Authors: Leila Jefferson
“
You just never been in love before. Bitches be throwing it at him, and I gotta check that ass. A nigga gonna always fuck if pussy right there. You gotta overlook that shit and know what you do to a nigga, can’t no other bitch do.”
Lexi shook her heard. “Whatever floats your boat.”
As they stood outside talking and laughing, a light skinned girl walked up. “Where Todd?”
“
Bitch, you got me fucked up,” Yesina said before running up on the girl and started swinging. Before she could react, Lexi’s instincts made her run up as well and help her sister stomp the girl out. Todd ended up running outside after one of the corner boys told him what was going on.
“
Kim, why you always starting trouble?” he yelled as he pried the sisters off of the girl.
With a bloody nose, swelling eye, and busted lip, Kim screamed, “I wasn’t starting trouble when we was just fucking!”
That did it. Yesina tore away from Todd and started pounding the girl again. Like déjà vu, Lexi jumped in once again. The rest of the corner boys helped pull the girls apart.
“
Yesina ain’t no damn joke,” one of the boys said while laughing.
“
She ride or die. You got a sister?” another yelled.
While Todd threw Kim in the car to take her home, he pointed at Lexi. “That’s her sister right there.”
The dude that asked the question approached Lexi. “Damn, lil’ chocolate, what’s up with you?”
“
Not a damn thang,” Lexi said, walking in the house with Yesina. “Who was that bitch?”
“
His baby momma.”
Sue shook her head. “Y’all gonna keep on fighting over that nigga, huh?”
Yesina smacked her lips and rolled her eyes. “That’s my man, and that bitch can’t have him.”
“
That’s right, girl. Don’t let nobody take your man,” Sue egged with a Newport dangling from her lips.
Sue was thirty two and thought Todd was more her friend than her son. She let him raise himself and had no problem with letting little girls spend the night. That was how Kim got pregnant a year earlier because she kept telling her mother she was staying at her friend’s house when she was laid up with Todd. Kim’s mother was furious to learn her thirteen year old daughter was having a baby. She wanted her to get an abortion but she refused, and Planned Parenthood wouldn’t make her if she didn’t want to go through with the procedure. She was in love and wanted to have Todd’s baby.
Kim was crushed when Yesina entered the picture. Todd forgot all about her and Toddeshia. Kim and Yesina fought every time they bumped into each other, which was often. Although Todd made it clear he wasn’t Kim’s man anymore, he stated he was her baby’s daddy and he could hit it whenever he wanted. Kim let him fuck her whenever he wanted because she thought that was the way to get him back. She told herself she needed to move on, but Todd was her first and she loved him. As each day passed, moving to New Jersey with her aunt sounded better by the minute.
Once the dust settled, Lexi and Yesina hung out for a while and the hours crept by. It was three in the morning when Lexi was sleep on the couch and Todd finally walked in. He stood over Lexi, lusting after her young body. He sat down and slowly rubbed her leg. Lexi’s eyes were closed, but she wasn’t sleep. She was again disgusted. She pretended to stretch and turn over, and in the midst of doing that she kicked the shit out of Todd. He sat motionless and waited for her to settle again. He then slowly moved his hand under her cover to rub her leg. Lexi couldn’t play the game.
She shot straight up. “Look, I would never fuck over my sister for a grimey ass nigga like you. You probably been fucking that bitch, then you wanna come over here and think you gonna creep in my panties, dirty ass nigga.”
“
You a feisty lil’ thang, huh? Yea, your sister was, too, but I broke that ass down.”
“
You a bitch ass nigga and she’ll see the light soon enough.”
“
Naw, that’s my bitch and she will be forever.”
Todd thought of taking the pussy but he knew Lexi would scream and fight, and that wasn’t a good look. He vowed to catch her another time. He walked in the room and a few moments later, Lexi heard moaning from them fucking. She shook her head. She knew a woman in love could see nothing past her man. Before things got out of control, she grabbed her heavy ass suitcases out of the car and called a cab to take her to her to a motel until the next morning.
