Deal With It (10 page)

Tameka

I
was glad that practice had ended earlier than usual, and that I would be able to catch
106 & Park
from the beginning. After bumming a ride home with Indigo’s father, Mr. Summer, I rushed into the house, took my shoes off and dropped my backpack at the front door. The smell of peach pie filled the house, and I knew that mom had finally popped that Mrs. Smith’s pie into the oven. She wasn’t much of a Betty Crocker herself, but she knew how to pick a good pie from the frozen-food section at Publix grocery store.

I went into the kitchen, opened the oven just to make sure that it really was peach pie that I smelled. The pie was almost golden brown, and my mouth began to water. I opened the refrigerator and grabbed a bottle of Coke. Heard music playing upstairs and followed it.

“Mommy!” I called.

I knew she was there, because her car was parked in the driveway.

“In here, sweetie,” she said.

She sat on the edge of her bed, an open suitcase right next to her. Tears filled her eyes. My worst nightmare was beginning to unfold right before my eyes. Mommy was leaving Daddy for real. He’d really done it this time, spending too much time at the studio, never coming home. Mommy was fed up.

“What’s wrong? Are we leaving Daddy?” I asked.

“What?” She looked confused. “No, baby. Why would you think that?”

“Well, you’re sitting here crying your eyes out, and you’re packing a suitcase. And you just said on Saturday that you were tired of Daddy’s long hours.”

“Tameka, your grandpa Drew had a heart attack.”

Of all four of my grandparents, Grandpa Drew was my favorite. With his sense of humor, he kept everyone laughing nonstop. With a stomach that looked as if he’d swallowed a watermelon, he’d dressed up like Santa Claus and bounced me on his knee when I was little. My father had his eyes and smile, and I often imagined that when Grandpa Drew was much younger, he probably looked just like Daddy. He always told me funny stories about when Daddy was a little boy. I loved Grandpa Drew.

“Is he gonna be okay?” I asked.

“I don’t know yet,” Mommy said, “but Daddy’s on his way home, and we’re heading out soon. I need for you to go pack a bag.”

“How long will we be gone? It’s the middle of the week, and I have school tomorrow, not to mention dance-team practice and a game on Friday.”

“Well, baby, you might have to miss school and dance-team practice for a few days.” Mommy dabbed her eyes dry with a Kleenex. “This is an emergency.”

“I know, Mom. And I’m sorry about Grandpa Drew, but couldn’t you just go without me and let me fly up on Saturday
or something?” I pleaded. “I have a game on Friday night, and I really don’t want to miss it.”

“I don’t know about that, Tameka. You’ll have to ask your father about that one.”

“Ask her father about what?” Daddy walked into the room, dropped his car keys on the nightstand.

“She wants to stay here while we go to Charlotte,” Mommy said.

“Hmm.” Daddy looked at me. “You don’t wanna go with us to check on Grandpa Drew?”

“I do, but I have a big game on Friday night. It’s, like, the best game of the season,” I said. “Maybe I could just fly up on Saturday morning or something.”

“And how would you get to the airport on Saturday morning
or something?
” Daddy asked sarcastically, mocking me. “You want us to leave you the keys to the car, too?”

“Well, that’s an option,” I said. “I do have my driver’s license, Dad. And I’m a good driver. I’m responsible.”

“She is pretty responsible, Paul,” Mom interjected, vouching for me. “I trust her to stay here alone, and she does pretty good with the car.”

“It’s a huge responsibility, baby,” Daddy said. “You’d have to get yourself up in the mornings for school, get yourself to school and home from dance-team practice. You’ll be here alone at night. You’d be responsible for making sure the house is secure when you’re not here and when you are here. Then the whole airport thing. Parking the car, loading the luggage.”

Was he trying to make me nervous, discourage me?

“I know all that, Dad.” I hadn’t really thought about it like that. I knew I’d be at home alone, but I didn’t think about the reality of it—having to secure the house and such. That made me nervous. And the whole airport thing had me shaking in my boots. What if I missed the flight? There were so many small
details to consider when traveling; I would be so scared that I’d miss something. But I still stood my ground. “I can handle it.”

