Get Ready for War (29 page)

“It's nobody,” I said as low as I could, given the fact that we had company. “You can answer it if you want.”
Please, oh please, refuse to answer.
My heart skipped three beats and I could've sworn it thundered louder than the music.

Knox slowly sipped his beer. Never responding to me.

I leaned over and kissed my sweetie. “You know you being jealous turns me on.”

“I shouldn't have a reason to be jealous,” he whispered against my lips.

“You don't.”

“Tell me you love me.”

“I love you to the moon and back.”

“You better.”

I could tell he was struggling to shake off his pang of jealousy. But he did it nonetheless. I snuggled next to him and slyly slipped my phone, which had started ringing again, on Silent.

“So, Doctor Corny—I mean, umm, Anderson,” I said. “You kind of cool. I think I may like you.”

“Me too.” London brushed her thumb across Anderson's lips.

He smiled at her and said to us, “Excuse me.” Anderson leaned over and whispered something in London's ear. She started to blush like crazy. She turned toward him and returned a whisper. He bit his bottom lip.

“All right now!” I snapped my fingers. “What, you two making plans to get it-get it?” I clapped my hands. “No more virgin for you, boo!” I got up from my seat, stood behind London, took my cell phone, and snapped a picture. “I wanted to get a pic with the world's oldest virgin.”

She laughed. “Shut. Up.”

I resumed my seat, leaned over in my baby's lap and took a picture of us. Then I sat up and texted the pic to him with the words, “I love you more.”

Knox looked at me and snapped, “Your phone is vibrating again!”

“No, that's my phone,” London said, lifting Anderson's arm from over her shoulders. “And I need to get this.” She got up from the table and briskly walked toward the bathroom.

“My fault,” Knox whispered to me, holding his phone in his hand. “You know you're my favorite girl, right?” I slid my arms around his neck.

“And it better stay that way.” And yeah, Doctor Corny was sitting there, but I didn't care; I still kissed my baby passionately.

“I can't wait to get you out of here,” Knox said to me.

“Hopefully, that's right now,” London said, rushing back over to the table, “because I have to go.”

“What?” we all said simultaneously.

“What do you mean, you have to go? Like leave?” I frowned.

Anderson looked at London, perplexed. “Is everything all right? Are you okay?”

“I'm fine,” she said, agitated. “And everything else is, too. I just have to get out of here.”

I was confused. “Was that phone call an emergency?”

“Look. I don't have time for the twenty-twenty questions, okay. Now, Anderson, we need to leave. I need you to take me home. Now!”

He paused. Looked to be in thought and then he said, “Everything is fine, but suddenly you want to go home? Nah, I'm good right here. If you want to leave you should call car service.”

“London,” I said, pissed. “Did you go in the bathroom and pick up that extra-extra snotty chick that I specifically told you to leave in the bathroom?”

“Rich, I do not have time for this!” She dialed a number on her phone. “Yes. I need a car right away. I'm in the ghetto. I mean, Inglewood. Yeah, the corner of Century and Crenshaw. Thank you.” She pressed the End button. “Rich, are you coming?”

“Absolutely not. We gon' sit and eat these wings.”

“And there you have it,” Anderson said. “Matter of fact, let's order another round.”

“You haven't said nothing but a word.” I rolled my eyes at London.
She may as well say bye to Doctor Corny because as soon as I get back to Hollywood High I will be hooking him up with Spencer.

I looked at London, rolled my eyes, and sucked a hot wing down to the bone as she beat it out the door.

I
burst into my bedroom, heaving and sweating from racing into the house and up the stairs to my room where Justice had said he'd be when he texted me and told me to come home because he missed me and wanted to see me,
now
. So here I was running through my suite in search of getting my life back. My eyes rapidly shifted around the room from the rumpled bed to the Juliet balcony to my walk-in closet. He was nowhere.

I started hyperventilating.

