Synergy (28 page)

“
It’s ok if
not
” Dee said, watching Joy finger through
the box, feeling like she was putting her out.

“
If not Paul will
go get you something, there’s nothing worse than having that all
night
.” Joy said, and Dee smiled. It felt
nice that she cared so much, that she was going all out for her
when she didn’t have to. Dee wondered whether Jason had mentioned
what she did for a living or how they’d met. She didn’t really know
what Jason had told his parents at all, and while it didn’t concern
her what people thought about her, it always felt nice to be
accepted, especially if people did know the bad things about
you.

After a
minute of searching through the box, Joy found some indigestion
lozenges and handed the packet to Dee. Dee thanked her, and took
one instantly, feeling the cooling sensation as she sucked on the
lozenge. All she wanted now was to feel comfortable for the
night.  Now it was steering towards the evening, she felt it
was slightly more acceptable to excuse herself, and while she
hadn’t checked upstairs out yet, Jason offered to come with her and
change himself. Joy and Paul decided to order a pizza for the both
of them anyway, despite Dee and Jason not being hungry anymore, so
while they ordered and chose a movie, Dee and Jason headed
upstairs. On the way up the staircase, Dee looked at the family
photos which were posted on the walls. There were baby photos which
Dee assumed was Jason, then more embarrassing child and teenage
photos which she couldn’t deny was him, he still had the exact same
face, just with a few more spots and worse hair. She pointed them
out as she walked, and Jason laughed, his face turning pink. He
tried his best to hurry her up the stairs, though she wasn’t one to
be forced in any direction.

Dee took
in everything in her path, including the huge hallway, and the
beautiful room they’d been given to sleep in. Jason explained this
was the room he always used as his when he stayed at his parents,
and it was clear to see by the little things, such as the guitar
leaning against the wall closest to the door. Dee saw hers and
Jason’s bags near the bed, and she instantly opened hers and found
her pyjamas, changing into them quickly.

Once
she’d changed, she sat on the king-size bed and watched as Jason
undressed. She was starting to feel like a part of the family being
here, and she thought how different her welcome into this family
had been compared to the welcome her family had given him. She
remembered her mother being rude to him, and getting everybody
drunk. She remembered how she’d had to be reminded to be nice, as
though she was a child. Joy had never been told to be nice to Dee,
neither had his grandparents, and considering they were from a
different time, it surprised her that they weren’t more strange
around her because of her colour. Not everybody could handle the
interracial relationship thing.

Once
Jason pulled on a t-shirt, Dee walked over to him from behind and
embraced him by wrapping her arms around his waist and burying her
face into his back. Jason stiffened for a second, surprised by her
embrace, and moved to turn around and face her, taking her embrace
once more.

“
What’s that
for
?” Jason asked, looking down at Dee who
stood at chest level.

“
I like your
family
”

“
Good. I’m
glad
”

At that
moment, Dee loosened her embrace and stepped back a little so she
could see him better. Then, standing on her tiptoes she reached up
to meet him for a kiss. Jason bent down slightly, and their lips
touched. For a minute, they kissed, saying nothing, before they
broke away smiling. 

Chapter 25 – Fight or Flight

While
Dee and Jason had enjoyed a chilled out evening at his family home
the night before, the next day was not so chilled. The launch party
was looming, and while Dee didn’t have to do much other than get
her outfit sorted, Jason had last minute preparations to sort out.
Joy however, had taken advantage of the nice weather and had set
her and Dee loungers up in the garden so they could relax while
Jason took care of business. Dee had never had a garden of her own,
so sitting in a nice garden such as theirs was a treat. She soaked
up the sun in her shades and shorts, while Joy provided her with
iced tea and fresh fruit. As Dee lay back in her sun lounger, she
thought about home, and how it was a million miles away right now.
Though she liked Jason’s family and had the impending launch party
to think about, Dee was ready to head home. It wasn’t personal; she
was just used to her hometown with her own family and
friends.

Almost
as if on cue, her phone started to ring in her lap as she lay back
on the lounger. Sitting up to answer it, she tried to glimpse at
the screen to see who was calling, but the glare from the sun
prevented it, so she answered unaware.

“
Dee, it’s
me
” her mother’s voice sounded from the
other end. Before Dee could hardly reply, her mother spoke
again.

“
Call
 
me back will you, I’ve got no credit
.”

“
I-“

Before
Dee could even get out her first word, the phone was hung up on the
other end. Dee growled in annoyance and put the phone back down in
her lap. If her mother had let her finish, she would have told her
she had no credit herself.

“
Everything
Okay
?” Joy asked, looking up from her
lounger with her hand over her eyes.

“
Yeah. My mom
tried to call me but we’re out of credit
.”

“
Do you wanna use
mine
?” Joy offered with no
hesitance.

“
If you don’t
mind
”

“
Course
not
” she replied, getting up from her
lounger and retrieving her own cell phone from her pocket. Her ash
blonde hair shone in the sunlight as she aimed her head down while
unlocking the phone. When Joy handed over the phone to Dee, she
thanked her and instantly typed in her mom’s number. Monique’s
voice greeted her seconds later.

“
Mom. I didn’t
have any credit myself but you put the phone
down
” Dee told her.

“
Well you’re
phoning me now
”

“
’Cuz Jason’s mom
lent me hers
”

“
Well there you
go, they got money
”

Her
mom’s attitude annoyed her sometimes, but she sighed and ignored
her this time round.

