14

Shawna, LaRhonda, and Keisha

Two days later . . .

 

It was ten o’clock on a Saturday morning and Shawna was just opening her eyes; then she heard the doorbell ring. “Who the fuck is that?” She wiped the cold out her eyes and threw the covers back. The doorbell rang again. “Jesus fuckin’ Christ, people like to sleep late on a Saturday!” she hollered, then went downstairs to open the door. Through the glass in the door Shawna was surprised to see two faces staring back at her. She unlocked the door and opened it.

“What’s up? I figured your ass would still be ’sleep,” LaRhonda greeted her.

Shawna stood there, shaking her head and holding the door.

“Can we come in?” Keisha asked.

Shawna moved to the side and let them by. “Straight up the steps and to the left.”

LaRhonda and Keisha followed Shawna’s instructions and when they entered the apartment they weren’t expecting what they saw.

“Wow, Shawna, this is nice,” LaRhonda said, entering the apartment.

“Thanks,” Shawna said, smiling.

“Damn, girl, go wash your face and brush your teeth ’cause we all gotta talk,” Keisha said.

“Umm, if someone would have called my ass maybe I would have been up. Besides it’s rude to show up at somebody’s house with empty hands.” Shawna turned her back and walked toward the bathroom.

“Oh please,” LaRhonda said.

Keisha laughed and opened the fridge. “You know she right.”

Shawna entered the room and took a seat on the stool by the small kitchen island. “So why y’all over here?”

LaRhonda and Keisha looked at each other then looked at Shawna.

“Don’t look at me like that. The least y’all coulda did was bring me breakfast,” Shawna said, rolling her eyes.

“Well if you had some eggs or something I woulda made ya yo’ favorite, cheese omelet.” Keisha smiled.

Shawna laughed. “Even if I did, you still wouldn’t be able to cook it. I ain’t got no pots!”

They all laughed hysterically.

“How you ain’t got no pots? You been living here for a minute now. You got all this and you ain’t even got the essentials,” LaRhonda said.

Shawna rolled her eyes. She only hoped this wasn’t one of those conversations that turned sour.

Keisha could see Shawna wasn’t too pleased by LaRhonda’s words. “Ronnie, are you gonna tell her or what? We didn’t come over here and wake her up for no reason.”

Shawna looked confused. “What y’all talkin’ ’bout?”

“Why don’t you go first, KeKe.” LaRhonda took a seat next to Shawna.

“Oh my God, what the fuck is wrong with y’all?” Shawna stood up and walked over to the sofa and clicked on the TV.

Keisha walked over to the sofa and sat opposite side of Shawna.

Shawna sat there, quiet, scanning through the channels.

“Your boss is gay,” Keisha blurted out.

Shawna turned her head toward Keisha. “You can’t be serious. You don’t even know my boss.”

“Calm down, Shawna,” LaRhonda commented.

“If y’all came over her to start some shit I think y’all should leave.” Shawna stood up and pointed to the door.

“Damn,” LaRhonda and Keisha said in unison.

“Y’all always do that shit. Y’all always want to spoil some shit when things are good.” Shawna’s voice started to rise.

Keisha shook her head. “First of all we came over here to see you, not to spoil nothin’. But I think you should know yo’ boss is a fuckin’ faggot.”

“My boss is not gay, Keisha. He actually wants to be with me. I’m supposed to go out with him tonight.” Shawna folded her arms across her chest with a little smirk on her face.

“Really, well what if I told you I saw him at some party gettin’ fucked by a chick with a dick.” Keisha started to laugh.

“That nigga don’t want you, he wants the fantasy of you. If you strapped up you may just get some.” LaRhonda added her two cents.

“Shut the hell up, both of y’all. What party was this? Did you see it for yourself or are you getting yo’ info from another?” Shawna asked, taking a seat back onto the sofa.

“Why don’t you start from the beginning wit’ the story,” LaRhonda said, grabbing the remote next to Shawna.

“Fine, I’ll give you the short version. I met this girl name Nicole; she lives in Harlem. I used to go to her house when I wanted to slack off from work. When my mother kicked me out and I had nowhere else to go, she let me stay with her. A couple of nights ago she took me to this exclusive party at the Trump Hotel in SoHo. I didn’t know what type of party until I got there. It was on some real secretive shit. They scanned the invite, had bodyguards at the entrance, and even took our phones away. The room was hot to death. Penthouse big, candles all over the fuckin’ place, people naked, not naked, people watchin’ other people fuck. That shit was crazy. The fuckin’ windows were so big I thought I was outside on the roof.”

“I didn’t know yo’ moms kicked you out. Why didn’t you say somethin’ when you came to my job that day?”

“Shawna, can you let her finish before you start yo’ trip down guilt alley?” LaRhonda interrupted.

“Ronnie, shut up. Shawna, I didn’t say nothin’ ’cause you didn’t give me enough time to tell yo’ ass what was goin’ on and why I came up to yo’ job. Look anyway, Nicole got all crazy and shit when she peeped yo’ boss, Shore. That is his name right?” Keisha asked.

“Yes. How does this Nicole know Shore?”

“She works for Shore Real Estate,” Keisha replied.

