Creepin': A New Orleans Love Story Read online

  CREEPIN’: A NEW ORLEANS LOVE STORY

  BY: CHENELL PARKER

  OTHER TITLES BY ME INCLUDE:

  HER SO CALLED HUSBAND PARTS 1-3

  YOU’RE MY LITTLE SECRET PARTS 1-3

  WHAT YOU WON’T DO FOR LOVE

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  Chapter 1

  “Hold my purse,” Lamia instructed her best friend, Brandis, as they walked down the hallway of their school. She’d already taken off her earrings and chain and dropped them inside of her Gucci hobo bag. It was the last day of Lamia’s junior year and she’d just gotten the last of her exam grades back. She was officially a senior and she was ready to celebrate the start of her summer. Her excitement was short lived when she saw two of her enemies headed in her direction. Sariah and Shania were sisters who hated Lamia with a passion. It was crazy because they really didn’t know each other very well. They were fighting a battle for their auntie because she was too old to do it on her own.

  The sisters were eighteen and nineteen years old, but had never made it out of the eleventh grade. Thanks to them, Lamia was always getting suspended because she was always getting into a fight. Lamia regretted staying for the entire day, but she had some last minute things that she had to take care of. The only reason why she’d come to school in the first place was to get her final grades and last report card. After being on suspension for most of the year, she was surprised that she passed at all. At only seventeen years old, Lamia Walker was considered to be one of the most popular females at her high school. She was also considered to be the hottest. With dark brown flawless skin and a Coke bottle shape, she was often compared to Taylour Paige from the TV show Hit the Floor, but she didn’t see the resemblance.

  “Hell no, if you fight I’m fighting too,” Brandis replied as she removed her earrings as well. “Hold our stuff,” Brandis said while handing over her and Lamia’s handbags to Eric, one of her former classmates.

  She knew that Lamia could handle herself well, but there was no way that she was letting them jump her girl. A few people stopped what they were doing and watched the group of girls because they already knew what was about to take place. This was nothing new to see Lamia and Brandis fighting with one, or both of the sisters at any given time. Mia always wondered why they started with her when she’d already whipped both of their asses on several occasions. They still didn’t get the hint, but she had no problem doing it again.

  “You have a problem with our auntie Lamia?” Shania asked. She was the loudest one of the two sisters and she always liked to cause a scene. “I mean, you playing on her phone and shit so there must be a problem.”

  “Bitch, your auntie is damn near thirty years old and still playing these lil' childish ass games. You know damn well I’m not playing on that hoe’s phone, but she seems to know my number by memory. Twenty-eight years old and still trying to fight over a nigga,” Lamia yelled.

  “That’s just it though, Tank is her man so she don’t have to fight you over him,” Shania replied.

  “Okay, so if he’s her man then what’s the problem? Y’all always come at me for what reason?” Lamia asked angrily.

  “The problem is you being disrespectful. You know they’re together so why would you come around her house in his car? Why call his phone when you know he’s with her?” Shania growled while her sister continued to remain silent.

  “Well tell your auntie to ask her man why he gives me the keys to his car. And if he’s at her house why does he answer the phone when I call? If you ask me, that nigga is the one that’s being disrespectful. I don’t owe your auntie shit and Tank ain’t my man,” Lamia argued.

  “Well you need to stop acting like it,” Sariah said, finally finding her voice.

  “Nah, that nigga needs to stop acting like it,” Brandis spoke up for her girl.

  “Man, what’s up? I have somewhere to be and I don’t have time for all this talking,” Lamia added.

  “It’s whatever,” Shania answered while dropping her bag to the floor. Before she even looked up Lamia pounced on her and Brandis did the same to her sister. Since the sisters were caught off guard, their opponents were quickly able to get the best of them. Thankfully for them, the fight didn’t last long and security was rushing to break it up. Brandis grabbed their bags from Eric right before she was escorted out of the building right behind her friend.

  “Tell your auntie about that beat down, bitch,” Lamia yelled while being carried away from the brawl.

  “Girl, come on here and go home,” one of the security guards said while making sure Lamia got out of the building safely. “I keep telling you that you are too pretty to be out here fighting all the time.”

  “You act like I come here to fight. I come to school and mind my business, but somebody always has something to say to me,” Lamia shouted.

  “I know Mia, but you have to learn to ignore that sometimes. That ain’t nothing but jealousy,” he replied. “Y’all start walking home. I’ll keep them here for a while to make sure y’all don’t start up again.”

  Lamia wanted to protest, but it was pointless at the moment. She got her bag from Brandis and put her jewelry back on, while they made the five-block walk to their homes. The Courtyard Apartments, where they resided, used to be the projects until the city got a grant and remodeled them. They now consisted of two, three and four-bedroom apartments with ceramic tile and state of the art appliances. It was still considered the projects to Lamia, but everybody now called it The Court. The same people still lived back there, but now they had a set of strict rules to follow, or risk being evicted. Brandis was not only Lamia’s best friend, she was also her neighbor.

  “I guess you and Tank are about to have it out now,” Brandis commented while they were walking.

