In the Life (9 page)

"Jay and Brent say that he said he is just laying low until this all blows over. He is going to a few of the premieres, but he wants to avoid the press as much as possible. I think that they said that he is visiting some friends in Detroit."

"Wait a minute? They have talked to him?"

"Yeah…"

"So he can't answer any of my calls, but he can talk to them? I am over here worried to death and he can't just send me a simple text to say that he is okay?"

"Nigga, I am sure that…" Curtis was about to try to calm me down, but I cut him off. I was beyond livid.

"Naw, fuck that! And who are these damn friends in Detroit? Why he couldn't tell me that?" I thought for a minute about what was being told to me. How dare he do this to me? I know he is going through something right now, but shouldn't he give me some kind of acknowledgement or something?

"I don't know," Curtis said plainly.

"You know what? Call him now!"

"What?" Curtis sounded confused.

"Call him on three-way now! If he answers his fucking phone, then I am so going to let him have it. Go ahead and do it."

"Come on, man. I don't think…"

"Just do it!" I screamed. Curtis took a quick minute to respond.

"I am gonna pretend like you just didn't yell at me because of the stress you are going through right now, but you must have lost your mind."

"Just please call him." I calmed down and my voice was less commanding this time.

"Hold on one second. Now, if he answers don't say anything. Okay?" I agreed with him and Curtis clicked over to make the call. Soon, I heard Morris answer.

"What's going on BB?"

"Nothing much man. I was calling you to see how you were and also because you know Jay's birthday is coming soon and I need help thinking of what to give him."

"Damn, his birthday is coming in a month, aint it?"

"Yeah, and I wanted to save up to get him something really special." I am glad that Curtis had made up a reason to call Morris other than me. While they talked about nothing in particular, I walked over to the house phone. While still listening to their call on my cell phone, I called Morris. Obviously, he wasn't too busy now to answer my call. Now I had both phones up to my ear waiting to see what the outcome would be.

"Hold on one sec, BB." I heard Morris say. "Okay, now what were you saying?" I was infuriated that I heard his voicemail click in over the house phone. I hung up and called again, but the same exact thing happened.

"You alright over there, Morris?"

"Yeah, it’s just my agent calling me. I will talk to him later." My rage came to a climax as tears streamed down my face. I couldn't be silent for any longer.

"Oh so you calling me your agent now, huh? And here I thought I was your boyfriend!"

"Baby?" Morris sounded so caught off guard. I know he was shitting bricks.

"Oh, so I am your baby now? You know I wouldn't even know anymore. I mean, since you like to ignore my calls now. Have me over here thinking that you are going through hell and back, but you in Detroit kicking it with friends." I heard both Morris and Curtis try to cut in but I continued to rant. "So when was you gonna talk to me, huh? When were you gonna call me back? Were you ever going to?"

"Of course, I was."

"When? When everything blew over? Would it then be okay to act like you knew me? Maybe at that point you would ask me to go on a double date with you and Lailiana. Where she at anyway? Is that who you’ve been spending your time with? Is that whose shoulder you been crying on because it sure the hell ain’t been mine. It’s been like a week since I last talked to you. But oh, you have time to talk to everyone else, huh? You know what? Don't even answer that because I can just imagine what kind of lame shit is about to come out of your mouth. Curtis, I will talk to you later and to you Morris, go to hell."

I hung up the phone and wiped all the tears away only to feel new ones being generated. My phone started ringing off the hook. Surprise, surprise. It was Morris. He kept calling and calling. I was not answering. I put the phone on silent after like the seventh time. Without another thought, I grabbed my coat and headed for the door. Hopefully, Breion would be home.

Chapter 16

I couldn't help but relax in the position that I was in. I was beginning to drift off into a very deep sleep. The sounds of Kanye West's ‘Can’t Tell Me Nothing' alerted me to the fact that my phone was ringing. That was Curtis' ringtone. It was very fitting, or at least that is what I thought.

"Have you talked to him?" Curtis' interrogation began

.

"Nope," I said plainly had not wanted to talk to Morris for the past week and a half for several reasons. Yes, I did love him, but I was still mad. I knew that if I talked to him, I would have melted and surrendered with every word. However, I felt comfortable with my anger at the time. He had ignored me. This was supposed to be his punishment. If he did not care about me, I did not care about him. That couldn't be further from the truth though.

"You know that the movie is number one for the second week in a row, right?"

"Yeah, Lailiana has another number one to her tally."

"You mean Morris."

"Sure," I said as I rolled over onto Breion's chest. He had really been a comfort to me. Through all that I had been through with Morris, Breion had been there. There had been several nights that I had cried to Breion about how I missed Morris and he had been nothing but supportive. Breion had been my sanity.

"Well, then you also know he will be home next week then? Jay and Brent are planning a party for him on the 21st."

"Ummm Cee, I will holla at you later, man. I am not feeling well."