“
What’s
up
?” Dee asked instead. She assumed there
was a reason she was calling her other than to see if she was okay,
she wasn’t like usual moms.

“
Just checking
when you back. Tushaun here with me, deadbeat ain’t even call for
him
”

“
For fucks
sake
” Dee spat. “
He don’t deserve him
.”

“
Preach
” her mother
agreed.

“
It ain’t fair to Tushaun not to
have a routine, but what can I do? Not let him see him
again?”

“
Boys gon be boys,
can’t change ‘em. So when you back
?”

“
I’ll be back
tomorrow, like, late afternoon I think. I’ll come get him when I’m
back
.”

“
Aight. See you
tomorrow
.”

“
Mom
”

“
Yeah
?

“
Is he
okay
?”

“
Yeah of course he
is, he with his favourite grandmomma
.”

“
Good
” Dee smiled.
“
See you tomorrow
”

“
Bye
”

When Dee
ended the call, she realised she may have been talking a little too
candidly with her mom, considering Joy was so close by. As a matter
of fact, Joy had barely moved from her lounger, and when Dee handed
her the phone back, she simply asked if everything was
ok.

“
Just my sons dad,
he didn’t pick him up this weekend
.”

“
Oh, that’s sad.
Who’s looking after him
?” Joy
asked.

“
My mom. She was
just asking when I was back
.”

“
Running her
ragged already
?” Joy
joked.

“
No, my baby’s so
good
.”

“
How old is he?”

“
He’s 2. Almost
3.
”

“
Awww. What’s his
name
?”

“
Tushaun.
”

“Tushaun
” Joy repeated before
breaking into a smile. “
Must be lovely to
have one that young
.”

“
He’s
amazing
” Dee gushed, and Joy smiled as she
saw her face transform. All mothers are biased towards their
children but still, Joy could tell how much she meant
it.

While
Joy didn’t know a lot about Dee as a person or who she was other
than her son’s girlfriend, the way she spoke about her child made
her feel reassured that she was going to be a good mother to her
son’s child. It was something she had been thinking about ever
since Jason told her he was about to be a father. Knowing he was
away a lot for work, she wanted to feel reassured that the child
would be well looked after. She wanted to know that she could see
her grandchild whenever she wanted, not necessarily only when her
son was around. Sometimes she’d worried that she would never get
the chance to have grandchildren of her own based on Jason’s hectic
lifestyle. He was committed to his career and he’d never chosen
anything over it. While Joy was proud of her son and all his
accomplishments, part of her wanted to see him be a ‘normal’ man,
and have the things that other men his age have. She wondered
whether this would be a turning point for him, whether he would
take a step back from his craft to be a family man, but something
told her he wouldn’t. She knew her son better than anybody else,
and she knew he would more than likely try to fit everything in,
make everybody happy.

Joy
could tell Dee wasn’t raised the way her son was raised, there was
a clear class division just by what Jason had told her about where
Dee lived, and the way she spoke sometimes, but she didn’t judge
her for it. She knew not everybody could be lucky enough to make it
out of a difficult place, and Joy had struggled when her son was
little. She struggled to pay the bills, to put food on the table,
and she practically bankrupted herself to send her son to all the
things he wanted to do, singing lessons and acting lessons, theatre
and singing groups. He was an ambitious child and she never had the
heart to tell him they couldn’t afford it, so somehow she scrimped
and scraped the money together. She was lucky to have a husband
that worked, and once Jason was old enough and at school, she got
herself a job too. She didn’t look down on anybody because they
didn’t have money or nice things, she had been there herself, maybe
not to the same degree as some, but she understood. Joy had always
prided herself on judging people accurately, and she could always
tell when somebody had a good heart. Dee did.

The rest
of the day was spent in the garden until it was time to get ready.
Dee and Joy of course thought that time came around a lot sooner
than the men did. Dee still found it weird getting ready for the
night without having a drink, or at least a smoke. She loved
smoking weed because she felt it brought her back down to earth.
Whenever she was stressed, angry or nervous, she smoked and she
felt relaxed. Weed was a good way to start the day, to clear her
head. It was a good end to the day, to relax. She loved it at all
moments for different reasons, and while she wouldn’t consciously
smoke while she was pregnant, she did miss it a lot. While a lot of
people believed weed wasn’t addictive, including Dee herself, she
had to admit she did feel like it was a necessity in her life. She
wasn’t sure what she would do if she didn’t have weed at
times.

Drug use
and alcohol was never really something that caused a lot of
controversy where Dee was from. It was pretty much the norm for
people to smoke weed and drink, sizzurp being a drink of choice for
a lot of people her age right now at parties. She’d drank it, she
couldn’t lie. Her mother had struggled with a drug addiction
herself as she was growing up, and she smoked weed alongside her
heavier stuff. When her mother finally did give up the drugs, she
continued to smoke weed. In fact, Monique was the one who
introduced Dee to her first drag at thirteen. Her mom’s logic was
that if Dee was going to smoke it anyway, she would rather she was
open about it and did it safely at home rather than smoking
something she was unfamiliar with. Detroit as a city was struggling
with homelessness more as the years progressed, a lot of people
addicted to drugs and out of work. Dee thanked her lucky stars
everyday that she had a roof over her head, regardless of how bad
it may be.