  “Fuck Tank!” Lamia spat angrily. “I knew what it was when I got with that nigga. I don’t expect anything to be different now.”

  “But that’s your fault Mia. It’s not like he don’t want to be with you. You’re the one who wants to keep y’all relationship a secret,” Brandis reminded her.

  “Yeah, but he knows why.”

  “I guess, but are you going by Von’s this weekend?” Brandis asked changing the subject.

  “Girl yes, you know I look forward to my weekends. I need to get away from The Court for a few days,” Lamia sighed.

  Trevon or Von was Lamia’s Godfather. He was her father’s best friend and the only consistent person in her life. He treated her and his other Godchild, Rainey, like they were his very own. His house had been their home every weekend for years. Lamia’s father, Lamar, Rainey’s father, Reynard, and Von had been best friends since they were in elementary school. They got money together and you rarely saw one without the other. Von christened both of his best friends’ daughters and nothing was too good for his girls. When Von got locked up and did eight years in prison, Lamar and Reynard took care of his one and only son, Trevon Jr., until he was released. He had three brothers, but his friends stepped up to the plate on his behalf. When Von came home, he decided that hustling was no longer what he wanted to do. Tre was only two when he got locked up and he’d already missed out on eight years of his life. Then to make matters worse, he had to leave Tre with his mother, who wasn’t fit to care for a dog in his opinion.

  Tre’s mother, Terri, was unfit in every sense of the word. Not only was she a horrible mother to Tre, but she had the nerve to have two more kids after him. Von hustled long
enough to open up a few legal businesses before he decided that he was done. Over the course of three years, he’d acquired several lucrative businesses throughout New Orleans and the surrounding areas. Aside from a few rental properties, he had two barbershops, a car wash and a recording studio that he rented out by the day. He’d recently obtained partnership into a successful gym, and the money was rolling in. The recording studio alone made enough to pay his bills for the month, so he was satisfied. He also made sure that Tre never had to work a day in his life if he didn’t want to. He acquired just as much property for his son as he’d gotten for himself and he, too, was set. Von never imagined that he could live just as good off of legal money, so selling drugs was a thing of the past for him.

  Sadly, his best friends weren’t on the same page as him. Hustling was all that they knew, so they continued to make money without him. Things really went downhill from there. Four years after Von was released from prison, Reynard was killed in a drug deal gone wrong. Some youngsters asked to buy something from him, but they robbed and killed him instead. Von was devastated, but not more than Lamar. When Von went to jail, Lamar and Reynard got very close and he was taking his friend’s death hard. He was having a hard time coping, so he turned to drugs to take the pain away. It started with him snorting a few lines of coke until he had a heroin addiction that was hard to break. Von almost lost his mind over everything that had happened, but he never turned his back on his friend. When Lamar lost his house, Von furnished one of his rental properties and made sure that he always had a roof over his head. He picked up his clothes once a week and made sure they were always clean. Lamar was on drugs, but he was always neat, clean and well fed, thanks to his best friend. Aside from the obvious weight loss, it was hard to even tell. His name still rang bells in the projects right along with Von’s.

  “Ask Von if I can come over and swim tomorrow,” Brandis said pulling Lamia away from her thoughts.

  “You know he won’t mind. They don’t even use that pool unless we’re over there,” Lamia replied.

  “I don’t have to ask if he’s grilling. That’s his every weekend routine.”

  “Yep, but me and Rainey can pick you up tomorrow whenever you’re ready to come over,” Lamia offered.

  “No thanks, I’ll get a ride or I’ll catch the bus,” Brandis frowned.

  “I don’t know why you don’t like my sister.”

  “God sister,” Brandis corrected. “And I don’t like her because she’s always looking down on everybody. I’m happy that her mama’s new husband was able to move them out of the projects, but everybody is not as fortunate. A year ago, she was in the same situation that we’re in now. She got a car and a bigger house and now she can’t stand the projects no more.”

  Lamia understood what her friend was saying, but she ignored Rainey’s new attitude. Her mama got married two years ago to a welder, and they’d purchased a huge house not too far from where Von lived. When they purchased Rainey a Maxima a few months ago, her entire attitude changed. All of a sudden, she hated coming to the same projects that she used to live in not too long ago. Everything was cheap and ghetto to her now. She still went to the same school, but she ran with a whole new group of girls. All of them had cars, but that was about the only thing that they had in common. She really looked down on Brandis because she didn’t dress in labels like most girls her age. She came from a single parent home and it just wasn’t in their budget. It never bothered Mia because she made sure her girl was together before they went anywhere.

  “Girl, you know you don’t have to catch the bus. I’ll ask Von or Tre to pick you up. Maybe you can spend the night if it’s okay with your mama.”

  “You know she be acting stupid sometimes, but I’ll see. Maybe her boyfriend will give her some and she’ll be in a good mood,” Brandis laughed.

  “I’ll talk to you later. Just let me know so I can tell Von,” Lamia said before walking into her apartment. Brandis lived in the building right next to hers so she kept going.

