I'd Rather Be Single 2 (12 page)

I hit up
Dalia. “Hey girl, tell me why I saw that crazy bitch Rosslyn at the charity.”

“What the fuck was she doing there?”
Dalia whispered. I heard loud voices in the background, so I knew she was in the middle of family time with Seary, but I needed to talk to her.

“She was up there scoping out Michael
, who by the way came with his pregnant fiancé.”

“Damn. You okay
after seeing that?”

“Nah, I’m good. What I’m tripping about right now is how
Rosslyn just admitted that
she
was the one that burst my window.”

“Are you serious right now! That bitch is back at it
, back on that crazy shit!”

“Yes, talking about I better stay away from Michael
or else. Not to mention these chicks were up there talking about how Terry Lamont’s girl got killed down the street from his house. Remember I told you I had a crazy dream?”

“Yeah.”
she said.

“That’s what I dreamed about, that Rosslyn was out and killed Terry’s new chick.”

“This shit sounds crazy. You really think she would take someone’s life over a nigga?”

“I honestly don’t know what that bitch is capable of.”

Suddenly, my other line clicked and I looked at the screen. “Let me call you back, Dalia, this is Courtney.”

“Courtney?
I thought y’all were at the charity event together.”

“No girl
, he canceled on me. I’ll tell you about it later. Sorry for blaming you for my window, this time it was
my
past instead of yours paying me a visit.”

“It’s all good
, girl. Call me later, I’m about to have dinner with Seary’s fam.”

“Okay
I will.”

I clicked over. “What do you want?”

“Damn you answer the phone like that?”

“Hell yeah, you got me looking like a damn fool at an event by myself that I should’ve
arrived to arm and arm with my man.”

“
Yo, why you always barking over some little shit?”

“Little shit? Courtney how many no-shows are you going to do? And this time
, you send me a fuckin’ text talking about ‘something came up’ when I thought I was the one running late to meet you. I rushed for no damn reason! So I’m dying to hear this, what came up this time, Courtney?”

“I’m sick.”
he said bluntly.

“You
’re sick? Is that the best you can do?” I looked at my phone as if it had germs. I couldn’t believe this nigga.

“What the fuck you mean
is that the best I could do? If I’m telling my girl I don’t feel good, the least you could do is comfort a nigga.”

“How is this for comfort
?”
CLICK!

I hung up on his ass an
d then let out a loud scream, “Aaahaaahhh!” I was so sick of the bullshit! Something wasn’t right about Courtney and I was tired of his apologies.

I
sped home and sat in my car, crying for about an hour. As much as I cared for Courtney, I just wasn’t happy. Something was suspect about him. The type of happiness that Dalia shared with Seary was absent in my relationship with Courtney. He was on some straight bullshit. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I absolutely adored him, but it was time to protect my heart, for real this time.

I
wiped my tears, and decided that instead of going into my apartment to cry, I’d make the drive to this bar that Michael and I used to frequent. It was peaceful and secluded, and I really didn’t want to be around anyone. All I wanted was to have a few drinks and sort out my personal life.

I sat at the bar, took a rubber band out of my pocket
, and pushed my long curls into a ponytail. “Do you have pinot grigio?”

“Of course we do.” The smiling bartender said
, shuffling to the wine rack.

“I see that’s still your drink.”
The bartender recognized me. Michael and I used to stay in that joint.

“Yes it is.” I said
, sinking my head down. I couldn’t smile back at the bartender, I wasn’t in the mood.

I felt a presence beside me
and I was too entangled in my thoughts to see who it was. I hardly noticed there was someone there until I heard my name.

“Tyra.”
I couldn’t believe whose voice it was.

“Michael?” I asked.
A bomb literally exploded in my heart.

Wearing
the same black and white pinstripe suit and top hat from the charity event, he stood beside me with his arms out for a hug. For some reason, his face looked tired. There was no life in his eyes, but he was still as handsome as I remembered.

I stood up and gave him a hug.

“What are you doing here?” I asked.

“I’m just getting away. I
had a charity event earlier. I left early because I just wasn’t feeling like myself. Just been feeling really overwhelmed lately.” He took a seat in the empty barstool next to mine.

“Why are you overwhelmed
? You looked like you were happy earlier, with your fiancé and new baby.” I took my eyes away from his.

He squint
ed. “Were you at the charity?” he questioned.

“Yeah
, I was there.” I circled my finger on the brim of my glass.

“With who?” he asked.

“No one.” I said, forcing down a gulp of my wine. “So how have you been?” I changed the subject.

“Life is life. How about you?
”

“Sa
me answer, life is life.” I nodded.

He picked up my left hand. “No ring? I’m definitely surprised that you haven’t
been scooped up yet.”