“Well, I guess I don’t have a problem with it,” Daddy said.

“Me, either,” Mommy added. “And now that I think about it, there won’t really be a need for her to fly up on Saturday if our plan is to return on Sunday night. Provided Grandpa Drew is out of the woods by then, we should be returning home pretty quickly.”

“I agree,” Dad said.

“We’ll just play it by ear,” Mommy stated. “See how things go. Maybe Grandpa Drew will recover, and we can come home sooner. But I think she’ll be fine in the meantime.”

“Under no circumstances are you to have anyone over here.” Daddy laid down the rules. “You go to school, and you come home, Tameka. That’s it. And you call us every day and let us know what’s going on.”

“I will. I promise you won’t regret this,” I replied.

“Let’s hope not,” Dad said, ending the conversation. “Please don’t disappoint us.”

“I won’t, Daddy.” I hugged his neck, kissed his cheek. I kissed Mommy.

She asked, “Can you get that pie out of the oven for me, Tameka? I need to finish packing.”

I rushed down the stairs. Excited. I couldn’t believe that they were actually going to trust me to stay at home alone. But then, I didn’t know why I was surprised. After all, I was almost an adult—I was sixteen and a half, for crying out loud. Not to mention I was very mature for my age. Lots of people thought I was much older than I was. I could’ve easily passed for eighteen years old any day of the week. I pulled the peach pie out of the oven, set it on the stove. It smelled so good, and I quickly grabbed a plate from the shelf and cut myself a small
piece. I let it cool, because it was piping hot. I sat at the kitchen table and smiled to myself. It felt good to be trusted, and I couldn’t wait to have the house to myself.

As I finally ushered my parents out of the house, their luggage in tow, Mommy gave me last-minute instructions. Daddy literally had to pull her out the door. She was so worried about me that she called me before they even left the subdivision, and then again before they boarded their flight at Hartsfield-Jackson airport. After making sure that the house was secured, I sat curled on the sofa in the family room, a bowl of popcorn in between my legs, a tall glass of Coke on the coffee table. I flipped through the television channels. Decided to watch
Real Housewives of Atlanta,
just to see what those rich divas were up to. There was always some drama on that show.

When my phone buzzed, I knew it was Vance.

He sent a text message. Hey U.

I sent a text back. Hi.

WUP? Did UR homework yet? he asked.

Yes. Long ago.

Good.

Da parents went out of twn for da wknd.

Really?

Got da house 2 myself.

Cool. Then I can come ova?

Not 2nite.

Maybe 2morrow.

Maybe. After I texted him back, my father’s voice was in my head.
Under no circumstances are you to have anyone over here.

I sent Vance a yawn, just to end the conversation.:-O

G-Nite. CU L8TR.

G-Nite.

Just past midnight, and after I’d fallen asleep on the sofa, a
noise shook me out of my sleep. I sat straight up for a moment, waiting to hear it again. Nothing.
Probably just the house settling,
I thought. I pulled myself up from the sofa, went upstairs to my room, slipped into my pajamas and collapsed onto my bed. I turned on the radio just to break the silence in the house, tuned it to the Quiet Storm on 103 and let it rock me back to sleep.

Vance

I
sat on the bench while my teammates made magic happen on the basketball court. Marcus had fourteen points by the second quarter, and I couldn’t help wishing I was out there, lending him a hand. I felt like an idiot riding the bench. This was not how things were supposed to be going. When Coach called a time-out, the team rushed over and gathered in a huddle. As he gave my teammates instructions for the next play, my eyes wandered into the stands. Darla Union was seated in the stands, right behind our team. She smiled and gave a little wave. I gave her a little wave back. Just to be safe, I let my eyes wander across the gym toward the dance team. I wanted to see where Tameka was and if she was paying attention to me. I spotted her in the corner of the gym, running her mouth with Indigo, Jade and some other girls. She wasn’t paying me any attention.

After the team rushed back out on court, I took my seat on the bench again and continued to watch the game. When my phone vibrated, I pulled it out of my pocket, looked at the screen.

