Part 18 (1/2)
”Yeah, but don't trip.”
”Listen at what you're saying, Jewels. I'm worse off than when I started. How am I supposed to pay Squeeze?”
”What about Squeeze?” Kitchie entered the room with Ndia.
”Are you okay?” Ndia leaned over the bed's railing to kiss Jewels.
”My head is split pretty good, but I was bred for this s.h.i.+t. Comes with the territory.”
Ndia saw the back of Jewels's head. ”They shaved you bald.”
”f.u.c.ked up my brush waves and replaced them with forty-seven st.i.tches.” She swung her feet to the floor. ”I have to take a leak.”
”You need some help.” GP reached out for her arm. He wanted to get her alone so they could continue their conversation.
”Nah, I'm cool. I've been p.i.s.sing for twenty-six years all by myself. I'm a big girl.”
”I meant, did you need help to the bathroom.”
”You wanna take a guess at how long I've been walking?” She headed for the restroom.
Kitchie folded her arms. ”GP, what's going on, and what does Squeeze have to do with it?”
Jewels staggered on her way to the bathroom.
GP and Ndia rushed to her.
GP caught her before she hit the floor. ”Slick mouth, you can't be the same person who just told me you've been walking for years.”
A young doctor was entering the room. ”Ms. Madison, you're not supposed to be out of bed. Your equilibrium isn't functioning properly.”
”G.o.dd.a.m.n, I needed to take a p.i.s.s.”
”I'll have the nurse bring you a bedpan.”
”Don't worry about it, baby,” Ndia said. ”I'll take care of you when we get home.”
The doctor wrote some notes on a chart. ”I'm afraid that won't be for a few days. She took a nasty blow.”
”GP, can I see you in the hall?” Kitchie walked out the door.
He followed, knowing he would have to come clean. ”Let's discuss this later. I'll tell you everything when we get back to the apartment.”
”Everything?”
”I don't want to hear your mouth, though.”
”I'm not promising.” She waited for an elderly woman to walk by. ”GP.”
”Huh?”
”I apologize. That was nothing between me and that Desmond guy. He didn't try to hit on me or anything. He was just really being nice.” She gave him the money. ”Now let's finish up with Jewels because I want to hear this.”
Jewels watched GP and Kitchie hold hands as they came back into the room. ”Because I ain't coming home tonight don't mean for y'all to be f.u.c.king in my bed.”
Kitchie smirked. ”I'm not making any promises. He loves to hear me yell Papi at the top of my lungs.”
GP grinned like a Ches.h.i.+re cat.
”You're making excuses 'cause you're scared.”
”I'm not arguing with you; call it what you want.”
”You coming or not?”
The rest of the girls listened to Nise and her comrade exchange comments from their cots.
”Well?” Nise tied the laces of her sneakers.
”What you care about her for? She kicked your b.u.t.t and now you wanna help her. What's up with that? If Mr. Reynolds catches you snooping...That off-limit sign is up there for a reason.”
”I'll go with you.” Samone peeled the covers back and stepped into her shoes. ”I'll help you.”
”Samone, don't get into that,” another girl said. ”You're looking for trouble.”
”So be it.”
Nise stuck her head in the hall and looked both ways. Once she was satisfied that the coast was clear, she flagged Samone with the wave of a hand. The two started their journey into the building's sinister darkness.
Samone stopped Nise at a flight of stairs. ”We should go down the emergency exit and cut through the cafeteria.”
”But this way is closer.”
”The shortcut isn't always best. Trust me; the long way is better. Mr. Reynolds brings his fat a.s.s up these steps all the time when he makes his rounds.”
”Lead the way.”
”What makes you think they're in there?” Samone pushed open a door with a red exit sign glowing above it.
”Think about it. They're not in the sleeping quarters with everybody else. Where else could they be? Besides, I got caught playing hide-and-go-get-it with this boy named Tim. Mr. Reynolds locked both of us in them scary caskets two nights straight.”
”He caught y'all doing it?”
”Not actually. We were trying, but Tim couldn't get it in.”
They made it to the bottom of the stairs.
”Nise, can I ask you something without you wanting to fight?” She held the cafeteria door open as Nise pa.s.sed through it.
”Ain't n.o.body gonna mess with you.”