched while he walked away. I wanted to call Silas just for the hell of it. Just ‘cause I missed his hunched walk. Just ‘cause I missed the way he sweated me. However, I quickly remembered he was pissed, and I canned that idea. After a cup of mango green tea, I decided at least to call Marley. I was curious to know why she didn’t show up at the dinner tonight. To my surprise, she sent me to the voicemail after just two rings. Usually, she wouldn’t let my call get past one ring.

***

              I couldn’t sleep that night. Maybe I had too much sugar in my tea. I kept having nightmares about Dominic, a train, and his bloody hands that were gory compared to the other night. In the dreams, Dominic was running and sometimes skipping through a meadow. He was laughing and pointing towards a train in the distance. While he pointed, his hands got bloodier and bloodier. Eventually, large chunks of his hands began to fall off.

              I shuddered as I jerked from my sleep for the third time. My room was pitch black aside from the little bit of light that peeked beneath my door. A nightlight we plugged in the hallway for Dominic. This time I tiptoed down the down hall to check on my baby brother. He was sleeping peacefully. The cuts on his hands still healed. I kissed him on the forehead and climbed back into my bed. The dream returned. Dominic was running through a meadow laughing and singing my name. He sang my name in a blissful baritone key as large chunks of his hands, once again began falling off. With each chunk fallen his voice got higher, and higher. When he hit a soprano note, I jerked from my sleep.

              “Nola! Damnit!”

              When my eyes got into focus, I saw Alicia standing over me with her arms folded. Saturday’s sun was up and birds were chirping.

              “What? Are you dead already?”

              I pulled back my comforter and jetted down the hall to Dominic’s room. It was empty and his bed was made. I walked back into my room. Alicia had her hands on her hip. Her lips were pressed together tightly and her eyes were like daggers. I returned the exact look and asked where my baby was.

              “They were leaving as I was coming. Nobody’s here but me and you.” She rolled her neck as she spoke. “We need to talk.”

              I ran my hands through my hair and stretched. My eyes felt heavy, my voice was groggy, and I was still shaken up by my eerie dreams. The last thing I wanted to do was have a conversation with Alicia, who was already pissed off, by most likely Derrick again. I pointed my thumb to my door.

              “Well, you need to wait for me downstairs so I could at least brush my teeth and get outta this t-shirt.” I was wearing one of Trav’s old tees. It fit me like a sloppy dress designed for the morbidly obese. It was a V-neck, so if I wasn’t careful, a boob would surely pop-out. There were a few tiny holes in the sleeves, but I loved the shirt. It was comfy.

              Alicia wasn’t having it. “You think I care about your t-shirt?”

              She had been dropping hints the entire time, but it wasn’t until I heard of her tone of voice that I realized her wrath wasn’t for Derrick. It was for me. “You think I care about your teeth? You’re about to get bust
between
your teeth.”

              At first, I just stood there, trying to make sense of what I had just heard. Then, I laughed. I couldn’t help it. When did little good-wife               Alicia become thugged out? Fueled by my laughter, she pointed her finger to my face. “I could have knocked you out stone cold while you slept, but I told myself, ‘I’ll be a woman about it and let her speak her piece.’ So, Im’ma ask you one question and one question only.” Alicia stepped forward. “Did you pay Villain to go out with me?”

              Not only did the woman have the audacity to confront me in my home in my bedroom, while I wore nothing but a beat-up T-shirt, she questioned me like she was a boss. Maybe I would have responded differently if she hadn’t done that, but because she did, I let my words slice her.

              “Yeah I paid him,
and
I had to beg him. Why are you mad? Nobody told you to smash Villain. And it’s not my fault that my brother got bored with your washed-up vagina.”

             
CLOCK
! Alicia’s fist connected with my face.

              My neck snapped back as I fell backwards against my dresser. My vision was blurry, but I had enough sense to swing with one hand and use the other one to reach for something to hit her across the head with. She managed to grip me by my hair and I felt myself being yanked from one side of the room to the other side like a rag doll.

              Seemed like the more I scratched her hands and punched on her arms, the tighter she locked onto my hair. She was on top of me on the floor of my bedroom entryway when I saw a pair of tan A.P.C. shoes and navy slacks approach. Alicia’s weight was lifted off me. I sat up just in time to see my father guiding her downstairs.  She was crying and yelling, “She tried to sell me like a prostitute! She treated me like a prostitute! … Your son is a cheater and your daughter sold me like a prostitute!”

              My bedroom was a wreck, and my favorite t-shirt was blood stained. I was in my mirror examining the cut on the side of my swollen eye and dabbing it with toilet tissue, when I felt my father’s presence at my door. “Dad, I think I need you to go to Walgreen’s for first aid. I used the last of it on Dom.”

              “Take yourself.”

              I looked at him. His chest was puffed up, and he was red with fury like he was the one involved in the fight. “What? How? I can barely see.”

              “You’re that bitter of a person. You ruined your life and now want to ruin marriages? Take yourself.” He seethed, “and you deserve every bit of what was given to you.”

              My father turned away, but I followed him down the hall and into his office. “No, I didn’t ruin my life.
You
ruined my life.”

              “Get out,” he commanded with his back turned.

              “You ruined my life when I was four and you pushed my head into the toilet bowl, remember?”

              My father swung around and pointed his wrinkled finger in my face. “Lies!”

              “I was trying to lift my head back up, and you made me knock my tooth out when you forced my head back down against the porcelain. You made me lie to the doctors and lie to the family. You made me tell them that I tripped. You think I was too young to remember?”

              My father’s wrinkled face and flabby jaw trembled. “I said get outta my office!”

              “You ruined me at age five when you left me at the gas station in the middle of that snowstorm.”

              “You snuck outta the car.”

              “That’s what you told mom, but we know the truth. I remember the truth.
You left me
. You sent me in the store to buy a bag of chips, and I watched you from the window. You left me!”

              My voice cracked. I felt myself about cry, but I held it together. “And then, when you picked me up, you told me not to cry because I was a ‘Victor, not a victim.’ You ruined me at age six, when you made me wipe Derrick’s piss with a paper towel every time he had a bad aim. You ruined me with the constant name-calling and limitless confusion with the ‘I love you, but I can’t stand you’ comments.”

              “Who’s gonna believe that? No one will believe that.”

              “Then, after the mental torture, you always showered me with gifts and money just to keep me quiet. Or, maybe you were paying me to forget? Your money definitely can’t erase the multiple times you almost killed me but failed.”

              My father’s voice boomed throughout the house as he yelled, “I SAID GET THE HELL OUT!”