"You mean that Breion is beside you."

"Breion knows the deal." He did not flinch as I lay on top of him. Instead, he traced my eyebrows with his forefinger. It was very soothing and sweet. I almost got lost in his touch.

"But how long is he gonna be cool with it, Tre? You cannot tell me that he is happy playing the second fiddle. That nigga wants you all for himself and you just playing him like a plan b."

"That's not true." I could hear Curtis' laugh through the phone.

"It ain't? Are you sure? You are sure spending time with him like that's your man." Curtis paused for a second. "Just don't hurt him the way you think Morris has hurt you"

"It's not even like that." I said as I looked Breion in the eyes, His touches were getting more sensual to me. Within moments, Curtis had left the conversation and left us to our private dialogue.

"Tre, do you like me?" I could see all of Breion's emotions with his one statement. I nodded and he got up from the bed where we were laying in. He went into the bathrooom and came back with something in his hand. It was in a baby blue Tiffany's jewlery box. What the hell was in there?

Chapter 17

A loud, annoying sound jerked me away from my nice and peaceful sleep. I turned over and saw that it was Breion's alarm clock. I looked over at him and saw that he was still fast asleep. I knew his schedule well enough to press the off button without waking him up. He didn't have anything major to do until that night so he could sleep a few more hours. I sat up in his bed while still trying to fully wake up. It was Saturday so I didn't have anything to do either, but I did have some minor errands to run.

I grabbed my cell phone which was placed on the nearby nightstand. I looked and saw that I had five missed calls. One was from Curtis, another was from my mother, and three were from Morris. I decided not to call him back until after my shower and change of clothes. It wasn't until I was putting on the
diamond earrings, from Tiffany’s that Breion bought for me that I called him back.

"What's up," I said plainly.

"Hey baby. Where are you at?"

"Don't worry about all that, sir. You called?" I was trying to give him major attitude, but truth be told, I still loved talking to him. Hearing his voice was home to me. I still loved him dearly, but I felt that he would never understand that unless I showed him how wrong he had done me. Maybe that was childish and unnecessary, but that is what I did. I was short over the phone. I avoided him like the plaque. And I was never around him for more than three minutes whenever he managed to be at the same location as me. I was spending so much time at Breion's place that I should have been getting mail there.

"I was just calling you to tell you that I had a cover shoot for Ebony Magazine. Isn't that great? Me! On the cover of a major magazine, being heralded as the newest sex symbol!" I smiled despite what I was feeling. The tabloid shit with him being gay did not hurt his career one bit. Since Morris always carried himself as such a "man's man", not many people believed the tabloids.

"I am happy for you, Morris. Congratulations."

"Thank you." His response was followed by a long pause. "So…when are we gonna stop acting like this."

"Acting like what?"

"You know exactly what I mean. How many times do I have to tell you that I love you more than anything. You are my heart, baby. You are my reason for living." My heart melted for a second.

"And I love you too, you know that. And I know how you feel about…" I stopped speaking at the sound of Breion waking up. "Ummm… I gotta go, bye."

"Huh?" Morris was confused as hell, but I hung up on him before he could question me further. Sure, Breion knew the deal, but that was no reason to rub it in his face. Waking up to hear our conversation was far from kosher.

"Hey baby," I said as I leaned down and gave him a kiss. Breion kissed back, but he did not put his all into it. He seemed hollow somehow.

"You were talking to the competition, huh?" I did not respond, but Breion did not have to wait for an answer anyway. He kissed me once more a little more passionately and then got out of the bed. His nude body emerged from the covers. I watched his round basketball booty walk off and go into the bathroom. By the time that he had come back to bed, I was already sleeping again dreaming about Morris.

Chapter 18

I had finished gathering the last of my stuff from Morris' house. I thought it was best that I get my own place. I knew that even though Breion loved having me at his place, I couldn't stay there. I needed my own spot.

Everything was now in my car, but one last box in the bedroom. I grabbed it and headed to the door. I looked around to see if I had forgotten anything.

"I guess that's everything," I said out loud to myself.

"What do you mean ‘that's everything'?" I jumped at the sound of Morris' voice. I did not know he was even in town.

"Huh? What?" I stammered while still startled at his sudden presence in the room. Morris' eyes concentrated on the box for a moment and then he looked back at me.

"Did I mess up your getaway? Are you trying to be done with me, for real?"

"Morris, I just think its best…"

"Best for who? Because it’s for damn sure not something I want."

"Well, it’s not always about what you want, Morris. It’s about what I need to do. I would think that by now you would have seized everything that you wanted anyway. You are probably still sleeping with Lailiana and maybe three little new groupies of yours. What you need me for? You don't want me. Hell, you showed me that when you didn't call me for all that time when your shit hit the fan. Who knows what would have happened if I didn't get Curtis to make that three-way call for me? You probably wouldn't have talked to me ever again."