If I Were Your Boyfriend (34 page)

  "What about his dad? How is he doing" she asked.

  "What happened to his dad?" Jordan finally got curious.

  "Well, after you kicked him out last week—"

  "Hey, for the record I didn't kick him out. He left on his own," Jordan said in an attempt to not sound like the bad guy.

  "Sure you didn't," I said condescendingly. Jordan allowed my sneering remark to slide for the moment.

  "Anyway, as I'm sure you all have heard, with the exception of you, Jordan, as I was walking him back home last week we were both horrified when we saw that his house had caught on fire."

  "Wait a minute, Wesley's house caught on fire?" Mike asked.

  "Duh, where have you been?" I mocked him. "If I sneeze too loudly in the hallway, one of your spies tells you. I'm surprised you didn't hear about this."

  "Whatever, Keysha." Mike didn't argue with me.

  "Get to the point, Keysha. How is his dad doing?" Barbara had grown impatient.

  "He's going to make a full recovery but it's going to take some time."

  "Well, I'm sorry to hear that the young man is going through hard times. If there is anything this family can do to help, let me know," Jordan said.

  "Well, there is one thing that may ease some of the stress he's dealing with," I said. "I would like to invite him to the Halloween party. I think it would be good for him. It would just help him get his mind off of his situation for a little while." I looked at Jordan and tried to read his facial expression. I knew that I'd just put him between a rock and a hard place. I could tell that he really wanted to say no but then he'd really look like a bad guy. Jordan released a large sigh.

  "How is dude going to come kick it at a Halloween party and he doesn't have a place to live?" Mike asked.

  "He's staying with his mother until the contractors repair his house."

  "Whew, I feel sorry for him. His mother is truly one of a kind," Barbara said.

  "Keysha." Jordan looked at me. "It's not that— How do I put this?" Jordan paused.

  "He can come over, Keysha." Barbara once again stepped in. She then looked at Jordan. "There will be plenty of adult supervision, so I don't see what the harm is in allowing her friend to come visit her."

  "But—"

  "Jordan, you need to be thankful that she's even asking and sharing the important things in her life. Some kids don't talk because they're afraid to and that can lead to a whole lot of sneaking around. And I know you don't want anyone in this house sneaking around. We've already gone through that, remember?"

  "But—" Jordan said again.

  "But nothing. When he comes over, I want you to be nice to him," Barbara said, and then ended that conversation by starting another one. I looked at her and smiled. I was so happy that she'd helped me to persuade Jordan.

  "He's a really nice guy, Jordan," I said to him.

  "Yeah, when he's—"

  "Mike, if you make another snide remark about Wesley, I'll make you regret it." I glared at him as if I were committing homicide with my eyes.

  "Whatever, Keysha," he said, and then remained silent. He knew I was serious and didn't want to risk my swinging a broomstick at him again.

  "Fine, he can come but I'll be keeping a close eye on him," Jordan said. "Now that we have that out of the way, let's talk about what needs to get done around here in order to prepare for the party."

  "Whew, would you look at the time," said Mike. "Boy, I'm stuffed. I think I'm going to go lie down for a minute." He tried to excuse himself.

  "Park it, player!" Jordan ordered him to remain seated. "You're not going to weasel your way out of doing some work. Okay, Barbara and I have come up with a theme for this year's party."

  "Wait, we're doing a theme? I thought we were just having a regular party. I told Wesley that he didn't need a costume."

  "And he doesn't," said Jordan. "I don't need him hiding behind some mask. I need to know exactly where he is at all times."

  "Jeez, you act as if you're going to be on him like white on rice," I said. "What's the big deal? Would you act the same way if Mike brought a girl as a guest?"

  "Yes, I would," Jordan said boldly.

  "No, you wouldn't," Barbara corrected him. "Keysha, he's just being a typical man. My father was the exact same way. It didn't matter how nice a guy was. When I brought a date around my father, he instantly caught an attitude. Do you remember how my father treated you when you first met him, Jordan?" Barbara asked.

  "We're not talking about me." He got a little sensitive.

