August's Empathy

At Your Best

Augusts Empathy

Monique walked into Nikki's home. "Nick! I got you some wings!"

She was met with silence. Sitting her bags down, she headed into the bedroom. The space was cleaned up well and everything was in place. Monique figured that they had just forgot to lock the door. She decided to wait but she needed to use the bathroom before doing so.

She walked inside and her heart stopped. Tears clouded her vision as she eyed Nikki's nearly lifeless body. "Come on, Nikki. Don't do this to me." As she checked for a pulse, she was dialing 911 at the same time.

Meanwhile, August was finishing his blunt as he watched Debarge pull inside of the driveway. He stood up and greeted his boy with a dap. "What's going on with you?"

"Not much. I'm just chilling. You know Bianca came back into town and she's pregnant?" Debarge announced.

August eyes widened. He looked at his friend and then chuckled. That was a lot going on for him with two women simultaneously pregnant. That must've been a lot of pressure, financially. "And I bet they're both pressed for cash?"

"Not Nikki. It hasn't been long. This is a first for Bianca so she's kind of wanting to go wild with getting things we don't need."
August eyed his friend in suspicion.

"It's a first for Nikki, too. Maybe she needs help but she is afraid to ask. Do you go check on her? Call her or anything to show that you care?"

Debarge looked uncomfortable. It wasn't the conversation he came over to have with his friend. August called him for something. He needed him to get to the point. Bianca would have a fit if she missed her doctor's appointment. She always seemed to have those when he wasn't doing his part right.

"Well, I think it's safe to say you been coming up short because you've been giving her money."

"I been coming up short?! Nigga, what the fuck do you think I am? I'm only one man and I can't be everywhere at once, and I can't please two women and you at the same time. I been coming up short because this shit is not my life. I don't have the time or patience to do the dirty work that you refuse to do! This shit is just for fast money, not a fucking career. I'm starting to realize that you think you my boss and that I answer to your calls. Man, make this the last day I ever work for or keep in touch with you."

August watched him walk off before going back inside of his home. He punched the first thing in sight. The glass frame fell at his feet and shattered into tiny pieces. Slamming his fist into an old family picture, he yelled out in pain as blood leaked from his sore knuckles.

Monique walked in just in time to grab him and lead him away from the glass. His eyes were glossy as he sat down. "I didn't ask for none of this shit. I did this because I never finished school and I wanted to be somebody important. Three years I put my fucking life on the line just to have long money and I still feel like I'm in the same spot. I don't like this shit! I just want to go back and take the bullet for Mel. I'm tired of living like this, man!"

She wrapped her arms around him. "You have a purpose and you've made something happen for yourself. August, you don't have to live like this. You have talent and you don't have to hide it behind this. You make me happy and I know this is something you must work on by yourself, but I just want you to be genuinely happy. I am in love with you and I know your true potential but you got to know it to make something happen."

He looked into her eyes before speaking, "I'm done."

Nikki woke up with wires in her arms. She looked over at Debarge who was standing at the window. "D..."

He turned around and she noticed the tears streaming down his face. "What the fuck were you thinking, Nikki? You tried to kill my baby."

"I'm sorry, I was depressed. You left me for her and I had no one else."

"So you popped some dumb ass pills to try to recover from what I did? You tried to kill my first fucking baby because you was depressed? That's a fugazi ass excuse and you know it. Now you might go to jail because they found that shit in your system and that's attempted murder. Why did you do this?"

Nikki sat up. "Now hold the hell on! I might've popped those pills but it was you who drove me to it. We were happy before she showed her ass up on my doorstep and ruined what we had. You didn't call, you didn't come by, and I tried to contact you only to find out you blocked my number!! I was in this alone and I couldn't be another statistic, a single mother raising a broken little boy or girl because that child didn't have a father. Bianca might've been your girl but I treated you like the king you are, cooking for you and cleaning up after you. I never made one complaint about the way I was being treated because I didn't know my worth."

Debarge sighed.

"I'm a good woman and an amazing person. You can't run over me like this and expect me to not be hurt. I loved you and I still do for some reason. We had sex. I gave myself to you and made full commitment to whatever we had going on with intentions of keeping you. I see that you need more than what I done in order to be happy, so go chase Bianca and I'll handle mines. Get out."

She pressed the alert button and a nurse immediately popped in. She asked him politely to leave. Debarge's anger never left his eyes.

"This isn't the last time we gonna talk, Nikki. You can't keep my child from me."

"Watch me."