Just Make Him Beautiful (30 page)

She squealed.
“Nah
-
huh, we going shopping, we going shopping
!
”

She was so much like me
,
all I could do was laugh. As we entered the mall, my cell phone rang. I reached into my man bag and saw it was Keith
calling
.

“Hi
,
baby
.
”

“Yo
,
shawty, where you at?”

“I’m at the mall with my little sister. Why
?
W
hat’s up?”

“Just checking to see how you were doing and where you were. How long you’re gonna be?”

“I was going to s
p
end the day out with Keisha
,
but if you need me to come home, I can.”

“Naw, it
’
s
cool
.
I know you don’t get a cha
nce to spend much time with her,
so enjoy your time.
T
ell
her
I said hello.”

“Okay, will do
. Y
ou need me to pick up anything for you while I’m out?” I asked
,
being
considerate.

“Naw, I’m good
.
B
esides
,
I won’t be home until late.
H
ave fun
,
shawty
.
”

I thought it was strange for Keith to call and not really want anything other than keep tabs on me. I smiled thinking that
maybe
he was beginning to care more about what I was doing and where I was. I definitely had to pick something up for him
,
just to let him know that I appreciated his concern.

“Come on
,
Cameron,
”
Keisha said, pulling me by my arm. “L
et’s check out Macy’s and see what sales they got
.
”

For the next couple of hours, Keisha dragged me in one store after the other, looking and trying on almost e
verything she thought was fly.
S
he practically begged me to get
a few items of clothing
for her
,
but I refused. In my opinion, she was just a little too young to be wearing some of that hoochie crap. I did b
u
y her one outfit that was kinda hoochie
,
but that’s only because it was really cute. I also bought her a whole makeup kit with eyeliner, brushes, foundation
,
and lip
-
gloss
.
Y
ou name it, it was in there. That by itself was almost a
hundred
dollars. But I wasn’t complaining because she was my baby sister and I loved her and wanted nothing but the best for her.

We took a break and ate lunch at the food court. Keisha wanted pizza
,
and I got some stir fry chicken.
This gave me an opportunity to talk to her and see where her head was
,
how things were going at home.

“
H
ow are things at home
?
”

“Okay, I guess. I spend most of my time over Debbie’s house,” she replied rocking from side to side while eating her pizza.

“Debbie’s
mom doesn’t
min
d
you being there so much?”

“Nope, because she says she likes having me around because I’ve been a good influence for her daughter
.
”
S
he chuckle
d
.

“Good influence, how?”

“I guess it’s because I don’t min
d
helping around the house with the cleaning and stuff.”

“Well
,
good for you.
So, how is
M
om doing?”

“She’s okay, I guess.”

“
You guess
?”
I said sternly.
“W
hen was the last time you talk
ed
with her?”

“Me? When was the last time
you
talked with her?” she asked
,
rolling her neck from side to side.

“
Touché
,”
wa
s all I could say. I
had to
be careful
with
little Ms. Thang,
who
was
more like me than I thought.

Just as I was about to ask her about our real mother, her cell phone rang.
I sat and listened to her talk to her friend girl Debbie, going on and on about some boy named
Little Moe, the both of them scream
ing
and holler
i
ng
like schoolgirls.
I then laughed to myself
.
They
are
schoolgirls.

Once she got off the phone, she looked at me kinda strangely.

“What’s wrong
,
Keisha
?
”

“I know we were gonna spend the day together, but do you
mind
if we cut things short?”

“Naw
.
W
hat’s going on?”

“Well
,
Debbie just told me that this guy who like me was gonna be at this birthday party and she wanted me to go along with her.”

“So, you
’re
going to crash some party for this boy?” I asked
,
raising my eyebrow.

“I ain’t crashing
the
party
.
Debbie was invited
,
and she asked me to come along as her date.
W
hat’s the matter with that?”

“Girl,
there’s
nothing wrong with that
.
I’m just teasing you.
Come on
,
get your stuff
,
and I’ll drop you back off at Debbie’s house.”

