Fast Life (16 page)

 

The next morning, Kyra's eyes slowly opened to the bright sunlight cast across the room. She looked over to see Justin lying next to her. She weakly smiled at the memories from last night that flooded her mind. She studied his features as he lay peacefully next to her in the sunlit room. She planted a gentle kiss on his lips, awaking him from his slumber.

“Hey…” Justin uttered. His voice was full of sleep.

“Good morning, baby.”

“What time is it?”

“Uh…it's ten-thirty,” she told him, reading the clock from her side of the bed.

“We should get up and get dressed. We have to get back home soon.”

“Okay.” She stood and wrapped herself in one of the bedsheets.

“Damn, girl,” he said as he watched her hips sway until she vanished into the bathroom. She let out a giggle and shut the door.

W
hen Natasha and Michael returned from their nighttime stroll, Kyra came at her friend with tons of questions. Natasha teased and taunted her until later that night. As the two best friends sat on the porch swing sharing Kyra's last Cuban cigar, Natasha let her friend in on her secret.

“Come on, man. Tell me! Fa real, this ain't right,” Kyra was begging in frustration. She sounded only seconds away from throwing a temper tantrum.

“Okay, okay!” Natasha laughed as she blew smoke out of her mouth. “You remember when we went down to Kingston?”

“Yeah?”

“And you remember when I had got sick that night at the club?”

“Yeah?”

“Well…I wasn't
really
sick.”

“I'm lost.”

“I did it to go back to the hotel to be with Mike.”

“Oh my God….”

“Wait, wait! Listen.” She giggled.

“I'm listenin'.”

“When we got back to the room, things got a little—how should I put this?—serious.”

“So you guys made out?”

Natasha shook her head no.

“Oh no! You…you…you know!” Kyra exclaimed. She was practically the only person who knew that her friend was still a virgin. At least she
thought
she was still a virgin.

“Yeah, we did it,” Natasha said nonchalantly.

“What made you do it? And with him? I told you about him!”

“I don't know. It just seemed like the right time. I know what you said about him, but he's really cool, and he's sweet when you get to know him. He's better than half the niggas back home, I know that.”

“I been knowin' that nigga for how many months now and I haven't seen
shit
sweet about him.”

“
Anyway
…me and him had our little fling while I was here and everything. That's what we were talking about on the walk. He wanted to be in a relationship, but I said no. I'm not down for no long-distance business. It was fun while it lasted, but now the fun is over. It's not like we can't keep in touch, though. I gave him my number, but that's as far as it goes.”

“I feel you. You gotta do what's best for you.” Kyra blew tobacco smoke through her lips.

“You know, I really had fun on this trip,” Natasha concluded.

“I know! I don't want you to go!” Kyra giggled to cover her sadness.

“You should come see me up in Chi-town next summer or something.”

“Yeah, maybe. I don't know. I don't know how I really feel anymore about going home.”

“Man, don't let that shit keep you from home. You can't let what happened with Makai and Mercedes keep you down. You're better off without 'em.”

The girls sat and relaxed, enjoying the remaining bit of the Cuban cigar and the Caribbean night breeze. After a while, Kyra began to speak. “Tash, I have one question.”

“What?”

“Was it good?”

“Hell yeah!”

The girls burst into laughter, and suddenly Kyra's mother appeared in the doorway.

“What's so funny out here?”

“Nothin'…nothin'…” Kyra muttered as she cut off all signs of laughter in her voice, tossing the cigar butt over to Natasha, who slickly tossed it over the porch railing.

“Mmm, hmm.” She looked the teens over suspiciously and took a sniff of the thick air. “What's that smell?”

“What smell?” Natasha innocently quizzed. She was barely able to restrain her giggles.

“You two come in soon now, you hear? We have to get up early tomorrow. Oh, and keep it down. It's late,” she ordered, shutting the door and leaving the girls outside.

 

Early the next morning, Kyra stood on the dock with her mother and her best friend awaiting the ferry to Nassau. They all stood and watched the sun rising from beyond the horizon. It was the most beautiful morning any of them had ever seen.

“Man, I don't wanna leave,” Natasha said again.

“I don't want you to go, either.”

“You should really think about coming up to Chicago next summer, fa real. And if you can't, I'm gonna try my hardest to make it back down here. Please believe, I don't mind a vacation to the Bahamas every summer.” Her words were half serious and half a joke.

The girls were still gazing out at the water when Kyra spotted the outline of a boat approaching the dock.

“Looks like that's your ride.”

“Yeah…” Natasha said as she lifted her suitcases from the ground.

“It was nice seeing you. You're always welcome here. You be careful on your way back home and make sure you call when you get in. Tell your mother I said hello,” Geneva Jones said as she gave Natasha a hug. “Kyra, I'll be in the car,” she said as she walked away. She knew they would appreciate a moment alone.

“Same thing she said. Be careful, and call me when you get home. Okay?”

“Okay.” Natasha pulled her friend into a tight embrace. “Love ya like a sis,” she whispered.

“You, too.”

Once again, they separated without a formal goodbye, and Natasha boarded the nearly empty boat. She stood on the top deck as the boat pulled off, staring back at her friend. Natasha's and Kyra's eyes locked as the ferry sailed into the distance. Neither wanted to part, but that was how things had to be. It seemed like they hadn't realized how much they missed each other until they had to go their separate ways yet again.

After Natasha left, there seemed to be something missing on the island, at least for Kyra and Michael. They both moped around for days: Michael lovesick, and Kyra feeling a touch of homesickness.

