Trife Life To Lavish (A King Production Presents...) (4 page)

"Damn, Radric, I thought you said this spot was
on point!" Tierra popped, squeezing into the small
booth at the hole in the wall restaurant.

"I said the food was on point... and it is," he
said, signaling the one waitress over, who was
working every table.

"It's always the raggedy spots like this that be
having the killa food," Renny commented, cracking
open the menu.

"No need for that," Radric said, grabbing the
menus. "I'll be ordering for all of us." He handed
the menus to the waitress. "And yo, where your
friend at? Call and find out if she still coming. Ain't
no sense in ordering her some food if she ain't gon'
show up."

Right when Tierra was about to hit the talk
button on her cell, Simone came busting through the
door in an outfit more appropriate for a nightclub than a dingy restaurant. Tierra waved her hand,
getting Simone's attention.

"Yo, I just knew you must've texted me the
wrong address when the taxi pulled up to this
spot," Simone said, sliding her slim figure in the
seat next to Renny.

"Girl, I said the same thing when we walked
up in this place. But Radric swear down this food
is the truth."

"Shit, I wasted a good outfit and a babysitter
for this!" Simone complained, doing an intense
stare down of the scene, until her eyes rested on
the man sitting next to her. She had been so busy
being disgusted with Radric's choice of restaurant,
that she hadn't paid attention to the eye candy right
in front of her. "And who might you be?"

"That's Renny," Tierra answered, before
anybody else had a chance to say anything.

"Nice to meet you, Renny." Simone extended
her hand, and at the same time gently kicked Tierra's
leg under the table. Tierra smiled, knowing her
friend's disappointment had quickly shifted after
seeing what she could possibly have for dessert.

"Good to meet you too. For a minute we
thought you wasn't gonna be able to make it."

"Luckily for me, I was able to," Simone said,
casually licking her lips in Renny's direction.

"Oh, so you good on the restaurant now, huh,
Simone? You wasn't saying that a minute ago."

"Radric, ain't no need for you to get testy. I
don't have a problem admitting when I'm wrong.
This place definitely has a lot more to offer than
I originally thought," she said, giving Renny a
flirtatious smile.

It was Tierra's turn to kick Simone's leg, and
both women gave each other an undercover wink,
which they knew meant, Good looking out!

They say life is what you make it, and as Nichelle
sat in her sixth period class, bored with listening
to the English teacher, clearly she wasn't making
much of hers. She stared at the clock on the wall,
counting down each minute and waiting for the bell
to ring so she could break out. Let's just say, scholar
she was not, and she had no intentions of ever
being one. Nichelle felt what they were teaching
in class couldn't prepare her for the survival tactics
necessary to exist in the streets.

Instead of using the hour to absorb knowledge
from the books, Nichelle would reminisce back on
the period in her life when she thought shit was
sweet. This was in Charlotte, when she lived in
a nice house with two parents. Money wasn't an
issue, and her mother stayed in the mall, shopping
all the time, and buying her new clothes and toys.

That quickly changed, like so many other
things, after that fateful day. Their journey had
led them from shacking with damn near complete
strangers, to staying in homeless shelters, to finally
planting roots in Queens, New York. Reliving that
painful voyage kept a dark cloud of depression
over Nichelle. The only way she found solace back
then, was in her belief that somehow a better life
awaited her, and one day that was exactly what
happened.

"I'll see you all tomorrow, and don't forget
your essay is due on Friday," the teacher told the
class after the bell rang. Hearing that announcement
instantly brought Nichelle out of her daydreaming.

"Nichelle, can I speak to you for a moment?"

"Sure. What is it, Mr. Chambers?" she asked,
chewing on her watermelon flavored bubble gum.

"How's your essay coming along?" Mr.
Chambers sat down on the edge of his desk and
lowered his glasses to the tip of his nose, waiting
for her response.

"It's coming," Nichelle answered, nonchalantly.

"Nichelle, you're on the verge of flunking this
class. If you don't do well on this essay, you will
no longer be on the verge... you will flunk."

"I got you. I'm almost done," she lied, knowing
that she hadn't even written the first word."

"Excellent. I'm glad to hear it."

With that, Nichelle turned to walk away, anxious to bail on her uptight teacher.

"Oh, Nichelle," he called out before she had
a chance to leave.

"Yes?" she turned her head around quickly to
see what else the teacher had to say. That's when
she caught him giving her ample ass that same
lustful glare the boys in her high school did.

"If you need any help on your essay, please
don't hesitate to ask. That's what I'm here for, to
help my students," he added.

"I'll keep that in mind. But... umm... I need
to be going," she said, dismissing her teacher as
she walked out the classroom thinking one thing:
The lust of the flesh )ras the same for all men. Whether they were
dope boys from around the way, or so-called upstanding men wearing
a tie and slacks, they all had pussy on the brain.

Nichelle had that opinion about all men,
until she met and fell in love with Carmelo Clayton.
Carmelo was the man who swooped in and gave
her that better life she thought was out of her reach
for so long. Before he came along, it was all about
watching, and sometimes helping her girl, Tierra
hustle dudes for whatever she could get. But that
was no longer necessary, because Carmelo fulfilled
all of Nichelle's needs. If Nichelle had her way, she
would say, "Fuck school" and spend every minute
of every day with him. But Carmelo insisted that
she graduate and get a high school diploma, so
that's what she intended to do.

