This Could Be Us But You Playin' 2 (13 page)

“It’s early, and I have nothing but time. Talk to me,” Marcus said. When he heard her take a deep breath, he sat back on the couch and prepared to hear her out.

It’s now or never
, Shanice thought to herself. After swallowing the lump in her throat, she started, “I first met Deondre when he came to the house with my cousin…”

Chapter 10

“Were you sleep?” Kaleb asked, once the line connected.

Dominique smiled and glanced toward her bedroom door to make sure Deondre wasn’t coming. “No, I’m just waking up from a nap.

His eyebrow went up. “Yo’ ass ain’t over there pregnant, are you?”

“Hell nah!” she yelled. “I’m just tired from decorating this damn house.”

“Oh yeah, y’all did move in last week.” Kaleb remembered. “How is everything?”

“Everything went well. Of course, you know I love it! It’s even more beautiful than I remembered.”

“I’m happy to hear that,” Kaleb told her. While he was glad that she was happy, he still felt some kind of way about her living in a house he sold with another man.

“Where are you?”

“On my way home.”

“Where you coming from?” she asked, just to be nosy. She had been holed up in the house for the last week getting it ready and wanted to know what the outside world was doing. When Kaleb didn’t reply, Dominique thought that the line had hung up. “Hello?”

“Yeah, I’m here. I had to put my phone down, a police officer was beside me.”

“I thought you had a Bluetooth.”

Kaleb glanced in his rearview mirror. He watched as the squad car switched lanes and started to exit the highway. “I do. I made a mistake and left it at home.”

“Forgetful ass,” Dominique joked. “Where are you coming from?”

“From one of my houses.”

“So, you were showing one?” Dominique inquired, hoping that that was the case. She remembered all the times that he had taken her to his different properties to have sex and didn’t want him to do be doing the same with someone else. While they weren’t exclusive, he claimed that she was the only one he was sleeping with.

“Yeah.” Kaleb laughed, “With yo’ nosy ass! What else did you think I was doing, laid up with some freak?”

“No, I wasn’t thinking that at all,” Dominique lied.

“Bullshit!” 

“Okay, I did.” She giggled. “If the tables were turned, you’d think the same thing.”

Kaleb knew she had a point. “I guess you’re right.”

“I know I am,” Dominique replied arrogantly. “Well, did you sell it?”

“I’m not sure. The couple is interested, but has to find out exactly how much of a loan they are approved for.” 

“Hopefully, it covers the house. Which one is it anyway?”

“The condo we went to downtown.”

“Oh… that’s cool.”

“What was I calling to ask you?” Kaleb thought for a moment. “Oh yeah, do you want to get out of the house?”

“Hell yeah!” Dominique said, a little more excitedly than she intended. She loved her new house, but she was also ready to get some fresh air. With nothing left to do but the guest rooms, Dominique was ready to take a break.

“Des and Peanut are going to Slingshot later today and wanted us to join them. Do you want tag along? It’ll be fun?”

“Slingshot?” She thought for a second. “Is that the place that has the go-carts, obstacle courses, and stuff like that?”

“Yep, that’s it.”

Dominique smacked her lips. “Y’all some big ass kids.”

“So, that means that you don’t want to go?”

“Hell nah, I’m a big kid too.” She laughed. “What time are we meeting up?”

“Nikki, where is the iron?” Tiffany asked, stepping into her room with a shirt in her hand. “Before you tell me that it’s in the laundry room, I’ve already looked.” She rolled her eyes.

Dominique was getting tired of her funky ass attitude. Sometimes Tiffany could be cool, while other times, she was a pain in the ass. The day at their grandmother’s house, after Tiffany had spoken to Jessie, she immediately started to act like she had some sense. Even though she was doing a little better, Dominique decided to bring her home with her. She knew that while NiChia was mostly at Desmond’s house, she still lived with Franny. With the way the two were at each other’s throats, Dominique figured she’d just let Tiffany live with her and save their grandmother the drama that she knew would go down every time NiChia and Tiffany were around one another. It had been more than a month since she had been living with them, and many times Dominique wanted to smack her in her smart-ass mouth.

