Chapter Five
Just as I started the car, my cell phone rang. Peeping the caller ID and seeing that it was my girl Trina, I answered. “Hey, girl, I’m on the way.”
“I was wondering what the holdup was.”
“Where are you guys now?” I needed to know where I was headed before I left the parking lot.
“I’m at my apartment waiting for you. Noel is on the way. Hurry up, because I’m ready to get the party started.”
“Okay, okay, I’m coming.” I put the pedal to the metal and zoomed over to be with my friends.
* * *
“Well, it’s about time, birthday girl!” Trina exclaimed from the patio of her downtown Cincinnati apartment as she watched me exit my car. It was about 3:45 p.m. when I pulled into Trina’s apartment complex. As I reached for my purse, Noel pulled up beside me in her black BMW.
“Happy birthday!” she exclaimed and came over to hug me. “Now let’s party!”
I nodded, ready to unwind because it had been a long day for me, and I was sure it was for her as well. Noel was a second grade teacher and had been my homegirl since junior year in college. We stayed in the same dorm room and had become fast friends, although we were slightly different and from different walks of life. I was a refined hood chick, but Noel was straight-up prim and proper. My mama wasn’t broke, but Noel’s parents were both doctors, and money was never an issue. I applied for grants and student loans to pay for my education. Noel, on the other hand, had her tuition paid for before she could walk. I’m not taking anything from my girl, but sometimes she was so far removed from reality, it was embarrassing. Nevertheless, she was cool peeps, and I usually liked being around her.
Trina, on the other hand, was my main girl, as I stated earlier. We met during the wintertime at Northland Mall in Southfield, Michigan about ten years ago. We both walked into an accessory store at the same time. I barely looked at her because I was on a mission to do as much damage as I could with a credit card given to me by a dude I used to mess with. That nigga had just cheated on me, and I was about to clean his ass out. Yes, at 17 I was still a hot mess.
Anyway, I was picking up everything in sight, even the stuff I wasn’t feeling and didn’t even want. I must’ve not been paying attention, because I ran right into her, causing her to fall down and drop all of her items.
“Shit, my bad. Let me help you,” I’d said, bending down to help her pick up her stuff. I was peeping some of the price tags on her merchandise, and I told her I liked her style. I’d added up $2,000 worth of stuff in my head. She’d stood to fix herself up as I continued to hand things up to her from the floor. I’d looked up to ask her where she found this particular makeup palette, since I was sure that it wasn’t from the store we were in. That was when I noticed her putting the items in her purse and the big-ass bubble coat that she had on. “What are you doing?”
“What does it look like?” She’d looked at me like I was crazy.
“Girl, you shouldn’t be stealing. What if you get caught?” I got up off the floor, no longer helping her retrieve her stolen property.
“I won’t get caught if you don’t say shit,” she’d said with a bit of a warning in her voice, and then she walked away.
I shook my head at the girl because she was really pretty and had a nice shape. With a little more finesse and polish she could probably get any baller to spend some paper on her. She’d put me in the mind of a hood-ass Gabrielle Union, only with more curves. I’d brushed it off and continued to mind my own business. Moments later, I’d approached the register, and that was when I saw the girl hemmed up by security. The sales clerk told me to hold on one moment, and then she walked over toward the commotion. I watched as they removed every last item that I’d just helped her pick up.
“Get the fuck off me,” she’d yelled.
“What is your name?” the clerk asked.
“Michelle Thompson,” she said, and the clerk was about to say something when the security guard held her wallet in the air and said that her name was actually Trina Carter. “Well, Ms. Carter, your name rings bells in this mall for stealing, but no one has ever been able to detain you. Today is my lucky day.” The clerk had smiled liked the Grinch who had just stolen Christmas.
“Please, I have kids, lady!” Trina said. I stared on and assessed the situation. The young girl looked to be around my age, and I’d found it hard to believe she had one baby let alone kids, as she’d just stated, but I could’ve been wrong.
“So do I, and I go to work every day.” The clerk tossed the insult over her shoulder to Trina, who was still hemmed up, struggling to get out of the security guard’s grip.
“But if I go to jail, nobody will be there to care for them,” she pleaded.
