A Girl Like Me Read online

  “What?” Naja said, taken aback. “He ain’t your man?”

  “That’s what I said.”

  “You…have lost yo’ mind,” she said as P-Fifty walked over to us. He nodded at the girls and then smiled at me. “I thought you were real hot tonight. You have a wonderful stage presence.” He extended his hand.

  “Thank you.” I accepted his gesture.

  “Yeah,” he said while looking me up and down. “Real hot. I hope to see you around again.” And he walked away.

  Naja and I looked at each other, opened our mouths and silently screamed. It was a wonder my bottom lip wasn’t on the floor.

  Haneef was still talking to Deidra when I looked his way, and immediately my insecurity came back. He turned around, and then he and Deidra started walking over to me.

  Once he was next to me, Haneef held my hand and said, “Deidra, this is Elite and her friends.” Then he pointed to each of them as they said their names.

  “I’m Naja.”

  “And I’m Tamara.” She elbowed Mecca, who looked as if she were due to throw up at any moment.

  “Oh, I’m Mecca.”

  “And I’m the one and only,” she said as she gave a half-drunken smile, “Samantha.”

  “Nice to meet you.”

  “Uhmmm hmmm,” Naja said. “I bet it is.”

  Deidra arched her eyebrows and looked at me. “I thought your performance was hot.”

  “Thank you,” I said.

  “You’re welcome. Ai’ight, Haneef,” she smiled a little too hard once again. “I’ma see you around.”

  “Okay.”

  Look,” Naja tapped me on the shoulder. “I see Lil Wayne over there alone…finally. So this is my opportunity to find out why I’m not his number one friend on his MySpace page.” She pounded her left fist into the palm of her right hand. “Call me if you need me.” She rolled her eyes toward Deidra. “Come on, y’all. I might need backup if Trina come back over here,” Naja said to the girls.

  As they went on their way, Haneef pulled me by my hand to a secluded corner.

  “What are you doing?” I asked him as he hugged me tightly and stroked my hair to the back.

  “I missed you.”

  I looked in his eyes and wondered if he really missed me, or if he was just saying that because it sounded good? “Okay, that’s nice.”

  He stepped back. “So, you didn’t miss me?”

  “Uhmmmm, maybe.”

  “Maybe?” And he pulled me to his chest and pressed his lips against mine.

  “What, you trying to get a kiss?”

  “What,” he said as he slipped his tongue into my mouth. “You ain’t know?”

  And finally, as if we’d been waiting on the cool breeze to blow on a hot summer day, or as if we were the only two in the world and no one else existed, we kissed passionately…and true story, I saw stars shooting across the sky and heard birds singing a sweet melody in my ear.

  “Excuse me,” drifted over our shoulders and broke our kiss. When I looked up, it was Haneef’s publicist. “May I speak to you for a moment?” she said.

  “Give me a minute,” Haneef said to me.

  Although I couldn’t hear anything, I could tell by the look on his publicist’s face that they were talking about me.

  A few minutes later they returned, and Haneef led me to the party. I could tell that something was bothering him, but he still showed me a good time. We laughed, danced, and even moved to the level of drinking from the same glass.

  I was living the life, except that by the time the night ended, I was even more confused than when I’d started.

  When it was time to leave, Naja and the whack crew had overdosed on champagne and being starstruck. I couldn’t believe it. They were drunk as skunks, and the only sober one was me…but of course, my ass couldn’t drive.

  I snatched the keys from Naja’s hand. “I don’t believe this.”

  “What?” she said as she slid behind the wheel. “I’m sober—ewwwwwww…” She stuck her head out the window and started throwing up. The next thing I knew, there was a chain reaction of throwing up going on, and by the time they finished and seemed to be sober again, hours had passed and the early morning sun was sneaking into the sky. Naja looked at me with tears in her eyes and said, “My mother…is going to kick…my ass.”

  “And she should, too,” I snapped.

  “Elite, I have to tell you something.”

  “What?”

  “I still can’t drive. I’m too sick.”

