Creepin': A New Orleans Love Story Read online

  “Girl, stop acting like you didn’t grow up back here. It’s not even that serious,” Lamia argued. “You’re the one who waited until it got dark to come get me.”

  “And who scratched up your face like that?” Rainey questioned.

  “I had a fight at school earlier. Don’t even ask with who because you already know. The last day of school and those bitches wanted to fight. I didn’t even notice the shit until I looked in the mirror earlier.”

  “They’re fighting over Tank like he’s their man. That’s my boy and all, but you need to leave his ass alone. Either that or let people know that y’all are together. I really don’t see what the problem is.”

  “I wish everybody would just leave it alone. If we’re cool with the way things are then everybody else should be cool with it too,” Lamia hissed.

  “But he’s not cool with it. You get mad when he’s with other people, but you don’t want to be with him.”

  “It’s not that I don’t want to be with him, it’s just complicated. You of all peopled should know that.”

  “Yeah okay, just don’t get mad when he does him,” Rainey spat.

  She and Lamia traveled the rest of the way to Vons’s house in silence. Lamia understood what everybody was saying, but things weren’t that simple to her. She didn’t want to disappoint anyone and exposing her relationship with Tank was sure to do that.

  “I hope Von cooked, I’m starving,” Rainey said when they pulled into their Godfather’s driveway.

  “You know he did. That’s all he does is cook,” Lamia said laughing. “I see that bitch, Cheryl is already here.”

  “Leave that lady alone Mia. I don’t know what you have against her.”

  “I don’t have anything against her, but she doesn’t like me for whatever reason. She’s nice to you and Tre, but she always gives me the side eye. She’s even nice to Brandis when she comes over here. I don’t know what her problem is with me,” Mia shrugged.

  “You better not tell that to Von. He’ll probably leave her alone for messing with his favorite Godchild,” Rainey replied sarcastically.

  “Don’t even start with your shit. He treats both of us the same, so I don’t know why you always say that.”

  “Lamia please, now I won’t lie and say that he’s not good to both of us, but he clearly favors you more than me,” Rainey responded. Mia didn’t say anything because what her God sister said was true. She knew that she had a special place in Von’s heart. Her father was on drugs and her mother was a street runner. Von felt like she had it harder than Rainey, so he catered to her just a little bit more.

  “Hey my babies,” Von smiled when the girls walked into the kitchen. He was just taking some stuffed bell peppers out of the oven while he had the cooking oil getting hot to fry some fish. Cheryl sat at the kitchen table playing on her phone, while Tre sat at the island with a Heineken in front of him.

  “Hey y’all,” Lamia and Rainey spoke in unison. They went down the hall to put their bags away before rejoining everyone in the kitchen.

  “Who did your hair Rainey? It’s pretty,” Cheryl said while running her fingers through Rainey’s bone-straight sew-in. She never did acknowledge Mia, but that was fine with her.

  “It’s a shop uptown. They’re high, but it’s well worth it,” Rainey bragged. “I got tired of getting my hair done in people’s kitchens in the projects. All they do is gossip.”

  “I know that’s right,” Cheryl co-signed. “I told my daughter about letting them project hood rats get in her head, but she won’t listen. She likes being in the midst of all of that mess and foolishness for some reason.”

  Lamia could have been offended, but she let their comments slide just like she always did. Cheryl was always making slick remarks about the projects and Rainey always fell right into her trap.

  “Y’all talking that shit, but some of them projects chicks do hair better than those high-priced shops that y’all go to,” Von chimed in. He knew that they were throwing slugs at Mia, but she always handled herself well in any situation.

  “You need some help Von?” Mia offered ignoring the negative comments.

  “Yeah, get the fish fry for me Mimi,” he replied, calling her by the nickname he had given her when she was a baby. Lamia looked in the refrigerator and cabinets, but came up empty. Once she searched the pantry closet, she realized that Von was out of what he needed.

  “You don’t have any more fish fry Von. You want me to go to the store?” she offered.