“Not my problem, Ms. Carter. I’m calling the police,” the clerk had said and then came back behind the register to retrieve the phone. As she picked it up, I placed my finger on the hang-up button. She looked up in awe, and I smiled.
“Please don’t send her to jail. Just add her total to my bill,” I’d said politely.
“Do you know her?” She looked at me with curiosity.
“No, but I don’t want to see a young girl with kids go to jail,” I’d said honestly.
“She is known for this, and she has to pay.” The outraged clerk removed my finger from the hang-up button.
“Yeah, but not today. Please just add her stuff in with mine, and I’ll also throw you an extra hundred for allowing her to keep the stuff from the other stores.” I pulled out the credit card and a hundred-dollar bill.
“She cannot get away with this,” the woman had insisted.
“Fine, make it two hundred for looking the other way.” I watched as she hesitated for a minute. Needless to say, after a little more persuading, a bill of $3,482.56, and an extra $300 in cash, Trina and I had finally walked out of the mall scot-free.
“Thanks, girl, for hooking me up,” she’d said, squeezing me tight.
“I ain’t hook you up. I hooked your kids up.” I shook my head.
“Oh, I don’t really have kids, but thanks again.” She’d had the nerve to reach down for her bag of things that I’d just footed the bill for.
“What? Are you serious?” I was pissed.
“Yeah. I just say that for sympathy.” She shrugged her shoulders.
“Why do you steal?” I really wanted to know the answer to that question.
“Because it pays my bills,” she’d snapped.
“You are too pretty to be a thief! You should try something different.”
“Like what, stripping like you?” she’d asked with a straight face.
“I’m not a stripper, sweetie.” I cut her an amused look.
“You ain’t got to lie. Look at you, and look at what you just spent in the mall at a damn accessory store.”
I was about to reply when a white Navigator pulled up right beside us and slammed on the brakes. Before I had time to react, two chicks had jumped from the car and gotten in my face. “Which one of y’all is Chanel?” the driver had wanted to know.
“That’s me, and you are?” I asked and put my bags down on the ground because I knew where this was headed. In the streets, you had to be ready to lay hands at a moment’s notice.
“Bitch, I’m Kionna. Are you fucking with my man?”
“Who the fuck is your man?” I’d asked, really wanting to know.
“James off of Seven Mile.”
“Li’l dick, five-minute James?” I asked just to piss her off.
“This bitch got mad mouth,” her friend had chimed in.
“Yeah, I know James. He just ate my pussy last night, then left a stack to pay my bills and send me on this shopping spree today.” I pointed to the bags on the ground.
“Now I’m going to have to fuck you up for real,” she said, reaching into her purse. In Detroit everybody was packing a weapon except my dumb ass! Seeing the weapon shook me up, but I didn’t let on.
“You need to be talking to James and not me, bitch.”
“Your ass needs to be taught a lesson, and I’m going to make sure you learn not to fuck with nobody else’s man. You ain’t shit without that pretty face,” she’d said and then lunged on top of me, knocking me to the ground with a four-inch blade really close to my face. I was scared shitless and frozen still. Now please don’t get it twisted. I could fight, and I’d kicked my fair share of ass. On the other hand, I’d never had anyone put a knife to my face and threaten to disfigure me, so I was caught off guard.
“Cut that bitch, Kiki,” her ugly-ass friend had added.
She raised her arm and was almost down to my cheek when we heard a bang.
“Get off of her right now or else,” Trina had said, holding a 9 mm handgun. I had forgotten she was back there but was so thankful that she was.
“Are you gon’ shoot me?” Kionna asked.
“I will if I have to,” Trina had said.
Kionna got up off of me. I quickly rose to my feet and grabbed my bags, and Trina followed me to the Durango I was driving at the time.
“So that’s how you get your money,” she’d teased.
“Better than stealing and going to jail.”
We’d both laughed hard and had been tight ever since.