“Thanks
,
Cameron
,”
she sta
ted, grabbing all of her bags.
“
I promise to make it up to you
.
”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah
.
”
I chuckled.
“Let’s go.”

*

I dropped Keisha back off at Debbie’s house
.
  I didn’t have anything else to do,
so
I thought I would surprise my girl Robin and stop by her house. Unfortunately, once I got there, Auntie told me she wasn’t home and wasn’t sure where she went or when she would be back.

I wanted to stop at my mom’s house just to check on her
,
but I didn’t wanna run into my
stepfather
, so I headed home.
Prior to going in, I stopped at the gas station to get some gas. When I got out of the car, I noticed this dude pumping gas in his vehicle.
He kept staring at me. 
He wasn’t a bad
-
looking dude,
but
he just wasn’t my type.

I got out the car, slid my credit card into the pump machine
,
and began pumping my gas.

The guy said,
“Hey
,
shawty
.
W
hat’s your name?”

“Kyle
.
” I continued pumping my gas.

“I’m Zack,” he replied arrogantly. “But you can call me
Z
.”

“Yeah, whatever,” I
said
under my breath.

He placed the gas pump back into its slot.
“Wow
,
man
!
W
hy you so mean?”

I guess I should have been flattered because this guy was coming on to me
,
but I wasn’t. At this point in my life, I had gotten used to guys coming on to me.
Y
ears ago, I would have been flattered and interested in anyone who came on to me that I thought was cute, but not anymore. Especially, now that I was in a relationship, right?

“So
,
you can’t even speak to a brotha, huh
,” he
said,
climbing into his SUV.

I placed the gas pump back into its slot.
“I’m sorry
.
M
y mind is somewhere else
.
”

“So, whe
re
are
you heading to?”

“Home
.
”

Zack
smiled.
“Can I come with you?”

“I don’t think my boyfriend would like that,” I spat.

“Oh dayum
!
M
y bad. Well, I tell you what, if you ever wanna hang out, give me a call
.
”
H
e
got
out of his car and hand
ed
me his card.

Chile
boo,
I
thought
to myself as I accepted his
business
card and drove off.
I looked at
his card
,
Zachary
Davis
,
a
ttorney
-
at
-l
aw.

I would have never thought he had a high school diploma
,
let alone a degree in law. And on top of that, he didn’t look that much older than me, so I was truly impressed.
I placed Zack’s card in my man bag as I entered the security code and watched the
i
ron
gate
open to my home.

As I pulled up to the house, Keith’s car was parked in the driveway. I didn’t think anything of it
,
even though he
’d
said he wouldn’t be home until late
.
B
ut I thought maybe he decided to come home early and get some sleep before heading out into the night.

I threw my keys up on the kitchen counter and made my way up the stairs to Keith’s
b
edroom.
I didn’t wanna call out his name
,
not wanting to
wak
e
him up. I stood on the outside of
his
bedroom with my ear against the door for a minute or so and was shocked to hear the sounds of people moaning and groaning.

I knew it was Keith because he always made the same sounds during sex
,
but I couldn’t determine who the
other
person was
,
other
than I knew it was some bitch.
Her high
-
pitch
ed
moans were making me nauseous as I leaned against the door
.

A
teardrop r
a
n down my cheek. I knew Keith fucked around with bitches because of the evidence I
’d
found
,
but I
’d
never thought he would bring that shit home.

As I slid down to the floor, I began blaming myself for not doing something right. I mean, the only reason why men mess around is because of something the other person is not doing, right?
I didn’t know whether to bust the door wide open and start bitching or just leave and pretend I was never here. At least if I d
id
the latter, I c
ould
then work on myself so I could be more of whatever Keith wanted me to be.

If I bust through the door and start screaming and yelling, Keith will never forgive me.

Then I thought if I handle
d
this situation maturely and open
ed
the door, walk
ed
in
,
and pretend
ed
it was no big deal and possibly join
ed
in, Keith might love me more. Besides, all men have a thing for threesomes, right?
Also, the bitch inside me was dying to find out who the bitch was in there with my man.