  “Shit,” Von cursed. “No, but turn that stove off for me. I need to get some more beer anyway and they won’t sell it to you. I’ll fry the fish when I come back. Y’all want something?”

  “I’m coming with you,” Cheryl replied while everybody else declined.

  “You good Mimi?” Von asked while looking over at her. Before she could respond, he grabbed her face and inspected it closely. “What the hell happened to your face? Who scratched you up like that?”

  “I had a fight at school today,” she answered while giving Tre the screw face.

  “I don’t know why you won’t let me put you in a private school. This is your last year and you don’t need to be doing all that fighting,” Von fussed.

  “You should Mia; I’m going to St. Mary’s Academy next year and I can’t wait,” Rainey butted in.

  “That’s all on you, but I don’t want to go to a private school. I’ve been at Landry since I was in the ninth grade and all of my friends are there. I’m not scared and I’m not running from nobody. They’re trying to fight me over a nigga that I don’t even want,” Mia said, causing Tre to snap his head around in her direction.

  “They gon’ make me pay somebody to come back there and beat their lil’ stupid asses down,” Von fumed as he grabbed his keys and left.

  As soon as the door closed, Tre was in Mia’s face going off. “So you don’t want me now Mia?” he asked angrily.

  “Nigga fuck you,” Lamia spat as she tried to walk past him.

  “Can we please have one weekend without y’all two getting into it?” Rainey begged.

  “I’m good, but Tank seems to be the one with the problem,” Mia answered.

  “Don’t call me that shit man,” Tre yelled.

  “Why can’t I call you Tank? That’s what everybody else calls you,” Mia taunted.

  “Well you’re not everybody else, so don’t call me that. Come here and let me talk to you,” Tre said while pulling her down the hall to the bedroom.

  “Stop pulling on me boy. We could have talked right in the kitchen,” Mia fussed.

  “Let me see your face,” he instructed once they were alone.

  “Nah nigga, don’t worry about my face. You better get your bitch in check because I’m tired of playing these games with her old ass. How does she send her nieces at me and those scary bitches can’t even fight?”

  “But why you mad with me though? This is what you wanted right? You were the one who said don’t tell nobody that we mess around.”

  “And you know why I said that. You know Von would have a fit if he knew what was going on with us. We damn near grew up in the same house Tre.”

  “That’s bullshit Mia. I’m twenty-one years old and I’ve been in and out of jail since I was sixteen. I barely saw you when you came over here because I was hardly here myself. You act like we’re on some incest shit or something. We’re not even related so I don’t see what the problem is.”

  “I know that, but you know your daddy still won’t approve of us being together. I feel bad enough when he introduces us to people as brother and sister.”

  “He’s your Godfather Mia, of course he’s going to feel like that. But I’m too old to be doing this secret lovers creepin’ shit. We’ve been doing this for over a year now and it’s getting old. You need to make up your mind about what you really want because this is childish.”

  “Maybe it’s because I’m a child,” Mia pointed out.

  “Girl you ain’t no damn child. You’
re about to be eighteen years old in a few months. Besides, you don’t act like a child when you be twerking that ass in the bedroom,” Tre smirked. “Let me get some right quick before Von comes back.”

  “Hell no, I’m not fucking with you like that no more. You can keep Paige with her old worn out dusty ass.”

  “So what, you jealous now?” Tre asked while kissing her on the neck.

  “Jealous?” Mia roared. “Nigga you must be crazy. You must not know how many niggas be checking for my fine ass. Hell, even some of your friends be trying to get at me.”

  “Who?” Tre yelled with a frown covering his handsome face. “Which one of my friends be flirting with you?”

  “Shit, nigga take your pick. But it’s all good if you want to do you. Just don’t get mad when I do me. You might have been the first one to hit it, but that don’t mean that you’ll be the last one to get it.”

  “Fuck with me if you want to. Please, I’m begging you to play with me. I guarantee you that Von and everybody else in New Orleans gon’ know what’s up,” he swore.

