Love Locked Down (2 page)

* * * *

I
heard my cell phone ring and picked up.

“ Hello?”

“ Girl it's me! It freezing out here. Don't you hear me ringing the doorbell?” my friend Dana shouted. I wanted to laugh, I could practically hear Dana's teeth chattering through the phone. Ol' prissy ass!

“ I'm sorry girl. Here I come.” I said hanging up the phone and heading downstairs to open the door for my friend. Dana and I had become inseparable in the last year. Especially when Terrence got locked up. I'd just met her and I felt like I could talk to Dana about anything. Unlike many of my fake ass friends from the neighborhood. I think they were secretly glad Terrence had gotten caught up because they thought with him gone, my star was going to dim. Little did they know my big brother always planned ahead!
Hatin' ass bitches!
Dana had never experienced having a loved one incarcerated but her friendship was solid and came right on time. Terrence had been away only one month when Dana and I ended up in a class together at Parsons.

We'd been like sisters from day one. I mean I still had shit I kept to myself,but I trusted her. Dana was cool. She was square as fuck but she was still cool people. Dana wasn't really my speed socially but when it came to her fashion game? Wasn't shit square about Dana Majors! Girlfriend knew her shit when it came to fashion and design. Dana could take a bit of fabric and work magic. Hell I was low-key jealous she had a few designers already trying to get her to intern for them. I hadn't been asked at all but I knew wherever Dana went she'd find a spot for me. You better believe I was ready to ride any coat-tail I had to.

I reached the door and was shocked to see the tears running down my beautiful friends face when I opened the door.

“What's wrong?” I asked pulling her into an embrace and into the warmth of my home.

“ What's
not
wrong would be easier to answer.” Dana said wiping her face and sitting her bag down. “ Everything is wrong Tamera,everything.” she said breaking down into a fresh round of tears.

“ Well tell me. We'll work it out. It can't be
that
bad.”

“ Tamera I don't have the money to finish out this last semester. All my hard work the last three and a half years is for nothing.” she said between tears.

“ I thought your dad was helping you? What about Janay?”

“ So did I. I guess his new girlfriend has convinced him a vacation package for their six month “anniversary” is more important that paying for his only child's last semester of school. He knows how important this is to me. How could he do this to me? At the last minute. There's absolutely no way I can come up with eight thousand in two weeks before the semester starts. Janay is my girl and all but hell we're roommates. I know she doesn't have eight grand just sitting around to give away. She's in the same boat as me. I work part time but that barely feeds me and pays for the subway!”

“ Oh no girl, your dad is trippin' for real! What does he expect you to do?” I asked just as upset as my friend. If Dana's plans got fucked up, so did mine. And I damn sure couldn't have that! We'd already discussed moving into Manhattan after graduation.

I didn't have the offers rolling in the way Dana did but I definitely did my thing too. I was sure once we made the move to Manhattan I was going to make my mark in the fashion world. All I needed was my foot in the door. I didn't give a damn if my foot was attached to Dana.

Shit quiet as it's kept, I was actively scouring Craigslists for places for Dana and I to rent in Manhattan. I already knew my brother was going to catch my part of the rent and all my expenses, hell he already did that for me now. But this little bit of news was fuckin' my plans all the way up. Where was I going to find a new roommate at the last minute? If Dana couldn't come up with her money, maybe I'd plead my sob story to my brother and he would catch the entire rent for me? Hell it ain't like I wouldn't prefer to live alone anyway.

As it was, mama was supposed to be living here with me but I rarely saw her. So I've grown used to having my own space.

The offers were pouring in for Dana, all contingent upon graduating with her degree in her hand. She was so close. Now it looked as if all her hard work was going to be snatched from her.

Dana sat there with a bewildered look on her face.

“ Tamera my Dad said maybe I could just go back in the fall. Earn it myself during the summer. That's what he said to me. Can you believe this shit?” Dana said breaking down again shaking her head as if she was in a daze.