Nichelle grinned as she walked out front to
the school parking lot and saw Carmelo waiting in
his regular spot to pick her up. She loved how all
the females would be sizing up her man, wishing
they were the ones sitting in the passenger side of
his silver, chromed out Benz. Some of the chicks in
her school truly had no shame. They would damn
near throw the pussy at him. They would walk
in front of his ride and act like their skirts were
somehow accidentally being lifted up. But yet, they
were panty-less, and all you saw was bush. Others
would walk right up and knock on the driver's side
window, handing him their digits. He would give
them that million-dollar smile, and simply toss the
paper on the ground.

"Watch where you going!" one of Carmelo's
annoying admirers barked as she purposely bumped
into Nichelle as she was walking to Carmelo's car.

"Lerrick, why don't you watch where you
going, since you bumping into me, not the other
way around."

"Ain't nobody doing shit to you. Please! She
think she so damn cute," Lerrick hissed, to one
of her friends as she brushed her shoulder against
Nichelle.

"Oh, you dying for an ass whooping out
here, ain't you, Lerrick?" Nichelle put her hand on
her waist, letting her adversary know not to let the
innocent face fool you.

"Baby, is everything a'ight?" Carmelo called
out, stepping out of his Benz.

Both Nichelle and Lerrick turned in Carmelo's
direction, and then back at each other.

"I'm straight, boo, unless Lerrick got something
to say." Nichelle folded her arms and gave Lerrick
the standoff look.

Lerrick rolled her eyes and went back to
talking to her friend.

"Oh, that's what I thought." Nichelle tossed
her hair in Lerrick's face as she turned and walked
towards her man.

Lerrick and her friends stared in disdain as
Carmelo greeted Nichelle with a hug and kiss,
lifting her slightly off the ground. "That bitch make
me sick! But she gon' get hers one day, just wait
and see," Lerrick seethed.

"What happened over there?" Carmelo asked,
as they got in the car and he drove off.

"Hating ass ho's, that's all. Nothing you need
to worry about, baby."

"Anything that involves you, I'm gon' always
worry about," he said, reaching for Nichelle's hand.

"And that's why I love you, because you
always got my back."

"And your front," he grinned.

Nichelle squeezed Carmelo's hand and
smiled. To her, Carmelo was the best thing in her
life. She would never forget the day she walked into the corner store over a year ago, as he was
coming out. She had never seen a boy so cute in
her entire life. His pecan complexion glistened in
the sun. When he smiled at her, she was in awe of
his perfectly straight teeth, mainly because she was
wearing braces and was dying to get them taken
off. Her long black hair was up in a ponytail, and
she had some cut-off shorts and a tank top on. It
was one of the hottest days of the summer, and
she wanted to reach for the bottle water he was
holding and pour it all over her body.

When Carmelo smiled at her, she couldn't help
but smile back, and was immediately embarrassed
by all the metal decorating her mouth. She knew
for sure he was turned off and thought he was
wondering why this awkward girl was all up in his
face. But instead of walking away, he stopped and
said, "Where you get those cat eyes from?"

"My grandmother. Yeah, I got them from my
grandmother," she repeated, as if this was going to
be the only time she had a chance to speak to the
guy she decided she wanted to be the father of her
children.

"Is your grandmother still alive?"

"Yes."

"Well, next time you speak to her, you need
to thank her for blessing you with those pretty
eyes."

"I will," Nichelle replied, knowing she would probably never speak to or see her grandmother,
since her mother said in no way could they have
any communication with people from their past life.
But Nichelle continued to grin and nod her head at
the stranger as if he had her in a trance. The funny
thing was, before that moment, Nichelle never did
like her grayish-green eyes, because she felt they
made her look weird. But hearing the compliment
from the man that she instantly had a crush on
made her pop her eyes open even wider.

"Promise?"

Nichelle just nodded her head yes, as she
begged the Man up above not to let this dude
walk out her life. He must of heard her, because
by some miracle when she came back out of the
store, Carmelo was waiting for her, and they had
been together ever since.

"Girl, Radric is on his way. Where yo' peoples
at? We can't bring Lil' Anthony with us on our date,"
Tierra huffed, as she watched Simone change her
son's dirty diaper.

"My cousin was supposed to been here like
twenty minutes ago, and she ain't answering her
cell or her home phone."

"Well, call yo' moms."

"She at work. She don't get off until late tonight."

"You betta call Big Anthony and tell him to get
his ass over here and watch his son... shi-i-i-t!"

Simone stared at Tierra with her mouth
frowned up, trying to determine if she was serious
with the suggestion before responding. When
Tierra didn't hesitate with her proposal, Simone
responded, "We'd be better off wrapping the baby
up and carrying him in my purse, `cause ain't no
way Ant gon' watch his son so I can go out hohopping wit' you."

Tierra sat down on the living room couch
exasperated. "I can't believe this shit! I finally hook
you up with a fine, rich nigga, and you `bout to
fuck up the game plan `cause you can't get nobody
to baby-sit. See, that's why I ain't got no damn kids,
`cause they ain't nothing but money blockers."