Faces of the Game (25 page)

              Chelle pulled up at Tera’s house a half an hour later, her eyes were on the rear view mirror more than they were on the windshield.  As horrified as she was, she wanted to see her cousins and figure out something quick.  The rest of the girls pulled up around the same time, the all backed their cars in and they parked scattered around the parking lot.  The best thing was, Tera’s condo was ducked off it could easily be missed if someone wasn’t familiar with the city.  Neese had the most detrimental look on her face, she wondered how in the hell this man got her number and how in the fuck he sent it anonymous.  Chelle was worried about her cousin Los finding out, he was very hot headed and she knew he would kill over any of them; he practically raised them.  They rushed into her house one-by-one; Tera had a pot of chicken alfredo cooking if anyone got hungry.  She also had tequila which was right up their alley.

              “How does he know my number?”  Neese asked first.  “Who knows, I think we should all get our numbers changed.”  Tera suggested.  “How are we gon pay this mother fucker?”  Vae asked.  “Who is this creep?”  Chelle added.  Vette walked in a few minutes later, she looked like she was out of it and she probably was.  “Did you see anybody outside or anything strange?”  Tera was worried sick that the man was somewhere watching them or even worse, had her place tapped.  The girls were already drama queens, every last one of them.  This is the last thing that needed to happen to them, they were worried sick.  “He isn't going to find Unc, he's in Cali somewhere and we don’t even know exactly where he is, this must be why he left.”  Chloe started summing up a sequence of events, Vae chimed in and the rest of the girls followed after, Chelle sat in silence analyzing everything that was being said.  They didn’t take shots of tequila that night, none of them cracked a joke or a smile, and the girls poured their troubles straight and tried to come up with a solution. 

              Nine hours later, they were passed out in the living room some on the couch and others on the floor.  They were startled by someone banging on Tera’s door; the all woke up at the same time and looked at each other.  They hopped up and sprinted to the back one-by-one, neither of them made a sound.  The knocks were louder the second time, Neese started crying, Chelle held her tight as she buried her head into Chelle’s side.  “If we die, we all die together” one of the girls whispered.  Tera had to be the strongest because it was her house and after all she was the oldest.  She grabbed her 9mm, she had never used it before but she was ready to do whatever she could to fight for her family’s safety.  “Who is it?”  She said in a firm tone with her gun pressed against the peep hole.  Chloe couldn’t let her stay up there to defend them alone, she walked up the hallway and peeped out of the window without letting the blinds move but she was unable to see anything but a black coat.  “Man, open the got-damned door” Cory said.  “Tera let out a long sigh of relief and opened the door; she started crying and fell into his arms when he walked in.  He gently removed the gun from her sweaty palms, and hugged her tightly.  “You will be alright baby.”  They walked into the living room.  When the girls heard his voice, they calmly walked into the living room, comforted to see him. 

              “Who the fuck do y’all owe some money to?”  He asked the girls as if they had done something wrong.  “We don’t owe anybody shit.”  Tera said, she was pissed now because she didn’t know where that came from and what was going on.  The rest of them looked surprised at his question.  “You know the streets talking’, saying y’all set some dude up and beat him for two-hundred thousand and split it among the six of y’all.  Now he’s looking for y’all, what the fuck is going on?”  The girls started going off, all Cory heard was chitter chatter he couldn’t make out what anyone was saying.  “Hold up, hold up, I can only hear one person at a time.  Who wants to tell me what the fuck is going on?”  He said with a serious face, he was not in the mood for bickering or lying and he along with the rest of the fellas were ready to help them get themselves out of the hole they had dug.  Tera explained everything that was going on, his mouth dropped after he got the gist of the situation.  “And it’s 130 thousand not 200.”  Neese added, making sure he knew that they were 70 thousand shorter in debt than the streets were claiming.       

Apprehension

              Chelle couldn’t sleep, she paced back and forth throughout her apartment looking for her flash drive so she could finish writing the final pages for her graduation project.  There was no reason she should have been thinking about trying to do homework at 2am, she had just had an anxiety attack, she hadn’t talked to her Dad about the price tag that was on her uncle’s head, graduation was less than a month away; and she hadn’t heard from Chip in three days.  Her mind was tirelessly operating, and she hadn’t been to work in nearly a week.  She felt like she had so much on her plate, and then she thought about what Shi had said to her when she went to visit her in Brooklyn.  Chelle was awake, so there was no need in her trying to sleep.  She went into the bathroom and took a shower in hopes of clearing her mind.  She bathed in lavender natural grisi soap, and used natural lavender oil once she got out of the shower; she was sure this would calm her down tremendously.    Surprisingly, once she layed across her bed she dozed off and slept peaceful for once in days. 