She hadn’t been to Elizabeth’s house in years. She was about nine the last time her and Yesina jumped on the bus and showed up. Derrick and Candy had been gone a full week and there wasn’t any food left in the house. Yesina got up early that morning and washed them some shorts, a shirt, and clean panties, and hung the items over the fence in the backyard to dry. She washed and conditioned her and her sister’s hair, and combed neat ponytails for both of them. She got a few dollars from Bank Roll and they jumped on the bus.
Yesina always wanted to make sure they looked their best when they showed up on Elizabeth’s doorstep because everything there always looked good. The house was clean. There was always food. Elizabeth didn’t even drink, let alone get high on crack.
Lexi shook her head. Yesina always took care of her. She marched right up to Elizabeth’s house and knocked on the door. Chrisette opened the door, looked them up and down, and let them in. She had always been a bitch.
Christy walked up to the sisters. “Hey, Sin. Hey, Lexi. You guys spending the night?” she asked.
Chrisette rolled her eyes. “What you think? Uncle Derrick and that damn Candy probably out somewhere trying to get high.”
Yesina looked at her and rolled her eyes. “Anyways,
Christy
, yea, we staying here long as Auntie OK with it.” Both girls had that Savage fire in them. Chrisette talked shit to almost everyone in the family, but Yesina wouldn’t take it and as Lexi got closer to the house, she knew she wouldn’t take it, either. Chrisette had moved out but her and Christina visited their mother often, and Lexi was prepared to clown anyone that seemed to need it.
Chapter 5
Lexi walked up to that door as tall and as strong as her sister had done so many times. She knocked and waited to see who would answer.
“
Hey, Lexi. What’s up?” Christy said when she opened the door.
“
Same shit, different day,” Lexi said as she walked in the house like she owned it. “Where’s Auntie Liz?”
“
She at work. Where Yesina?”
“
She ain’t here.” Lexi placed her suitcases on the floor and dropped her purse on the couch before she sat down. “You think it’ll be cool to stay here a little while?”
“
We got two empty rooms now. I’m sure momma won’t trip. I need some company.”
Lexi rolled her eyes and looked annoyed by Christy. “Y’all got anything to drink in here?”
“
Some orange juice and Kool Aid.”
Lexi laughed. “Bitch, I mean like vodka, gin, erk and jerk.”
“
You know my momma don’t drink.”
“
Shit, you seventeen, don’t you?”
“
I…umm, yea…well, I had…I can…”
“
You such a square. I hope you ready for me to turn your world out.” Lexi walked out the door, went to the store on the corner, and got someone outside to buy her a fifth of gin. “What time Auntie get home?” she asked as she cracked open the bottle and made a drink.
“’
Bout midnight.”
“
Good.”
Lexi looked at the clock and saw it was only a little past four. She made Christy a drink and they got fucked up. By the time Elizabeth arrived home, they both were passed out on the couch. She saw the empty gin bottle and shook her head. She wondered what had happened that brought Lexi to the house. She sighed once more as she looked at her daughter and her niece. She knew it was going to be a long journey.
“
My head hurt,” Christy said when she finally woke up the next morning.
Lexi laughed. “Square ass bitch. Where my shit at? You been fucking with my shit?” she asked as she stood up and looked at Christy like she was ready to fight.
“
No, girl.” She looked at the clock. “Momma must have come home and took it upstairs.”
Lexi narrowed her eyes. “For your sake, you better hope she had.”
She went toward the back and looked in Chrisette’s old room. Everything looked the same. She went to Christina’s room, and saw her luggage on the floor and purse on the bed. Lexi let out a small laugh. Chrisette’s bitch ass would never want anyone in her room. She entered the room and closed the door. She then checked her purse and suitcases to make sure nothing was missing. She knew Elizabeth wouldn’t touch her stuff, but instincts made her check just because.
She pulled out a t-shirt, shorts, and got ready to shower. She knew things were about to change, and she had to prepare herself. She took a long, hot shower and as she walked back to the room she assumed was hers, she heard Elizabeth talking to Christy.
