U TURN
I was freshly dressed and ready to shine for the day. The temperature inside my car said it was 81 degrees. As I approached MacArthur Boulevard, I turned my white Range Rover to the right and headed towards the 580 Freeway on my way to Emeryville.
I was digging in my console looking for my brown Armani shades when another pleasant ringtone played from my crackberry. I was not quite used to the Bluetooth yet. I got time to get adjusted because it will be required by law come January 1st.
I pressed my speakerphone button and put my phone on my chest.
“Hello!”
I knew who it was because his ringtone was different than the default ring. It was Jason, and now I was feeling alright!
“Good morning, Nee.”
“Good morning, Mr. Smith, how are ya?”
“Fine, now,” he answered. “What are you doing?”
“I’m on my way to meet Chelsea for a brunch with the ladies from her church.”
“What color panties you wearing?”
I chuckle. “I’m not wearing any. It’s too hot today for undergarments.”
“Oh, you must be wearing a dress.”
“You betcha.”
He knew me well.
My phone alerted me, letting me know that someone was calling on the other line. It was Chelsea again. I asked Jason to hold for a minute, and I answered.
“Good morning Chelsea, what’s happening?”
“Nee, Greg is seeing her and I can’t believe he didn’t tell me. He lied about everything. He wanted to marry me. We went ring shopping for Christ’s sake. Why did he do this to me? All I did was be good to him and be his support system. And I’m sure she’s gonna come to the brunch today, and this whole situation is pissing me off cause I am an usher and I gotta see this rubbed up in my face every Sunday. What am I gonna do?”
She started crying uncontrollably. I didn’t have the heart to put her on hold to tell Jason I’d call him back, because this is what me and my divas call a “suicide watch”. That was our code—we had to be there for each other when a crisis breaks out. This was probably the only instance when we came before a dude.
Chelsea was suffering a heartbreak because her ex-boyfriend was seeing another girl at the same church. He didn’t even break up with her in the right way. Something as simple as telling her “it’s not working” would have sufficed. Maybe a few questions would have followed, with a “baby, let’s work it out”, but that’s something only a real man can handle.
“Chelsea, take a deep breath and breathe,” I told her. “Girl, he did you a favor, ’cause he’s not the one, the two or the three. Let her deal with his stupidity. He needs to grow up girl; you deserve to be with a man, not a grown boy.”
She laughed.
“I guess you’re right, but it hurts ’cause he vowed to not deal with another girl from the church and look what he turns around and does. He lied and it hurts Nee.”
“What else is new? Don’t selfish people lie?”
I figured I would tell her about Drew later. This was her time.
I did manage to text Jason to tell him I was on an important call and would call him back after brunch. He texted back with one letter, “K”.
I arrived at The Hilton Garden Inn and met Chelsea in the parking lot. I parked my Range Rover beside her emerald green BMW X5. She looked like she got herself together, but I still greeted her with a hug.
I asked if she wanted to pray together. She said she just did before she got out of her SUV. We walked to the front of the hotel and right before our eyes, this nicca rolled up in a tan Yukon with the new girl in the passenger seat. Guess he was dropping the new girlfriend off just like Chelsea said.
I grabbed Chelsea’s hand and looked at this situation, thinking, “you gotta be kidding me”. This was the kind of situation that normally happened to me.
Before I knew it, Chelsea gasped and raised her other arm over her head and threw her opened bottle of water at full speed toward Greg’s head.
“You liar!” she yelled. “You lied to me!”
I jumped surprised that Chelsea would do something like that.
He jumped out of shock, and I was guessing it probably felt good as hot as it was.
“Girl, what’s your problem?” Greg snapped at Chelsea.
“I’ll tell you what my problem is nicca. It’s you, you punk ass bi—”
“Chelsea, we are amongst church folks. Watch it!” I yelled.
She broke our embrace and started power—walking to his SUV like she could whoop him. I was right behind her, trying to pull her back. As she stopped right at his window, she said, “No Nee, let him tell me in front of Sherry what he needs to say to me.”
Sherry was looking like “what in the world”, but she didn’t say a word or get out of his SUV. Instead, she turned to face us and looked interested in what’s to come. Greg was looking for something to dry his face with. He reached behind the seat and grabbed a red t-shirt.
“Ah, hey Chelsea um, I’m rolling with Sherry now.” He was wearing a half-smile and I was thinking I wanted to smack him myself.
“I told you that I didn’t like how you don’t treat me like the man I am. You wanna change me too much, and Sherry here, she accepts me just as I am.”
Chelsea stood there with her mouth open.
I was in shock at the way he just sided on her like that. It was just a month or so ago when I came over to Chelsea’s and he was kicked back all comfy on the couch watching TV.
“So, what you gotta say now Chelsea?”
“Well, what about us getting married Greg, and you going to school to finish your degree and the vacation to the Bahamas we’re supposed to take? You can’t just do this to me, I deserve better than this.”
She was crying now and before I could blink—Slap! Right across his fat face. I didn’t care for him no way. He looked like a player, but I liked how he made her feel. She wore such a glow.
Good for Chelsea, I thought as I refereed her away from him, showing my mug face to him and Sherry. Soon as we got into the lobby, the sisters from the church came to comfort her and try to figure out what the commotion was about. Everybody was gathered around like we were about to play football. This was too much excitement for me, so I broke the crowd up so Chelsea could breathe.
Sherry walked in and everyone quieted down. I could see Greg’s type because Chelsea and Sherry were similar. But Sherry was the girl who got pregnant on a one-night-stand by some dude, and had to get an abortion because the dude didn’t want anything to do with her or the baby.
Chelsea said she already had a son about seven years old. Sherry was about 5-foot-3, about three inches shorter than Chelsea. She had light skin, was a little plump, and had a cute, short haircut like Wendy Raquel Robinson from The Steve Harvey Show. After everyone walked to the elevators to go up to the brunch on the top floor, Sherry approached us.
“I personally want you to know, Chelsea. I don’t have nothing against you and hope we can continue to be civil church sisters.”
“Ah, not now Sherry,” I interrupted her before she reached Chelsea. “But she appreciates your gesture.” I thought she got where I was coming from but she continued, “OK, well maybe when—”
“Not now, ok,” I interjected. “Just back off! Have you ever been in her shoes before? The last thing she wants right now is YOU all up in her face right now! Now is NOT the time. Get it?”
I wondered why do women act so ridiculous sometimes, Chelsea included.
I walked Chelsea outside to get some air so she could calm down, but it was hot outside. I asked her if she still wanted to go upstairs to the brunch because we could take ourselves right next door to Chevy’s instead.
“I know you’re thirsty right now and a top shelf margarita would really hit the spot.”
“No, we going to this brunch. We paid fifty dollars for it and we came to receive our blessing. So come on Sister Bell, we ain’t letting that disturb our groove. I am not ashamed. We all gotta go through it sometimes, and my time is now!” Chelsea proudly announces.
We both laughed and headed to the 14th floor for strawberry waffles and mushroom spinach omelettes. Soon as we entered the dining room, I heard Brother Phil playing U-Turn and I could feel in my spirit that this brunch was going to be amazing. Everyone was acting like there was no confrontation in the front of the hotel 15 minutes ago. I guessed the few minutes I took to calm Sister Chelsea Hendricks down gave the sisters here enough time to gossip and spread their version of what happened around to the other 120 women. I was happy to see everyone eating, talking and really enjoying the fellowship.
Thank you, Jesus, for small favors, even when we act a fool sometimes.