Chapter 7
Makynzee
I leave the house early the next morning. I call Jay and tell her about my mom and that I’m looking for an apartment. She says she’ll help me pay rent if I need her to. I don’t want her to. I don’t want to depend on anyone else. After looking at a few apartments I head to the cemetery. I haven’t talked to my dad in over a week. I didn’t even bring fresh flowers. I unload on him. I even tell him about Kalil…well, not everything. Some things a dad just doesn’t need to hear from his daughter. I’m leaning against his headstone and thinking of Riley when my phone rings. It’s Kalil.
“Am I gonna see you tonight?” he asks.
“Does that mean I have my job back?” I kiss my fingers then place them on the headstone before getting up and heading back to my mom’s car.
“Is that the only way I get to see you?”
“That’s the only reason I would have to drive that far.”
“I’m hurt, don’t I mean anything?”
I smile. I love this playful side of him. “I haven’t decided that yet,” I say.
“You know I could just come to you, it’d probably be easier.”
He’s right. It would be. I’m tempted. I miss him. I haven’t seen him since Saturday, but it feels like it’s been months. I’ve got it bad. I’ve also got a crazy mom who’s beeping in on the other line. “I’ll see you later, that’s my mom.”
He sighs as if disappointed and I laugh before hanging up.
When I get to the club Kalil is in a crabby mood. I give him his space. It’s easy to not really think of him when the club is this busy. Around one o’clock I catch him staring at me. I fight back a smile and pretend I don’t see him. He calls my name and I ignore him. He sends me a text with lyrics to the song that’s playing. I don’t think he gets the idea of my lyric game, but I smile as I tell him the name of the song. He tells me I can talk to him now. I tell him I want to dance for him when the club closes and I’ll text him when I’m ready. He sends me a smiley face. How cute is that?
Time seems to drag from that point. Cari’s sick, but she won’t go home. I tell her I’ll cover for her, but she doesn’t leave, so I make her stay behind the bar. When everybody’s finally gone, I hurry to clean up. I have my headphones on, but Cari refuses to stop talking so I uncover one ear so I can hear her.
“Why you in such a good mood tonight?”
“I’m about to dance for Kalil.” Just saying it makes me smile even more.
“Y’all make a cute couple, I’m glad he ignored Dynasty.”
I stop smiling. I didn’t even know Dynasty had ever tried to get with him. It makes sense now. I knew there was more to it than her thinking I wanted her spot as a dancer. I laugh as I text him and tell him I’m waiting for Cari to leave. He tells me if she’s not gone in 5 minutes to kick her out. I think he’s excited. I smile to myself as I go on the stage. I twirl around the center pole as I try to decide what song to dance to, but stop when I see them. I didn’t know any of the dancers were still here. Dynasty and one of the other girls have come through the backstage entrance and are glaring at me. Here we go with this again. Dynasty speaks first.
“Maybe you should leave the dancing to the professionals.”
“Get off the stage so we can practice what we actually get paid to do,” the other says.
I smile and say, “Not a problem.” I should just walk away and I probably would’ve, but they laugh and I know they’ve said something about me. I turn back to them and say, “So this is society’s perception of professionals…that’s hilarious.” They didn’t expect me to say anything, so they’re shocked. I walk away, but of course, they follow. One of them pushes me. I glance up at Cari, who looks nervous, before turning back to them. “You only get one,” I say. I head for the bar since I don’t feel like dancing anymore. I’ll make it up to him. I go for the safe, but Cari beats me to it. For some reason Dynasty has decided to come around the other side of the bar. I don’t see her friend, which means she’s probably behind me. I wonder how mad Kalil would be if I actually go through with my plan to use every liquor bottle within my reach as a weapon. I may not be the best fighter, but I’m deadly if I get a “weapon.” Dynasty is in front of me now. Oh well, Kalil will get over it. “Dynasty, you really wanna do this?” I ask.
“Minx, let’s just go,” Cari says.
She actually sounds scared. It’s times like this that I need Jay. My face stings…again. The whole slapping thing is getting old. Especially since my cheek still hurts from the tea my mom threw on me. I guess Jose Cuervo is the bottle closest to my hand because that’s what I use to hit Dynasty. She yells out as she falls back. I go in for a second shot, but someone grabs me from behind. I usually get lost in his scent, but right now it pisses me off. It means the fight is over. I hate when I get this mad because I can’t stop myself from crying.
“What the fuck are ya’ll doing?” Kalil yells.
I struggle to break free from him. If I hit her again maybe I’ll feel better. It’s useless to struggle with him. I’m only making myself tired, so I give up and listen as Dynasty pleads her case.
“That bitch ain’t a dancer; she shouldn’t have been on my damn stage!” she yells as she wipes blood from her face.
I tap Kalil’s arm and say, “Let me go.”
“You gone grab another bottle?”
I want to tell him yes, but Dynasty’s yelling again.
“She gone need more than a damn bottle, that’s my stage, you’ll never be me!”
