Werewolf In Harlem

Chapter Four:

Bad Things

Lizzo cooked her and Kehlani a beautiful dinner to celebrate their first week together. She finally got a new phone - an upgrade actually. And while her first night was only slightly difficult at the end, she enjoyed working there. And Kehlani has gotten a celebrity to wear her art. She was a very successful tattoo artist and every now and then she would pick up big clients. Lizzo wore some of her master pieces, totally proud to be her best friends test dummy.

Although the dinner was nothing special - honey glazed ham here, mashed potatoes there and more in between - she knew they would enjoy it. She learned a lot while in school, but she always came back to her soul food roots. To her there was nothing better. White people could keep that bland small portioned food.

They invited Belly too, but she was too busy beating on her baby daddy to answer the phone. His friend was the one who got kicked out of the club the other night. To be honest Lizzo thought she just wanted an excuse to start a fight. She thought it was fun and got off on it. Maybe that's why she still with that nigga cause he always got her fighting. She didn't know what it was and it was none of her business.

"Bitch, it smell gooood in here." Kehlani came in gently shutting the door behind her. "Damn it look good too. This is a lot of food sis."

"Yeah, I know. I got started and couldn't stop til I felt it was complete." She shrugged.

"Trust me, I ain't complainin'. Let me wash my hands real quick then I'm diggin' in with or without you."

She laughed at her eager friend and started making their plates. She felt if she was gonna stay here she was gonna earn it in ways other than rent. She was a giving person and hated feeling like she wasn't doing enough. Her mother would force her to do things and that would make her not want to do them. Liz hated being told to do something she was already willing to do.

Lani came back and made good on her word. As soon as she sat down she started stuffing her face. Liz chuckled at her before diving in herself. Not to toot her own horn, but she could throw down in the kitchen. Okay, she could toot a little bit.

"So you gon tell me why you're not in school in the middle of February?" Lani said cutting straight to the point.

Liz sighed and sat back in her chair. She really didn't wanna rehash this shit but she couldn't keep this from her family for long.

"I knew this was comin'. So was good and all. I loved learnin' shït I never knew about food. But I went and got myself a boyfriend when I told myself I just needed to focus on school. I'm so close to makin' the deans list. It's finally almost over. I figured I could do with a little more fun. His name was Maxim. You know how I like 'em; cute medium build white boys with glasses and tattoos. Girl he was everything and he was so sweet. Always got me little gifts and shit. I was really falling for him. But 4 months later shit went downhill."

"He didn't put his hands on you did he?!" She said alert.

"No, nothing like that. That nigga was a whole drug dealer."

"Bitch you from New York. How is that so surprisin'?"

"It wasn't even that. So we were in the same program and the shit was beatin' our ass. So I went over to his place to study or whatever. I walk in and he got a whole ass trap in that bitch. Like it was a dorm room and all I saw was naked bitches and everybody high off their ass."