Giving Him Something He Can Feel (2 page)

“Caine son, I don’t know what you are doing here,” he paused as if I was supposed to give him an explanation. “I think you’re confused son. Your mother and I do not, and will not, condone this type of behavior. We will settle for nothing less than a woman for you.” I didn’t know how to tell my parents, especially my father, that I liked both boys and girls. For as long as I could remember, I’d always been attracted to boys. A girl might catch my eye every now and again but it was nothing like a guy.

“We have no choice but to send you off to a good college. Now this may not be what you want or intended, but it is the best thing for you right now. With the choice of school, I decided upon, I’m sure you will be able to find a nice, attractive, black gal. Now let me see if I can pull a few strings to make it happen.”

He knew he could make one call and my black ass would be shipped out quicker than a slave being sold for 10 cents.

“Pack your bags son; you will be leaving in the morning.” I knew my dad had a reputation to protect and abide by but it wasn’t as if our family didn’t already have secrets. Plus, I was his fucking son, their only child. Shit I had feelings too and after all the military did have a “don’t ask don’t tell policy.” I should be able to be with whomever the hell I want to. Now he was threating to send me off to school like it was
going to turn me straight.

“Caine, it’s done. Trust me son, this is for your own good.”

I stood there embarrassed and said nothing. I knew if I said something, it would escalate to more. Shit, I was surprised he didn’t choke the shit out of me. I mean he did just catch me sucking a dick. I knew plenty of fathers that would literally kill their offspring so for me to be, “going away,” I’d say I’d gotten off easy.

My father told me to be ready by 0600 hours and left my room with a disgusted look on his face.

The next morning arrived and as promised,
my dad did a hell-of-a-lot of pulling because my black ass was off to a Georgia State University.
No worries for me though, because Morehouse, an all-male university, was just a hop-and-skip away.

The College Years

Kandi

2001 Georgia State University

I finally made it. There I was fulfilling my dreams. I was a freshman at Georgia State. I made it out of the ghetto and I could finally breathe. Coming from not having much as a child, I worked hard in school. I had to maintain my Honor Roll status so I could get my scholarship. Everybody had said I wouldn’t get a scholarship and I would end up like Mary, but look at me now. I was the only bitch from three generations of my family to go to college. My mama damn sure didn’t go. She had me at a young age so my dad took on the role of breadwinner. If she had gone, then she probably wouldn’t have had to sell her ass or maybe something would have come from those countless interviews she went on.

It was my first day on the campus and people were everywhere. Niggas were walking around, standing in cliques, and some more shit. Besides the hood, I’d never seen so many people in one place before. Dudes were outnumbered because females were everywhere. Everything from stuck up bitches, to church girls, and then of course there were the hoes. By the way the hoes were dressed; you would have thought they were auditioning to be in a music video. Not being on campus for more than ten minutes, I already knew why. There was talk all over campus about some nigga named Caine Johnson. His family was well off so all the bitches wanted a piece of the pie. In my life right then, I couldn’t afford to fuck up that school shit. It was the only thing I had to rely on, so unless that motherfucka was breaking me off, I didn’t have time for his ass. I made my way to an open house for newly enrolled students. It was a meet and greet thing where you meet new and existing students. I thought to myself I might as well mingle and get to know a few people. Hell, what could it hurt? Seconds after walking into the function, I heard, “Hey Kandace.”

Some random chick had called my name. I turned around to see who it could possibly be. I saw a girl from across the room throwing her hands up and waving for me to come over. “Come join us, please.”

I wanted to know how the fuck she knew my name. Those “southern belles” always seemed to wear a nametag to identify one another. Shit, I was from Virginia. We didn’t wear nametags unless we were ten toes up. I saw right then I was going to have to get used to that shit.

I walked through the crowd and finally approached the group of girls. Wasting no time, I got straight to the point. “Clearly you already know my name, so what’s yours?” I saw her nametag but that didn’t prevent me from asking.

I guess the bitch didn’t like how I asked her because she gave me a raised eyebrow and said, “My name is Gina. Gina McCoy.”

Once she said that I realized exactly who she was. Her family was somehow connected to the founder of the University so that bitch automatically thought she ran shit. That bitch was definitely in the category of
stuck up bitches. With her eyebrow still raised and a little attitude in her tone she asked, “Did you hear about my friend Caine being on campus?”

