A sharp pain woke Joy up the next morning. She couldn’t believe that she had to pee so badly. She almost had an accident trying to untangle herself from the blanket wrapped around her. She fell on the floor and hit her knee, her right ankle still trapped. After finally freeing herself, she jumped up and ran to the bathroom, where she found Tanya passed out on the floor. She stepped over her and sat down on the toilet, thinking about last night as she relieved herself. How could Tanya cheat on her sexy-ass man? Rob must be working with something. He looked all right, he was sexy and had a nice body, but nothing that really stood out. He definitely had nothing on Shawn.
Once Joy had finished, she washed her hands, splashing some of the water on Tanya to try and wake her up. “Tanya, get off the floor.” Joy shook her shoulder. Tanya moved away but didn’t wake up. Joy went back to the sink, cupped water in her hand and dropped it on Tanya. She then patted her friend’s hair down with her wet hands. He hair was all over her head. Tanya sat up and looked at Joy, who held out her hand to help her up.
Joy left the bathroom, walking past Dre, still sleep. She looked down at his face. He looked so peaceful, like a little boy. On the floor, on the other side of the table, Rob was stretched out, shirtless. Joy had to admit that his upper body was impressive.
After returning to her room, Joy dug through one of the bags, grabbed some jeans, a shirt and toothbrush. She knocked before entering the bathroom, glad that Tanya wasn’t still in there. After showering and getting dressed, she returned to her room.
“Come in,” Joy answered the knock at the door.
“Go with me to the store?” Tanya asked.
“Okay. Let me switch bags, then I’ll be ready.”
Joy grabbed everything out of one bag and placed it into a smaller bag. Her mouth fell open when she saw her mother’s credit card. With all that had happened, she had completely forgotten about it. She wondered if she could still use it. It’d only been a minute; she wasn’t sure if they even knew she was dead. With a shrug, she slid it in her pocket and finished putting the rest of her stuff in the bag, then left with Tanya.
“I know you saw what happened last night,” Tanya said as soon as they got in the car. “I know it seems kind of grimy, but it’s Shawn’s fault,” she continued, trying to justify her actions when Joy didn’t respond.
“What if you get caught?”
“We won’t, because Shawn sleeps like the dead. He makes me sick. I can’t get in the bed unless he’s ready. He’s so controlling. I just needed an outlet. Rob is fun. He makes me laugh. Plus he eats pussy like his life depends on it.”
“That’s still fucked up. You live in his apartment, drive his car, he gives you everything, but you fuck his friend, with him in the next room.” Joy knew right then that she had to find a way to get out of there, because she didn’t want to be there when it blew up in Tanya’s face.
Tanya didn’t reply. She just drove the rest of the way to the store in silence. Joy became lost in her own thoughts. She needed to talk to Kevin. She needed to find a way out of there. Getting a job would take too long.
They spent hours in Shoprite, Tanya complained the whole time about having to feed a whole bunch of niggas. She acted like it was her money she was spending. Joy was tired of her. Tanya got one of the cart boys to load everything in the car by promising to give him her number.
Next, they hit Franklin Mills Mall. Tanya already had her nails done and bags from H&M, Rue 21, and Old Navy. Having no money Joy looked on as Tanya spent hundreds of dollars in under an hour.
Joy was heated that Tanya, didn’t offer to buy her nothing. Joy would have turned her down anyway. She stuck her hands in the pockets of her jeans and relaxed against the door of the dressing room Tanya was in. They were in a store called Against All Odds. Something across the room caught her eye and she made her way across the store. She took her hands out her pockets and her hand brushed up against her mother’s credit card. She pulled it out her pocket and looked at it. She contemplated using it.
“What’s the worst that could happen,” She said out loud to herself. She reached out and picked up the Apple bottom jeans that caught her eye. They were black with white stitching. The pockets had Apple in black stitch and Bottom in rhinestones with sliver stitch outlining both words. Joy was feeling them and she had to have them.
The shirt they had to go with it was a plain white fitted long sleeve shirt with Apple Bottom in sliver across the front. It matched so Joy scooped it up all well. She looked in direction of the fitting room. Tanya was still inside. Joy brushed through the clothes and found her size. She even grabbed two more pairs in different styles and colors. She turned and saw a cute blue and white Rocawear sweat suit she grabbed after finding her size. She went to the display table where they had some fitted Baby Phat T-shirts. She grabbed one of each in her size. She turned back to the fitting room door, glad Tanya was still in there.
She made her way to the counter. Her heart throbbed so hard in her chest, she could feel beat in her ears. She continued to the counter to pay for her outfit not wanting Tanya to see her with the credit card. She knew that Tanya would be all loud asking questions and maybe draw unwanted attention to Joy.
When Tanya came out of the fitting room, Joy was standing there bags in hand waiting for her to come out. Tanya looked down at Joy’s bag, frowned and said, “I didn’t know you had money.”
Tanya enjoyed rubbing her money in Joy’s face. Joy smiled at her and said, “I had a little something,” happy to wipe the smirk off Tanya’s face.
After Tanya paid for her stuff, she wanted to go home. Joy walked to the car swinging the bags all the way to the car; like a happy kid who just left the toy store.
When they returned, Tanya went in the apartment to get help carrying the stuff in, while Joy leaned against the car. Joy went to help the guys as they started grabbing the bags, but Shawn told her she didn’t have to, so she went inside.