“No ring over here
, Michael. You’re the one handing out rings these days.” Sarcasm bounced in my tone and we found our eyes connecting. I eventually had to look away, because I’m sure the hurt in my eyes was apparent.

“Well
, since the woman of my dreams turned down my proposal, I had to move on.”

I
let a pause linger before my response.

“Are you happy?
” I wasn’t sure I wanted to know this answer, but I asked anyway.

He hesitated and then he ordered a shot of Don Julio.

“You want something else, Tyra?”

“Yeah
, I’ll take another pinot.”

“Bring her a
pinot too, my man.” Michael twisted his stool to face me.

“Happiness is when I was with you. You brought out sides of a nigga that I have to hide around other people. I was always able to be myself around you.”

“Well I’m sure your fiancé does that too. Don’t just throw shit out there to butter me up, Michael.”

“No
, I’m serious. Every man has a major regret in his life. Mine was allowing you to walk out of my life.”

I
gulped down my wine as he spoke. I couldn’t admit to him that I felt the same, because there was no point. He was already taken, and I had to keep him in my past.

He lifted my right hand and held it in his lap.
“I’m sorry for whatever pain I caused you, Tyra. I sincerely mean that.”

I felt
the tears coming, but I tried to fight them. “Thanks Michael.”

He grabbed my Galaxy off the bar top and placed his number inside. “I honestly feel like I’m forever indebted to you
, Tyra. If you need anything, don’t ever hesitate to call me. Even if you need to talk or whatever it is. You just hit me up, you hear me?”

“Michael, you have a family now
. I would never interfere with that. You were also the love of my life, but I have to let it go. It’s ancient history.”

I picked up my purse and t
ook my phone out of his hand. “Thanks for the drink, Michael.”

Tears
dominated my eyes as I walked to my car. I heard Michael running out behind me.

“Wait Tyra, just answer me this. Do you still love me?”

I turned and when Michael saw the gloss in my eyes, he took me by the hands.

I sniffed.
“Yes, I still love you, always will.” I was finally honest with him and with myself. Tears melted down my face as I stared into the eyes of the man that I still loved wholeheartedly. “Look I gotta go. Good bye Michael.”

I
got into my car and watched as the love of my life stood and watched me drive off. As the old saying goes, feelings that come back are feelings that never left. I wondered when I was ever going to be fully over Michael.

“I don’t know, maybe he was really sick, Tyra. Cut the man some slack.” Dalia was sticking up for Courtney, as usual, while preparing pork chops and brown rice.

“
That’s the thing. I’m tired of cutting him slack. Every time I turn around, there is another excuse for his shortcomings.”

“Okay, well he invited you out for dinner today
. I think you should go, hear him out, and take it from there.”

“I don’t know, I’m still undecided if I should go or not.
This shit is getting old.”

“Why? Why would you question see
ing him? You have unanswered questions, let them all out. See what he got to say.”

I brushed my hand over my head
with Courtney in my thoughts. “I don’t know. I may go. I can’t front, I do miss him. But I just want him to be one hundred with me. You feel me?”

“I understand.
” She opened the stove and a burnt smell crept into our noses. “Aw man my biscuits are burning.”

I
nodded in her direction. She was definitely changing.

“Yo, someone has got you sprung
. You cooking, and your ass NEVER cooks. You walking around the house singing all the time, being extra nice to the clients at work. What’s the deal?”

A smile adorned her pretty face.
“Love is what the deal is. I love that man, Tyra.”

“Awww,
how cute. Black love is so beautiful.”

“Don’t be trying to clown me, I really do love Seary
, Tyra. Girl his parents adore me, and his teammate’s fiancé Breal is super cool. I’ll have to introduce you to her one day, we are going shopping later.”

“Wha
aat? Let me find out someone is stealing my friend.” I joked.

“Neverrrrr Tyra. You’re my bestie
, and if it wasn’t for you, girl I would’ve never met my boo.”

A text message
flashed across my screen from Courtney begging me to meet him at Laura’s Bakery on Commonwealth Ave.

“This is Courtney
again. I guess I should go hear him out. No harm in that.”

“There you go, go get your man.” Dalia insisted.

“I don’t know about all that, boo, I’m just hoping that what he has to say will hold weight.”

“Well
, let me know how it goes.” she said.

I text
ed Courtney back and agreed to meet him.

Night fell quickly.
I decided to dress casual. I put on black leggings and a white fitted button up blouse with a chain necklace and gold studs. Laura’s Bakery had exclusive cupcakes. They used different themes on the cupcakes for babyshowers, weddings and corporate events. Courtney often bragged about their red velvet football cupcakes and I knew that’s why he invited me there.