I pounded my forehead with a fist, feeling myself about to lose control as tears filled my eyes. I leaned my back up against the wall, giving up my balance. And just as I was about to slide down to the floor and crumple up and die, there came my lifeline.

“Yo, baby, why you crying?”

“Because... I ... thought ... you ... were gone...” I said in between hiccups and tears. “And I can't . . . keep . . . going . . . through this. If you're not going to be here and be real and be with me . . . and love me . . . then just leave . . . now. I don't even want you here. I can't do this anymore, Justice.”

He slid down to the floor beside me and pulled me into him. “Yo, cut all that out. I ain't going nowhere, girl. Every time I do leave, where do I always come back to? You just make me so mad. I don't want to leave you. I love you.”

“I haven't seen or heard from you in way too long. You ignored all of my calls. Why?”

“ 'Cause you be buggin', yo. And I wasn't sure if you was still beat to make this work, yo. Real ish, yo. I got tired of tryin' to make somethin' pop wit' you when you ain't seem beat for it. I'm just tired of my dreams not bein' fulfilled, feel me? But, on e'erything, yo. I got mad love for you, London. That's why I'm here. Because you a part of my dream. I thought you believed me, yo. But now I'm not so sure.” He lowered his head, then covered his face.

His shoulders shook.

My heart ached.

“Justice, what's wrong?”

He slowly lifted his head and looked at me. Tears were gliding down his beautiful face. “I'm so tired of runnin' behind nothin', baby. I'm tired of not knowin' what's happenin' with us. I need you, yo. And this plan with Rich, let's just dead it, a'ight? I don't even want it. It's caused too much beef wit' us. I'm gonna get a job. And my music, I'm just gonna have to give it up for now.”

Seeing him all broken, hurt me like never before. I took him by the face and stared into his wet eyes. “Baby, you're too talented for that. I can't let you do that. While you were gone, I've been playing my part and still holding you down, doing what a girlfriend is supposed to be doing for her man. I've already put the plan in motion. I have to do this. I need to do this. You deserve this. Don't give up yet, baby. I promise you, everything you've ever wanted is about to be yours. But you can't cut me off. Us not talking is not good for me, or you. We are meant to be together forever, Justice. Nothing will ever come between us. All I need for you to do is believe in me, and hold on. I got you.”

He sniffed. “Nah, baby . . . it's all good, yo. I can't let you do that. I know I was bein' mad selfish, not considerin' you. I know how much you dig Rich.”

“But you mean more.”

“But I don't want you jeopardizin' ya friendship with ya girl.”

“The only thing that's important to me is you.” I wiped his tears, then kissed him on the lips. “I've missed you so much.”

He kissed me back. “I've missed you, too, baby. I've been so effed without you, yo. But I still don't want you riskin' anything . . .”

I placed a finger to his lips. “Sssssh . . . don't you worry about anything. I have it all under control. And I will make this happen.”

I kissed him again and the heated passion that I had missed found its way home. The way he looked at me, the way my body erupted, I knew I would do whatever it took to stay in Justice's arms.

He looked me in the eyes. “Don't front on me, London. Are you really sure you wanna to go through wit' this? You told me yes once before, then flipped the script on me.”

“But this time I mean it.”

 

“Why didn't you meet me at my locker this morning?” I asked Rich, walking up to the table where—once again—she and Spencer were cackling like the besties I'd make sure they'd never be.

Rich scoffed. “You've got to be kidding me. I'm pissed with you.”

“About what? What did I do to you? If anything, I should be mad at you. I asked you to leave with me, and you said no.”

Rich turned to Spencer. “So, listen. We're kicking it this weekend, right? I have someone I want you to meet.”

Spencer raised her eyebrows. “Uh-huh . . . Really?”