“ What a bitch! He's only known her six months and she's already trying to push you out of the picture. I mean this hoe trying to make your Dad her Sugar Daddy for real I see.” I said sitting next to her on the couch. I hated to see Dana looking so distraught over money. It had never been much of an issue for me. Even after our father passed Terrence always made sure I was straight. I didn't even know what being broke felt like. The sad truth is, my brother had me and my mom living better than my father ever did.

“ Well it looks like it's working. Right now he doesn't give a damn about me or my future. I know one thing. This would have never happened if my mother was still alive. It's like he's lost his mind or something. I'm going to the bathroom to splash some water on my face. I really need to think of something. Honestly I've thought it out and I don't have any options. Not at the last minute like this. I even went to a bank today for a loan but I don't have anything. No collateral. I have one measly credit card I use for books. There damn sure isn't enough to warrant them giving me a loan for eight thousand.” she said standing and walking into the bathroom.

Shit! I have to help my friend. This will kill her to not graduate this spring. What kind of father would do this to their own child? I can't just let Dana go out like that.
I thought angrily. Eight grand wasn't an outrageous amount but I didn't have that type of cash to just give away, but if I ask Terrence maybe he could loan it to her? I got almost that amount deposited into a bank account for me every month. It was to pay the mortgage and all the household bills. After all the bills were paid I still had a nice amount left for my mom and I to use for the rest of the month. I wasn't sure exactly how much Terrence had socked away exactly though.  My school tuition was in a totally separate account. The money I had access to may as well have been play money.

I looked at the clock hanging on my bedroom wall.
Terrence will be calling in about fifteen minutes. What the hell... I'm going to ask if he'll loan her the money.
Dana had been there emotionally for me more times than I could count in the almost two years Terrence had been locked up. There was no way I wasn't going to at least try to help if I knew someone who had the money. It wasn't as if I was asking a stranger. It was my brother.

Dana walked out of the bathroom drying her hands on a paper towel.

I looked up and laughed.

“ Bitch you're the only person I know who can be crying their ass off and still look beautiful. Had this been me,my eyes would be bloodshot. My nose swelled up,snot running down my face and here you are.....still looking like a diva. Bitch it's not fair.” I whined.

“ Shut -up!” Dana laughed. “ I do look a wreck. I know you're trying to get me to laugh...it's not working.”she said flopping down on Tamera's leopard print chaise lounge.

“ I don't care if you laugh or not. It's true.”

I knew I was cute and had a killer shape. Niggas on the block had been letting me know that since I was fourteen. Hell it was partly the reason my brother was locked up now. Trying his hardest to protect me from the guys around the neighborhood and wanting me to keep my head in the books instead of being up in some random niggas face all the time. It was hard though. Sometimes I craved attention. Always had and even though I'd grown to treasure my friendship with Dana, I craved it even more now that the majority of the male attention was targeted towards Dana. And she didn't even want it! Dana was so down to earth and unaware of her beauty that I always felt at ease around her unlike some other females. Dana was without a doubt competition, but she really wasn't only because if you weren't talking about how she could get her designs seen,she didn't have much use for you. At one point I even wondered if she was a lesbian? Who knows. Time will tell I guess.

I think she'd gone on a date once in the near two years I'd known her. She claimed she loved men but I couldn't tell the way she always has her nose in a fashion magazine.

Dana had long,thick naturally dark brown hair that grazed her mid-back. Accented with lighter auburn and blonde highlights...courtesy of her favorite drugstore brand of hair coloring. Dana's eyes were the draw. Bright emerald green eyes that seemed to sparkle. After becoming closer to Dana ,I discovered just how irritated she got answering questions about her eyes. Both of her birth parents had a much darker skin-tone than her own honey brown complexion. Dana tired of the questions about her heritage. Her favorite answer to anyone asking was “ No I'm not mixed. Just plain old black over here. Is that a problem?”

“ Dana don't worry okay. We're going to come up with something. I promise.” Just as the words escaped my lips the phone rang. I hurried to answer.