WUD after da game? Darla asked what my postgame plans were.

Mickey D’s. I responded.

It was where we all gathered after every game. My friends, including my girlfriend, would be there.

Can I come?

Suit URself. I’ll be with my girl.

Wanna do something else? she asked.

Like what?

It’s a secret.

It was no secret that Darla Union liked to play games. I was treading on thin ice with this girl, but she had me intrigued. I looked back at her in the stands. Gave her a smile and then turned to finish watching the game. Tried to clear away my thoughts of her, which were now cluttering my mind like cobwebs. She had my hormones raging.

After the game, Tameka and I found each other in the midst of the crowd. She hugged me around the waist, and I struggled to hold on to her and my crutches at the same time.

“We going to Mickey D’s?” she asked.

“Yeah,” I said, watching as Darla motioned that she wanted to talk. She headed toward the restrooms. “You go ahead to the car, and I’ll just meet you in the parking lot.”

“You sure?” Tameka asked.

“Yeah, I need to go to the restroom,” I lied. “I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

I watched as Tameka buttoned her coat all the way up and exited through the gymnasium doors. I hopped toward the restrooms on crutches. Darla stood innocently with her back against the men’s room door. She wore tight jeans and a shirt that hugged her breasts in just the right way. She grinned as I approached.

Everything inside me knew that I should’ve followed Tameka
to the car, headed to McDonald’s and steered clear of all temptation.

“So what’s up?” Darla asked.

“What’s up with you?” I asked her.

“You goin’ to Mickey D’s or what?” she asked.

“What are my options?”

“Like I told you before, my mom works nights, so I have the place all to myself. We can go there and watch videos, or not,” she said.

“You driving?” I asked.

“My car’s right outside in the parking lot,” she said. “You get rid of your girl, and we can be on our way to my place in a matter of minutes.”

“Let me go handle my business,” I said. The words just came out of my mouth before I could catch them. My mind was no longer in control, and my hormones were running this program. And hormones didn’t seem to care if you had a girlfriend, or that her feelings would be hurt if she knew what you were up to. “I’ll meet you in the parking lot in about fifteen minutes.”

“Don’t keep me waiting long.” Darla’s lip gloss was shining on her lips, and her sexy brown eyes made me want her more.

With that thought in mind, I headed for the school’s parking lot. I had to do what I had to do.

Tameka

Tears
burned my cheeks as I stood with my back against the wall just outside the gym, listening as my boyfriend, the love of my life, the boy of my dreams, Vance Armstrong, made plans to be with another girl. It had just so happened that I needed to use the restroom, too, and I’d ended up coming back into the gym before I even got halfway to the car. As I’d approached the restrooms, I’d heard familiar voices and decided to eavesdrop. Something told me not to snap out right away, but to play it cool and to just listen for a few minutes. When you sat still and listened, you found out more than you ever wanted to learn sometimes. I was paralyzed as I waited for the best opportunity to make my presence known to both of them, and before I knew it, I was in tears. I wasn’t supposed to be crying; I was supposed to be confronting. But I wasn’t mad. I was hurt.

I slowly made my way around the corner, and my eyes locked with Darla Union’s. I remembered our recent altercation and couldn’t believe that she was the one who was pushing up on
Vance. I approached her, stood square in front of her and pointed my finger in her face.

“I don’t appreciate you pushing up on my man!” I said.

“Then you should take better care of your man, little girl,” she said. “If you did, I wouldn’t have to.”

She wouldn’t have to? Did that mean she’d already taken care of him? Were they already messing around behind my back?

“I thought I put you in your place the other day,” I told her.

“Apparently you didn’t!” she snapped back.

I pushed her, and she fell against the restroom door. She lunged toward me in defense, and Vance stepped in between us just in the nick of time.

“Stop it!” he yelled and then grabbed my waist.

“Let me go!” I said and pushed him away. “We are so through, Vance.” I walked away. Trying not cry, I was moving fast.

“Tameka, wait!” he yelled and reached for my hand, but I yanked it away.

I turned around just long enough to point my finger in his face. “Don’t touch me,” I said and then headed toward the glass doors in the gym.