  "Keysha, my father met Jordan at the door and refused to allow him to come inside. He spoke to him through the screen door and the first thing he said to Jordan was 'Did you know that my daughter has decided to go into a convent? You might as well give up now and go home.'" Barbara began laughing.

  "That wasn't funny." Jordan began pouting.

  "Keysha, you should have seen the look on Jordan's face. He looked as if he'd been shot with a sack of spit and left hanging to dry."

  "Eww," I cringed at the thought of that.

  "Okay, enough. I get your point. Be as nice as I possibly can to the boy," Jordan said.

  Barbara winked at me and I smiled back at her.

  "Mike, I'm putting you in charge of the decorations. That means you'll be carving the pumpkin, stuffing the scarecrows and putting up the spiderwebs on the outside. Our theme this year is famous singers. I brought home some posters and other fun stuff from the radio station to help liven up the house. Now we all have to choose who we're going to be. Barbara, who will you be?" asked Jordan.

  "Tina Turner," Barbara said, laughing.

  "Keysha, who do you want to be?" Jordan asked.

  "Um…" I had to think a minute.

  "I'll be Alicia Keys," I said.

  "You wish you could pull that off," Mike uttered.

  "Shut up!" I snapped at him.

  "Mike, who will you be?" Jordan asked.

  "Ludacris," he said proudly.

  "You can't fake the swagger," I snipped.

  "Can so," Mike protested.

  "You wish."

  "Okay, that's enough, you two."

  "What singer did you decide to be?" Barbara asked Jordan.

  "Prince," said Jordan.

  "Oh, I know you're not going there," said Mike. "Purple is not your color."

  "Now, that's going to be funny," I said.

  "What? You guys don't think I'm hip enough to do Prince?"

  "Nothing about you says Prince," I added.

  "Ya'll are just hating on me," Jordan said, trying to sound cool.

  "Okay, enough already." Barbara interrupted our bickering.

  "Keysha and I will handle all of the cooking and Jordan will take care of making sure the house is spotless and sending out the invitations."

  "Cool, can I go now?" Mike asked.

  "Yes," Jordan and Barbara said simultaneously.

  The following Saturday the house was festooned with Halloween decorations. It was filled with guests and friends of Barbara and Jordan's, and there were also a few guys from the school football team who came over. As soon as they arrived they all rushed up to Mike's room to play video games. I was standing at the window waiting for Wesley to arrive. My patience was running out because he was late and hadn't called. I was starting to think that he'd blown me off. I turned my attention away from the window and looked at all of the adults standing around looking ridiculous. There was a very large and round man dressed up like Michael Jackson. His one glove and short black pants with white socks were enough to make me scream. The lady he was with was dressed like Janet Jackson but she looked more like Missy Elliot to me. As I scanned the room I noticed a woman dressed like Lil' Kim trying to dance in shoes that appeared to be killing her feet and another man was dressed like Flava Flav complete with a big white clock chained around his neck. At that moment, my father decided to get real crazy and play the song "Thriller" by Michael Jackson. That caused everyone in the room to shout and try to do the dance moves from the video. Watching them awkwardly bump into each other and step down on each other's toes was comical.

  I focused my attention out the window once again and finally saw Wesley walking up my driveway.

  "Finally," I said to myself. I maneuvered my way through the crowd and over to the front door. Before Wesley could ring the bell I opened the door.

  "Hey, you," I greeted him.

  "What's up? You look nice," he complimented me. "I didn't get a costume. I had a really bad day today. I hope that's okay."

  "Yeah, of course it is. Don't even worry about it. The adults are too busy drinking to notice anyway."

  "Are you going to invite me in? It's kind of chilly out here."

  "Come on in, silly. You're the one standing there like a rooted tree."

  "Are you sure it's okay for me to be here? I mean, I don't want any trouble with your dad."

  "Yes, I'm sure. Speaking of fathers, how is your dad doing?"

  "He's doing a little better. His burns are pretty bad, though," Wesley said.

  "Well, I'll keep praying for him," I said. "Come on, follow me and I'll fix you a plate of food." I took him by the hand and led him to the kitchen.