  “Let me get this straight: we sat here all night, you know better than to be drinking anyway, but you did and now a whole day later, you still can’t drive. I don’t believe this. You’re pathetic!”

  “I’m sorry, Elite.”

  “Whatever.” I flipped open my phone.

  “Who are you calling?” Naja asked in a panic.

  “Haneef. I’ma see if he can send someone to pick us up.” I dialed Haneef’s number at least ten times and each time the call went to voicemail. “Bump it.” I looked at Naja. “I’ma call Jahaad.” Reluctantly I dialed his number and he answered after the third ring. I could’ve sworn I heard a female voice when he answered, but I wasn’t sure. “What, you got company?” I snapped.

  “What, you care?”

  “Anyway, can you and one of your boys that can drive come get us.”

  “Us?”

  “Me and Naja, Tamara, Samantha, and Mecca.”

  “Where are you? And why do I need to bring one of my boys that can drive.”

  “It’s a long story, but Naja can’t drive and we have her father’s car. So we need someone to drive it back. Can you do it or not?”

  “You getting’ smart? You’re lucky I’m even taking your calls.”

  “Should I take that as a no?”

  He sucked his teeth. “I don’t have time to argue with you. Where are you?”

  “New York.”

  “New York!” he screeched.

  “Know what? Never mind.”

  Jahaad sighed. “Where at in New York?”

  Reluctantly I gave him the address and an hour later he was pulling up with one of his friends. When he walked over to the car and looked into our faces, he scrunched up his nose. “I see why she couldn’t drive.”

  “Elite,” Naja moaned. “I’m sorry.”

  “Whatever,” I said as I headed toward Jahaad’s car. I tossed my purse into the backseat.

  A few minutes later, Jahaad’s friend was driving Naja’s dad’s car and we were pulling off behind them.

  “Why you do me like this, Elite?” Jahaad asked.

  I rolled my eyes and sucked my teeth. I knew the feel-sorry-for-me speech was coming. “Do what, Jahaad?”

  “Use me. I wanted you so bad last night,” he said as he entered the highway.

  “Jahaad—” I was cut off by my cell phone ringing. I knew it was either Aniyah or Sydney calling me. It was the first time they’d ever slept in the bed without me, and I knew they were scared. I was hoping Ny’eem stayed with them, and they hadn’t been left in the house alone.

  I reached in the backseat to grab my purse when I noticed a pair of women’s panties on the floor, and beside them was a name bracelet that read Ciera. I couldn’t believe it.

  “You sleeping with Ciera?!” I snapped.

  “What?!”

  “You heard me, and here you are trying to make me feel guilty. I don’t believe this!” I screamed as he pulled in front of my building.

  “What are you talking about?” I took Ciera’s name bracelet and threw it in his face. “You figure it out!” I got out of the car and slammed the door.

  “Elite!” he called behind me. But I ignored him and kept walking.

  SPIN IT…

  Track 12

  I didn’t hear from Haneef for two weeks, and it looked to me that I was still stuck with Jahaad. And he was sweatin’ me like crazy, begging me to please understand that we were in the same predicament and he was just like me…
and that he had no idea how the panties and the bracelet had gotten there either.

  All I could say to that was: What…the…hell…ever. I was tired of that scenario, Jahaad and Elite no matter the cost. The only problem was I found myself giving in, which was why after a week of Jahaad badgering the hell outta me in school, using up minutes on my phone, I decided to let him convince me to chill with him in New York City at Justin’s.

  “Elite,” Jahaad said as he looked at the menu. “Look, I know we’re in New York and all, but check it. True story, with all this money, we could’ve gone to Crown Chicken on Bergen Street, ordered two kill breasts, a roll, and still had money for the movies. Feel me?”

  Was God trying to be funny? Because if he was, I wasn’t laughing. This was exactly why I never liked going anywhere with Jahaad—he was the cheapest bastard I knew.

  “I gave all my money away to ya mama yesterday,” he carried on.

  “That was almost a month ago.” I rolled my eyes.

  “Hmph, whatever. It feels like yesterday.”

  At that moment, all I could see was me backhanding him across his face.

  “I tell you what, though. Since you’re suddenly so expensive and everything.”

