Been To Hell

Chapter 1: Lady B.

Chapter 1: Lady B.

I stepped out of the laundromat with the laundry basket full of freshly cleaned clothes sitting on my hip and lesser quarters in my pocket than I had when I entered. The mid evening air was hot and humid, even for late February. I was glad that my frizzy hair was trapped within the curl formers my mom bought for my cousin who has pretty long blonde hair, well, they never made it to my cousin's. I deemed them mine since they curled my already curly hair; okay my hair is insanely curly and frizzy so I try to tame it with these things. Its worked so far.

The walk back from the laundromat to the two bedroom apartment my mother, my boyfriend, and I share was quick. If I had walked down the street anywhere else with a laundry basket at my side, curl corners in my hair, a cigarette behind my ear in a tank top, booty shorts and slip on slippers I would've been considered ghetto trash, but these were the falsely advertised streets of Hollywood; well actually their the streets of Inglewood. Inglewood is about an hour Southwest from Hollywood. Nonetheless, these are the falsely advertised streets of California.

I walked up the stairs to the second floor of the apartment building before turning left towards the lower numbered apartments. I listened to the usuall sounds of my apartment building as I walked down the outdoor hallway towards my home. As a kid the sounds would make me blush as I walked by, now I smirk and roll my eyes. I've lived in apartment 13 since I was a baby, I'm about to turn 20 in the early days of summer.

When I stepped into the apartment my boyfriend, Matty looked up at me from his phone. In the 15 years I've known him he's always had a grumpy look set as his default expression. He's not a grumpy person, he's a very happy and energetic individual but his facial features are always set so strongly that he looks mad or upset about something. Believe me when I say that when he's grumpy or displeased about something he will let you know.

"You went out like that?" He smiled cheekily. I nodded.

"Yeah." I set the laundry basket down on the couch beside him then fished the extra quarters out of my pocket. Matty told me we needed to do laundry so he went to the store and got twenty dollars in quarters. He thought we needed it, I only used about a third of that. Matty took the extra change from me and buried it in the depths of his saggy pockets (and soon under the couch cushions where I'll find it all). I realized that I could take the curl formers out of my hair now. And that's exactly what I did, I pulled the colorful curls until my brown hair was sprung out of them. Matty watched as I fixed my hair when I was supposed to be doing the laundry. I tied my hair up into a messy bun letting the curls settle messily around each other. Matty doesn't understand that I absolutely hate my hair, I want to get it chemically straightened, but that costs a fortune.

I plucked the top pile of clothes out of the basket, these were my mom's work clothes that I kindly washed for her since she's at work tonight. My mother has worked for the same place for nearly 20 years. She's been a waitress since she was pregnant with me when she was 17. Now she's the manager of that sports bar but she also waitresses there for extra cash. My mother's story is a tale for another time.

I moved through the hot apartment mindlessly. Our landlord has refused to fix the air-conditioning system so the entire house was being kept cool using the ceiling fans and portable fans. The apartment was a decent size but it was cramped for the three of us to live in, especially when my mom's boyfriend would come stay with us for a week or two. He's a bit of a drama queen, he doesn't like coming from Beverly Hills to the "ghetto". And when he does his luggage could fill the entire apartment, that's if he has things his way.

"You look ridiculous." Matty commented when I came back into the living room from putting my mom's work clothes on her dresser. I looked at him through my eyelashes and tried not to smirk. I folded his work pants and set them down on the coffee table.

"Shouldn't you be getting ready for work?" I asked bursting his "zen bubble" with a reality pirck. Matty looked up at me from his phone, his tired blue eyes weren't ringed with dark brown but a sheen of redness from the sun, lack of sleep and amount of alcohol he's consumed in his waking hours.

"You're eager to get rid of me. Is your back up boyfriend coming over?" He joked with his signature smirk. I smiled and nodded my eye, jolting my eyebrows up slightly as I looked over at the black haired, blue eyed man I love.

"Nope. He's busy. Instead I plan on having a lesbian orgy." I plainly told him. Matty chuckled and shook his head. I enjoy our relationship, we can joke about anything and everything but at the same time we're both very much in love with each other.

"I suppose I should start getting ready so I can let you have your fun." He said, struggling to pull his ass out of the couch cushions. He couldn't possibly do it without grunting and groaning like an elderly man. He sighed heavily as soon as he was straightened out. I couldn't help but shake my head with a grin as I folded our laundry. Matty kissed the side of my head as he passed by me. My grin broadened into a smile as my face lit up with blush. Our relationship is far from perfect but we make each other happy for the moment, that's all I care about. We may not have a nice house to ourselves, we may not have the perfect jobs and we may not have the perfect lives; both past and present, but we have a home and jobs, and each other. Matty has everything he wants. I, on the other hand, want to make sure my mom gets a retirement, I want to live in a nice house with Matty, I want my dream job. I want the perfect future.

"Are you going to the gym tonight?" Matty asked, doing up the belt on his pants. A white muscle shirt was draped over his shoulder, exposing the collection of tattoos on his arms, chest and back. I pursed my lips and shrugged.

"Probably not. Why?" Matty put his hands on his hips and shrugged slightly.

"I was thinking about going when I get off work." He said plainly, looking down at me. I could almost laugh at him for even considering going to the gym after he gets off work.

"I can tell you now, you're doing going to the gym when you get off work at one in the morning. You're going to be too exhausted." I reminded him that his jobs takes a lot of energy from him physically. There is no way he's going to be able to go to the gym for a workout after work.

"You doubt my abilities?" He questioned, although it sounded more like a statement to me. I laughed softly and shook my head at him.

"I don't doubt your abilities, babe. I know your abilities, and going to the gym after work isn't one of them." I said draping a pair of his black skinny jeans that he cut into Capri's over my lap with a smile. Matty pretended to be hurt but he laughed and planted his ass down on the couch beside me. He nestled his face into the crook of my neck, planting soft kisses there as I folded our clothes.

"Don't you need to be getting ready for when Jesus comes to pick you up?" I giggled at the tenderness of his kisses as they drew along my neck and the bottom of my jaw. Matty hummed in reply.

"We have 20 minutes before he gets here." Matty was persistent. I giggled and dropped the jeans back into the basket. He leaned into me, causing me to fall back onto the pile of laundry I had stacked up. I laughed and tried to push him away playfully.

"Not on the clean clothes." I told him giggling like a teenage girl. He pulled away from me and got nup to his feet. It took him almost no effort to pick me up bridal style. He chuckled and kissed my lips as I tangled my arms around his neck.

"C'mon baby girl, let's go have some fun before you go lesbo on me." He said causing me to laugh happily as he carried me away.