Maybe it was the way the bitch said it, however, I took it as a threat not to fuck with him. I couldn’t even mind my own fucking business without bitches trying to get me to have a nigga moment. Taking a breath, I told her, “Yeah I heard about him being here. He’s just another nigga so I don’t understand why all these girls are going crazy over him.” There was a moment of silence from Gina and all her little sadiddy bitches.

“Well, in case if you didn’t know Kandace,” she said with an attitude on a trillion and rolling her eyes. “It’s a very big deal to me that he is on this campus.” That broad tried to give me all types of shade so I was going to deliver it right back to her ass, Next Day Air.

“That nigga is not paying my tuition. So like I said, ummm,” reading her name tag that time, “Gina McCoy it’s not such a big deal to me.” Gina took a sip of her drink and said, “Look Kandace, maybe we got off on the wrong foot.” She paused taking another sip of whatever was in her cup.

“Yeah maybe we…” The bitch cut me off by saying, “My whole point in calling you over here is to let you know I’m not trying to be your friend.” She had her index finger up showing off her freshly painted manicure accommodated with a diamond cluster ring to match. “And two,” putting up her middle finger, “Caine is mine. So whether you think it’s a big deal or not, hands off bitch.” I stood there looking crazy for a second trying to grasp what the bitch said. Shit, Gina had heart. But then again, all her little puppets were in the background. They started laughing and I even heard one chick in the back say, “Yeah Gina, tell these hoes who runs this campus.”

No that bitch didn’t just call me over here and try to embarrass me. Shit, I had no choice but to put that bitch in her place. “Look bitch, I told you I don’t want no got damn Caine or whoever. Unlike you rich bitches some girls have to come to college to succeed in life.” Thankfully, for her, there was some soft volume music playing in the background so I didn’t scream at her like I wanted to. However, I was still letting that bitch have it.

I hated riches bitches who shopped all day, and didn’t have a care in the world. Everybody had a family tree but money didn’t grow on mine. All of them were staring at me but they weren’t yapping back. Those bitches knew I wasn’t playing games with their asses no more. Pointing my index finger at all those hoes, I told them, “Don’t fuck with me because I’m not the one. I don’t see you saying nothing now girl in the back.” I was pointing her out but she didn’t say a word. “Yeah, y’all some pretty chicks, definitely not bout that life boo boo.”

Virginia starts the South but I wasn’t showing those bitches any southern hospitality. “Maybe I’ll go find Caine, you know, get to know him better. Just because you so-called warned me not to.” As soon as I said that, it seemed like I hit the detonator because Gina exploded. She stood quickly, inched her way closer to me, and said, “You know what Kandace, that would be your biggest mistake…”

She had an evil look in her eye but the hoe didn’t jump so I put my claws back in.

“Is that a threat Gina?”

She stood there and said nothing. She snapped her fingers, her little entourage stood up instantly, and they all walked away. Gina was the
Head-Bitch-in-Charge
of her crew and everyone on campus knew it. As I headed back to my dorm room, I wondered if Gina would made good on her little threat. After all, her family was running the university so she could have anything up her sleeve.

Caine

I’d been on campus for a couple of weeks and all those females were flocking to me like I was some type of celebrity. They were handing me their numbers, trying to buy me little gifts, lunch, anything; you name it. Of course I would decline all offers but those bitches were worse than Aquafina because they were just plain thirsty. Hell at that point I thought I’d met just about every girl on that campus. I hadn’t seen a cute guy since I’d been there. The ones I did come across were either fat, ugly, or dirty looking niggas.

One day while I was walking to my campus apartment, I spotted a girl I’d never seen before. We were walking towards each other and she walked past me. My first glance of her caught me off guard because she was beautiful. As I continued to walk, I heard a voice say, “Hey… Excuse me…” I turned around to see her standing there. She started to walk my way and when she approached me, she said, “Hey, my name is Kandi
. You must be Caine right?”

I stood there puzzled for a second by her beauty. I’d never seen such natural beauty before. Most girls wore so much makeup you could bake a cake on their face, but not her. Her skin tone was just as flawless as mine was.

“That would be me,” I replied. She knew damn well I was Caine just like all the other chicks. “Okay well I just wanted to introduce myself to you because your girlfriend thinks I want you,” she said. I looked back to make sure she was talking to me. “You have the wrong guy. I am Caine but I definitely don’t have a girlfriend.” I could tell she was thinking of her next words. “Are you sure because Gina McCoy sure doesn’t think so,” she said, smiled, and giggled.