“Hold on,” Dominique told Kaleb. “I’m not sure. When I used it, I put it back in the laundry room. Who used it last?”

“If I knew that, I wouldn’t be in here asking you,” Tiffany snapped.

“Okay, now I’ve been letting that smart shit slide, but you need to watch yourself,” Dominique told her, sitting up in the bed.

“Oh my God, really?” Tiffany looked at her with her nose flared. “It’s not that serious. I’ll just find the damn iron myself.”

“Tiffany!” Dominique yelled when she started to walk away. With Tiffany now looking at her once again, she told her, “You’re in
my house
and you better start acting like you appreciate the shit that I do for you because I could have easily sent yo’ ass back over there with Monique. I love you, but I’m not going to sit back and allow you to be disrespectful. You can’t keep blaming me for leaving! I did what I had to do for me.”

“Whatever.” Tiffany rolled her eyes and walked away.

Dominique knew that her sister was still upset about her leaving, but she needed to get over it. What happened years ago was done and over with. In Dominique’s mind, Tiffany should at least be grateful for everything that she and Deondre had done for her. Back when she first brought her home with her, she took Tiffany on a shopping spree and purchased her everything she wanted. At that time, she and Deondre lived in the smaller place, so Tiffany had to sleep on the couch for a while, but now that they’ve moved, she was able to get her own room, which they paid for and Dominique decorated.

“That child gone make me snatch her little ass up,” Dominique said into the phone, getting back to her conversation with Kaleb. She stood up and started to make her bed.

“I know. I heard the way she was talking to you.”

“It’s like no matter what I do, she has an attitude and I’m tired of it.” She sighed. “The only time the heffa isn’t complaining and talking shit is when I’m spending money on her.”

“Well, stop buying her shit,” Kaleb told her. “Tell her ass to get a fucking job. She’s not your child, Nikki.”

“I know she’s not,” Dominique started. “It’s just that… you know what, never mind. Back to what I was saying. What time should I meet you guys?”

“Around four. Do you want to come here and we can all ride together?” Kaleb asked, glad that she had agreed to go.

“Yeah, I’ll be there around three-thirty.”

“Cool. I’ll see you then.”

“Alright.” As Dominique headed into the bathroom, she looked over her shoulder towards her door. “I love you.”

“I love you more,” Kaleb told her before they disconnected their call.

Sitting her phone down on the sink, Dominique went to the toilet to handle her business. When she was finished, she came back to the sink where she washed her hands. Staring at her reflection in the mirror, she laughed because from her appearance, one could tell that she hadn’t left the house in a few days. She hadn’t combed her hair and had it pulled up into a nappy ponytail that had stray pieces of lint throughout it. Dominique didn’t mind though because she didn’t have to be pretty for what she had been doing, and now that she was finished with all of the major things, she was getting out.

Exiting the bathroom, Dominique made her way to her closet. Inside, she searched for something comfortable to wear. Although she had never been to Slingshot before, she heard a lot about it. Deciding on a pair of colorful leggings, two layered wife-beaters, and a pair of Nike’s, she grabbed everything she needed and laid it all on her bed. She remembered that she’d left her phone in the bathroom, so she went back inside to grab it, before plugging it into her charger on her nightstand. With a few hours before she had to get to Kaleb’s house, she decided to take a shower and do something to her unruly hair.

*****

“I think that’s the most fun I’ve had in a long time,” NiChia said, as they exited the Slingshot and made their way over to Kaleb’s truck.

“I know, right?” Dominique agreed, taking a bite of her fried pickle.

“It was fun, but not all that,” Kaleb spoke up in a salty tone.

“That’s because yo’ ass fell!” the sisters said in unison before they cracked up laughing.

