TWENTY-NINE
Deedee sat up in bed when her cell phone rang. She wondered for a moment if her uncle was calling her back. She knew it was a forwarded call when she looked at the caller ID. “Hello?” Deedee said.
“Hey,” a girl’s voice came back at her.
“Hey, who’s this?”
“It hasn’t been that long. I am speaking to Deedee, right?” the caller asked.
“Yes, you are,” Deedee replied nervously.
“Deedee, you don’t remember me? It’s Josephine, bitch,” the caller answered.
Deedee couldn’t believe her ears for a minute and then she screamed excitedly, “Oh, my god, Jo! What’s up, girl? Where are you calling from?”
“I’m at the W Hotel, downtown. Where are you?”
“I’m at 86th Street and West End.”
“Wait a minute, you guys moved?”
“No, no. Something happened and...”
“Yo, da shooting, that was y’all? That’s one of the reasons I was calling. Like, what da fuck happened?” Josephine asked and Deedee could hear the excitement in her voice. She could also hear an ensuing argument in the background. Deedee lowered the volume on the television in an attempt to hear the argument. Deedee heard the squabble going on in the background. Josephine did not utilize the mute button and everything was crystal clear.
“I just said you curse too much…”
“Neither you or daddy listen to me when I be talking to you but now you wanna tell me what to do now? Come on, Mommy, get real.”
“Jo, you can call me at another time.”
“No, it’s all good, girlfriend. I don′t know what’s popping with the ol’ biddy,” Josephine said then Deedee heard another argument breaking out. “Yes, I’m talking about you. Who else is an ol’ biddy here? Certainly not me,” Deedee heard Josephine saying. “Hold on a sec, Dee.”
Deedee looked at the telephone with curiosity. It was plain to see that Josephine and her mother had serious problems. From the tone in Josephine’s voice, they were going for each other’s throat. A few minutes later, Josephine returned to the telephone.
“Let me get off this phone. Where can we meet? We’re about thirty blocks apart.”
“Let’s meet at the café at Sixty Sixth and First Avenue in about an hour,” Deedee said.
“Okay, Sixty Sixth and First Ave. You know I ain’t been in the city in a minute. These pretenders had me locked away out in the boonies, girl. I’ll tell you all about it and why I ain’t going back with them. See ya later, Dee,” Josephine said and just before she could hang up, Deedee heard the girl ask. “Yo, Dee, have you spoken to Coco lately?”
“We were together on Friday. I haven’t spoken to her since then.”
“And she probably still don’t have a damn phone. Her mother still smoking?”
“I don’t know? I have a number though...” Deedee started only to be cut off by the excited Josephine.
“Will Smith was right,” Josephine said.
“About what?” Deedee asked.
“Parents just don’t understand,” Josephine said laughing. “See ya in a minute, girl,” she said finally.
“Alright then. I can’t wait to see you,” Deedee said. Before putting the telephone down, she could still hear the ongoing argument between Josephine and her mother in the background.
She sprang from the bed and was in the bathroom showering and pondering the possibility of seeing Josephine. They could probably hang out and do some shopping, Deedee thought. She had been given a line of credit and never used it before. There could never be a more perfect time, she thought while staring at her nude figure in the mirror. Not since before the death of Danielle had the girls hung out. Josephine and her parents had moved out of town immediately following Danielle’s suicide. It wasn’t just a case of another teen suicide to the girls. For Josephine, Coco and Deedee, it was an end to the camaraderie that had been developing since that fateful night when Deedee first met the girls, known as Da Crew.
Back then, they were a singing group with Coco, Danielle and Josephine. From the first time they hung out, Deedee felt like she belonged because the girls welcomed her and made her feel like a part of the group. Then there was the awful rape, she thought fixing her hair as best as she could. Deedee refused to follow this line of thinking and began to search for her hair products. Where is my gel? she wondered as she searched Sophia’s bathroom. I’ll call Coco and see if she wants to hang, she thought as she came across the cordless phone. Deedee dialed Miss Katie’s number.
The older lady answered and told her to hold on. She had to check if Coco was next door. Deedee waited patiently brushing her hair there and trying to find a style that fit. She was thinking of scheduling an appointment with her favorite hair stylist when she heard Coco’s grumpy voice on the phone.
“Sup?” Coco asked. Deedee skipped the attitude in Coco’s cold greeting.
“Guess who called?” she blurted out and immediately realized that Coco wasn’t in the mood to play the guessing games with her. “Josephine called and wants us to meet her at Sixty Sixth and First Ave,” Deedee quickly added.
“Wait up. Jo called, yo?” Coco asked warming up significantly.
“Yep, she called and she wants us to hang with her. We should be meeting in about an hour.”
“Say word?”
“Word up, Coco. You down?” Deedee asked and Coco thought about it. She would not have said yes if it wasn’t for Josephine. Deedee knew she would be down.
“Ahight, yo. I’ll link up with y’all. What’s the name of da place, yo?”
“There’s a café there. I can’t think of the name right now but we’ll wait for you on the corner,” Deedee said.
“Ahight, that sounds good. I’ll see y’all there, yo,” Coco said and hung up.
Deedee replaced the cordless and felt a warm feeling that making up with a friend brought. It shot through her and resulted in a smile on her beautiful face. She fixed her hair and stared in the mirror thinking about what to wear. This should be really great, Deedee thought and hurried from the bathroom.