              Chelle’s sleep was interrupted at 9am with a phone call.  “Wake up, what’s going on with you and the girls?”  Chelle sat up and looked over at her window; she realized she had slept through the night.  “Hello?  What’s up baby?”  Chip asked.  He was worried about Chelle and her cousins’ and he didn’t know what they had gotten themselves into this time.  “Hey babe, I’m good.  You woke me up, I couldn’t sleep last night.”  Chelle sounded like she was still half asleep.  “Tell me what’s going on, all my homeboys relaying messages and everybody is trying to get money up.  What’s up?”  Chelle took a deep sigh and explained to him exactly what was going on.  Tears welled up in his eyes, Chip realized that he really loved her and he didn’t want anything to happen to her.  He wished that he could start a life with her, but his current situation wouldn’t allow for that.  “Meet me in Charlotte, for real this time.  No partying, no bullshitting, just us.”  Chelle smiled and curled up in her robe.  “Babe, you know I need to do my school work.”  “And you know I will help you if you need me to.”  Chip chuckled a little, “bring your books, we're good.  Nobody is going to find us out here; I’m where the cell phones roam.  Come on; see you in about three hours?”  Chelle couldn’t object, “Yeah”.  She smiled the whole time she packed her things.  She washed up and got dressed.  Threw a couple pairs of yoga pants, tight white tee’s and flip-flops in her bag; packed her laptop with two books and she was out of there. 

              An hour and a half later, Chelle was backing into the garage.  She checked the neighborhood before she went to the townhome, everything looked legit.  Chelle couldn’t wait to fall into his arms, her favorite place to be.

              Chip had the smile of a kid at Christmas, his eyes were lit up like the sun and his dimple was deeper than it had ever been.  Chelle had a peanut butter smile, but it was so real.  They hugged as if it were the last hug they would share.  “Baby I love you, man you my heart.”  He wrapped his arms around her and tears started falling uncontrollably.  “I love you too, don’t leave me.  This world is too cold, don’t ever leave me.”  Chelle cried a river on his a-shirt.  “We will be alright, are you going to hold me down?”  Chelle shook her head as she dried her tears.  She didn’t want to start out crying, but that’s just how it went down. 

              “Let’s go play Madden” Chip joked.  Chelle raised her eyebrow, “what do you have good for me to cook?”  Chelle dropped her bag in the living room and laid across his chest on the couch, he was watching sports as usual.  Chelle smiled as she looked up at the TV. She really couldn’t ask for a better guy, other than his occupation. 

              “Oh flounder huh?”  Chelle pulled a few things out of the freezer, cabinet and refrigerator and laid it on the counter.  She ran a sink of cold water and let the fish thaw out.  “Heck yeah, are you baking it?”  Chip was excited to get a home cooked meal and she could cook her ass off to be as young as she was.  “I am lemon pepper style yum!”  They watched sports until the food was done cooking, ate dinner and had the deepest heart to heart a young couple in their 20’s could have.  They were both mature in different ways, and their conversations never got too out of hand because the communication between the two was untouchable.  Chelle dropped a few tears; she felt a lump in her throat as they discussed his possible bid.  Chip was non-chalant but it was tearing him up inside, he showed no emotion because he didn’t really know how to face the situation.  “Are you going to hold me down is the main question?”  He asked as he took another bite of food.  “I plan to, are you going to hold me down?”  Chelle said trying to laugh to keep from feeling down.  “Of course, don’t go run off and get married on me.  Oh the food is delicious too!”  Chip said as he took a swig of his lemonade.  Chelle said thanks and dismissed herself from the table, she was done eating.  After loading the dishwasher, Chelle went upstairs to take a long hot shower.  They talked until the sun came up about everything from their childhood to the mistakes they’ve made, their current situations and their accomplishments.  They talked about their future alone and together, they even named their unborn child.  As childish as it seemed to them both, they felt as if they were deeply in love many times.  Chelle played old school R&B on her iPod while they reminisced about the time they wasted while Chelle played hard to get.  Chelle didn’t regret it, it just made Chip that much more interested in her and he couldn’t deny it.  Chelle did however wish that he had only listened to her when she tried to push him to finish school, his level of intelligence was shocking to Chelle because of the lifestyle he chose; it just didn’t add up.  This only motivated Chelle to crack her laptop open and finish her homework for the week.  Finals were approaching, this was it; Chelle was working towards going into the real world all on her own. 