  "Hello, Wesley," said Barbara the moment she saw him.

  "Hi, Mrs. Kendall," Wesley greeted her politely. "You look very nice. I mean, Tina Turner has nothing on you," he said.

  "Do you really think so?" Barbara soaked up the compliment as she tried to strike a quick pose.

  "Yeah, I'm serious, you look like all of that." Wesley smiled at her.

  "Hello, Wesley." Jordan entered the kitchen.

  "Hello, Mr. Kendall."

  "I'm sorry to hear about what happened the other day," Jordan said.

I was glad that he was trying to be nice to Wesley.

  "Come on, Jordan. Leave them in here to eat and talk," Barbara said as she took Jordan by the arm and led him back into the family room where the other adults were. I began preparing Wesley's plate. I made sure he had a sampling of everything before I sat his food before him.

  "What took you so long to get here?" I asked as I opened up the door to the refrigerator to get him something to drink.

  "I've had a really, really bad day," Wesley said.

  "Tell me about it," I said as I placed a can of soda before him and then sat down.

  "I'm very depressed, Keysha." Wesley sounded as if he'd just lost his soul.

  "What's wrong?" I asked, touching his hand.

  Wesley swiveled his head from right to left several times. "My mother. We had a major fight before I came over here."

  "What did you guys fight about this time?" I was concerned because I saw a look in Wesley's eyes that I'd never seen before.

  "She wants me to give her access to my dad's money and I refuse to."

  "Why is she tripping like that? Your dad is sick and recovering. Why does she want you to give her access to his account?"

  "She claims that she needs money to pay a lawyer to help her fight a DUI case."

  "She needs to get her own money for that," I said quickly.

  "I know. But she doesn't see it that way. All she knows is that my dad got a large sum of money from his home owner's insurance policy and she wants her cut."

  "Did you give her any money?" I asked.

"No. And because of that, she's put me out of the house."

"What?" I couldn't believe my ears.

  "You heard me, Keysha. I said that she put me out on the street. But knowing her she'll freak out, call the cops and report me as a runaway. If the cops catch me, back to juvie I go."

  "Well, let's not wish for that," I said. "How can she do that? You're her son!" I'd gotten very upset and raised my voice.

  "She just did. She took my duffel bag filled with clothes and tossed them out the door."

  "Ooh, I could just strangle that woman!" I felt so bad for Wesley. I wanted to ask him what he was going to do, but he placed his face in his hands to hide his pain. I got up and stood behind him to rub his shoulders.

  "It's going to be okay," I whispered in his ear.

  "Hey. What's going on in here? Why are you touching him like that?" Jordan rushed into the kitchen as if he'd caught us doing something foul.

  "I'm just rubbing his shoulders, Jordan." I snapped at him for thinking that something was going on.

  "Where's the bathroom?" Wesley asked.

  "Right here." I pointed to the one just off of the kitchen, but the door was closed, which meant someone was inside. "Go into the basement, there is no one down there," I said. Wesley got up and walked down the basement steps.

  "No touching," Jordan said as he rejoined his guests. I rolled my eyes at him. I wanted to tell him to get over it, but I didn't because I was too worried about Wesley. I sat back down at the kitchen table and began to think of how I could explain Wesley's situation to Barbara and get permission for him to stay with us for the night.

* * *

  "Your friend still hasn't come back from the bathroom yet?" Jordan said as he placed a few glasses in the sink. "He's been down there for about twenty minutes."

  "It hasn't been that long," I said.

  "Um, yes, it has," Jordan said, and walked toward the basement. I followed him. We walked to the bathroom but Wesley wasn't there.

  "Where'd he go?" Jordan asked, puzzled.

  "I don't know," I said. "Wesley?" I called out. Jordan and I began to search for him. Jordan opened up his office door and flipped on the light switch. "What are you doing in here?" Jordan yelled at him. I quickly marched up behind Jordan and when I saw Wesley I was completely shocked and hurt. He'd sneaked into the refrigerator that was in the basement and removed a wine cooler and was standing in the dark drinking it in Jordan's office.