 

It was around midnight, and Kyra and Justin lay wrapped in her sheets. The room was completely hushed as they listened to the rain pelt the house and the strong winds of the restless storm whistle outside.

“You miss her, don't you?” Justin asked, disturbing the quiet.

“Yeah, but I'll be okay. You should be worried about Mike, if anyone, though.” She let out a sigh and snuggled herself closer to his warm body.

“Have you ever thought about going back? You know, to visit some family or friends…”

“I used to.”

“But…?”

“I lost my reasons.”

“What about family or your dad? You don't mention him much.”

“Have you ever been off the island? And I mean off any islands around here. Have you ever been to another country?” She made sure to evade his question.

“Nope,” he responded. He had been everywhere from Japan to Africa, to Australia and France.

“Not even to the U.S.?”

“Nowhere. With how my father acts sometimes, I wonder if I'll ever be able to leave, even if I want to.”

“Do you want to?”

“Nah. Everything I need is right here.” He kissed her forehead.

“Tell me about your family. What are they like?”

“Some other time. It's late. Maybe you'll meet them someday, if you act right.” He wasn't in the mood to be deceptive tonight.

“Maybe.” She smirked and playfully smacked his chest.

“Speaking of family, are you sure your mom isn't going to come busting up in here at any minute?”

“Psh. She's never home anymore. She's always workin' or out with friends or whateva.”

“I'm not complaining.”

“I bet.”

Silence fell onto the room again as Justin's fingers wound themselves through Kyra's many curls and waves. As lightning lit up the room, he voiced a question he'd never asked before.

“What was it like up in Chicago?”

“I don't know. It was loud. Real windy…” She sat up and rubbed her arms as if she were cold.

“No, I'm saying, I want to know what your
life
was like.”

Kyra paused for a moment. She didn't want to be reminded of her old lifestyle. Those days were behind her, and she didn't want to bring them up. But after glancing back at the one she loved and seeing the eager look to know more about her on his face, she couldn't help letting him in.

“I was real popular, real selfish and even more stuck-up…. I got bad grades…. I would always hang out with Tasha. I knew her since I was little,” she explained of her past, making sure to cut out anything involving Makai, Mercedes or her family.

“Yeah, you
were
stuck-up when you first got here,” Justin joked.

“Shut up.” Her laugh broke her serious thoughts. She hadn't really thought about how much she had changed until now.

“I still love you, though,” he said, rubbing his hand lightly over her bare back.

“I love you, too,” she cooed as she looked back into his eyes.

“Come here.” Justin pulled Kyra to him and met her with a peck on the lips.

 

That summer went by fast as the hot sun and sudden rains of the season marked each day, and Kyra and Justin's now-exclusive relationship grew stronger in spite of their secrets.

Most days, Kyra's mother didn't find her way home from the hotel, but Kyra didn't mind the extra freedom. What with cuddling up to watch movies, cooking for her man and having daily sex, she barely had time for anything else.

Too quickly, the new school year started. Once the word got around that Kyra and Justin were officially an item, Veronica was more jealous than ever. Her vicious stares were so frequent, they didn't even faze Kyra anymore. Bottom line was that she had what she wanted.

 

Kyra kept in touch with Natasha sporadically throughout the year. Natasha would fill her in on all the latest gossip in Chicago and would sometimes ask about Michael. She seemed touched to hear that he had slowed things down. She had quit her job at Burger King when she had gotten back from her vacation and started working at the local mall. Working in retail was a real improvement from the fast-food business for any teenager.

“I don't get how you can work.” Kyra held the phone to her ear as she turned onto her stomach in bed.

“It's not that bad. It sure as hell beats Burger King. I get discounts on my clothes and see all the new stock before it hits the shelves. I be geared out, girl! Get on it!”

“I still don't get it.”

“That's because you're spoiled as hell. If you would even give it a chance, you would like it. Especially since it has to do with clothes. But who am I fooling? Putting your name and
work
in the same sentence doesn't even sound right,” she said, and laughed hysterically.

“What's so funny about that? It's not like I can't do it or nothin'.”

“Yeah, right. I'll believe it when I see it.”

“A'ight, bet, then. I'll get a job. You're gonna be feelin' so dumb when I do, too.”

“Yeah, okay. You let me know when you do.”

“I'm serious!” Kyra protested.

“Mmm, hmm.”

“Bitch.”

“You love me, though.”

“Or so you think.”

“Oh! It's like that?”

“Nah, you know I love ya like my sis, girl!”

“Whatever.”

“Dang, girl, it's ten-thirty already. We've been on this phone foreva.”

“I need to get some sleep for tomorrow. I have a test in chemistry,” Natasha sighed.

“Damn, I heard it's hard as hell.”

“You ain't neva lie.”

“A'ight, then, I'll talk to ya lata.”

“Peace. Oh, and Kyra, tell everyone I said hi…especially Mike, okay?”

“A'ight.”

Kyra went to sleep that night with one thought on her mind: getting a job. She'd never really thought about work. She'd never felt the need to. She'd been the first and only daughter of a hustler, a real boss in the midwestern streets, and when he died, she'd taken on the role of a hustler's girl. But now it was time for her to have some true responsibility. Not to mention a steady cash flow. After breaking things off with Makai, her budget had been obliterated. All her funds had dissolved.

 

After school let out the next afternoon, Kyra found herself walking along the shaded lane hand in hand with Justin—Michael, Angel and Quentin by their side. When they reached the end of the lane, Justin turned toward her house, but she pulled him in the opposite direction.

“Where are you trying to go?”

“I gotta go take care of somethin' real quick.”

“What is it?”