              “You ready Chelle!?”  Christi said into the phone hyper than ever.  “Hell yeah, you ready?”  Chelle replied.  “You know it, come over to the house me and Nef cooking if you hungry.”  “Cool, I’ll be over there in a few.”  Chelle slipped on her navy blue fleece sweats, a tight white tee and her jean jacket; slid on her Nike flops and headed out of the door.  When she got there, the three girls started drinking wine and talking about school, guys and their future.  “When I graduate, I think I’m going to go ahead and get my Real Estate License license.”  Nef said, she wanted to follow her Daddy’s footsteps, he was a very successful Realtor and it always interested her.  She merely wanted a college degree to fall back on and to become more educated and well rounded.  Christi followed by saying, “I think I am going to end up Teaching or something, I don’t know.  PR is interesting but I don’t really see myself doing it.  Although I do think I would love to negotiate deals and what not, who knows?”  “Well, I think I’m moving to Georgia.  I am going to be a Publicist if I can, but working with the few people here make me second guess it all.  I love the hustle, I hate the game.  If I can get a job at a cute Firm, I will be satisfied.”  Chelle added.  “How is Substitute Teaching?”  Nef asked, “Girl it’s cool, but I don’t think I want to teach kids!”  They all chuckled.  They ate chicken Alfred, garlic bread and seasoned mixed vegetables and drank   Moscato D’Asi.  Life was good, chatting with friends was always therapeutic.  “So my little boyfriend is supposed to be mad at me, I was drunk as hell the other night and I drove home instead to his house so he swear I was doing something I had no business.  We argued about absolutely nothing the whole damn next day, y’all I can’t stand his ass sometimes.”  Christi said giggling and sipping her wine.  “Well, my boyfriend is skating on thin ice his little crew is going down one-by-one.”  The girls paused and looked at each other and then looked at Chelle.  “We heard it was a lot going on in the Tre girl.”  Christi said looking back down at her food.  Their home girl from Charlotte was dealing with one of the guys that was wrapped up in the mess and he had been telling on a lot of people.  They both felt like Chelle’s dude was next, but they didn’t know how to say it so they let her vent and tried to warn her softly.  Chelle already knew that it was going to come to a halt soon; she just didn’t know what day.  The girls continued to eat dinner and prepare for their last couple of weeks as Undergraduate College Students.  They were all anxious; they didn’t know many people who actually took the time to do what they had done.  They were excited about hoping for a brighter future, they had no idea how bad the recession they were going into was. 

Reflection

              The final week of her entire School career was approaching, Chelle was in a daze.  She was overwhelmed with joy, anxiety and relief.  Although the rest of her life seemed to be a whirlwind, the main focus in her life at the time was graduating.  After countless questioning from her family, some of who wished she would fail and not progress to the next stage, and some of who wanted to see her succeed; after having to take the same algebra and trigonometry three times before passing; her circle of associates she knew through Chip were going through major changes, so many things had happened over the past five years, Chelle didn’t know whether she was going or coming at times.  One thing she did know was, Graduation was merely six days away and she was going to walk across the stage with a sense of humbled pride. 

              “Open the door” Chip said into the receiver of Chelle’s phone, “use your key” she said as she stretched across the bed and gazed over at her closet door where her cap and gown hanged.  “I can’t find it, babe just come to the door.  I’m coming up the steps now.”  Chelle hopped off of the bed, and for the first time she didn’t feel like being bothered.  She would have all of her final grades by Wednesday, she had appointments to make, finals to collect, she had her select few Professors that she had to say her final goodbyes to and she wanted to chill for the entire week.  He came to the door; she walked over to the door and opened it.  They hugged, kissed and she went back into her bedroom.  He followed her into the room and sat on the round chair that stood in the corner of her room.  He put his feet on the ottoman and asked her how her day had been.  “Good, I’m just ready to walk across the stage.”  “I know you are baby, what do you want for Graduation?”  He asked as he leaned back and smiled.  In a perfect world, he would be asking her hand in marriage, but he knew his circumstances and he wasn’t selfish enough to hold her heart and mind captive for the bid he was about to do.  Deep down inside, Chelle wanted to be his wife; he was patient, encouraging, loving and a provider; but his situation raised tons of red flags.  This is where the confusion came in; she was overwhelmed with joy and pain.