Abnormal Lives (4 page)

Anthony's mother came running down the street with tears in her eyes. She grabbed Anthony and held him at her side.

Simone and Stefan's grandmother smiled. “Now who was gonna get their ass beat?” she teased.

Anthony's father fussed as he walked up the street. “I can't believe he let a faggot beat him. My son's a fucking wimp.”

Anthony's mother waited until she was a few steps away from Simone and Stefan to voice her frustration. “I hate y'all muthafuckas. I wish y'all move y'all trifling asses from 'round here.”

“Oh shut the fuck up!” Simone yelled, throwing Stefan's Popsicle at Anthony's mother's head.

Since that day, Simone and Stefan hadn't taken shit from anyone. They went outside freely. They didn't worry about what anyone was going to say or do to them. When the neighborhood kids stared at them, they stared back to let them know that they weren't afraid anymore.

Then there was the time Simone's mother, Tessa, had gotten out of rehab and decided to stay with them while their grandmother was in the hospital having her leg amputated. The entire time their grandmother was in the hospital, Tessa never went to see her. She invited one of her junkie boyfriends to lie up in their grandmother's room with her so she could fuck and sniff dope all day. When Tessa's man got tired of fucking her and she ran out of dope, she would run around the house trying to regulate shit. They put up with it for a short time. The way Tessa would yell
down the stairs and tell them to shut the fuck up when they were laughing at a scene from their favorite sitcom. How she reprimanded them when they ordered pizza instead of cooking dinner, wanting to know what she and her man were supposed to eat. Tessa's stay came to an end the day Simone decided to visit her grandmother at the hospital and Stefan stayed at home in the bed sick. When Simone returned home, she overheard her mother cursing at Stefan for calling the police on her boyfriend while she was out trying to score. Stefan had accused her boyfriend of trying to rape him.

As soon as Simone stuck her key in the door, she heard her mother shouting, “I don't let anybody fuck with my man! You fitting to join your mama behind that shit!”

“It's whatever!” Stefan shouted back.

Naw, it's however she wants it
, Simone thought. All Stefan had to do was spark it and she would follow up and slap the hell out of her mother. As soon as Simone walked through the door, Stefan and Tessa went to blows. Simone ran over and shoved her foot in her mother's behind and watched her and Stefan tumble to the floor.

Stefan flipped Tessa off of him and punished her ass, punching her again and again. Simone stood over top of them, screaming for Stefan to whip her mother's ass and kicking her mother every time she threw a decent punch.

“Stefan, let me go. I don't want to fight no more,” Tessa pleaded.

“Let go of my hair then, bitch!” Stefan shouted.

Tessa let go of Stefan's hair and he released her from the floor.

“Now, bitch, get your shit and get the fuck out, 'fore I stump a hole in your ass,” Stefan said.

Tessa ran up the stairs and came back down carrying a tote bag. She rushed to the door like she had received a bomb threat and
was fleeing the house to save her life. Simone walked over to lock the door behind her.

“And, bitch, you ain't worth shit!” Tessa screamed at Simone. “Anytime you—”

“Whatever. Just get the fuck out.” Simone kicked her mother in her back and watched her stumble off of the stoop and fall in a bush on the lawn. Simone slammed the door and she and Stefan burst into laughter.

It was three years later when their grandmother rode the ambulance to the hospital and never returned; having to say goodbye to the woman who'd raised them since they were four and five years old was the saddest incident of them all. They were both eager to leave those memories behind them and start over.

Stefan sat on the sofa watching TV. Simone was slouched down in the chair across from him with her eyes closed. She didn't know about Stefan but after a few sniffs of cocaine and half a blunt of hydro she couldn't give a fuck less what was on TV. She lay back and imagined that the cool air blowing from the air conditioner was the cool wind blowing in her face as she rode down 95-South in her pastel pink 2010 convertible Saab 9-3 with one hand on the steering wheel and the other out of the window, laying against the car door. Her daydream was interrupted by the chirp of the buttons on the cordless phone. She opened her eyes and saw Stefan making a phone call.

“Who you calling?”

“The voicemail.”

“Let me know if any messages are on there for me.”

Simone sat up and looked at Stefan, waiting for him to indicate
that she had a message. A huge smile formed on Stefan's face.

“Who was that?” Simone asked.

“I got a job interview.” Stefan stuck his tongue out at Simone before he listened to the next message. “Girl.” Stefan jumped over onto the arm of Simone's chair and held the phone to her ear. “Listen.”

Simone listened for a few seconds and then rolled her eyes. It was the bank downtown where both of them had filled out a job application, calling to schedule an interview. Simone collapsed across Stefan's lap. “I don't wanna work.”

“So? You're gonna get off your ass and go.” Stefan nudged Simone off of him. “It'll be a good opportunity to meet new clients and, above all, we need to plan for our future. As much as you love your little dream of having this established fashion line, it might be just that; a dream. And remember what I said about depreciation; sooner or later that little trap of yours is gonna wear itself out.”

“Yeah, and sooner or later you're gonna have to replace that for sale sign over your ass with one that says condemned.”

