Crackhead II: A Novel (15 page)

“Looks like we’re gonna be pulling some late nights,” he told her. “You up for it?”

“More than you know.” Simone grinned.

Besides studying, Simone and Dink began to spend more time together. They often hung out in the student lounge together, grabbing dinner and playing video games.

One Friday evening, Dink got to the apartment early. He had planned to take Laci to a small, quaint diner that he’d overheard a student talking about, only to be greeted by a note on the fridge:

Dink, I’m out with the girls.

Dinner is in the fridge. I’ll be home early.—L

Dink sighed, balled up the note, and tossed it into the trash can. He didn’t feel like staying inside, so he decided to go back to the student center. Just as he got in his car, his car phone rang.

“Yeah!” he answered.

“Um . . . Daryl?” a female voice spoke.

“Yo, who this?”

“This is Simone.”

“Oh yeah, what’s up?”

“I was wondering if you wanted to get together and work on our paper tonight.”

Dink paused for a moment and his stomach grumbled. “Yeah, that’ll be cool.”

“Great!” Simone exclaimed.

Dink could hear the smile in her voice. “Why don’t we grab a bite to eat?” he suggested.

“I’d like that, Daryl.”

“Can you meet me at the Busy Bee, in say,” he looked at
the clock, “twenty minutes? It’s on Beacon Street, near South Campus.”

“Yeah, I know where that is. Make it thirty.”

“You got it.”

Twenty minutes later, Dink walked into the quaint little diner and grabbed a booth. He looked over the menu and heard giddy female chatter coming his way.

“Dink?” a sweet voice spoke, and the chatter stopped.

He looked up, and it was Laci and her friends.

“Oh hey, babe, what’s up?”

“Hi, Daryl,” the other three girls said in unison.

“Hi.”

“What are you doing here?” Laci asked, surprised to see him. “Did you get my note?”

“Yeah, I got it. I’m meeting a friend here. We’re actually working on a project for class.”

“Oh, okay,” Laci replied, “that’s cool. I’ll see you back at home later, okay?” She bent down and kissed him, but just as she was about to walk away, her entire expression changed.

Simone was walking toward her with a few books in tow. She had on a pair of too-tight Gloria Vanderbilt blue jeans, quarter-length black boots, and a black Gloria Vanderbilt V-neck shirt that highlighted her cleavage. Laci noticed that she had on more makeup than she typically wore during the day and the fragrant smell of Elizabeth Taylor’s Passion filled the air. Laci knew that Dink liked the smell of the perfume, but she had never made time to get it while on one of her shopping sprees with her friends.

“Hi, Laci,” Simone said dryly. “Hi, Daryl!” she said with enthusiasm, and sat down. Laci, along with her friends, looked at Simone in shock as she slid into the booth across from Dink. “Sorry I’m late. T.J. was trippin’.”

Dink looked up at Laci. “Alright baby,” he spoke. “I’ll see you back at home tonight. I’ll try to be early.” He turned his attention back to Simone. Laci walked out with her friends, at a loss for words.

Meanwhile, T.J. sat outside the diner. He’d followed Simone there after she openly turned down his invitation to dinner and to bed later. He was pissed off when he saw that Dink’s car was outside. He saw Laci and her friends leaving the diner as well and could tell from the expression on Laci’s face that she wasn’t too happy about what she’d seen. T.J. positioned his car where he could see inside the window of the diner and saw Simone and Dink laughing. This was not the first time he’d seen them together and noticed how close they had become.

Even though he and Simone weren’t a couple anymore, and he’d started to believe she was serious when she kicked him to the curb, he was bound to put salt in Dink’s game. That he was certain of.

AS HOMECOMING
was getting closer, Simone approached Laci as she was leaving the campus.

“Hi, Laci!” Simone said happily. “Where you going?”

Laci looked at Simone with a strange expression on her face. “I’m going home to Dink. Why?”

Simone was kind of taken aback by Laci’s reaction, but continued. “Me and some of my sorors are going to the show tonight. You wanna go?”

Laci chuckled to herself, looked Simone up and down, then answered. “For what, Simone? It’s not like we’re friends.”

“I was just extending an invitation to hang out, but if you don’t want to—”

“No. I’ll pass, and as a matter of fact, don’t call Dink either.
He’s busy tonight too.” Laci walked off, leaving Simone standing alone.