“You have a collect call from Sampson State Penitentiary inmate Terrence Hill. Do you accept these charges?” the automated attendant asked.

“ Yes!” I answered quickly,pressing the button to accept the call. I covered the mouth-piece of the phone.

“ Dana wait for me in the living-room okay. This is my brother Terrence calling and I really need to talk to him about something important.”

“ Oh! Of course. What do you have to eat? All this crying has me starving.” Dana said laughing and leaving the room walking towards the hall.

“ Hey sis how are you?”

“ I'm fine. You sound better than the last time we spoke which is good. Are you feeling better?” I asked concern for my brothers well being was first and foremost on my mind. Today.

“ Aye girl,don't worry about that. I think I'm just getting antsy about getting these last few months done. It's been long and I'm ready for it to be over.” Terrence said. Terrence could tell by Tamera's voice she was worried and that's the last thing he wanted was her to be concerned about him.

“ How's mom? I'm looking forward to seeing you guys this weekend.”

“ Mom is mom. Enough said on that you already know the deal. Terrence I'm bringing someone with me to the visit on Saturday. I need you to put her on the list. Her name is Dana Majors. She'll be with me not Mom so make sure she's on the list okay?” I decided it would be best to ask for the loan in person. With Dana there instead of over the phone where I knew for sure the answer would be no.

“ Who the hell is she and why the hell is she coming here with you to see me?” Terrence asked suspiciously.

“ You've seen her before she's in a ton of the pictures I've sent you with me. The black girl,green eyes,gorgeous. How could you over look her in the pictures?” I asked laughing.

“ I think I know who you're talking about . I'll put her on the list. It's early enough it shouldn't be a problem.”

We chatted a while longer before an operator interrupted saying our time was coming to an end. I was happy about the conversation. Terrence sounded in better spirits and I hoped he stayed that way considering what I was planning to ask him for this coming Saturday.

* * * *

“H
ill,do you have visitors today?” Marquise my cell-mate asked.

“ Yeah my sister is coming up today and she's bringing her friend I guess. I don't really know what that's about. She wants me to meet her though so I put her name on the list.”

“ Oh yeah? She fine?” Marquise asked grinning “ Y'all doing one of those bathroom visits?”

“ Man please shut your ass up!” I said laughing. It was no secret that a lot of the guards would turn their heads the other way during visiting hour. For the right price. Being one of Jamel's top soldiers on the outside granted me certain privileges on the inside. No one had fucked with me at all during the year I'd been locked up. Though that didn't mean I was going to let any muthafucka in here catch me slipping. Ever. It was prison and the men in here would turn on your ass for a pack of Ramen noodles and a honey-bun  if they got hungry enough. I just made it a habit to stay below the radar and not flaunt shit in their faces. Sleeping with one eye open had become normal for me.

It had been working for a little over a year. With any luck I'd be out sooner. My lawyer had visited me earlier that week and said with my good behavior we could petition the judge for early release. I didn't want to say anything to Tamera or our mom until it was a sure thing. Tamera was taking me being locked up harder than I was at times it seemed but my baby sister didn't have me fooled like she thought. I knew I'd created a spoiled monster in her. I knew she felt bad about my situation but as long as her lifestyle didn't change...she wasn't that broken up about what I was going through. I just decided to relax and wait until I knew something for sure. I didn't want to get anyone’s hopes up unnecessarily, mainly my own.

“ Hill let's go! You have visitors!” I heard a guard call out.

“ Okay man I'll get with you later.

* * * *

T
amera and I sat in the visitors room. I looked around nervously. I'd never been inside a prison before and wouldn't have had my ass in one now if Tamera hadn't begged me to come. Even though I wanted to say no, it was hard to turn Tamera down once she had her mind set on something. Peer pressure was a muthafucka. I still felt like I had the weight of the world on my shoulders. The last thing I was in the mood for was visiting my friends jailbird of a brother. I'd been unable to find any other avenues to secure the eight grand I needed for school. In the next week if something didn't pan out I'd just need to withdraw.