They both giggled.

“Don't act like you don't be giving up yours.”

“I do, but unlike you, I have other options.”

Stefan stuck up his middle finger as he headed up the stairs. “Finish up your daydreaming while I'm up here in the shower, 'cause when I get out we're going to the mall to find something to wear to our interviews.”

“Yeah, that's what I'm going to do, daydream about flying down 95-South with the top dropped on my ride. Maybe it'll keep me from dreading over this job shit.”

“Do what you must; just make sure your ass doesn't get off on that Powhite Parkway exit,” Stefan said. “I'd hate to see your ass
dash around that curve and lunge into that damn clock. Ain't no telling when the hell somebody will come and pull your ass out of there.”

Simone grabbed one of the decorative pillows off of the sofa and tossed it at Stefan.

Why I got to get a job 'cause he wants to get his life together
? Simone thought. Working wasn't her thing. The longest she'd ever kept a job was three weeks and now Stefan was talking about jobs like their future depended on it. As far as she was concerned, a job wasn't in her future unless it involved the fashion designs she was so eager to bring to life. If not she would be an old-ass hooker turning tricks for fifty dollars a pop until she came down with some crippling disability that allowed her to collect Social Security benefits.

3

S
imone and Stefan walked through Regency Square Mall buying everything from their interview outfits to sexy undergarments.

“Damn, Stefan, we should've stayed at home and bought a few outfits online or something, instead of buying this shit.”

Stefan replied, “My interview is at eleven o'clock tomorrow and I could've sworn yours was only thirty minutes after mine.”

“What's your point?”

Stefan sucked his teeth. “My point is, we wouldn't have gotten our order in enough time to have something to wear to our interviews.”

Simone nodded. “True, but you keep talking this shit about saving money and I just spent a grip on some mediocre shit when I could've shopped online and snagged something I really wanted.”

“Do the math,” Stefan said. “You got a lot more shit out here than you would've spent your money on for whatever high-priced shit you wanted to buy online. Damn, why I always got to spell shit out for you?”

Simone looked at Stefan and rolled her eyes. She couldn't win with him. He jumped at every opportunity to make her feel stupid. She was so disgusted with him that her face became flushed. She wanted to run outside, hop in her car, and leave his ass strained. At that moment everything about him rubbed her the wrong
way. She hated how he walked around with his nose stuck in the air, rolling his hazel eyes at whomever he thought to be inferior to him. She hated the way he switched his high-yellow ass around in his form-fitting clothes, swinging his long auburn dreads, trying to show off his girlish figure. The entire time he had a dick hidden away between his legs but he had the nerve to criticize her.

“What's your problem?” Stefan asked, resting his elbow on Simone's shoulder.

Simone didn't answer. She shook her head and looked away.

“It's a shame, how some people walk around with their hearts on their sleeves.”

“Well, it's hard not to when there's someone taking cheap shots at you every second of the day.”

They both paused and Simone turned around to face Stefan with her fist rested on her hip.

“Calm down, baby girl; you don't want to take it there.”

“I don't need to calm down. I'll take the shit wherever you want to go with it.”

“Oh, is that right?” Stefan asked. “All I want you to do is come the fuck back to reality and realize you don't want it with me. And for future references, if I was as sensitive as your ass, I wouldn't wear my heart on my sleeve. I'll put the muthafucka up so I won't get hurt.”

Simone giggled at Stefan's remark and her anger frizzled.

“How'd you get to be so damn sensitive?” Stefan threw his arm over Simone's shoulder.

Simone started to feel guilty about the way she'd snapped at Stefan.
It's just that he's been so judgmental ever since Grandma died
, she told herself. She felt like Stefan was acting out her grandmother's role, disciplining and correcting her. She was grown. She could live her own life. She didn't need him telling her what
to do or how to think. She didn't spend every second they were together telling him how provoking it was for him to prance around town in his tiny sundresses and that he was inviting trouble by doing so. She stuck by him and if trouble came their way, they would deal with it however they needed to in order to prevail. She wanted Stefan to show her the same respect.

Stefan stopped in front of the Guess store and peered through the window.

“What we stopping here for?” Simone asked.

“The pool opened up last weekend and I'm buying a swimsuit so I can take a dip.”

Although both of them had received a lifetime membership to the most popular fitness center in the Tri-City area, a Christmas gift from Mason, Stefan still wanted to go around the way to the pool. Not even around their way but over on the north side of town to the pool at Battery Park. Simone hated going there. Every time they went, someone felt the need to run their mouth; someone who felt the need to try them. The guys always had something degrading to say and all the little bitches that wanted to be down with them would entertain their comments and join them in shooting insults. Most of the time, the shit didn't end well. Every summer, they found themselves having to set someone straight by giving them an ass-whipping that took them and the viewers clean into the next summer to get over. But as soon as they got over it, they were ready to try their hand again. Simone felt like the shit was getting old, real old, but Stefan insisted on going there and meeting up with his friends, Paris, Crystal, and Jewel, better known as Paul, Charlie, and Jamie, and about ten others who hung out there on a regular basis.