Vance was moving quickly toward me, but since he was hopping on crutches, it was hard for him to catch up. “Tameka, wait up!”

I rushed out the door and never looked back. Left Vance behind in the cold Atlanta air. I practically ran to my mother’s BMW, started the engine and burned rubber out of the parking lot. I needed to get as far away as I possibly could, and fast, because it felt as if my entire world had just fallen apart. Vance’s words still stuck in my head. “Let me go handle my business,” he’d told Darla. It was hard to believe that I was the business that he needed to handle. It was me that they probably laughed about when I wasn’t around. I was the joke. That hurt.

I wanted to call my mother. She was my best friend and she would know exactly what to say. But I didn’t want her worrying
about me. I knew that if she thought I was in trouble, she’d be on the next flight from Charlotte to Atlanta in an instant, and I didn’t want to inconvenience her like that.

Tears blurred my vision as I made my way through traffic on Old National Highway. When I finally saw our subdivision up ahead, I rejoiced. I was happy to finally pull into our garage and shut the door behind me. I was safe there. I could hide my pain from the world behind that garage door. I sat in the car for a moment, trying to get myself together, hoping that the pain would ease up just a little, but it didn’t. I went inside, rushed upstairs to my room, threw my backpack on the floor, kicked my shoes off and curled up in my bed. I stayed like that for a long time. When the doorbell rang, it startled me. I got up, looked out my bedroom window, but didn’t see a car out front. I couldn’t see who was at the door, and it started to scare me. The person on the other side of the door was relentless and kept ringing the doorbell and knocking, and then my phone rang. I looked at the screen. Vance. Wasn’t interested in talking to him, so I let it roll into voice mail. He called three more times before finally sending a text. I read the text.

I’m at da door. Pls let me in, he wrote.

I didn’t respond. Just placed the cell phone on my dresser and sat on the edge of my bed, trying to figure out what to do next. He sent another text.

Please. Just want 2 talk.

Oh, now he wanted to talk. It seemed to me that he’d done all the talking necessary—to Darla Union, about God only knew what. Part of me did want to hear what he had to say, though. I wanted to hear that this was all a joke. Or that I hadn’t heard things correctly, and they hadn’t talked about hooking up. All of it had been one big mistake—maybe. I crept slowly down the stairs and made my way to the front door, leaned against it.

“What do you want, Vance?” I asked.

“I just want to talk, Tameka. Can I come in?”

With my back against the door, I contemplated letting him in.

“It’s really cold out here,” he finally said.

I slowly opened the door. He stepped inside, shivering from the cold. I closed the door behind him, folded my arms across my chest.

“What is there to talk about?”

“I’m sorry about tonight, Tameka. I didn’t mean to hurt you, and I made a mistake.”

“Yes, you did make a mistake. A big one,” I said.

“It wasn’t what it seemed. I promise.”

“Then what was it? Because I heard everything loud and clear.” I stood my ground. “Why were you trying to kick it with someone else?”

“I don’t even know,” he said, not even denying the fact that he was trying to kick it with someone else. “I don’t even like her like that.”

“You just wanted to sleep with her, huh?”

He shrugged. I was right. He wanted to sleep with her, and it hurt knowing that.

“I’m sorry, Tameka. I never meant to hurt you,” he said. “And I don’t want to lose you.”

He reached for my hand, and I didn’t pull away this time, but I didn’t look at him, either. I looked away. He grabbed both of my hands in his, held on to them. Then he pulled me close, and I relaxed in his arms. My mind was telling me to pull away, throw him out and tell him where to go, but I didn’t. Instead, I let his lips touch mine.

“What does she have that I don’t, Vance?” I had to ask. Insecurity had found its way to my heart.

“She doesn’t have anything on you. Nothing at all,” he said.

“Then why were you all up in her face, making plans with her?”

“Just stupid, I guess.” He sounded so sincere, I couldn’t help but believe him. “What we have is really special, and I almost messed it up.”

“Yes, you did!”

“Will you forgive me?”

I ignored his question and asked, “How long have you been messing around with her?”