“
I’m disappointed in you. Christy, you know better.”
“
But, momma, she was feeling down. I just wanted to chill with her and help her a little.”
“
Downing a damn bottle of gin helps nobody, and you know that. What you should have done was be an ear, let her talk to you. Sometimes, a shoulder to cry on and a good ear is the best medicine.”
“
I know, momma, but…”
“
I’m going to overlook it this time, but you’re a strong young lady. You are a leader, not a follower.”
“
Sorry I disappointed you,” Christy said with her head down.
Weak ass bitch. Leader, huh? We’ll see
,” Lexi thought as she waited a few seconds, and then knocked lightly on Elizabeth’s cracked door.
“
Come in, Lexi.”
“
Hi, Auntie Liz. I apologize for imposing on you, but I had nowhere else to go,” Lexi said, looking like a lost little girl. While she was in the bathroom she braided her weave into two ponytails, making her look like a dark skinned Pocahontas. She had removed her eyelashes and her makeup to give Elizabeth the image she needed to see.
“
You know my door is always open, but I have rules.” Elizabeth patted the empty space on the bed next to her.
Lexi sighed lightly as she took her place. She had always thought Elizabeth Savage was the true definition of a boss bitch. Her husband cheated on her and she raised his bastard child. On top of that, when he died she never fucked with anyone else. She held down the house and the girls, and Lexi admired her for that. She wondered why Chrisette and Christina wilded out so much. She didn’t know much about them, but she knew both had kids when they were teenagers and were always terrorizing some girl over a nigga. Lexi could be sure of at least one thing, they damn sure weren’t punks.
She looked at Christy, the one that could have been her sister. She was so weak and pathetic. Everybody treated her like the punk she was, even her younger nieces. She wasn’t sure how long she would stay, but she knew she would have fun running Christy.
“
How are you doing?” Elizabeth asked. She pulled Lexi closer for a hug.
Lexi shrugged her shoulders. She wasn’t sure how much Elizabeth knew about her life and she didn’t want to give her any more than she already had. Bank Roll always told her she’d learn more from listening than talking. “I’m fine.”
“
I haven’t seen you since the funeral. How you been holding up? Where’s Yesina?”
“
Sin’s been fine. I was staying with someone in the neighborhood to stay at the same school. That’s not cool for me no more, so I was wondering if it would be OK to stay here?”
“
Honey, you know you’re always welcome. Yesina is, too, if she needs somewhere to go. Next time you see her, you make sure you tell her that.”
Elizabeth remembered how Yesina looked when she saw her last. She looked so much older and had bruises. She could tell the guy that stayed glued to her side was her pimp. Elizabeth wanted to snatch her up then, but she told her if she ever needed anyone or needed a place to stay that she always knew where to find her. She was glad Lexi felt comfortable enough to come to her before she got too caught up trying to be in the same wild streets that claimed her parents.
“
That’s means a lot, Auntie Liz.”
“
So, where are you in school?”
“
I’m doing great. I’m ready to go to the tenth grade when school starts.”
“
Well, that’s a good start. I’ll start looking into getting you transferred. You and Christy can go to school together and she can look after you. Meanwhile, while summer is still here, there are some house rules.”
Lexi looked up at Elizabeth like she was soaking up every word. “Yes, ma’am,” she replied. Lexi knew how to flip the switch from grown woman to little girl in an instant.
Elizabeth gave her a warm smile. She thought Lexi was such an adorable little girl. She had heard about her living with the older man that was her pimp. When she looked in her eyes, she didn’t see a wild girl who had been turning tricks and doing more than she had to at her young age. She didn’t see a girl that had parents that cared more about their high than their kids. She saw a young girl that could be turned into an extraordinary woman if guided correctly, and that was what she planned to do. She knew it wasn’t her fault, but she had always felt guilty that Derrick was in so much despair that he had turned to a young prostitute for empty emotions.