Not only was Simone a dead ringer for Crystal, which made Laci uncomfortable, she was the same girl who’d eyed Dink in class the first day of school. Laci was suspicious of her intentions for wanting to be friends with her and questioned her sincerity.

Laci walked into their apartment twenty minutes later and saw Dink on the couch, relaxing, flicking through the channels on the television. She was glad he was at home.

“Hey, sweetheart,” Laci said, and plopped down comfortably next to Dink.

He leaned over and kissed her. “Hey, babe.”

“What’cha doing?” Laci asked as she took her shoes off. She tucked her feet up under her as she snuggled up next to him. Dink draped his arm around her and pulled her close to him.

“Nothing right now.” He continued to flick through the channels. After a few minutes, Dink looked at Laci. “Babe, why did you play Simone earlier?”

Laci looked at Dink with an irritated expression on her face. “Oh, she couldn’t wait to get a hold of you and tell you, huh? That bitch.”

“Hey, what’s all that for?” Dink removed his arm and looked at Laci.

“Dink, I don’t like her.”

“Why? What she do to you?”

“Do you remember how she looked at you on the first day of school? She knows we’re together but every time I turn around, I see her. What am I gonna say, ‘sure, let’s hang,’ knowing she probably has a motive? I don’t trust her. And it doesn’t help that she looks like Crystal.”

“So what she looks like Crystal, Laci? She’s not her. Why are you
so stuck on that?” Dink got up off the couch and walked to window. He felt Laci was dead wrong about Simone and had no problem telling her so, but he had to gather his words before he spoke again. “I can see your point,” he said, walking back toward Laci, “but you’re wrong about her. She’s a cool girl. You need to let go of the pain that Crystal caused. If you let go of the past, baby, being cool with Simone would be a huge breakthrough in your continued recovery. Who knows, you all may end up being friends one day.”

Laci rolled her eyes. She didn’t buy that, but she just let him talk.

Dink didn’t realize it, but he’d given up too much information too easily, sparking curiosity.

“How do you know I’m wrong about her, Dink? It sounds like you know more about her than what you’re letting on.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Because you are straight-up taking up for this chick, all because I said I don’t like her because she looks like Crystal, who just happens to be your ex. There’s no way you can tell me that hasn’t crossed your mind.”

To stop Laci’s insecurities, Dink made an effort to take her to more places with him again, on and off campus. At the urging of her friends, Laci chose to spend more time with Dink. None of the girls had men but they knew that another woman, no matter how innocent it looked, could be trouble.

T
HE FIRST WEEKEND
in October finally arrived. It was Boston University’s homecoming weekend, and all the hype that had built up over the last few weeks was finally about to become a reality. Even though there weren’t a lot of black students on campus, homecoming weekend was color-blind. It was a nonstop party for everyone at B.U.

That Friday night, Laci and Dink attended the traditional bonfire ritual, which kicked off by burning football jerseys of B.U.’s rival university, Northwestern. The marching band hyped the crowd even more. When they played their own rendition of “Can’t Touch This,” everyone went crazy and started emulating MC Hammer’s moves. T.J. and Slim stepped along with the Alpha Phi Alphas and Simone stepped with her Delta sorors.
This is just like out of
School Daze, Laci thought as she sipped on her third citrus-flavored California Cooler and bobbed her head to the music.

Laci noticed how relaxed Dink was. Even though she was right by his side, he didn’t seem to pay that much attention to her. She noticed that he was smoking weed and sipping on some
Hennessy straight from the bottle that was passed around. She also noticed that regardless of where Dink was that day, Simone was right there up in the mix. Laci heard Dink mention something about the South Bronx and how some of his boys might come up for the game after making a run. This was the first Laci had heard about it and she began to wonder if Dink was truly through with his former lifestyle.

Saturday would be the big football game and afterward, an after-party was rumored to go down that would make spring break look like a church revival.

The night passed quickly and the dawn was soon approaching. The early fall weather forced Laci to wrap herself in Dink’s maroon and gray I.O.U. Legendary jacket. She was ready to leave the party. She’d wanted to go hours ago, but Dink was having a good time so she didn’t want to make too much of a big deal out of it. The crowd was more his than hers, but she hung as long as she could.

Laci finally excused herself from the festivities and found a spot on the bleachers outside on the football field, where many students were sprawled out. She was unsure how long she was there, but her bobbing head woke her up. Dink saw her across the way and walked toward her.