  “Expensive?! This was your idea!”

  “Well then, since you so receptive to my ideas, understand this: when that waiter comes back, we orderin’ one soda”—he held the respective fingers up—“and two straws.”

  “Why did we even come here, Jahaad? What was the point?”

  “To make you feel better about your mother tryna rob you.”

  My eyes fell from his face. I hated that memory. “This has nothing to do with my mother. This has to do with that heifer’s drawers in your car.”

  “I already told you—”

  “A damn lie is what you told me!”

  “Excuse me,” the waiter said, getting our attention. “Are you ready to order? Would you like to start with something to drink?”

  “Yeah,” Jahaad said. “We’ll have a Sprite and two straws.”

  I couldn’t believe he really ordered that.

  “I’ll have a glass of water with lemon.”

  “Lemon?” Jahaad mumbled and looked at me. “That better not be extra.” He turned to the waiter. “Bruhman, is that extra?”

  “Excuse me?”

  “Is there a charge for the lemon?”

  “No, sir,” the waiter said, looking as if he wanted to laugh.

  Once the waiter left the table, I whispered to Jahaad, “You’re embarrassing me. If you couldn’t afford to bring me here, then you shouldn’t have.”

  “If I didn’t have to give your mother a hundred dollars, then maybe we could’ve been rollin’. I’m not your rich rappin’ jump-off.”

  “I don’t have a rich rappin’ jump-off! As a matter of fact, do you want your hundred dollars back?” I was sick of him throwing that in my face! I went in my purse and pulled the money out.

  “Put that back,” he insisted. “You gon’ need to pay rent next month, but since I see you’re all of a sudden ballin’, what you can do is pay half of this bill.”

  I rolled my eyes. “I ain’t paying half of nothing.”

  “Oh, really? So you got it like that? What, your new boyfriend pays for everything?”

  “What are you talking about?! You got a lot of nerve when Ciera’s name bracelet and a mysterious pair of dirty behind drawls are in your backseat. And you have the audacity to accuse me of having a rich boyfriend, which by the way, I don’t have. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be with yo’ cheap ass.”

  “Cheap?” he snapped. “I am not cheap.”

  “Here you are.” The waiter sat the drinks on the table.

  “How much is this?” Jahaad asked the waiter.

  “Uhmmm, excuse me?”

  “The soda,” Jahaad pointed. “How much is the soda, my man.”

  “Oh,” the waiter blinked. “Three dollars.”

  “All that ice and you charging three dollars?” Jahaad sucked his teeth, went in his wallet, pulled out three dollars, and looked at me. “We got fifteen left—order something from the kids’ menu. Remember we have to put some gas in the car to get home.”

  “I’m going to give you two a few minutes,” the waiter said. “I’ll be back.”

  He walked away, but before he was even three feet from us, he screamed in laughter.

  “Just take me home,” I said, embarrassed.

  “Oh, now you wanna go home? Let me show you something. Burger King only pays me a few pennies.” He went back in his wallet and don’t you know, this fool had change spilling from it and falling to the tiled floor. “This is all I got.” He pulled a ten, a five, a handful of dimes and nickels, and placed them in the center of the table. I couldn’t believe this. “You get the picture now?”

  “Good question,” came from behind me, and when I looked to see who it was, Haneef was pulling up a chair to the table. He turned the chair around backwards and sat down with his arms hanging over the back. “Oh, my fault.” He inched up a little and gave Jahaad a fist bump. “What’s good, pot’nah?”

  Jahaad was in such shock, he didn’t even respond.

  “Haneef, what are you doing here?” I said in disbelief.

  “I was about to ask you the same thing,” he responded.

  “Excuse you?” This dude had some nerve! And for real-for real, since I hadn’t heard from him, he was lucky I didn’t tell him to bounce.

  The waiter came over to the table. “Haneef…” His eyes were filled with surprise. “Oh, wow! My daughter loves you. You mind giving me an autograph?”

  “Not at all, son.”

  Haneef signed the paper the waiter handed him.