  “Oh, so I’m supposed to sit back and be cool while you fuck with other people. You got me messed up for real.”

  “Again, this is all on you. These are your rules that I’m playing by. I’m dancing to your music, so don’t get mad with me. When we first starting messing around I told you that I wanted to be with you. I left everybody else alone just to make it happen. You were the one who didn’t want Von to find out.”

  Lamia didn’t respond because Tre was right. She really did love him, but she knew that Von wouldn’t approve of them being together. Von was like a father to her and she couldn’t imagine being the one to disappoint him. Things with her and Tre should have never gone that far, but it was too late since both of their feelings were involved. Before Tre came home last year, he and Mia would see each other off and on every now and then, but he was always on the go. Things were different this time around. Before, Mia was a flat-chested, cute girl with a pencil thin body and long hair. In only a year’s time, she’d blossomed into a beautiful young woman with a nice shape and a style of her own. All that brother and sister talk went out the window for Tre. He finally saw Lamia as more than just his God sister and he let her know. At first, she was scared to deal with him on that level, but things changed after a while. He used to sneak in the spare bedroom where she slept and they would only touch and kiss. After a few months of that, Mia finally let him take her virginity. Once Tre got a taste of her virgin goodies he wanted her all to himself, but Mia wasn’t ready. She agreed to keep dealing with him, but only if they could keep it between the two of them. Tre was okay with it at first, but that quickly got old to him. He wanted to be with her and he didn’t care how anybody felt about it. When he expressed his feelings to Mia, she flipped out and decided that it was best for them to just end it. Tre wasn’t trying to hear that, so he once again played by her rules. Only this time, he had some rules of his own. He let Lamia know that until she was ready to announce their relationship to the world, he was free to do whatever he wanted. Technically, he was still single since she refused to commit. He’d even ended things with Paige just to be with her. After things didn’t work out like he wanted them to with Mia, he started kicking it with his ex-girlfriend again. Paige was seven years older than Tre and they’d been off and on since he was sixteen years old. Von couldn’t stand her because she already had three kids when she and Tre met. He felt that she was too old for his son and she already had a family. Paige was Tre’s first sex partner, so he thought he was in love with her until he started messing with Mia.

  “Von just pulled up,” Rainey yelled while knocking on the bedroom door. Both Lamia and Tre jumped up and headed back to the kitchen.

  “Leave the door unlocked so I can come back once everybody goes to sleep,” Tre told Mia while giving her a peck on the lips. He hated the situation that they were in, but he wasn’t ready to leave it alone just yet.

  ***

  “Nigga you a fucking lie!” Paige yelled to Tre. He was sitting there playing dumb and it was pissing her off. “You’re car wasn’t at the shop, you let that bitch drive it while you were on your bike. My nieces saw her and her friends at the mall.”

  “Girl get out of my damn face before you make me lose my game,” he said in an uncaring tone. He was more focused on the video game than their conversation.

  “She’s lucky I didn’t tell them to whip her ass again.”

  “I don’t know what your nieces have been telling you, but they ain’t been winning no fights over that way,” he laughed.

  “You think that shit is funny? You ain’t nothing but a fucking pedophile messing with that young ass girl.”

  “Girl I know you didn’t just say that shit. You were fucking me before I was even old enough to vote. And I keep telling you that I don’t mess with that damn girl like that. All y’all muthafuckas on the outside looking in and don’t know what’s going on.”

  “Why do you keep lying? Y’all be trying to play that shit off, but I’m not stupid. Every time you get a new pair of shoes, she gets the same kind at the same time, so I know you’re buying them for her too. She’s always in your car and I never see you on the weekends because that’s the time you spend with her.”

  “You don’t see me on the weekends because I be busy. I have rental properties and businesses that require my full attention. I don’t have time to be up under your ass all day.”

  “But you be all up under Mia though. You don’t have to lie Tre,” Paige teased just to make him mad.

  “Don’t call me that shit,” he hissed.