  “Hey Mia,” her little sister Anika spoke when Mia walked through the front door. She was the youngest of the six of them and she was bad as hell. At only eight years old, Anika had a mouth that was worse than some grown women. Their mother only laughed when she cursed, but Lamia would slap her in the mouth.

  “Hey, where is Moonie?” Lamia asked referring to their mother.

  “She’s in the room with her stupid boyfriend,” Anika responded.

  Aside from Anika, Lamia had three brothers and one other sister. Her oldest brother, Jabari, didn’t live with them and he didn’t come to visit very often. He lived with his girlfriend, so Mia and the other kids went to visit them instead. He and Moonie didn’t get along, so he stayed his distance. Moonie was the true definition of a baby having babies and it showed. At only thirty-five years old, Moonie had Jabari when she was fifteen. By the time she made eighteen, Jabari was three years old and she’d already given birth to Lamia. Just about every man she met became her baby daddy. She had four already and she wasn’t with any of them. Two of them helped out financially and that was all that Moonie cared about. She’d never had a job that Mia could remember, but their four-bedroom apartment was laid from top to bottom. It was so nice that the complex used their house as the apartment to show to potential new renters, and it was also featured in their brochure. All of her kids had the latest gear and her cabinets were always overflowing with food. She wasn’t a bad person, but she didn’t have a maternal bone in her body. She went out damn near every night and she seemed more like her children’s friend than their mother. Jabari used to be okay with it until she started messing with one of his best friends. He didn’t care that she dated younger men, but his friend should have never been one of them.

  “Where is everybody else?” Lamia asked.

  “They’re outside, but Moonie punished me,” Anika pouted.

  “Why are you punished? What did you do?”

  “Nothing, but the lady downstairs told Moonie that I cursed her out. Jabari said he coming to get me tonight though.”

  Lamia laughed because she knew that whatever the neighbors said about her little sister was probably true. Mia took the keys out of her purse and opened her bedroom door. Her little brothers and sisters were too damn bad to leave it unlocked. Besides Moonie, she was the only one who had her own room. Just like the rest of the house, her room was decked out with the latest furniture and decorations. There were two boys and two girls to the other two bedrooms, with two bathrooms to share among them all. After opening her walk-in closet, Mia thumbed through the hundreds of outfits, trying to decide on what she was going to take with her. She noticed that a few new items had been added to her collection letting her know that her mother had been shopping recently. Moonie was all about appearances, so she and her kids had more clothes than they actually needed. She had lots of enemies, so she had to make sure that she and her kids were always on point. There was no way in hell that Moonie wasn’t giving her haters something to talk about.

  “Mia,” Moonie yelled while banging on her bedroom door. Lamia rolled her eyes to the ceiling while walking to the door to let her mother in.

  “What Moonie?” she asked while walking back to her closet.

  “Are you going by Von and Tre’s this weekend?” she asked taking a seat on her daughter’s bed.

  “Yep, so I can’t babysit your kids for you,” Mia snapped before the question was even asked.

  “It’s cool; they’re going by Jabari’s until tomorrow anyway. He’s taking them to a party or something,” Moonie replied. She got up and looked out of Mia’s bedroom window giving Mia a chance to really study her. After having six kids, Moonie was still the shit. She had a very pretty face and a shape that still had men paying all of her bills. Her stomach wasn’t flat, but it wasn’t so big that her clothes couldn’t conceal it. She wore her hair short and she never kept it the same color for more than a few months at a time. Moonie had a small waist and an ass so huge that it almost
looked like it was detached from her body. Everybody said that Lamia got her looks and shape from her mother and in her opinion, that was a very good compliment.

  “You paid my phone bill?” Lamia asked her.

  “Baby girl, every bill in here is paid up for this month and the next. I hope you don’t think these nigga be smiling in my face for nothing. I got you some stuff from the mall earlier too,” Moonie replied.

  “I saw that,” Mia replied. “I hope you didn’t let anybody in my room.”

  “You know I wouldn’t let anybody in here. I put it up myself.” Aside from her, Moonie was the only other person with a key to her bedroom.

  “And don’t let Dalvin be having his friends all up in here and shit. He gon’ have us getting put out while he be living good by his mama’s. You already know these people don’t play that.”

  Dalvin was one of Moonie’s boyfriends who spent some nights at their house. He was only twenty-nine years old, but he took care of Moonie like money grew on trees. Lamia thought he was stupid because Moonie was always playing him to the left. She wouldn’t even answer the phone for him sometimes when she wanted to have somebody else at the house. He didn’t have a key, but he paid the bills faithfully every month like his name was on the lease. When Moonie wanted a new truck, he hustled day and night until he was able to get it for her without having to pay a note on it. People were always telling him that he was being played, but he wasn’t trying to hear it.

  “I know Mia, damn. That only happened one time. We’re going out tonight anyway. When I come back in here, I’m going straight to bed,” Moonie replied.

  “Alright, well I’m about to call Rainey to pick me up.”

  “Okay, tell Von that I said hey,” Moonie said as she got up and walked away.

  Chapter 2

  “What took you so long?” Rainey fussed when Mia got into her car. “You know I hate sitting out here too long.”