Karma's a Bitch (15 page)

Quanisha had come to see Tony everyday since Dr. Stephens had given her the okay to come visit again. He had asked Quanisha to give him at least a week to talk to Nurse Storms himself. It was a beautiful fall Friday afternoon, almost a week since she and the doctor had spoken so she was hoping he had an update. Maybe he could tell her the things that Tony wasn’t. She had checked Dr. Stephens office earlier, but he wasn’t in until later on in the afternoon.

“Well I wish somebody would tell me what the hell is going on with my moms! Jen— the nurse told me she was still in this hospital, but that they wasn’t letting anybody see her right now. What the hell is goin’ on!?”

Quanisha looked up from her magazine and looked at Tony curiously. “I told you I don’t know Tony, but I’ll go try to check out her room myself before I leave. What room she in?”

“Ummm. What was it… I think it’s room 503? On the fifth floor.”

“Aiight, but if they ain’t lettin’ nobody in there I doubt they gonna let my ghetto ass in. And who the hell is ‘Jen the nurse’?” Quanisha asked, not missing a beat as she looked at Tony with her nose scrunched up.

“Nobody,” Tony said as he turned his head away from Quanisha and scratched at his balls. Quanisha hopped up from her chair and threw her magazine on the floor.

“You know what nigga, you ain’t foolin’ nobody! I’m gonna get to the bottom of all this shit one way or the other. So you gonna either tell me now, or you’re gonna pay out your ass later. What’s it gonna be?”

“There ain’t nothing to tell Nish! I don’t know what the fuck you tryin’ to figure out!” Tony tried to sit up and argue with Quanisha, but he became lightheaded and had to lay back down.

“You know I’m sick of your lyin’ ass! You know what I had to go through just to see your dumb ass? And you still ain’t bein’ upfront about this shit? That nurse bitch said you was her man!”

“Baby, I’m telling you. I ain’t dealin’ with no nurse. I don’t know what that girl told you, but it ain’t true.”

“Yea whateva nigga,” Quanisha said getting her stuff together. “I ain’t never comin’ back here. Fuck you. After all this, and you still treatin’ me like shit.”

“Nish, come on Nish. Baby don’t leave,” Tony pleaded as he watched Quanisha bustle her way out of the room. “Quanisha!”

Quanisha looked at her watch and saw that it was only 11:10am. She wanted to stop and talk to Dr. Stephens, but she was so furious that she couldn’t even bear to look at him at that moment. She was afraid he might peg her as some out of control hood rat chick that was always angry. She just wanted to go about her day and forget that Tony had ever existed.

Driving to work, Quanisha got a call on her cellphone. It was her friend Trina, who was just coming out of the beauty salon.

“Hey girl what you doin’?” Trina asked in a huff.

“Nothin’, what’s up with you,” Quanisha said, not really wanting an answer. She was trying to calm herself down after dealing with Tony.

“Girl, I just left Shakira chair, so you know my weave is bangin’. This shit looks real! All of dem at the salon said it looked just like my own hair. I told them they need to stop sweatin’ me,” Trina laughed. “Now all I need is to get my nails did up at Kim’s and then I’ll be ready to go. I’m gonna shake my ass all over the club tonight. You still goin’ right?”

“Tonight? Man I don’t know. Where you goin’, Palmers?”

“Hell yea, girl you better be going. I got this new ‘fit just for tonight, and I ain’t lettin’ it go to waste.”

“Ain’t Tahira goin’?”

“Naw. She backed out at the last minute, like she always do. Girl I ain’t focused on her anyway. You know she still owe me money from the last time we went out, buying her all them drinks. How the hell you gonna come to the club with $10 in your pocket? Then we gotta leave when she wanna leave. Fuck that,” Trina ranted.

“Okay, aiight. I’ll guess I’ll roll through there. I need somethin’ to get my mind off this nigga girl. I swear once I find out what’s goin’ on with this Nurse Storms bitch Imma snatch
somebody
head off.”

“You still on that? Girl you got to be kidding me. If I hear one more thing about that broke ass nigga Tony I think Imma tear this fresh new weave out of my head! Girl leave that nigga alone! He all up in the hospital, pitiful as shit,” Trina paused to laugh at the image in her mind. “There ain’t no better time to leave his ass. Everybody in the hood talkin’ bout how he got his ass whooped up and down Kingsessing Ave. Personally, I wouldn’t worry about his ass no more if I was you,” Trina went on.

“Well you ain’t me, so don’t be tryin’ to tell me about my man,” Quanisha went into defense mode. Trina had a bad habit of running her mouth too much, and it drove Quanisha crazy.

“You the one always bringing his ass up! Don’t be talking about the nigga every second of the day if you ain’t trynna hear nobody opinion about ‘im,” Trina spat back.

“Fuck you bitch. Yo Imma get off this phone before I end up cursin’ yo ass out for real. What time tonight? You comin’ to get me right?” Quanisha said, getting ready to get off the phone. She wasn’t even totally sure she was going, but if she was going she damn sure wasn’t driving.

“I gotta come get you?” Trina thought about that for a while. “Aiight, whatever nigga, I gotchu. Be ready at like 10:30. We might be able to catch the ladies night thing and get in for free.”

“Aiight, call me before you head out.”

* * *

By the time Quanisha and Trina got to the club at around 12 midnight, the line was wrapped around the corner. Trina began bitching almost instantly.

“Oh hell naw. I ain’t waiting on this line,” she said, gesturing to Quanisha with her head as she began walking straight up to the door. All the women waiting on line looked her and Quanisha up and down as if they were the most audacious bitches that ever walked the face of the earth.