  “Why can’t I call you Tre? That’s what Lamia calls you right?”

  “Don’t worry about what she calls me. You been calling me Tank so don’t try to switch it up now.”

  “I just don’t understand you Trevon,” Paige said getting serious. “I have a house, but you continue to live with your daddy. We’ve been together for five years now and you still won’t commit. We were good before, but what am I doing so wrong now?”

  “We’ve been together for five years, but you would have had a two-year-old child by somebody else if you wouldn’t have gotten rid of it. And I used to live here until you decided that you didn’t want me here anymore. That was your doing, not mine,” he reminded her.

  During one of his many visits to jail, Paige must have gotten tired of waiting for him. In just a matter of months, she’d moved somebody else into her apartment and went on with her life like it was nothing. She even had one of her brothers drop his clothes and the rest of his belongings off to Von’s house. When Tre came home she was already pregnant by the other dude, but she decided that she wanted to make things work with him instead. She had an abortion and sent the other man on his way. Tre was all for it at first until the reality of the situation hit him. Paige had basically turned her back on him and he couldn’t just forget about that. Once he started kicking it with Mia not too long after, it was a wrap for the two of them. He spent some nights over there when he felt like it, but he never did move back in like she wanted him to. In his mind, it was just something to do until Mia came to her senses and stopped being scared.

  “I wish you would stop trying to punish me for my past mistakes. I’ve apologized a million times for that, but I can’t take it back. As many times as you’ve cheated and dogged me out, you should be able to forgive and forget,” Paige complained.

  “All is forgiven and forgotten. That still doesn’t mean that I have to be up under you all day though. And living with my pops is by choice. It’s not like I can’t afford my own place if I want one.”

  “Well you need to make that happen. I can’t even see you if you don’t come over here. You know I’m not welcomed in his house since he can’t stand me. I really don’t know why because I’ve never done anything to him,” she pouted.

  “Maybe it’s because you were a twenty-three-year-old woman sleeping with his sixteen-year-old son,” Tre laughed.

  �
��I don’t see what’s so funny. It’s no different than you sleeping with Lamia. I guess he gave y’all the green light since he loves her so much,” Paige snapped.

  “You can’t go five minutes without bringing her up, huh? That damn girl don’t even worry about you like that.”

  “Fuck her!” Paige yelled. “She’s a hoe just like her mama. The apple really didn’t fall far from the tree.”

  “Now why you gotta bring Moonie up in this?” Tre asked. “Oh shit,” he said as he fell out laughing. “I forgot that she stole one of your baby daddies from you.”

  “That bitch didn’t steal anything from me. Dalvin is a hoe just like her and they deserve each other. That bitch ain’t doing nothing, but using his dumb ass. He’s taking care of her and her kids and barely does anything for the one he has over here,” Paige said bitterly.

  Paige and Dalvin had been together off and on since they were in high school. They had a ten-year-old son that looked exactly like him. Paige was used to going through the motions with Dalvin, but she never thought that another woman would have him sprung like he was. Even when they broke up they still maintained a friendship, but that went out of the window when Moonie came along. She had him trained better than she had her badass kids. He did whatever she said whenever she said it, something that her own kids didn’t do. He used to come around, but even the visits stopped once he got with her. Moonie was older than Paige and Dalvin, but she didn’t look like it. After having six kids, that bitch was still pulling niggas in their twenties. She dressed better than most of the women in the projects and her children were always on point too. Paige worked forty hours per week with only three kids, but she still couldn’t compete. Moonie was pretty, but she still didn’t understand what kind of hold she had on her men, especially her son’s father. Dalvin never really did much for her son, but she was hoping for that to change.

  “You sound like you’re in your feelings,” Tre taunted.

  “I’m not in my feelings at all. I’m trying to have an adult conversation without arguing all the time. I just want you to be honest with me. I’m a big girl, I can handle whatever you say. Are you messing around with Lamia?” Paige asked while looking Tre directly in his eyes.