I was so happy to be done with my last exam. I had three classes and all three professors gave tests on the same day. I was overwhelmed and exhausted from studying day and night, but it paid off. I made an A on each one of them and I was ready to celebrate. Kelly, Ardeema, Adrian, and I were meeting up at the hibachi bar and grill to have drinks and catch up. Actually, Kelly was the only one we needed to catch up with because the twins and I were always together. She finally decided to come up for air and spend some time with us. I was so happy when she called me, but I still had a few bones to pick with her. After I spent some time with my girls I wanted to go see Micheal. I really needed to do something special for him. We hadn’t seen each other in two days because of me studying day and night. I stayed at my mama’s house so I wouldn’t be distracted by him and he was not too happy about it. I sent him a text telling him that I would be over as soon as I left the restaurant. I had my duffle bag packed with a few surprises, I was sure he would like. I pulled up to the restaurant, but I didn’t see anybody else’s car. I decided to sit in my car and wait until someone else arrived. I pulled up my Facebook page on my phone and scrolled through my timeline. I jumped when I heard a knock on the passenger side window. I looked to see who it was before rolling the window down. “Girl you scared the hell out of me!” I said, holding my chest. “Sorry, what you doing out here by yourself?” Tori asked me. “I’m waiting for Kelly and my sister- in- laws to get here,” I replied. “After all those exams I took today, I need a drink.” I was hoping that she was meeting someone else here so she didn’t ask to join us. Kelly would have a fit if she showed up and Tori was there. “I hear that. I’m just coming to get take out. I just left the gym so I’m not dressed to stay,” she replied. I never notice the leggings and tennis shoes she wore, but I was happy to hear that she was leaving. “Okay, well, I’ll see you later,” I said. “Alright girl, have fun,” Tori said, going into the restaurant. I rolled the window up and got out of the car. I was about to call Kelly, but she was already pulling up. She was a few minutes late, but at least she showed up this time. When she got out of the car she ran over and gave me a big hug. “Hey friend, I missed you!” She squealed, squeezing the life out of me. I hugged her back because I genuinely missed her too. “I missed you too, but I’m still pissed with you,” I said pulling away from her. “I know and I’m truly sorry for shutting you out. I have a lot going on with me right now, but I promise we’ll talk about everything soon. You just have to promise not to hate me afterwards,” she said. “Hate you? Why would I hate you? You know that would never happen,” I said, looking at her confused. She wasn’t making any sense to me. “Yeah, you say that now. I just really don’t think you’ll understand,” she replied. Well, try me,” I snapped. She was pissing me off. If we were best friends like she said we were then she should know that she could talk to me about anything. “I’m listening,” I said with my hand on my hips. “Ugh, look at this bitch,” she whispered looking behind me. I turned around and saw Tori walking up with food in her hands. “Hey Kelly,” she said with a smirk on her face. “Girl bye!” Kelly said, walking off. “That’s your bestie,” Tori said laughing. “What’s up with y’all?” I asked, “We all used to get along just fine a few years ago. As a matter of fact, y’all were friends before I even came into the picture.” I knew that Kelly was pissed with Tori for hooking me up with Jay, but this was ridiculous. It seemed to be more personal than that. “Exactly, but you need to ask her that question. I’m not the one with the problem,” Tori said walking off. I didn’t know what was going on and nobody seemed to want to tell me anything. I made my way up the stairs to the patio and sat down next to Kelly. “Ardeema said they’re on their way,” she said once I sat down. “That’s cool, but we need to talk,” I said looking at her. “Can we please not do this right now, Bey? I’m really not in the mood,” she said. “I really don’t care about what mood you’re in. Something is up with you and you need to start talking. I’m tired of doing the back and forth thing and I’m tired of you talking in riddles!” I snapped. She looked at me with watery eyes and grabbed my hand. “Ok, but you have to promise me that nothing will change between us. You’re my best friend and I already feel like I’m ruining our friendship by keeping secrets,” she cried. I grabbed a tissue from my purse and wiped her eyes. “Kelly what’s wrong, you’re scaring me?” I said nervously. I just prayed that it wasn’t anything serious. It couldn’t have been health related because I’m sure she wouldn’t have kept that from me. She leaned her head on my shoulder and cried while I tried my best to comfort her. “Girl look at these dyke bitches.” I heard, followed by laughter. I looked up and saw that hood rat Courtney and her nasty ass sister Camilla standing there watching us. Kelly sat up and wiped her eyes and looked over at both them. She was done crying. I could tell she was alert and ready for whatever. “I can’t be too much of a dyke, just ask your husband,” I said laughing along with Kelly. She stopped laughing when I said that. I knew I hit a nerve so I kept going. “When does my boo come home anyway?” I asked messing with her. She took a step towards me, but her sister pulled her