I'd Rather Be Single 2 (18 page)

“Oh that’s Rodney getting into his car.” Mavis said as if she was relieved.

“Rodney?” I repeated.

“Yes, he’s Mavis and Seary’s stylist. I forgot he lived in East Boston.
” She nodded and flashed a relieved smile. “He’s the only stylist I know without a car. I guess that explains why Mavis travels here every day. Guess my ass was tripping.”

I
sat confused. I wanted to tell her that her man just picked up a gay man who never expressed interest in being a stylist. Now, I haven’t heard from Rodney in years, but a stylist? He couldn’t even dress himself. Maybe he grew interest in this profession when he came out of the closet. Then I started thinking the worst. Maybe he was posing as a stylist and was actually Mavis’s boyfriend on the low. I mean you just never know these days. I decided to keep my two cents to myself and mind my business.

Breal
was so relieved that she treated me for drinks and then dropped me back off at home.

I noticed a
note on the counter from Dalia, explaining that she made a lobster dinner for Seary and that she had put some aside for me in the fridge. Her note made me smile. She was preparing food for Seary more frequently, and was always thoughtful with keeping portions aside for me. She also made mention recently that her new cooking habit was taking her mind off the news about her father getting sicker. I was happy that she had Seary around to keep her in good spirits. I tossed the note in the trash and answered my ringing phone. It was from a blocked number.

“Hello?”

“Hey Tyra, it’s Michael. Where have you been? I’ve been hitting you up ever since the last time I saw you. Why haven’t you returned any of my calls or texts?” Urgency dripped in his tone.

“Michael, I’m not
trying to come in between what you have with your fiancé. I don’t think it’s a good idea that you and I talk.”

“
But I told you that I had something to tell you.”

“Michael
, seriously, I —”

“Listen Tyra, meet me
at our spot. Can you get there in about a half hour?”

I exhaled.
For some reason, Michael was persistent in trying to see me. But I didn’t want to get my heart entangled in another mess. I still loved him and didn’t want to get hurt. I also didn’t want to run into Rosslyn’s ass. It seemed like that bitch always appeared whenever I came in contact with Michael.

“Alright Michael, I’ll meet you.” I said.

I grabbed my keys and headed to our spot. On my way there, I got a text from an unfamiliar number. Since I had blocked Courtney’s number, he had the nerve to hit me from a different phone, expressing how much he missed me and then asked if I could send him a picture. I deleted and blocked that number so fast I almost broke my fingers. His immature ass was starting to annoy me. Another text came through from another unknown number and I thought it was from Michael.

Bitch don’t do it! I’ve already warned you to stay away from my man. If you go meet him, You are gonna feel me bitch!

My eyes bucked open and anxiety set in. I couldn’t believe what I was reading. This bitch Rosslyn was relentless! How she got my number, I had not a clue. She either had mine or Michael’s phone tapped, or some type of device following his every move. I hadn’t heard from her in months, and the second Michael hits me up, she reappears. I never questioned him about Rosslyn, but it was time that I got answers. I turned my car around and headed home, I wasn’t about to be met with her wrath.

Michael was calling me to see how far away I was.

“Listen, I’m not coming to meet you.”

“Why not
? I’m almost there.”

“Because, you have situations that you have to deal with that I don’t want to be involved
in. We had our shot and it didn’t work out. Let’s just dead this.”

“Tyra, don’t do me like this
. I need to see you.”

A snapshot of
Rosslyn appeared in my mind. “Can I ask you a question, Michael?”

“Sure
Tyra, anything.”

“Have you ever cheated on your
fiancé?”

I heard him take in a deep breath.

“Your silence just told me the answer.”

“Wait, let me answer.”
he started. “Yes I did cheat on her. But why are you asking me this?”

“Did the girl you cheat
ed with’s name begin with an R?” I really didn’t want to know the answer to this question nor did I want to mention Rosslyn’s name. I was at a red light and closed my eyes waiting for his answer.

“How did you
about know that?” he asked.

“Good bye Michael.
I don’t want to be a part of this shit. I don’t got time for the drama”

“
Wait, don’t hang up. What do you mean you don’t got time for the drama? Yeah, I cheated, but the affair is over because the girl was crazy as fuck. I had to leave her alone. Plus, cheating ain’t my thing. You know I’m all about having a family. God blessed me with this prominent career and I don’t need karma coming back on me because of my bad choices. And in case you were wondering, I never cheated on you.”

“Michael
, it really doesn’t matter anymore. I’m trying to be drama free. Please don’t contact me anymore. And if I were you, I’d keep a close watch on your family, because I have a feeling that your ex-mistress isn’t done with you yet.”

“Tyra, hold up.”

I hung up and sped home. I loved him to death but fuck that, Rosslyn wasn’t a normal bitch. I was tired of all of her warnings, I had to remove myself from the situation for good.

My head was throbbing after talking to Michael and my bed was calling me. Upon entering my apartment, I was met with Dalia on the couch staring out into nowhere.

I
put my purse on the end table next to the front door and sat next to her. “Hey babe, what’s wrong?”

