My dad had a lot of flaws , but he had been present in my life from the beginning. I rarely called him for anything, but when I did, he would come through for me. Now, it seemed like I was a burden to him, and I didn’t like the way it made me feel.
Whenever he and my mother were on the outs, he would take his frustrations out on me. Although he was married, the two of them never stopped messing around. My father was upset about my mother dating a new man, and my mother refused to accept his new wife. Instead of putting me first, they used me as a pawn whenever they were upset with each other. It was a toxic cycle, and I couldn’t wait for it to end.
“He cut your phone off because he had to buy your school stuff?” His tone elevated, letting me know he was upset. This was what I dreaded the most.
“He canceled my line on his plan and said he couldn’t afford to pay it anymore. He told me to ask my momma’s new man to pay it.” I looked down at the ground, knowing that if Nauri saw my tears, it would set him off.
“Your daddy’s a bitch. Come on.”
I jerked as he pulled my hand. Nova jumped up from her seat and followed after us. I had no idea where we were going, but I trusted him enough not to ask. We walked down the street until we got to a brick house.
“Wait right here,” Nauri instructed us as he swaggered up the steps. Nova and I stood there, waiting to see what would happen.
“Hey, sexy. I didn’t think you would be back so soon.” The brown-skinned beauty purred while she eyed him up and down. Bile rose in my throat at their interaction, and I wanted to walk right back to the house.
“Can you do me a favor?”
“Anything for you. What’s up?”
“I need to use your car to run an errand real quick.” He nodded toward us, and it was the first time she looked in our direction.
She eyed him curiously before asking him to come inside for a moment. Nova and I glanced at each other and then laughed. Clearly, this must have been someone he fucked regularly because of the way she acted toward him. Keynauri told us to give him a few minutes, but it turned into twenty before we knew it. A part of me considered walking home because I was uncomfortable. I knew Nauri was a ho, but standing outside while he fucked another bitch was a little too much for me.
“I’m about to go. I can’t believe he has us out here waiting while he’s in the house doing God knows what,” I fumed. Nova snickered, and my eyes shot over to her.
“What’s so funny?”
“You are, friend. I know jealousy when I see it,” Nova teased.
“Jealousy? Oh, you must have lost your mind. There isn’t a jealous bone in my body. Nauri and I are friends, so I don’t have any reason to be jealous. I just don’t think it’s okay for him to leave us out here while he gets his rocks off.” Nova raised her eyebrows as if she wasn’t buying what I was saying.
“You may think the two of you are friends, but the rest of us know better. Key loves you, but not like a friend. That man will go to the ends of the earth for you. The two of you have been playing this friendship game for years, but we all know it’sbullshit. Your feelings for him are deeper than friendship, and you need to wake up and smell the coffee.”
She called me out, and I wasn’t pleased with the way it made me feel. Keynauri and I had been friends since we were young kids. From the moment he beat up Andre for picking on me, we were inseparable. I loved him in every way it was possible to love someone, but we had never been anything more than friends. We talked about it before, but when I saw the way he treated women, I decided I would rather have him as a friend.
“My bad for the wait. Let’s roll out.” I glanced up as Key came walking toward us with a set of keys in his hand.
“Do I even want to know what you did for those keys?” Nova tittered, although I found nothing funny about it.
“The car I normally use is in the shop, so I had to come up with a plan B. I’ll do anything for my best friend.” Key winked as he headed toward the beat-up Honda. Nova and I followed him to the car as well. It was much cleaner on the inside, and I was grateful for that.
I tried to get in the back with Nova, but Keynauri shut it down the moment he saw my hand on the door.
“Stop playing with me.” He grunted, nodding his head toward the passenger seat. I held up my hands in mock surrender and got into my assigned seat. Keynauri fiddled with the radio while he pulled off. Nova sang in the back seat while I stared out of the window. There was a part of me that was still in my feelings about him being in that girl’s house. It was clear that she was much older than we were, and it bothered me. Most of the women he messed around with were older, and I always wondered why.
“Why are you over there pouting? You mad at me?” Nauri grabbed my hand, intertwining our fingers together. I looked down at our hands locked together, and my stomach fluttered.
“I’m fine.” It was a lie, but it wasn’t all about him either. My feelings were still hurt about the way my dad acted. It was like he no longer cared about me or what I needed, and I wanted to know what I had done wrong. My mother worked night shift as a janitor at Grace Memorial. When she wasn’t at work, she was spending time with whatever new man was in her life, so I spent most of my time alone in the house. It was one of the reasons my parents had gotten me a phone in the first place, to make sure I was safe. The fact that he cut it off made me feel like he no longer cared about my safety, and that cut me deep.
“Come on.” Keynauri’s voice interrupted my thoughts. I hadn’t even realized the car was now parked. We all climbed out of the car as Keynauri led the way. Joe and Margie’s was a corner store in the hood that sold everything from wigs to phones and every hood snack you could think of.
Nauri greeted the owners, and they began to talk like old friends. Since we were there, Nova and I walked off to grab some snacks. My mom didn’t have much money, but I snuck and grabbed her food stamp card while she slept. She got about $250 a month, but she usually sold the majority of them so she could buy beer, cigarettes, and weed. I grabbed some hot chips, a hot sausage, a Calypso lemonade, and a Hershey bar with almonds. Once we grabbed everything we wanted, Nova and I made our way to the front, where Nauri was.
“Alright, I’ll take that one.” Keynauri pointed to a phone that was similar to the one he had. It was much more advanced than the flip phone I had.
“Alright, buddy. I’m gonna go ahead and add the plan to it and then get it bagged up for you. Check out the phone cases there. If you see one you like, I’ll throw it in for free.”
“Alright, bet. Cocoa Puffs, go look over there and see if you like any of those cases.” Instead of questioning him, I walked over to see if anything stood out to me. My eyes scanned the display caseuntil they landed on a pink-and-black case with rhinestones all over it. The words “pretty gurlz rock” were written in the center in pink as well.