“There she is!
” Courtney sang out when I arrived.

My game face was tight
. I didn’t crack a smile or a smirk. His charm was wearing thin on me. I gave him a snug hug, and sat across from him in the wooden cafeteria style booth.

“
Alright, you’ve ignored all my calls and texts for a week straight. You’re not speaking to me, what’s going on with us, Tyra?”

“You tell me
, Courtney. You invite me somewhere, and then stand me up, talking about you were sick, when you were fine earlier that day. How all of a sudden you’re sick? That just doesn’t sit well with me. What’s going on Courtney, what’s the deal with you? Like foreal, foreal.”

He laughed
. “Nothing is going on with me, babe.”

“Oh it’s funny. I can take my bag and get out of here.” I grabbed my
purse and rose from my seat.

He
reached across the booth and placed me back down by my arms. “I’m laughing because you are so pretty when you are mad.”

“I’m not in the mood to laugh, when
we got serious shit to talk about.”

“Stop being so sensitive
. I said I’m sorry. I was sick, what do you want me to do?”

“I want you to keep it a hundred with me
, that’s what I want.”

“
Keeping it a hunnet is all I know, boo. Look, from here on out, if I fuck up, you can leave me. Cut a nigga some slack though. Every relationship has issues. We ain’t gonna be on the same page every time. We discussed it, and I apologized. Let’s just move forward, okay?”

I sighed
, turning away from the table. I really did miss him, but I wasn’t tryna accept his apology and then set myself up for more apologies ahead. “Look, I don’t want no more games, Courtney, okay? I’m not used to this shit!”

He put his hands up. “No games.”

I crossed my arms and nodded. “What am I gonna do with you?”

He
raised up to sit on my side of the booth and he hugged me and kissed all over my face.

“I missed your pretty ass
, girl.”

“Stop Courtney.”
I was still mad.

“Shut up.” He said
, turning my head to his. He pecked my lips and then stuck his tongue down my throat.

“You’re my boo
, Tyra.” His eye contact was intense. “I’m not letting you get away.” He kissed me again, and this time, I was into it because I had missed him.

“Break this up, break this up. Courtney, here are your cupcakes.”

Ms. Laura placed the red velvet football shaped cupcakes on our table and Courtney rubbed his hands together, anxious to dive in. He bit a piece and then fed me the rest. I had to hand it to him, he was definitely smooth, but I was still keeping my game face on. I worked too hard at protecting my heart to be played. I had to sort through this shit and find out what was real and what was fake. For some reason, I just couldn’t put my finger on what it really was with us. But I was determined to find out.

Things with Courtney were back on track for the most part. The only complaint I had was that every so often he would take an hour or so to answer some of my text messages. That shit got my nerves, but I tried not to harp on the issue too much, because he was starting to complain that I was sweating the small stuff. So I tried to be the “understanding girlfriend”. In the back of my mind, I was hoping that the things that I accepted weren’t the things that I would regret.

I had Tuesday off
, and Courtney invited me to come to the training camp to see him practice. It was scorching hot outside, but when I arrived at the park, I noticed the heat didn’t bother the fans much. They enjoyed watching the football players practice. Fans wore Patriots jerseys, some of their faces were painted, and they were screaming Court’s name every time he made a play. I smiled proudly.

I stopped inside one of the shops
to buy some Patriots memorabilia. I planned to rock them during the season when I go to watch him play foreal. I bought a few pink Patriots hats, Patriot baby doll tees and some cute Patriots sweatpants. I was able to change in the back and put on my new fitted Patriots T-shirt, matching blue Patriots hat, and it went nice with my red lipstick and popping eyelashes. I came representing my baby to the fullest. I gave the gentleman at the front of the park my name and he gave me my VIP pass and told me to proceed to Tent #7.

When I arrived at the tent, it was apparent that the other player
’s wives and girlfriends knew each other, because when they saw me, their faces were frowned like I was some groupie coming to see their man or something. I put my black Versace shades on, grabbed a soda from the cooler and went up to the ropes to watch my babe practice. It was sweltering hot, I swear it had to be about 85 or 90 degrees outside. All the players had on their uniforms and they looked like they were out there dying. Court had sweat pouring through his jersey and you could see it all on the back of his pants like his ass crack was literally sweating.

“Go baby!” I yelled out as Courtney was running up and down the field as instructed by his coach.

I felt my phone vibrating in my purse and I knew it was Dalia calling.

“
Hey Dalia?”

“Hey Tyra, how is
football camp? Dr. Raphael is getting on my nerves today girl. I so wish I was off today so that I could’ve went with you.”