“Hey, lil’ bit, you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Laci said through a deep yawn.

Dink looked at his watch and realized it was extremely late. “Come on, sweetheart, I’m sorry,” he told Laci. “Let’s get outta here.” He didn’t wait for her to respond before he spoke again. “You hungry? I’m starving.”

Not waiting for an answer, he held her hand as he led her away.

Laci and Dink walked into the local IHOP for an early breakfast. It was pretty crowded for five-thirty on a Saturday morning.

After a few minutes’ wait, a hostess asked, “How many tonight?”

“Two,” Dink replied.

He stood behind Laci with his arms wrapped around her waist while they waited for their table.

“Follow me.” They followed the hostess to their booth and collapsed, with Dink taking the side of the booth that faced the door.

“Put your feet up here,” Dink told Laci as he patted his lap.

She had on a pair of four-inch heels and he knew her feet had to be killing her.

Tiredly, Laci complied and Dink removed her shoes. He playfully wrinkled up his nose and the two laughed. He began to rub her feet, one at a time.

“Ooh, that feels good,” Laci sighed, throwing her head back and stretching her neck from left to right.

Their waitress came over and took their order. Just as she left, an overly loud group of people came into the restaurant. It was Slim, T.J., and some of their frat brothers, along with Simone and some of her sorority sisters.

“Ay, yo Dink! My man!” Slim drunkenly yelled across the restaurant and strolled over to him and Laci. Dink stood and gave him the one-arm shoulder hug—the typical greeting among black men. “Wassup, Laci?”

“Hey, Slim.”

“Man, you look like you fucked up,” Dink observed.

“Yeah, but shit . . . it’s homecoming, baby. This a muthafuckin’ tradition,” he slurred.

“Well, yo’ tradition gonna have you on yo’ ass, nigga,” Dink laughed. “You know you can’t drink that hard shit on an empty stomach, clown.”

“I knew I was forgettin’ something,” Slim laughed. “You know . . . I say that every year, but it keep slippin’ my mind.”

“Every year?” Dink laughed. “You only been here one year, nigga.”

“Yeah, but I’ll forget next year and the year after that. This way, you can’t ever say I ain’t think about it.” They all laughed.

Slim looked up and saw that Simone and T.J. were headed toward them.

“Hi, Daryl,” Simone acknowledged happily. “Hey, Laci,” she said with an obvious change in her voice. She looked back at Dink, and said with excitement, “I came up with a topic for our Abnormal Psych project. Mental illness: the voice of reason.”

“The voice of reason, huh?” Dink pondered. “Yeah . . . I like that. That’s cool,” he confirmed with a smile.

“Laci, I’m surprised you still hangin’,” Simone joked as she looked at her. “You normally be passed out by ten.” Dink and Simone laughed between themselves, but Laci wasn’t very happy. He had to have been sharing stuff about her with Simone and she didn’t like it one bit. “You wanna get together soon, Daryl,” Simone looked at Laci, “to work on our paper?”

“Yeah, that’ll be cool. Just let me know when and where,” Dink said.

“Just know, we may have to pull some late nights because we don’t have a lot of time left, but I’m sure we’ll make everything work.” Simone grinned and nodded. She looked at Laci, then back at Dink. “If I don’t see you at homecoming or tonight at the party, I’ll definitely see you in class.” She smiled at Dink and returned to her group.

“You plannin’ on sittin’ with them or what?” T.J. asked in a condescending tone to Slim, after noticing the exchange between Simone and Dink.

“Hold up, man,” Slim replied and resumed talking to Dink. “So y’all rollin through tonight or what?”

“I dunno, man,” Dink looked at Laci, “baby girl ain’t really into the whole party thing. Besides, she wanted to go downtown to do a little sightseeing. So after we get some rest, that’s where we headed. I don’t know how long we’ll be out.”

“Don’t mind me,” Laci told him curtly. T.J. saw the annoyed look she gave Dink. “I’m sure we’ll be done early, then you can just go get yo’ party on with Simone,” she said sarcastically, in her most proper white-girl voice. “Besides, I may have a little surprise for you. By the time you get back home, it should be all ready.”

“Surprise, huh?” Dink looked at Laci, ignoring her tone, then looked back at the guys. “Well, the lady has spoken. I’ll roll through, but I’m burnin’ out early because I wanna know what this surprise is.” Dink smiled at Laci.