Immediately
, she cried into her palms. My heart melted for her, even though I didn’t know what was going on. I took her into my arms, confused. “What’s going on, Dalia?”

“Seary- Seary.”
She sobbed.

“Seary what? Is he okay?”

She went into her purse and pulled out a medication bottle. She poured three pills into her hand and took a glass of water from the coffee table to take them.

“What is that? What are you taking?”
I asked.

“Remember I told you I was bi-polar?
My bouts of depression has been coming back lately because of my father’s health. But now that I found out that Seary isn’t who he showed himself to be, I probably should double my dosage.”

“What do you mean,
weren’t you just with him? Tell me what’s going on. You are not going to over medicate yourself over no man.”

Her sad eyes were lifeless
. “It’s over, Tyra. I’m tired of fighting for love. It wasn’t meant for me. My heart is shattered right now. You don’t even understand.” She held her heart as if it was hurting her chest. “It’s over Tyra, it’s over.” She cried hard.

“Don’t talk like that
, Dalia. What happened, did he cheat on you?”

“He went above and beyond cheating on me
, Tyra. I gave that man my allll.” she cried, sinking her head down in her lap.

“I’m still not understanding this
. You just had a romantic dinner with him, did something happen when you were over there or on your way home? What the fuck happened?” I bombarded her with questions because she wasn’t giving me straight answers.

She closed her
crying eyes and nodded slowly. I figured the medication was kicking in. I had never seen her look that way before. I grabbed a pillow and a comforter off her bed and laid her down on the couch. “Look, just get some rest, take a nap and when you wake up, hopefully you’ll feel up to talking about it. I’m gonna take a shower and check on you when I get out.”

Without words, she laid back on the pillow
, seeming to be in another world.

I disrobed and took a shower. I kept hearing my phone ringing while I was inside. I washed myself up,
saturated my body in oil and then read my call log. It was full of missed calls, voicemails and texts from Breal.

When I hit her up, she answered the phone sounding
hysterical.

“Breal
, what’s wrong? What’s going on?”

“Where is Dalia?” she asked.

“She’s on the couch sleeping, why?”

“Are you sure? I’m worried about her, we just found out some devastating shit that just fucked us both up.”

“What is going on, Breal? First Dalia is in here crying and popping pills, now you are calling me not telling me what’s wrong. I’m tired of y’all beating around the bush, what the fuck is going on?”

“
Okay, listen. Dalia prepared a lobster dinner for everyone and we were all eating and having a good time over at my house. After Dalia left, I took a quick nap and woke up to some strange noises coming from the den. When I opened the door, I saw Seary and Mavis with their stylist, Rodney, having sex. Them niggas was booty fucking each other in my fucking house, Tyra! I immediately called Dalia to tell her what happened and I gave Mavis’s ass an hour to get his shit and get the fuck out of my house, and I left. I’m hoping that he’s gone when I get back.”

My mouth
fell to the floor. I wasn’t expecting to hear no shit like this. My heart broke for Breal
and
Dalia. “Whoa, this is some deep shit to take in right now, Breal.” I inhaled and exhaled, and then had to take a seat because I grew dizzy. I decided that this was probably the appropriate time to confess to Breal about how I knew Rodney.

“
I have to tell you something. When we followed Mavis the other day and saw him with Rodney, I knew exactly who he was. I was surprised that you said that he was a stylist because I never known him for being interested in that profession.”

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“I’ve known Rodney for years. He’s my ex-boyfriend, Breal. I found out he was gay after our relationship ended.”

“
Wait. So you knew who the nigga was the entire time? Why didn’t you say anything?”

“I
don’t know. I was hoping that he was really a stylist and that they were just handling business. You never wanna believe that a nigga you know is gay. And besides, I wouldn’t have known that he was sleeping with your man.”

“Tyra d
o you understand that I have a one year old son whose father was just fucking a motherfucking man?”

I closed my eyes
and placed my hand over my beating chest. “I’m so sorry, Breal. This is just crazy.”

Suddenly she screamed into the phone,
“Oh my goodness, Tyra!”

“What, what’s wrong?” I asked.

“I just drove by Seary’s house and Dalia is over here standing outside of his house looking crazy. She looks like a zombie.”

“What are you talking about
? Dalia’s asleep on the couch?”

I
ran out of my room to scope the couch and it was empty. I burst into her bedroom and noticed that she was actually gone. “Oh my goodness, she
is
gone Breal!”

“Come quick, some shit is about to go down!”
She hung up.

I rushed on my jogging suit and
sped over to Seary’s house. I pulled up along the curb next to the crowd of people gathered around my broken friend. Her hair was a mess and her facial expression was robotic. She only had on white socks and a jersey with Seary’s number on it.

“Come out of the house
, Searyyyy!!!!” she was screaming at the top of her lungs like a mad woman.

“Ma
’am, are you okay?” An elderly neighbor tried calming her.

“Leave me aloneeeeeeeeeeeee!!!” She shouted
, turning in circles. She started screaming at everyone around her. “Get away from me! Get out of heeeere!!!” She reached into her shirt and took out a gun that she apparently had tucked into her bra. I saw Seary looking through the blinds and then closed them once he saw the gun.