Hard ToTrust

Very Much Needed

When I got home, Cassandra called. Being that she rarely calls me, I picked up. Although, it could just be about me picking up Amber and Drey.

Me: "why, hello dear sister."

Cassandra: "hey girl. any plans for tonight?"

Me: "well, I'm on babysitting duty, taking care of a six year old and a three year old, why?"

She laughed.

Cassandra: "amber and drey wit they daddy."

I sighed out of relief.

Me: "thank, gawd."

She laughed, I joined in.

Cassandra: "so, wanna hit up the club tonight?"

Me: "omg, are you asking lil ole me to hang out with you? wow, I'm flattered."

Cassandra: "girl, hush. don't act like I ain't ever took you to the club wit me."

She laughed, as did I.

Me: "I know, but I'll gon' and get dressed. when and where are we meeting up?"

Cassandra: "BB Gemz. 9:00pm. so in about 55 minutes."

Me: "okay, cool. see you then, honey."

Cassandra: "Aight, bye child."

We hung up. I hopped in the shower, stayed in there for a good while and then I got out and wrapped a towel around my body. I then lotioned my body. Afterwards, I walked over to my closet and picked out my outfit; a sparkly gold dress with black and gold open-toed heels (in media). I straightened my hair after combing out the shriveled curls it formed in the shower. I hopped in my Nissan Maxima after grabbing my phone, keys and purse. I drove to BB Gemz and waited. I texted her so she'd know where I was. Soon, her midnight blue Audi pulled up next to me. She was looking cute. Anyway, I got out, she was on the phone with someone. Soon as she got off, she hopped out and hugged me tight.

"Oh my gosh! Hey sis!!"

I laughed. We haven't seen each other in months.

"Hey, Cass." I say.

We walked in the club and got hella stares. We took our seats at a nearby bar.

"2 shots of henny, salt on the rim please." She says to the bartender, taking out a $50 bill.

"Vodka, straight no teasers, please and thanks." I say, pulling my money out as well.

"Sure thing, ladies." He walked away after giving Cassandra her change back.

"So, how's life? I haven't seen you in months. Those kids were driving me crazy." She proclaims.

I laughed.

"Life's pretty good. I'm not sufferin' or nothin' so I'm guessin' that's a good sign." I reply.

She slightly chuckled.

"Well, that's good. Talk to Lucky?"

"Nope, why? Is she alright?"

"Oh, yeah. I was just wonderin' if you heard from her."

"Ohh, but no. I've been very busy, yanno me being between jobs and all."

"Yeah, I see."

Just then, the bartender comes back and hands us our beverages.

"Thanks." We say in unison. He nods, smiles and walks off to the next customer on the other side of the bar.

"What about you? How's the married life? Job? Tell me everything." I say.

"Well, Donovan and i are great, work has been a bit stressful but Donovan is my stress reljever." She smiled and winked.

"Ohh, okay. Gon' head then, sista." I laugh, she joins in. Then, her smile faded.

"Cass, what is it?"

"I wonderin' if ya heard about mama."

My eyebrows furrowed.

"What about her, she sick or something?" I ask, sipping on my vodka.

"Child, I wish.." She says, I almost spit my vodka out, laughin'.... She laughed as well. I finally swallowed all of the vodka.

"Well, what happened?" I ask, grinning.

"She has found another husband. He has two girls, Gabrielle and Mason."

"You did say two GIRLS, right?" I say, referring to the fact that Mason was the name of one of my step sisters.

"Yeah, I know. Apparently, they're our age and they're coming to the ceremony for Lexi's promotion Saturday. Mama wants us to meet them and her new husband. Apparently, she wants to be in our lives now."

"Why now? As far as I'm concerned, she's not my mother, Lucky is. She's just a woman who got knocked up and popped me out. She did nothing for us, Cass. Now she wanna go bending her back for us? It's too late now, I'm 24 years old, she could've been there for me all those years. Even when we were living with her, it was as if we had no mama. I'm tired of her trynna seem like the victim, the hurt one. Yeah, she had her own problems to handle, but as a mama, she can't slack on a job she's capable of doing. Plus, her giving us up had nothing to do with what she could and couldn't handle. It was because daddy left her ass. No, it's too motherfucking late to revive something that's been long dead, I'll be sure to tell her that myself Saturday. There's always room for forgiveness, but ion think it's in my heart to do it just yet." I say, finishing off my vodka.

"Leila, I don't lame ya, sis. We're seeing eye to eye with this. It was a choice she decided to make and in the end, she gave up two precious gifts for a no-good dirty cheat. Fake shit don't last forever. Sometimes the good shit don't either but, it's too late for a turn around. After all that shit she had Netty talking, too? It's over." She says, taking her last shot to the head.

Netty is our grandmother. We don't call her grandma, what's the point? Netty is her name, that's what we gon' call her. She don't even call me and Cassandra by our names. She says, "girl, chick, thang, this, that." Sometimes she call us nothing but words and sometimes, she says nothing, nothing at all.

"I just know Saturday, imma black out and spazz, I know it."

"Wait, hold up don't go speaking bad shit like that into existence, that's starting up something before you even arrive."

"Cass, how can you speak into existence something that was already destined to happen? This family was a fail the moment we were born, according to our supposed family. Fuck that, shit gon' go down and you know it just as much as I do."

She sighed.

"Well, I came here, to enjoy myself with my sister. So, let's dance and stop sappin' 'bout our discombobulated, shit of a family."

I laughed and got on the dance floor. Soon afterwards, we parted ways after saying 'goodnight' and 'I love you.' I got home and prepared for another day at Encore tomorrow.