“Girl
, I wish you were here too. You should see how these hoes are looking at me. If looks could kill, my ass would be dead. These bitches are all clicked up, staring at me like I’m not supposed to be here. You know I came up here looking cute, so they are all on their hating shit.”

“Oh
really? Well we both got tomorrow off, so I will definitely be up there with you.”

“Good
, because I feel like an outsider right now, honey. These bitches made sure that I wouldn’t feel welcomed. You know I don’t give a fuck. But girl let me call you back, practice just ended and all the players are coming to sign autographs for fans.”

“Okay girl, make sure none of them bitches are around my man.”

I giggled because I knew her ass was serious. “Bye Dalia, I’m hanging up.”

Court went straight up to the ropes to sign autographs for
the hollering fans. Some of the fans had hats, footballs and even paintings of their favorite players held up for the players to sign.

When Court arrived to the area
where I was standing, I whispered, “Hey superstar.”

He smiled
. He was so sweaty, he seemed exhausted and it was on by seeing him work so hard.

“Hey babe, glad you came.”
he said.

“I’m glad I came too, I enjoyed myself.”

“I’m glad you did, babe. Look, we got a meeting to go to, so I’ll call you a little later.”

I was confused. “Y
ou can’t meet me over by the building before you go to your locker room?” I questioned. I saw some of his teammates already over by the building hugging their significant others.

“Nah babe, we gotta go shower and go
straight to our meeting right away.” he explained.

“Okay.” I swallowed the rejection
with understanding.

I was under the impression that I’d see him after practice. What was wack about training camp was that he was only able to go
home and chill until 9:00pm because the players had a 10:00pm curfew. So, most of the time, he’d rather just stay at the camp hotel instead of chancing running home and missing his curfew. And since we hadn’t been able to spend much time together lately, I missed him like crazy.

The next day, Dalia was up bright and early getting ready for training camp.

“Um, camp don’t start till two o’clock. Why are you up at 10:00am getting ready?” I asked yawning, standing in the doorway of her bathroom.

“I
don’t have time to be slipping. I’m representing my man, so I gotta go looking correct. You said all the other wives and girlfriends be there scoping people out, so I gotta be on point. Unlike you, I’m gonna make it known that I’m there for Seary, just in case any of them bitches don’t know.” she snapped.

I rolled my eyes.
“Oh boy.”

Dalia was so caught up in this whole athlete thing, she
arranged her entire life around this man. It was scary, because it was all that she seemed to talk about, and want to be surrounded by. I don’t think we had a normal conversation since she met Seary. Everything was about him. She told me that she gave her all, once she was in a relationship, and her ass never lied.

I showed her some of the items I purchased from the park
, and of course she wanted to rock one of my new pink tees. We both decided to wear white shorts, the new pink fitted Patriots tees and pink Patriots hats. I put light pink lipstick on my lips, wore my gold rope chain and gold studs. I let Dalia wear my pearls and we were off to see our men play.

“Hi, I’m here for SEARY LAWRENCE.” Dalia announced loudly to the gentleman at
camp check-in. The guy laughed. “Okay, here are your two VIP tickets.” He handed her the passes and I just took one of hers instead of getting the reserved passes from Courtney. Once again, we were instructed to go to Tent #7.

I had no idea Dalia was going to be so dramatic
, because being dramatic just wasn’t my style. She sashayed in the tent, flicking her long weave to the back of her hat, making it known who she was there for. “Where’s my babe Seary? Number 35, I don’t see him!”

I gestured for her to come over to the cooler so we can grab a drink. “
Dalia, calm down baby girl, you see them bitches looking at us like we are crazy. You don’t have to make a grand entrance. They’ll know what it is when they keep seeing us around.”

Dalia grabbed a Pepsi from the cooler, “Fuck that, they’ll know the deal now.”

She stood on her tippy toes and saw Seary catching the ball. “Yeah baby! You killing it! Go Seary!!!”

The girls all rolled their eyes
, but we exchanged the same looks. We were no punks, bitches weren’t going to intimidate us, but at the same time, Dalia was doing way too much.

“Hey Ms. Dalia.”

“Aaaaaaah!!!” Dalia screamed, running to hug her friend. The two embraced like they had known each other forever.

“
Tyra, this is Breal. This is Mavis Kelley’s fiancé.”

“Oh
, you are so pretty.” she said, opening her arms to embrace me.

“Thank you.” I hugged her back. I couldn’t exchange the compliment.
Breal really wasn’t that pretty at ALL. As a matter of fact, a lot of the other athletes wives, girlfriends and fiancés weren’t that pretty. Mostly, because they had been with their men since high school or college, so some of the players felt good wifing them. Usually those be the main players cheating with the groupies that looked opposite of what their women looked like at home, which was beautiful.