“Yeah, really. But anyway, we're having a good time, right? We went to this frat party. I tried to hook her up with the Rock of Gibraltar. But, of course, she has a man. And I accepted that. So whatever. Anyway, Doctor Corny...I mean Anderson, C-Smoove, isn't a bad guy after all. I was actually starting to like him. He really, really seems like a nice guy. And you should have seen the way he was looking at London, like she was some hot wings and a pitcher of beer . . .”

Spencer's eyebrows furrowed as she shifted in her seat. “Oh really? What could he possibly see in her?”

I blinked.

“Girl, I don't know. But he acted like she was the only girl in the room, like he was all in-love. He—”

“Wait a minute,” I snapped, placing a hand up on my hip. “First of all, don't be sitting here talking about me as if I'm not standing here. Second of all, if you have a problem with me, Rich, then you address
me
. Don't effen sit there and discuss me or my business with her. I don't deal with her.”

Spencer slammed a hand down on the table. “This
her
happens to have a name, trick. And it's Spencer. And you're right. You don't deal with her, Turkey Neck, so I know you don't want me to do your gizzards in, Miss Rooster. Looking like Yosemite Sam's grandmother on steroids. You oversized bird. You Fiona look-alike; matter of fact, that's an insult to Fiona, with your big he-man self.”

I blinked.

Rich stretched out, laughing. “Bwaaahahahaha. Ohmygod, ohmygod, ohmygod ...I can't breathe. Bwaaahahahaha . . . Okay, okay, let me stop.” She glanced back over at me and started laughing again. “Bwaaahahahahaha. Spencer, you are so wrong for that.”

She was laughing so hard tears were coming out of her eyes.

I frowned. “What the hell is so funny, Rich?” I snapped. “This dumb whore and her whack insults are a bore.”

“And so is your face,” Spencer spat. “But you don't see me yawning about that. I hate you. And everything you fall for.”

“Good, because I hate you, too. So we're even.”

Spencer swung her hair over her shoulder. “No, you undercover skank, we will never be even 'cause you're a billion dollars too short. You're broke. You don't even deserve to be at this lunch table. You're only here by default. We only agreed to let you in because Rich told us how pitiful you were. And she was right. But she said you had potential. And she was right about that, too. You have the potential to bring down the reputation of all of us, you scheming ho. What a horrible disappointment you've turned out to be.”

Rich grabbed her neck. “Oh my... clutching pearls! Spencer, you shouldn't have said that. I told you that in confidence.”

I narrowed my eyes at Rich. “So is that how you see me, Rich—pitiful?”

Rich rolled her eyes. “Look, don't drag me into this mess. Y'all two hyenas need to put your bickering on hold, and let me finish my story.”

I frowned. “I don't think so. There's no story to tell.”

“You're right.” Rich sneered. “Then how about this. There's no story to finish, but there's an argument to be had between you and me. Why would you leave me and Knox sitting there like that with your man? Like who does that?”

“Wait. The two of you went out on a double date?” Spencer asked, shooting a look over at Rich.

“Uh, yeah. Snap, snap. Keep up, Spencer. And don't interrupt me again. Now like I was—”

Spencer scowled. “You don't snap, snap me, Man-eater.”

Rich hopped up from her seat. “Take it down, Spencer. Or get dropped. And I do mean dropped... all the way
down
to the floor. Now I'm tryna be nice today, but you are really trying my nerves. So, anyway, back to you, Miss Rude. That boy really, really seems to like you. And he probably almost loves you, but now I can see why if he doesn't.”

“What? Rich, I know you don't want me to get started on Knox.”

Rich tooted her lips. “Uh-huh. You're right, 'cause you're trying to live today, or else we'll be up in here scrapping 'cause you know I don't let anyone talk about my boo. So I know you don't want that pretty face beat up. Have me do you like I did that day when I threw you in the pond and beat you down. Don't take me there, girl.”

Spencer laughed. “Splish, splash, she got beat down next to the birdbath.”