I have to laugh. “Are you serious? You really think I wanna be you?” I’m beyond pissed and she just made this personal. Kalil isn’t really holding me back, so I elbow him. He’s surprised and loosens up just enough for me to get free. I step up to Dynasty’s face and say, “Don’t get it twisted, at my worst I’m still better than your ass. You’re a waste of fake, ain’t shit real about you!” She steps back. Just like I thought, she’s all talk. I turn back to Kalil. For some reason he backs away too. “I’m done! You don’t want me to dance fine, but if they think I want their spots the least you could do is let me show them that if I wanted it, I’d have it!” He doesn’t respond, so I keep going. “If they gone hate me anyway, at least let me give them a reason to.” I grab my bag and head for the door. I still think I’ll feel better if I hit Dynasty again so I push her as I walk by. I feel much better.
Kalil follows me and asks, “Where you going, Mak?”
That’s a stupid question. “Out for ice cream.”
He grabs my arm and makes me face him. As mad as I am, his touch calms me…then it drives me insane from wanting his hands all over me.
“You shouldn’t drive if you’re this mad.”
I can’t look at him. If I do, I’ll turn into a pile of worthless. We haven’t been this close to each other since Saturday. I want to hug him, but I pull away instead. “I’ll text you when I make it home.” I ignore his calls while driving. When I make it home I text him to let him know. He calls me. I turn my phone off.
Kalil
It’s Saturday morning. I haven’t talked to or seen Mak since she left the club on Wednesday. She wouldn’t answer my calls or texts on Thursday. Yesterday, she sent me the lyrics to a song. She said it’s by Jeremih.
“If it looks this good, I wonder how it tastes; baby if I touch your body, would you scream my name; would you whisper to me it’s yours; girl you smell so gentle and pure, you control my senses.”
Those are the lyrics she sent me. I think she’s trying to tell me something. Jeremih has two albums out and I haven’t heard those lyrics in any of the songs on either one. I’m almost mad. I check my phone as I pull into my garage, even though I know she hasn’t called. She’s actually willing to talk to me and she’s obviously in a pretty good mood and I can’t find the fucking song. I take a deep breath and just as I’m about to skip to the next song the one that I’m listening to goes into a different beat. Ain’t that a bitch? This whole time I was skipping over
it. “The Five Senses.” I laugh to myself and call her while it’s still playing.
“Wow, Kalil. A whole day?” she says.
I’ve missed her voice. I honestly feel like a little bitch when it comes to her. What man misses somebody’s voice?
“You cheated, that’s not a whole song. I didn’t even notice it,” I say.
She laughs. I remember that I haven’t seen her since Wednesday.
“So we just don’t come to work anymore?”
“I’m pretty sure I said I was done before I left.”
“You can’t just quit, school won’t pay for itself.”
“Two reasons you don’t want me working for you, Kalil.”
“What reasons?”
“One, if I work for you it’s only as a dancer and two, if I’m there my mission is to make Dynasty’s life a living hell.”
I smile. She says Dynasty as if it’s a bad word. I knew that was coming. “Okay.”
“What does okay mean?” she asks.
I hear a female in the background as I say, “You can dance tonight…get it out your system.” No response. I ask, “You still there?”
“You’re on speaker, tell Jay what you just said.”
“You can dance tonight.”
Jaida ask, “What’s the catch?”
“Boy shorts and a bra.” I should have told her she had to keep all of her clothes on, but something tells me she’s going to do what she wants regardless of what I say.
“Kalil, I have no boobs anyway. What purpose would a bra serve?”
So she seriously wants to strip?
Jaida asks, “What time?”
“Doesn’t matter.”
Mak asks, “Is Dynasty dancing tonight?”
I guess this is a part of making her life a living hell. “Yeah.”
“I wanna go on right before she does.”
I remember that gymnastics is a competitive sport. This should be interesting. “Okay.”
“Is there any specific color you would like for me to wear?”
“Don’t matter, you’re not dancing for me.”
“Not true, I told you before, I’ll only dance for Kalil. It doesn’t matter who else is there everything I do tonight is for your viewing pleasure.”
Virgins don’t know to say things like that, right? I ask her to spend the night with me.
She asks, “Do you promise to have your way with me?”
I laugh and say, “I promise.”
“So what time are you coming to get us?”
She’s serious. I look at my watch. It’s one fifteen in the afternoon. I think I was coming home to do something important, but oh well.
“Three fifteen.”
She laughs and tells me to be careful.
When I get to her house she’s in the yard doing flips. Lots of flips. She does three in a row and on the fourth she bounces in the air and twirls her body around and over. When she lands she stumbles. Jaida who’s on the porch watching her is already laughing. Mak falls flat on her ass. She jumps up and runs towards Jaida who points towards me. She looks back, smiles, and holds up one finger before running into the house. Jaida gets into the backseat.
“Nice ride.”
I tell her thank you. Mak comes back out with two bags and gets in the front seat next to me. She says hi and gives me a peck on my cheek. That’s not enough. I point to my lips. She smiles and gives me another kiss. I’d die for those lips. Does that translate to her as a whole? Jaida’s a hater.
“I think I just threw up in my mouth, if y’all don’t stop it’s gonna be on your seats.”
We laugh and Mak pulls away.
“I need my McDonald’s fix.”
I think she’s really addicted to their fries. I can’t remember ever seeing her without a carton of them. It’s cool. She can have whatever she wants.