They were laughing so hard that tears were coming out of their eyes. Dominique grabbed her neck as she almost choked on her pickle. Once it went down without a hitch, she continued to crack up. Each time she and NiChia started to stop, both would think about how funny it looked and immediately start to giggle again. Kaleb watched them with a smirk on his face because he thought it was funny as well. He had been so busy trying to show off for Dominique on the obstacle course, that his hand slipped and he fell. If that wasn’t bad enough, when he landed on the mat, he farted really loud, which made everyone around them laugh. When he noticed that Desmond joined in on the laughter, Kaleb pushed him from behind. He turned around and looked at him, trying not to smile.

“Damn, what I do?” Desmond asked, as if he didn’t know.

“I saw yo’ ass over there chuckling and shit.” Kaleb stared at him.

“Now, you know I wouldn’t do no such thing.” Desmond pretended to clutch some invisible pearls.

Kaleb hit the button on his keychain and unlocked the doors. “Whatever, y’all act like y’all did the whole thing without falling,” he said, opening the door for Dominique.

“Yeah, but we ain’t almost shit on ourselves when we landed!” NiChia said through her tears. “I’m sorry, man, that shit was funny as fuck. Did you think you were going to die or some shit?”

“Nah,” Kaleb started. “Shit, I don’t know.”

“Leave my baby alone,” Dominique spoke up as he slid into the seat. When Kaleb closed the door and walked around to get in himself, she turned and looked at NiChia, who was now in the back seat, and they both giggled again.

“I know yo’ ass was in here laughing,” Kaleb told her when he climbed into the driver’s seat.

Dominique wiped away the fresh tears that were rolling down her face. “I’m sorry, boo. I couldn’t help it. You know that shit was funny.” She reached out, grabbed his face, and turned it towards her. Leaning in, she kissed him gently on the lips. “I still love you though.”

From the back seat, NiChia and Desmond gave each other a knowing look. They both knew that Kaleb and Dominique loved one another and wished that stopped bullshitting and go ahead and make it official. It was a known fact that they were miserable when they were apart because they were all smiles when they were together. Not only that, but when the two couples did the whole ‘double dating’ thing, they had a bunch of fun. Just like they did that night. Them being together felt natural, like that was how it was supposed to be all along.

Almost two hours later, the two couples pulled into Kaleb’s parking garage. They had stopped to eat at American Deli and were now well fed and sleepy. After getting out of the truck, they stood around and talked a bit more before they decided to call it a night. Together, both Kaleb and Dominique walked them to Desmond’s car and said their goodbyes. Before they pulled away, they promised to let them know when they made it to Desmond’s apartment, which was close to thirty minutes away. Once they were out of sight, Kaleb put his arm around Dominique’s shoulder and led her to the elevator.

“I am stuffed.” Dominique yawned as she stepped into the foyer. She rubbed her now tight stomach in a circular motion. “I don’t even wanna see nothing to eat for the rest of the night.”

“I told you to give me those last few wings, but yo’ greedy ass just had to have ‘em.” Kaleb laughed. He closed and locked the door and tossed his keys into the dish on the table.

“I know you ain’t calling
nobody
greedy.” She gave him the side eye. “The way you scarfed down that damn steak sandwich; you should have you ashamed of yourself.”

Kaleb slipped off his shoes. “Shit, I don’t care, I was hungry.”

“I could tell.”

Dominique kicked her shoes off and pushed them by the door. Barefoot, she made her way into the living room and over to the couch. She placed her purse on the coffee table and exhaled loudly when she took a seat. Her stomach felt like it was about to explode. A quick glance at the cable box let her know that it was just now ten o’clock.
I need to get my ass up and head on home. Deondre is probably wondering where I am.
When Dominique saw Kaleb walk past her and into the kitchen, she laid her head back against the cushion and closed her eyes. The vibration of her phone caused her to jump. When she looked down at the screen, she saw that it was NiChia letting her know that they had made it to Desmond’s. Dominique quickly typed out a reply and hit send. Right before she put her phone back to sleep, she saw that the time was now ten-thirty.
Damn, I must have dozed off. Let me get my ass outta here,
Dominique said to herself. Placing her phone on top of her purse, she climbed off the couch and walked into the kitchen. When she didn’t see Kaleb inside, she turned around.