Rich and I got silent. We both blinked at Spencer. Rich threw the palm of her hand up in Spencer's face. “Uh... not! You don't get up in our arguments. This isn't a three-lane highway so bust a U-turn, boo-boo, and go back the other way.”

Spencer blinked, tilting her head. She bit into her celery stick and chewed.

Slut!

“Now, back to you, London,” Rich continued as she stared me down. “What you did was dead wrong. What in the hell was so important that you had to storm out of the club like that? And you know you were about to lose your virginity!”

“I told you I had an emergency.”

Spencer snickered. “Yeah, an emergency meeting doggie-style, with your hind legs up in the air, I bet. She is no virgin! She just doesn't know how to appreciate a good man, and she is not alone!” She eyed Rich and then looked back at me. “I wouldn't be surprised if this little sneaky witch didn't hop up on her broom to be with some other boy. Rich, I don't know what part of this you can't see. But the writing is scrawled out all over the bathroom walls. That chicken ran off to peck somebody else's pecker. She has her own nine-hundred number.”

“What? You don't know me, slut.”

“Sweetie. I don't have to know you. I know your kind. And it's nothing nice. You don't appreciate anything. You have a good man and you'd rather toss him to the side for some nothing in Timbs, who only wants you for what he can get. And once you're used up, he's done. And you ruin the good man for the next one. It's whores like you that have us all messed up. Have us getting tossed off boats, getting dismissed like we meant nothing, leaving us home crying. All over crap we didn't do. It was some ungrateful ratchet ho like you that ruined him.”

“Oh my. Oh wow,” Rich added.

I frowned. “Let me tell you some—”

“You can't tell me a thing,” Spencer said, sneering and cutting me off. “So save it.” She side-eyed Rich. “And you. You keep on hanging with chicks like her and you'll be stuck with the same nothing dressed in Timb boots, too. And, as you say, Rich, ‘hit the floor with that.'”

Rich curled up her lips. “Ewww, now what is wrong with you?”

“It's jealousy,” I said, eyeing Spencer. “'Cause I know chicks like you, too. And your kind is always digging through someone else's scraps. You'll always be second best because that's what you settle for. But then again... you were raised that way. No one has ever put you first. Not even your father. The jungles of Africa came before you. Not your mother. She can't stand you. All she loves is her ratings. You don't even have any friends. And you don't have a man. Well, not unless you have someone else's. And even then, he's still not yours. Now, as Rich would say, ‘hit the floor with that!'”

Rich threw her hands up over her chest. “Oh no, oh no... clutching pearls! Leave me out of your mess!”

Spencer hopped up from her seat. “London, you want it with me? You can't afford to have it with me. You want to talk about parents, then let's start with yours. The only way your mother is ever going to love you is if you make it back up on the runway, and from where I stand you're still a few pounds too fat for that. And let's not talk about the miserable scandal that rocked your mother's beauty-queen career. Miss Eighteen And Posing For
Hustler
Magazine. And we won't even get started on your father and the affair that he's rumored to be having. God only knows whose mother is topping him off. Are you satisfied, London, or do you want some more?”

I blinked. “You don't know what the hell you're talking about.”

“Oh, I know
exactly
what I'm talking about. The writing's scribbled all over the sidewalk. Turner Phillips is stuck in a loveless marriage to an uptight, uppity pillow princess who doesn't know how to keep her own man happy. And sounds like the fruit doesn't fall too far from the tree! Now go hopscotch on that.”

I swallowed back tears. I couldn't believe that she was saying such slanderous things about my father. It was one thing to say nasty things about me or my mother, but to smear dirt on my father, now that was going way overboard.

“Now wait a minute, Spencer,” Rich snapped. “That's enough. You've gone too far.”

“Well, obviously not far enough because she's still here.”

Rich shook her head. “No, that's enough. Let's just forget this. We all have said more than we should. Now let's get back on track and talk about the itinerary the party planner sent us over the weekend about the masquerade ball.”