Just as she got settled back into her book, her phone vibrated again, this time, it was actually ringing. Excitement and dread washed over her again. Oh no this bitch is not actually calling me, she thought frantically, but when she pulled out the phone she let out a huge sigh of relief. It was just TT. She answered the phone happily, she was always happy when she talked to TT, they would just sit and laugh at dumb stuff, like what level they were at in their computer games, or the stupid deals people made on Deal or No Deal, or what she was gonna teach Ashley to cook the next time they came over.
“Hello?...Oh hey Arvon…” the stupid smile formed on her face. He’d never called her before. He sounded hella different on the phone.
“Aint you supposed to be at practice or somethin’?....Oh…you just got home?..okay.” They made small talk idly. He told her he was boutta make some food, she called him fat, they laughed, the usual. It was only when she realized she was almost at her stop that she thought about how long they’d been talking. She ain’t have minutes for stuff like this.
“Uhm….Von, I’m almost at mii hair appointment so..I’ma have to go.” She said, politely trying to get him the fuck off her phone.
“Oh, that’s cool, “ he replied, “But uhm.. I called cus I was wondering if you might wanna go see this movie with me and some friends tonight.” H said shyly.
Ashley took the phone off her ear and stared at it. This nigga just asked her out. She remembered hearing in a movie somewhere that you were never supposed to be available if a man asked you out for the night of. But…..well she was available. And shit like that had never made much sense to her anyway so she said yes, he told her he’d pick her up at six, and they got off the phone.
She walked into the hair salon with all the excitement and none of the dread she had when her phone first rang. She did a little dance in her head. Lalalalala I have a date.
Then she laughed at herself for being so silly and went on about her business. She texted her mom to make sure she didn’t have any other plans for that night, and her mother, of course, was thrilled. She called almost immediately.
“You have a date!!!???” She almost screamed through the phone. Ashley laughed. She wasn’t big on dating so it was reasonable that everyone would be excited. But damn did she have to scream through the phone like that?
“Yea mom, I have a date. Unless you need me to do something else.” She said.
“Oh No!!!” Her mother screamed some more, “I don’t have anything. You just, tell Trish about your date, have her put some curls in your hair or something pretty, for your date.”
“Mom you don’t have to keep saying the word date.” Ashley sighed into the phone. She grinned at her mother’s excitement, but it was still kinda irritaiting.
“Am I not allowed to be excited that my little girl is going on a date!?” She cried. Ashley laughed.
“No mom, you’re not allowed to be exicted. I’ll talk to you later. DON’T.CALL.TT MOM!! She shouted. “Last thing I need is Jerome all on me bout this. Don’t do it.” Her mom laughed at her.
“Of course I’m callin Cynthia, why wouldn’t I?” and she hung up the phone. Ashley stared at it.
“This bitch…..” She muttured, but she stopped as her hairdresser started asking her questions about what she wanted done.
She stared at herself in the mirror for a long time before she replied, “Some curls maybe. I’ve got a date tonight.”
Whitney sat on her bed watching tv pretending she wasn’t thinking about Ashley. That lil stupid fake bitch got on her nerves. Always thinking she was better than somebody. Always thinking she knew everything. Didn’t she know she just looked stupid now? Wasn’t it obvious that Whitney had one. It was her with the gorgeous house and the gorgeous car and the gorgeous boyfriend. Ashley didn’t have shit anymore. She was at the bottom, the very bottom. Her mom didn’t even have a car anymore. And still, still she had the nerve to wanna talk shit? What was wrong with her?
Marcell walked in the room and sat on the bed. She moved over so he could get more comfortable. Ever since he’d cheated on her she’d been doing whatever she needed to do to keep him happy, but usually he just wanted to be by himself, so she was surprised that he wanted to come lay next to her.
They sat that way, without talking or touching too much, until her show went off. Then he kissed her on the cheek and asked for some money for gas.
“What happened to the money I gave you last week?” She asked him suspiciously. He rolled his eyes at her.
“We went to Sacramento in my car remember? That’s where the gas went. I need some more to get to work and back. Or I could just take your car.” He said rudely. She looked down. Part of her wanted to tell him to get the fuck out of her house, to stop using her like she knew he was. But the other part of her, the smarter, less emotional part of her knew she couldn’t get rid of him. Ever. He knew too much for her to let him go. So no matter what he did, how much he cheated, how much money he asked for, she had to give him whatever he wanted, that was the only way to protect her family and herself.
So she sighed and gave him 40 dollars to fill up his tank. And as he went to leave the room she called out after him.
“I love you.” But she got no reply, and the silence that echoed after made her feel small and lonely and pathetic.