“I’m not messing around with her,” he said. “I’m with you, Tameka, and you only. She wants to get with me.”

“Have you slept with her?” I asked.

“No. I promise I haven’t,” he said.

“But you were willing to,” I said.

“I’m not gonna lie, Tameka. I was thinking about it. And I’m sorry…”

My heart started aching, and I didn’t know how to make it stop. The thought of him thinking of another girl in that way made me sick.

“If I make love to anyone, I want it to be with you,” he said.

I believed him. He wrapped his arms tightly around my waist and kissed me with passion. I put my arms around his neck. He didn’t know it, but I had already forgiven him. And when his fingers began to caress my skin, I didn’t even stop them from roaming.

“Where’s your room?” he whispered.

We had reached that crossroads again. It was the same crossroads that we’d found ourselves at before, only this time there was a little twist. I could send Vance away, but there was a chance that he would end up in Darla Union’s arms in a matter of seconds. She was probably somewhere waiting for that to happen, hoping I would turn him away. She wanted to get her claws into Vance and steal him away. And I wasn’t about to let that happen.

“My room is upstairs,” I told him. “You have to take your shoes off in the house.”

He removed the Jordans from his feet. His hand in mine, I led the way upstairs to my bedroom.

“Nice room,” he said as he looked around.

“Thanks.” I smiled. Who would’ve dreamed that Vance Armstrong would be standing in the middle of the floor in my bedroom, saying that my room was nice?

I hit the power button on my stereo, popped in Lloyd’s CD, and ironically, his “Love Making 101” track rang out across the room. Vance didn’t waste any time pulling me close again, and our lips locked—
again.
Before I knew it, I was lost in the moment. There was no turning back. We slow danced in the middle of my floor, and then Vance led the way to my canopy bed. We both sat on it slowly, careful not to let our lips come apart.

“I brought protection,” he whispered.

I was glad, because protection was important if we were going to move to the next level. It seemed that this was actually going to happen. His lips against mine, his fingertips all over my body, our hearts beating at a consistent pace, we became one in an instant—one love, one mind, one soul. As the song encouraged us with its lyrics, we made love to the music. And when we were done, Vance held me in his arms, and we both fell asleep.

The sound of Vance’s ringtone shook the room. He and I sat straight up. We looked at each other; both of us were dazed for a moment. He grabbed his cell phone from my nightstand.

“Oh, snap, it’s three o’clock!” he exclaimed.

“In the morning?” I asked, wiping sleep from my eyes.

“I gotta get home. That was my father calling,” he said, searching for his jeans. He pulled them on, buttoned them. “I caught a ride over here with Jaylen. You think you can you take me home?”

“Right now?”

“Yeah, right now.”

I’d already broken the rules—had company over when my
dad had specifically asked me not to. Now Vance wanted me to drive my parents’ vehicle in the middle of the night, when I was told not to go anywhere but school and back home. I had taken so many chances already.

“Yeah, I’ll take you.” It was already out there before I could take it back.

The streets of College Park were dark and quiet, reminiscent of a ghost town, as I took Vance home. My heart pounded the whole way. There wasn’t much to talk about at that hour, and so there was silence in the car. He grabbed my hand and intertwined his fingers with mine. I felt safe, felt lucky. Like I had won the prize and Darla had lost. I wished she could see that Vance belonged to me, in every way. His heart belonged to me.

I finally pulled up in front of his mini mansion. The neighborhood was so quiet that you could actually hear the crickets chirping in the night. I lowered my headlights so they wouldn’t disturb any of his neighbors.

“I’ll call you when I wake up,” he said. “You wanna check out a movie or something? We can go to the matinee.”

“That’ll be cool.”

“All right.” He opened the door and stepped out of the car. “Send me a text and let me know that you made it home.”

“I will.”

I watched as he approached his front door, used his key to go inside. When I saw the upstairs light pop on, I pulled away quickly. Made my way back home, driving just below the speed limit, as my mind drifted back to the intimate moment I’d just shared with Vance. We had been so natural with each other. It had felt right. Vance didn’t need to go anywhere else. He had everything he needed right here.