  “Thanks a million,” the waiter cheesed. He looked at Jahaad and frowned, then turned back to Haneef. “Since you joined the party, would you like to order something?”

  “Yeah, hit me with a Sprite.”

  A Sprite? So he had plans on sitting there long enough to sip on a Sprite?

  Okay…it was obvious that Haneef played too much. I turned to Jahaad, who was still sitting there in disbelief. There he was getting punked and he was acting like a mannequin. A total turn off. “Uhmmmmm…” I folded my lips into my mouth as the waiter quickly returned with Haneef’s soda. Haneef took a sip, then looked at me and said, “Let me hollah at you for a minute.”

  I looked at Jahaad, who had suddenly returned to Earth. “You can’t be coming up in here like this.” And if I wasn’t mistaken, he had poked his chest out.

  Finally, this fool was fighting for my honor.

  I looked at Haneef as if to say, ‘And what you got to say about that?! Teach you not to call me for two weeks.’ And for emphasis, I twisted my neck. “Boy, you can’t be poppin’ up in here thinkin’ I’ma just roll out with you.”

  Haneef stared at me for a moment, and oh, God, I hated that he was fine because it lowered my resistance by the moment. “Whatever,” I said.

  And wouldn’t you know, Haneef laughed. Fell…the hell out! “You real funny,” he stood up and motioned toward the door. “But for real, I need to hollah at you for a moment.”

  “Hmmmm, let me think—”

  “This is real cute and all, but all this trippin’ in public is not gon’ wash. Understand? Now I’m asking you nicely, let me speak to you for a moment.”

  I sucked my teeth and looked at Jahaad. “You better not move!” he said.

  I cocked my neck to the side. Okay, tough guy was getting a little out of line with what I better not do. “Just give me a minute.”

  “Exactly,” Haneef said as he nodded his head at Jahaad, placed ten dollars down on the table to cover his drink and tip, and walked out the door.

  “You about to bounce with this cat?” Jahaad spat in disbelief.

  “No, he probably just wants to talk to me about singing or something. Goodness, I said I’ll be right back.”

  “This is some bullshit!” Jahaad snapped. “I swear, if you walk out that do
or, when you come back to this table it’s gon’ be a problem. Won’t be no more me and you.”

  “Dang,” I snapped my fingers and then grabbed my purse and excused myself. “Why didn’t I leave sooner?”

  When I walked out the door and stood in front of the restaurant, Haneef had the audacity to have an attitude. He had some nerve!

  “Yo, what are you doing?” he snapped, pacing before me. “I tell you I’m checking for you. I take you on boat rides and invite you to V.I.P. to chill with me, and you out with some dude?”

  “Excuse you, last I checked you weren’t my man. I was a fan, remember? One you were anxious to please.”

  “Well—”

  “Well hell, I’m tired of playing with you. One minute we cool, I think that maybe you feeling me, and then you say some stupid shit like you expect me to remain a groupie. Well, to hell with that.”

  “So what you sayin’? That’s your man?”

  “I’m sayin’ that you’re not. And you know what? Yeah, yeah, that’s my man.”

  Haneef took a step back. “Dead that shit.”

  Now I took a step back. “Dead what?”

  “Ole boy.”

  “You might wanna ask me if I want to be with him.”

  “Do you?”

  “No.”

  “Ai’ight then, I said dead it.”

  “You don’t tell me what to do! You’re not my man.”

  “Ai’ight, how about this? I like you. I more than like you. I’m straight diggin’ you, and I want you to come and chill with me. Now I’ll admit that maybe I’ve been seeming a little indecisive—”

  “A little—?”

  “But I’m not anymore, and I wanna chill with you. That’s if you wanna chill with me.”

  I stood there for a moment. I couldn’t believe all that was happening. On the one hand, I had the bozo I’d been with for four years taking me for granted, and on the other hand, I had my dream date telling me how he felt about me. It felt like a dream.

  “Yeah,” I nodded. “I think we can chill.”

  He pointed to his Hummer, where his driver was holding open the back door. “After you.”

  I slid in and as we blended into traffic, I saw Jahaad coming out of Justin’s looking for me.