“Just like a crazy bitch to claim something that’s not hers,” I thought to myself. “That’s crazy ass Gina for you,” I told her. We both shared a laugh. We talked for a few more minutes. It was the best conversation I’d had in a long time. I told her a little bit about my family and she told me a little about hers, but nothing too deep.

“So you mean to tell me your parents sent you here because they want you to find a wife?” Kandi asked looking at me like the lying nigga I was. “Yep,” I told her while nodding my head to finalize my lie. I knew she believed me when her eyes got bigger and she raised her eyebrow.

“Damn that’s some rich white people shit right there,” she said. I couldn’t believe she just said that. After all, that wasn’t the real reason; but shit, she didn’t need to know that. All she needed to know was I was there on some “
Coming to America”
type of shit.

“I’m sorry if I offended you but I had to say it,” Kandi said. “I had to bust my ass every damn day for this scholarship and the shit only pays 75% of my tuition. I don’t have anyone to help me. I’m not well off like that, but one day I will be.”

I felt the annoyance in her voice. I could only imagine how she felt. I didn’t have a want or need for anything. My parents took care of everything. That’s not how I wanted it to be, but that was how they spoiled me. I had to give it to her though, she was on her shit. Most people I knew had everything at their fingertips and never had to work a day in their lives, but not her.

“Well I’m proud of you Kandace,” I told her. “By receiving that scholarship it shows that you have what it takes to push yourself.”

She was all teeth after I said that. Before I lost the little bit of interest I had in her I said, “Well it was nice meeting you Kandi.” She kept smiling as if she automatically knew what was coming next. Usually I didn’t give chicken-heads the time of day. They were way too dramatic. Shit if you cut a chicken’s head off it will still run around. However, Kandace wasn’t just another bird; she was more like a flamingo. Tall, pretty, vivid in color, and only flew when necessary. I could see myself hanging out with her. “Maybe we can go out to grab some dinner. You down?” I asked as I handed her my number. For some odd reason I was really feeling her. She smiled and said sarcastically, “Ok cool as long as your little girlfriend Gina McCoy won’t be there.” A chick that was bold enough to say what was on her mind, and she was funny and attractive. She had masculine ways about her. She seemed to be a female that wasn’t afraid to mess up her manicure and I liked that.

“No please don’t be worried about Gina.” I laughed at the thought of Gina. “Our families go way back and she’s had a crush on me for years. But trust me; I am most definitely not interested in her.” We talked for a few minutes more then said our goodbyes or more like see-you-later. Shit maybe dad was right. I might just find a nice girl on that campus.

Kandi

It had been a couple of days since Caine gave me his phone number. I had yet to call but since I was free from classes, I decided to hit him up. Sitting in the dormitory bored, I picked up the phone and dialed his number. It rang a couple of times and then he picked up. We talked for hours before I agreed to have dinner with him at a local restaurant. Luckily, I had received my refund check from school so I was able to buy myself a little black dress and some cute heels. I went inside the restaurant and walked up to the podium where a guy was standing. He asked for the reservation name and I told him Johnson. He looked me up and down and then verified Johnson indeed was on the list. “Yes, yes, right this way madam,” he said as he grabbed some menus and guided me to the table. Once there I saw Caine waiting with six dozen pink roses. He stood up and came around the table to pull my chair out for me to have a seat.

“I’m glad you made it,” he whispered as I sat down. I was amazed and all smiles. It was the sweetest thing a person had ever done for me. The waitress came to take our orders but Caine had everything planned. He ordered us two bottles of red wine, which were very sweet in taste. For the appetizer, he ordered us jumbo shrimp cocktails. It was fancy as hell. The shrimp came out in a cocktail glass with lemon and fresh herbs. Those fucking shrimp were so big I thought they were on steroids. The main course consisted of filet mignon with a savory sauce, seasoned roasted potatoes, and fresh broccoli. Last but not least, the dessert came out. Caine had the restaurant personalize my strawberry crème cupcake saying
Dr. Kandi
. My heart skipped a beat. That was like some shit straight out of a love story. I never had a guy that was so romantic before. Hell, I never knew any guy to treat women with so much respect. All I saw was Todd and countless others abuse my mother as if she was trash. Caine wasn’t like that though. He was sensitive and cared about others feelings. It was as if he knew what to do and what to say without me having to ask.