I’d been away from my home for two weeks and had never felt better. I was kind of embarrassed to say that I hadn’t even begun to miss my kids. I hadn’t had a break like that since I was thirteen years old.
“Raven, you don’t even want to talk to your kids?” she asked me.
“No, because all he’s going to do is put them on the phone and have them crying.”
“Hell, I’d cry too if my mama abandoned me.” she spat.
“I did not abandon them. I just need some time to myself. Their daddy needs to be using this time to introduce them to his other child.”
Joy shook her head. “You still wrong, Raven.”
“Why am I always the one that’s wrong? Those are his kids too. Why can’t he be the one that has them for a while?”
“Whatever.” she rolled her eyes.
She was beginning to work my nerves. The only reason that I went to her apartment was because she was one of the few people that Jahrein didn’t really know. She’d just recently moved and he had no idea of where she rested her head. I would’ve preferred Michelle’s spot, but Lucky’s broke ass would’ve given me up for a cookie of dope.
I was looking for an apartment. I was far from crazy. I’d been stashing money for years, and I had a nice amount put away. I could live for at least a couple years without even thinking about a job, even though I really wanted to work.
The only thing that I wanted to know was how the hell did my children’s daddy get Joy’s cell phone number. Shit, he was probably fucking her too.
I hadn’t had much contact with any of my family. They were all pro-Jahrein, so I didn’t want to hear shit they had to say.
I would get pissed just thinking about Jahrein and the entire situation, so I popped two handle bars and took my ass to sleep. I wasn’t trying to talk to any damn body, because everybody I’d talked to ended up trying to talk me into going back home. It seemed like nobody understood or cared where I was coming from. Just because Jahrein kept me caked up I was supposed to let everything he did slide? I thinks not.
When I woke up I saw that I’d missed two calls. It had to be one of my new friends. I knew that it wasn’t anyone in my family, because they no longer had mycell phone number. After I received a millionhave you lost your mindcalls I had to get my number changed. I was on a mission to forget about my problems, and I couldn’t let any outsiders interfere with that.
I decided that the best remedy for forgetting my issues was to get a few male friends to preoccupy my time. So, for the first time in life I was completely open to meeting men.
The shit was crazy, because I was really finding out how far Jahrein's reach was. I couldn't go anywhere without somebody recognizing me. I couldn't help feeling like niggas wanted me for bragging rights. My husband was the man to see in the streets, and getting next to me was a compliment within itself.
I was far from green, therefore I took the dating scene for what it was. I kicked it, had a good time, and got my mind off my problems.
I called back the cutie that I met in the Galleria.
“Hey, what’s up?” I asked him.
“Chilling, Sexy. What’s on your agenda for the day?” he asked.
“I don’t know. I’m still trying to figure that out.”
“Well, that’s good. Everything’s working in my favor. So, that means that you’re free?”
“Pretty much.” I laughed.
“Okay, cool. Would you like to go to the club with me?” he asked. That would’ve been a great idea if I wasn’t trying to hide from my kids’ daddy. It seemed like all the dudes wanted to take me to the club, which was odd. After a while I figured that they wanted to go to a spot where they could boast and show me off.
“No, I aint feeling that kind of atmosphere right now.”
“Okay, this your world. Tell me where you wanna go.”
“Let’s go to the movies or something.”
“That’s cool. What time can I pick you up?”
“Umm, I’ll meet you there. We can meet at the Tinseltown on 290 at seven.”
“Alright, that’s a bet.”