back. “You not stupid, you know what an ass whooping from me feels like,” I said standing to my feet. “Bitch don’t flatter yourself. I’m just not trying to lose my baby fighting with your dumb ass,” she said rubbing her belly. I had to do a double take when I saw the small pouch she was rubbing. She looked like she gained some weight so it was possible that she was pregnant. “Girl that ain’t nothing but a beer belly, the same one you’ve been having forever. The same one that your husband hated,” I said smiling. “Obviously he didn’t hate it too much or I wouldn’t be having another one of his babies,” she said matter- of- factly. I hadn’t seen or talked to Jay in months, but for some reason her comment pissed me off, even though I would never show it. I shouldn’t have been surprised, but I was. After all, she is his wife. I could tell she wanted to play dirty and I was more than prepared. “I hope you’re sure it’s his this time. I would hate to have a repeat of what happened with Drew,” I smirked. “Oh no doubt about it, he is definitely the father. Every time he left your bed, he climbed right back into mine,” she said laughing. “Was that before or after he asked for a divorce?” I countered. She wasn’t laughing after that. “Fuck you Beyonce!” She yelled. “I’ll pass, but when Jay comes home tell him he can most definitely get it,” I said walking away. Courtney was still yelling and cursing, but I kept going without looking back. Kelly followed me through the restaurant and into the bathroom. I grabbed a hand full of paper towels and wet them with cold water. As hard as I tried, I couldn’t stop the tears from flowing. I shouldn’t have been hurt, but I was and I really didn’t know why. Jay should have been the last person on my mind, but thanks to Courtney, he was all I could think of at the moment. “What the hell are you crying for?” Kelly asked while wiping my face. “I don’t know.” I sobbed into the paper towels I was holding. “Are you serious right now Beyonce? You have a damn good man and you in here crying behind Jay's dog ass?” Kelly said. She was looking at me like I was crazy and maybe I was. “I know, I’m good now,” I said wiping my eyes. I don’t know what came over me, but it was gone just as fast as it came. “You better be good because Ardeema just sent me a text saying they’re outside.” “How did we go from me crying on your shoulder to you crying on mine?” Kelly laughed. I laughed too, as she helped me wipe my face and pull myself together. I applied some gloss to my lips and checked myself in the mirror before we exited the bathroom. I couldn’t let Micheal's sisters see that I had been crying. They would tell him and that would open up another can of worms that I wasn’t prepared for. “Hey y’all!” Adrian and Ardeema said as we met them outside. “Give me a hug stranger,” Adrian said to Kelly. Just like me, they hadn’t seen her in a while. “Please don’t start trying to make me feel bad. I feel bad enough as it is,” Kelly said, hugging both of her cousins. “You should feel bad, but I’m hungry, let’s go find somewhere to sit,” Adrian said holding her stomach. We found a table right next to the bar and that was perfect for me. I needed a drink in the worst way. Kelly stopped a passing waitress and we all placed our drink and food orders. “So what’s been going on with your cousin?” Adrian asked. She was usually the more outspoken one out of the two sisters. “Nothing much,” Kelly said, shrugging her shoulders. “Well something must be going on. Nobody has seen you and we barely talk to you. This new man must really be the shit. From what I heard, he got you babysitting and everything,” Adrian said all in one breath. “Babysitting! I know this nigga don’t have you watching his damn kids!” I yelled, looking at Kelly in surprise. This was news to me. Kelly loved kids, but I’ve never known her to babysit for anyone. As much as I loved Jay and his kids, I never kept them when he wasn’t around. “It’s not even like that. That was something I chose to do and you have a very big mouth by the way,” Kelly said rolling her eyes at Adrian. “I didn’t know it was a secret,” Adrian replied nonchalantly. So she was talking to Adrian about her mystery man, but she couldn’t talk to me. This was not the Kelly I knew and loved. Something was going on with her and I couldn’t wait to find out what it was. I kept replaying the conversation we had earlier over and over in my head. Why would she think I would hate her? She was close to telling me before Courtney interrupted us, but I know she wouldn’t say anything as long as her cousins were around. “So when can we meet him?” Adrian asked, breaking me from my thoughts. That was the million dollar question that everyone wanted the answer to. “I don’t know Adrian,” Kelly said sounding uncomfortable. “Is he ugly or something?” I asked. I figured that maybe she was ashamed of him or something. “No,” Kelly said, laughing. “Well, what is it?” Ardeema asked. “Can we just enjoy our time together without talking about my love life?” Kelly asked us. We all nodded our heads agreeing to drop it for now. I had more questions, but I didn’t want to ask them in front of everyone. I pulled out my phone and sent Kelly a text telling her that we need to set aside a time to talk, just the two of us. When she read the text she looked up at me and nodded. I’m going to leave it alone for now, but this conversation was far from being over. We enjoyed our food and drinks, as well as, each other’s company for the rest of the night.