Eventually, Trina stopped stealing and joined my team as a bad bitch on the paper chase. She even followed me to Ohio from Detroit, although she didn’t enroll in college. Throwing caution to the wind, she came out here to see what life had to offer, and to my surprise, she’d done well for herself. One month after touching down, Trina took a waitress position at Don Romano’s, a very upscale, swank restaurant located downtown. Within a year, she went from serving to being served by the owner, Giorgio Romano himself. He had a thing for pretty black girls, and she had a new thing for anybody with money. Eventually, they both grew to love each other after creating a beautiful son named Sergio. Unfortunately, Giorgio couldn’t take the mixed child nor his black mother home to his old-school Italian family.
Thinking up a master plan, Trina told Giorgio that as long as he kept her comfortable and paid her bills, she would keep their love child a secret. Without argument, he set her up in a three-bedroom condo apartment, provided her with car service since she didn’t have a license, and made sure her bank account had a deposit every Friday. Me and my girl had made it a long way from the blocks we were raised on, and I knew the best was yet to come.
“Come on, y’all, before the drinks are gone,” Trina called from her patio, snapping me from my daze as Noel and I walked over to the first-floor patio from the parking lot.
“Welcome to the hot spot.” Trina posed in the doorway like the model she could’ve been. Trina was five feet nine inches tall with dark skin and almond eyes, and she was very curvaceous. Her hair was styled in a long, luxurious wet and wavy lace-front. I’m not talking about the lace fronts from the beauty supply store. I’m talking the kind that costs $3,500 and takes a month to make because each individual strand of hair is bleached at the root, hand tied, and double knotted onto a mesh-like material. Her lashes were perfect, and as always, her makeup was flawless. My girl was one of the prettiest girls I’d ever laid eyes on. She was also the tallest, but she used what God gave her and made it work.
After stepping onto the patio, we walked through the gated door into her condo. As we walked into the Japanese-inspired living space, I slipped off my shoes and slipped into one of the nine pairs of house shoes she had waiting by the door. Trina never liked anyone to walk into her home with their shoes on because of the vibe it may bring. Don’t ask me why, but it was something she picked up while traveling abroad with Giorgio.
“I thought we were going out for dinner and to the mall.” I sniffed the air and smelled something cooking.
“Trina, I know you didn’t cook, so what gives?” Noel must’ve gotten a whiff of the wonderful aroma that was gracing my nostrils too.
“Well, we were going to go out, but I decided to stop by Don Romano’s for takeout.”
“Whew! You had me nervous for a second,” Noel admitted, and we all laughed.
“Whatever, bitch!” She walked to the freezer, retrieved two frozen wineglasses, and placed them down on the table before pouring some Moscato.
“Where is my glass?” Noel asked.
“Thank you,” I said while putting my chilled glass up to my lips. It was just the way I liked it.
“Noel, I ain’t fooling with you. One minute you don’t drink, and the next minute you do. Which one is it today?” Trina impatiently held the bottle, waiting for a response.
“I have to sip something with the birthday girl, so pour me just a little.”
After Trina poured Noel’s drink, she told me to take a seat and she would be right back. Without hesitation I did as I was told.
“Here you go. Happy b-day.” She returned holding a big white box with a gold ribbon. I put the glass down and immediately opened the package. To my shock, it revealed an oversized gold metallic LV bag.
“Oh, my God. This purse is bad. Thank you so much, Trina!” I yelled with excitement.
“Only the best for my girl,” she said and watched me admire my gift.
“I might have to change my outfit today just to wear this bag.” I truly loved it.
“Girl, I know you have tons of options in that closet of yours already, but I saw you admire this last week, and I wanted you to add it to your collection.” She sipped from her glass.
“Thank you, boo. This means a lot.”
“Okay, I was going to wait until after dinner, but here is mine.” Noel pulled a small gift bag from her Hermès purse and handed it to me.
“Oh, my goodness! Thank you so much, Noel. This is right up my alley.” I reached over and hugged her. It was a Visa gift card. I didn’t know how much was on it, but with Noel’s background, I knew it wasn’t going to be a disappointment.
“I bought it because I thought we were going shopping today, but you can use it whenever.”
“You girls are the best!” I raised my glass, and they did the same for a toast. “Cheers to my birthday gifts.” I laughed and they did too.