Shawna arched her brow. “Hold on, you said she works for Shore Real Estate. I talked to her before. She was supposed to find me an apartment, but I told her no, I’ll find one myself.”

“Really, small world, huh?” LaRhonda added.

“Anyway we was at the party, just copped a bottle of Patrón; then she saw him and wanted to leave. She said she didn’t want her boss to know she got down like that. So we left. I was pissed ’cause I was there and didn’t get to do shit!”

“I don’t believe you,” Shawna admitted.

“What?” Keisha looked at Shawna with confusion.

“You must like him, don’t you?” LaRhonda asked.

“What? I don’t like him!” Shawna maintained.

“Oh, that’s right, you like Shotta,” LaRhonda said, wanting to stir Shawna up.

“Look, Shawna, all I’m tellin’ you is he a frontin’-ass nigga if he tryin’a get wit’ you,” Keisha cut in.

“Well, let me tell you another little story. Shotta, his real name is Jeremy Hughes right?” LaRhonda asked Shawna.

“Yeah,” Shawna answered.

“He’s Aaron’s father.” LaRhonda dropped her bomb.

Shawna’s eyes widened. “What the fuck is this? Y’all wanna come up in my place and ambush me with bullshit. Y’all just fuckin’ jealous I got my shit together, and you want me to be in some craziness. I really think y’all should leave ’cause I don’t believe either of you!” Shawna walked over to the door and opened it.

“Do you hear this chick, Keke? I guess she want proof; well I got that shit. Hand me my bag over there please.” LaRhonda motioned to Keisha. She reached into her bag and pulled out a folded white paper. “Here, come read this. Then if you still don’t believe me I’m done wit’ you. Nobody don’t care ’bout what you got, Shawna. If I wanted to bust yo’ bubble I woulda never said nothin’. Shit, it woulda been a bigger laugh on you if you actually got wit’ the nigga.” LaRhonda unfolded the paper, set it on the coffee table, and smoothed it out with her hand.

At first Shawna thought it was a joke. Damn, they went really far to prove this shit. Who the fuck they done got to type up some paternity results? I ain’t stupid. With doubts in her mind she walked over to the table and picked up the paper. After reading every single little line, she turned the paper over, making sure that it wasn’t something just anybody could type up.

“You still don’t believe me?” LaRhonda asked, standing.

“How I know you ain’t just get somebody to do this for you?”

“Shawna, you so into yo’self and whateva you got goin’ on that you think somebody really tryin’a get yo’ shit. You can’t be serious. Ask yo’self do you actually think I would want him to be my baby father? Shit, Eric left. Vincent mad as shit and threatening my ass. So do you really think I want all that shit!”

“You know what, Ronnie, let’s just go. It’s obvious somebody forgot who they friends are,” Keisha finally said.

Shawna was embarrassed. She made a fool of herself. Why wouldn’t they tell her the truth? She stopped them before they could get to the door. “I’m sorry. Please—”

“Oh please my ass, Shawna. I can’t believe you wouldn’t believe me of all people. Damn, it really shows that you don’t even care ’bout me. Like what the fuck?” LaRhonda shrugged her shoulders and walked through the door with Keisha following.

Shawna was left standing there, replaying what just went down. She lost her childhood friends forever.

There was a knock at the door.

“I just want the paper I left,” LaRhonda’s voiced behind the door.

Shawna quickly picked up the paper and rushed to the door. She opened the door with a smile. “Ronnie, please stay. I don’t want to lose the only true friends I have. If you and KeKe come back in here I can tell you what we can do together so we all come out on top.”

LaRhonda knew that Shawna could help her, only because she was smarter than any of them. LaRhonda looked to the side of her and nodded her head. Keisha appeared in the doorway, smiling.

 

A few hours later they were talking and laughing as they did a year ago over dominoes and grape soda.

Shawna listened to details from both of them and hatched a plan. But her first order of business was to sneak into the office and add a clause to her already-signed contract with Shore. Changing her six-month severance clause to one year would be easy. She knew exactly how to do it with no one even knowing about it. All she needed was Emma’s computer. For now she would play along with his game of courting her, and reel in every dime he had to woo her over. With enough experience under her belt she knew other labels would come knocking.

LaRhonda, on the other hand, would have to deal with two different courtrooms and two baby daddies. Shawna kept her word and helped her out with the lawyer fees. With her friends at her side she went down to the police station and pressed charges on Vincent. The district attorney formally indicted him on battery and domestic violence charges. He or his mother never filed for custody for Diamond.

After she dealt with Vincent she moved on to Jeremy, otherwise known as “Shotta.” By the time LaRhonda took him to court he was well known in the rap game and his pockets were deep. The back child support payment got her out the projects permanently. She was finally able to get her GED and enroll into college.

Ultimately, Keisha became more and more comfortable with her lifestyle. She was going out with females and showing the world she wasn’t afraid of who she was. Keisha quit her job and stayed with LaRhonda since she needed help with the kids while she went to school. Since she was in the house so much she started a blog that led to enormous opportunities when she dropped the biggest scandal in the music industry. Spilling every detail and adding some extra mess to her blog about Lifers Music caused her computer to crash with the sudden abundance of readers.

Through it all their friendship to each other continued no matter how many fires they had to put out. It only mattered that they put them out together.