Another Man's Treasure (Joey Bada$$ Story)

Part Venticinque

I never expected to be in this position. My blood boiling, tears in my eyes, stomping through the streets of LA more angry than I’ve ever been: all because of a boy.

Not just a boy, but one who I didn’t even know I was so attached to, who I didn’t even know I could express so much passion for. There was no time to gawk at my feelings, all I could do was act. So I ran at top-speed, dodging through alleys and taking shortcuts to lose Joey, CJ and Kirk. They were chasing after me, probably trying to get a hold of me before I did anything stupid. They couldn’t stop that from happening; I could feel it in my bones that soon I would be making a fool of myself. But it was better that I was making a fool of my own self than Joey and Melissa making a fool of me.

I finally reached the house. It was small, just two stories with a tiny garage and an unkempt front lawn. I pounded on the front door, out of breath but still somehow full of energy. I didn’t stop banging until she opened up. It was the same girl from the hospital: same big, pouty lips, perfectly waxed eyebrows, long weave. It was her, the girl Joey betrayed me for. Her.

“Hey, how can I help you?”

I stared at her.

“Um...do you speak?” She asked me.

Still, I didn’t answer.

She was about to close the door, but I stuck my foot in the doorway, forcing her to open up again.

“Don’t you recognize me, Melissa?” I asked her. She stared at me for a while and began to nod.

“Yeah, you look a little familiar. Where have I seen you before?”

“Only once. You were leaving the hospital and I was just arriving. Remember now?”

She frowned. “To see Joey?”

“Yes.” I pushed past her and into the pathetic house; she might as well live in an apartment with how tiny it was inside. There was just enough space for her to change her mind.

“What are you doing in my house, though?”

“I just want to talk to you. Is that okay?” I examined the pictures she had all around the house, of herself as a child and of other children who might be her siblings. She closed front door and sat down on her couch.

“What is there to talk about?”

Good question. There was quite a lot to talk about between the two of us, so many questions I had for her and so many answers she probably didn’t have. I turned away from her pictures and stood in front of the couch.

“Did you know?” I asked.

“Know what?”

“Did you know that Joey and I were together?” Technically, we weren’t. Just because you tell someone you love them doesn’t mean that you’re in a relationship with them. But we might as well be - we live in the same house and do everything together and spend most of our time together, and we play Mommy and Daddy with Latara all day. We were close enough.

Melissa laughed. “No, I didn’t know that. He didn’t tell me that, actually.”

“He doesn’t have to tell you,” I said. “He probably didn’t, because he knows that it’s kind of obvious. I mean, he’s not my fiancee or anything, but he means a lot to me and vice versa. You didn’t know that?”

“I wasn’t aware.”

“Don’t mock me.” I barked. “If I were you, and I saw a girl coming to see Joey in the hospital, I’d ask who she was. I’d check to see if she had some kind of position in his life before I went throwing myself at him.”

“Wait a minute,” Melissa stood up. “Watch your tone. I didn’t ‘throw myself’ at Joey. I don’t even know your first name and you’re coming in my home, insulting me? How dare you?”

“My first name is Jamie-Lee. And how dare you totally ignore the fact that I exist? You saw me with your own eyes, and you didn’t check whether I was his girlfriend or not. You couldn’t care less, right? All you wanted was the sex.” I shook my head.

“Excuse me?”

“You disgust me. You’re a whore!”

“Get out!” Melissa screamed. She shoved my chest. “Get out of my house!”

I stumbled backward into her dresser, knocking down one of her pictures. “Don’t touch me.” I shoved her back with all my strenght, and she wobbled back even farther than I had. We stood quietly for a few seconds, glaring at each other with fire in our eyes, and then we exploded. At exactly the same time, we charged for each other, growling and scratching like cats. I couldn’t even see with how furious I was - all I could do was punch and kick and pull. In no time we were both on the floor, wrestling with one hand tugging the other’s hair. At one point I was on top, then her, then me again. We were taking turns winning and losing. I wanted to kill her, to erase the smugness from her and put her to shame for the rest of her life. I fought harder the more I thought about it, beating her face with my fists, driving my heels into her stomach, throwing and pushing her around her own living room.

And then the door burst open. It took all three of them - CJ, Joey and Kirk - to break us apart, and when they finally did we were still fighting to get a hold of each other.

“Let me go!” I kicked at Kirk and Joey, who held me tightly by the arms and legs. CJ struggled to restrain Melissa.

“You’re pathetic,” She screamed at me. “You should be embarrassed!”

“I’m not the one giving myself up for nothing!”

She broke free from CJ and began to charge after me. Kirk quickly let me go and pushed her back into CJ’s arms, helping him hold her down. Joey was strong enough to handle me on his own. I didn’t even want him to touch me - I squirmed and squealed to get as far away from him as I could, and to smash his Melissa’s face in.

“Let’s go, Jamie.” He whispered in my ear. “Calm down.”

“Shut up!” I stomped on his toes. “You’re the last voice I want to hear right now.”

He picked me up and began to carry me toward the door. I drove my elbow into his chest, punched him, did everything I could to slow him down. I wasn’t going to stop him. But before I was completely out, Melissa called us.

“Hey, Jamie-Lee and Joey,” She said, now free from CJ and Kirk. She was bleeding from a cut on her forehead. “Just to let you know: I’m keeping the baby.”

I don’t know where I got the strength from, but I managed to push Joey off of me and get close enough to Melissa to spit on her, right in her face, and then storm out of her house without the help of any of the guys.

This day was officially one of my worst.