At the sound of my stomach growling loudly, Trina hopped up to get dinner and told us to have a seat. Sitting down at the four-seat dinette set, we dug into our meal of lamb chops, herbed potatoes, and Parmesan asparagus. We discussed work, current events, and celebrity gossip. Shortly afterward, the conversation turned to men, as it always did.
“Noel, when are you gon’ get a man?” Trina asked, and I listened intently. Noel was a natural beauty with no hair extensions or makeup. She was caramel brown, two shades darker than me. My girl was about a size eight. She hid her cute, modest shape beneath unflattering clothing. Her hair was dreadlocked perfectly with blond coloring on the ends. Her smile was to die for, and her eyes were a greenish hazel. The last time I’d seen Noel with a man was senior year in college, and that was seven years ago. At one point I’d thought she might’ve played for the other team, if you catch my drift.
“I’m so focused on my students and getting my lesson plans ready that I don’t have time to date,” she said while forking a piece of potato off of her plate.
“Girl, bye!” Trina snapped. “I know your bed gets a little lonely sometimes, and so does that kitty cat!”
I looked over at Noel, who was turning red from embarrassment. I tried to kick Trina under the table, but her legs were folded Indian style up in her chair.
“I’m not lonely! As a matter of fact, my silver bullet keeps me very satisfied.” Noel placed her napkin down on her plate, indicating the end of her meal.
“A bullet?” Trina frowned. “Child, please. You need a man to blow your back out every now and again.” Trina reached up for a five, and I gave it to her because I was in total agreement.
“Noel, you mean to tell me that you haven’t had sex in seven years?” I asked.
“Nope! I’m a born-again virgin. The next man I sleep with will definitely be my husband.” She smiled like she was in la-la land, fantasizing about him.
“I don’t know how you do it, but I commend you.” I clapped for her. “I love sex too much to abstain. Not to mention my man definitely puts in work in the bedroom.” I smiled. Now I was the one in la-la land thinking about what me and Dom would do later tonight.
“It’s easy! My mother always told me men won’t buy the cow when they get the milk for free,” she explained.
“Child, please! I believe in trying it before buying it. Hell, if your man’s sex game ain’t tight, you don’t want that nigga buying your milk anyway.” Trina was on a roll, and once again I agreed with her.
“Anyway, Chanel, how is the wedding planning going?” Noel changed the subject, something she often did when the conversation became uncomfortable.
“It’s coming along. We’re down to thirteen months, and I can’t wait.” I pushed my plate aside.
“Do you love Dominic unconditionally?” she asked as Trina took the dishes into the kitchen.
I paused for a minute to let her question sink in. “What do you mean?” I knew what she meant, but I needed to buy some time to think about my answer.
“I mean will you love him when the grass ain’t so green? Will you love him if his looks change or his chips go down?” she explained.
“Yeah, I guess so.” I sipped from my wineglass. I didn’t know why, but Noel’s question had caught me off guard. When I thought of me and Dom, I always pictured us at the top. I never one time thought of that “for better or worse, richer or poorer” nonsense.
“Chanel, I know you love him, but if we are being honest, you love him with limits,” Trina added as she sat back down to join us.
“I don’t know about limits, but I do have expectations,” I defended myself. “Decades from now I want my husband to be the same person I fell in love with, appearance and portfolio included. The same way he obtained me, he should try his damnedest to maintain me.”
“What if something beyond his control happens?” Noel asked. “Like an accident or something and he gets disfigured, or the loss of a job?”
“Look, y’all are killing my buzz. I’ll figure that shit out if it happens. Until then, stop speaking negativity on us.” Quiet as it’s kept though, I prayed right then and there that those things wouldn’t happen, because if they did, our relationship might just be in trouble. I wasn’t mentally prepared to deal with anything major right now. I just wanted to stay in the honeymoon phase as long as possible.
The remainder of the evening went off without an issue. We drank wine and talked shit until almost eleven o’clock that night. Though my day had not gone as planned, I had to admit, it still was special. I got some pretty nice gifts, and it was good seeing my sister, niece, and friends.
When I got home that night, Dom was fast asleep. I wanted to wake him up for some birthday sex, but then I decided not to bother him. Instead I showered, then crawled in bed beside him and was asleep in no time.