Joy closed the door to her room and laid down on the bed. She picked up her cell phone and dialed Kevin’s number. It rang four times before the voicemail came on. She didn’t want to leave a message, so she closed the phone. Getting off the bed was hard; she had little reason or will to get up. She went into the living room, where Shawn and Dre were playing Madden. Joy sat down and watched them play for a while. Dre noticed her steal glances at Shawn. He smiled at her and shook his head.
“Is Tanya here?” she asked.
“No, her and Rob went on a weed run,” Shawn answered.
“Oh,” was all she said. Dre looked at her again.
After the game, Dre said he would be back later and left. Shawn handed her the remote and looked at his watch.
“Have you known Dre and Rob long?” she asked, wanting to talk to him.
“Yeah, since we were little. Rob is actually my sister’s baby father.”
“Oh. I wanted to tell you thank you for letting me stay here.”
“No problem.”
The conversation died off after that and they watched TV in silence. Two hours passed and Tanya still wasn’t back. Shawn must have called her ten times in the last 20 minutes. Each time he didn’t get an answer, he clenched his jaw tighter and tighter.
“I’m not playing with this girl. I’ll fuck her up.”
After another hour had passed, Tanya walked through the door without Rob. Shawn jumped off the couch and grabbed her arm, pulling her into the bedroom and closing the door.
“Where the fuck was you?”
“I was at my mother’s house; she just moved on Locust Ave.”
“I was calling you since you left. Why you ain’t answer?”
“I left my phone in the car. Baby, I’m sorry, I just got caught up with helping my mom and stuff.”
Joy couldn’t hear anything for a while. Her heart rate slowed down and she was just about to take the mute off when she heard a slurping sound.
“Ahh, baby, do that shit, girl.”
“Shawn, stop pushing my head.”
Seconds later she heard Shawn yell out, “Ahhhhh.”
Joy covered her mouth and laughed. She turned the TV back up and pretended to be interested in the show that was on when they both came out of the bedroom. Shawn smiled and Tanya rolled her eyes. They both sat on the couch. The buzzer rung and nobody moved.
“Push the thing,” Shawn told Tanya.
“All right, damn.”
Rob came in and sat down. He pulled out a huge bag of weed and like ten dutches. He spread them on the table and began to roll. Joy went to her room.
Chapter Twenty-four
A week later, Joy was going crazy. She stayed in her room. The smoking and drinking all day, every day irritated her. None of them worked but they always had money, so Joy knew that they had to be hustling or something. She had to find a way out. She thought about Kevin but refused to call him. Looking for a job was even worse. She filled out one hundred applications in one week. Dropping out of school was dumb on her part, because every job asked about a diploma or GED. Lying on the application didn’t bother her; she just hoped they didn’t ask for proof. Tanya had given her the information about going to get her GED, but she had yet to go to the place.
Joy laid her head back on the pillow. Used to the loud music every night, she was starting to doze off, when Tanya opened the door. “You want something to eat?”
“Yeah.” Joy got up, smoothed down her hair and followed her into the living room. About 25 people were standing around, mostly girls. One nasty-ass girl was dancing on the coffee table wearing only a bra and a thong, spilling the contents of the cup in her hand as she popped her butt. She slowed down as Rob, who was standing in front of her, slid his finger in her, moving her thong to the side and exposing her to the rest of the room. A few people stood around and watched. Tanya stopped in her tracks, and Joy almost ran into her. She watched as Rob removed his finger and licked it clean.
“That fucking bastard,” Joy heard Tanya shout over the music.
Tanya stormed off to her bedroom. Joy stood there for a minute, not knowing what to do. Finally, she went after Tanya, who was sitting on the edge of her bed, wiping her face. Joy sat next to her.
“Why are you even worried ’bout that?”
“I know I have Shawn and all, but I’m really feeling Rob and he knows that. He stuck his finger in that bitch and put it in his mouth. He don’t know what she got.”
“You should leave him alone, anyway. Look how he got you. Where is Shawn? What if he seen you act like that? He would have known something right away.”
“Shawn had to take care of some business. Well, that’s what he told me. I know he hustles. I heard him and Rob talking. He tried to use code words. He told Rob that he found a new ‘author’, so that he can get some ‘marathons’. The doctor they had before got busted for writing illegal prescriptions. Shawn was saying that he knew someone he was working on They were happy, and Shawn kept saying, ‘We gonna be caked up’. Later that day I asked Rob what they were talking about. He said that he found a doctor to write him prescriptions for amphetamines. He told me that they sell oxycontins and Xanax, too.”
“Are you going to stay in here all night?” Joy asked, changing the subject.
“I want to lie down but I need to get back out there to watch and make sure these niggas don’t tear up our stuff.”
Back in the living room, Rob and the girl were nowhere to be found. Tanya noticed, and looked around the room for him. She went to the bar, grabbed a bottle of vodka and took it back, straight from the bottle.
Rob came out of Joy’s room fixing his pants, no shirt on. The girl came out behind him, wearing his shirt. Tanya walked over to him and smacked him in the face. He grabbed her arm and pushed her. A few people looked their way. The girl walked away and sat down on some guy’s lap. Joy walked over and pulled Tanya back into the bedroom and closed the door.
“Tanya, now what if someone at this party tells Shawn?”
“Why you so worried ’bout Shawn? Fuck him!” Tanya yelled.