Quanisha was dressed in a black leather bustier with a tight short jean skirt and some black boots that looked like sandals at the bottom with their open toes. Trina was dressed even more scandalously in a see through pink top held up by spaghetti straps that kept slipping down her shoulders and revealed her white 36 DD bra underneath. She had on a pair of tight white jeans that were ripped strategically, showing various parts of her body, including the sides of her larger than life butt cheeks. The word around town was that Trina was dipping and dabbling in the stripper scene around North Philly, and even doing some whoring in the Atlantic City area on weekends. That was why she always had money on her. She did her dirt away from her home in West Philly in the hopes that nobody in her hood would find out, but of course they did.

“Yo, I know the dudes that’s throwin’ this party. They told me to come and ask for ‘im,” Trina said confidently to the bouncer.

“What’s your name?” he asked as he stared at Trina’s double D’s.

“Trina, but my buls call me NaNa,” she answered with a smile and a wink. She licked her lips with her pierced tongue to entice the bouncer even more. Quanisha folded her arms and leaned back in her ghetto stance. She rolled her eyes at Trina’s antics, and hoped that everybody else at the club didn’t think she was some kind of stripper ho like her friend.

The bouncer smiled and gestured Trina in. “They can go ahead,” he said to the lady collecting money behind the booth, and they strolled right into the club. Some of the women waiting on line started talking about “how did those hos get in like that,” jealous at the fact that Quanisha and Trina were let in without having to wait, and without having to be searched by the burly female bouncer.

“Yo go get us some drinks, Imma go to the bathroom,” Quanisha told Trina as she headed towards the back of the lobby area. She wanted to check her makeup, but also wanted to go in separately to the main party area in an attempt to disassociate herself from Trina. Trina was way too hoish for her taste, which is why she didn’t really like going to the club with her. But Quanisha needed a release that night. Maybe she could meet a baller that night who would sweep her off her feet and take her away from Tony for good. She needed a brother that was paying all his own bills, had money, his own place to live, and knew how to treat a lady. He also most definitely had to be faithful and trustworthy.

Quanisha snapped out of her daydream as two loud women brushed past her and into the bathroom before her. She stopped and looked in the direction where they just went and tried to compose herself. Quanisha had a short fuse that was usually lit by ignorant project bitches that showed no respect to anyone or anything. But she was trying to have a peaceful night tonight, so she decided to brush it off and continue on.

“Nish you know you gotta chill,” she said to herself and chuckled as she headed into the bathroom.

When Quanisha walked up the stairs to the first floor of the party at Palmer’s Night Club, it was packed out. She was kind of glad though, because that way she had an excuse to not find Trina so quickly and man-watch instead. She grabbed an apple martini from the bar, and then posted up a few steps away from the door in her best model stance. She was trying to attract the attention of any one of the dudes standing by with their clean cut Freeway beards, throwbacks and fitted hats. She was hoping one of these dudes were ballers, not just fake wannabe’s that came to the club with $5 in their pocket. Her theory was that if they didn’t buy you a drink, they were broke, hands down. Any true baller wasn’t going to sweat over an $8 drink.

After a few minutes, Quanisha glanced over and saw a tall dark skinned brother with a red hat on over his eyes looking her way with a smirk on his face. He looked interested in what he saw, and was holding a half full bottle of Moet in one hand. Those bottles cost at least $100 each at that club, so she knew this dude was balling something terrible. She smiled deviously and rolled her eyes at him playfully. Before she had a chance to turn back and take another look, Trina came barrelling her way and put her hand on Quanisha’s shoulder to hold herself up. Quanisha knew Trina was showing off when she looked down at the ground and started shaking her head.

“Girl, these niggas is wearing a sista OUT!” Trina exclaimed as she finally lifted her head and nearly spit in Quanisha’s face as she spoke. Quanisha moved out of the way.

“Bitch, stop trippin’,” Quanisha said seriously as she rolled her neck to the opposite direction, looking around for the guy that was just grilling her. This was just the scenario that she was afraid of. Now all the brothers in the club were going to think she was a nasty stripper ho too.

“Ewww, look at you trynna be cute. Well fuck you too,” Trina said as she positioned herself to stand right next to Quanisha. Quanisha’s heart was sinking into her stomach. She could feel the stares in her direction now that her outlandish friend was standing right there. Hardly anyone was even looking in her direction before, but now they couldn’t help but notice them both. It was unwanted attention in Quanisha’s opinion. Trina was gyrating to the beat seductively.
Probably the same way she do to the pole
, Quanisha thought.

“Let me go get another drink,” Quanisha said, making an excuse to get away from Trina.

“Oh let me go get one too,” Trina said. She stopped dancing and downed her Tequila Sunrise in less than three gulps. Before Quanisha could protest, a short husky light skinned brother came up on Trina and grabbed her, pulling her close by the waist. Even though he was pretty rough, Trina didn’t complain. She just moved her body to the beat and ground her pelvis into his crotch.

Quanisha quickly made her way to the bar and asked the bartender for another drink. She then eased her way past Trina and her new man. She made her way to the staircase so that she could visit the next level. But before she had a chance to make it up the first two steps, someone grabbed her hand from behind.

“Where you going baby doll?” the brother with the red hat asked her.

“I’m goin’ about my business,” Quanisha said with an attitude. She was really beaming at the fact that he had followed her outside of the main party room, but was trying to play hard to get. “Why, what’s that to you?”

“Yo cuz, what’s all that attitude about. I’m just trynna see what’s up wit your fine ass, yah mean?” he replied cockily.