Read Crossroads Online

Authors: Skyy

Crossroads (14 page)

BOOK: Crossroads
12.93Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads
22
Cooley didn't realize how much rehab would cost. The idea of rehab for the stars was out of the question. She knew Sonic would have to settle for rehab for the D list.
“Talk to me,” Cooley said, answering her phone.
“Hey, Cool. Everything is set. I have your ticket for tomorrow like you asked. And everything is set for Sonic as well. I thought it would be best to let her just show up. I didn't want them charging you, in case she didn't show.” Tee walked down the busy hall at Jam Zone and sat at her small cubicle in the intern room.
“Thanks, but you didn't have to do that. I'm sure she will be there.” Cooley looked at her face in the mirror. The last piece of her ugly scab had fallen off, leaving a longer white mark, no more hideous skin.
“Well ... I just wanted to be on the safe side.” Tee knew what she was implying. Cooley knew her assistant had lost all faith in Sonic, just as most had.
“Thanks. How are things going with the house hunt?” Cooley rubbed Neosporin on the area. She was glad the ugly, bubbled up scab was completely gone. Now she was determined to get her face as close to normal as possible.
“I have three appointments set for you when you get back. Are you sure you want to get an apartment? I mean, the mansion.”
“It's always best to have your own. Remember that, young blood. Let me go. I'll call if anything changes.”
Cooley hung up from Tee. She brushed her curly hair. She was starting to feel more like herself. Cooley heard Sahara's single play on the small bathroom radio. Her heart raced. She couldn't wait to get back to Atlanta for more than one reason.
Cooley's text alert rang out. She picked her phone up. It didn't have a number. She opened it.
 
SORRY, but I can't.
 
Cooley reread the text. She called Sonic's phone number. The operator chimed in with the usual disconnect message. Worry quickly set in. She called Bee-Bee's number.
“Hello!” Bee-Bee yelled in the phone.
“Hey, Bee. It's Cooley. Is Sonic—”
“Fuck Sonic! That son of a bitch is gone, and she took my shit with her!” Bee-Bee threw her glass of cognac against the wall.
Cooley's heart pounded. “What are you talking about?”
“I'm saying that bitch left in the middle of the night and took my damn jewelry with her. I swear I bet not find her, fuck the police—I got something else for that ass.”
“Damn, Bee-Bee. I'm sorry. I don't know what to say.”
“See, this is what happens when you try to help someone. Be glad you didn't take that cone-head-ass bitch back with you! I gotta go.”
Cooley hung the phone up. She sat on the toilet seat. Her mind raced.
Where could Sonic have gone that quick?
Cooley thought to herself. She needed to find her; she needed to save her friend.
***
“Hey, bruh, wanna grab a bite?” Denise stood in the door.
Cooley looked at Denise, her eyes filled with worry.
“What's up, C?”
“Sonic ... she just, she left.” Cooley fought back emotion.
Denise walked into the bathroom. “Bruh, I want to say something to you without you getting upset,” Denise murmured.
Cooley's glazed eyes looked at Denise.
“Your expression right now, the feelings you are feeling. Bruh I've been there. I know how you are feeling right now. But there's something you need to realize. Something it took me a long-ass time to realize. You can't save someone who doesn't wanna be saved. Sonic gotta want the help, or else you gon' be out of a lot of cash for nothing.”
Cooley sighed. She knew Denise was right. She was there with Denise all the times her mother skipped out on rehab. She was there the final time when Denise almost choked her mother to death. She knew in her heart Sonic was lost, and wasn't going to be found until she wanted to be.
“You said something about food?” Cooley stood up.
“Yeah, let's go grab a bite. It might make you feel better.”
Cooley and Denise walked out of the room. Cooley inhaled, trying to push Sonic and her drama to the back of her mind, but she couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't right.
“You know I'm going to miss living right on Broadway.”
Denise and Cooley walked out the front door of the hotel.
“It's right here at all the action.”
“Speaking of, where are you gon' go? Yo ass hasn't looked for a spot at all.”
“Well, I'm going to crash at Mariah's for a spell until all the checks clear and I book another job.”
Cooley smiled. “Umm, crashing at Mariah's, huh?”
“Shut up. It's not like that.”
“Riiigghhh—damn!” Cooley stopped in her tracks.
Denise looked at her friend, noticing her eyes were fixated on something else. Denise looked up, and her jaw dropped. The large Jocku billboard with her photograph hit them dead-on.
“Damn, that's my friend!” Cooley pulled her phone out and began to snap pictures of the billboard.
Two young black girls walked up to Denise and Cooley. They looked at the billboard and back at Denise. “Is that really you?”
“Yes, that's me,” Denise proudly responded.
“Wow, can we take a picture with you?” the shorter of the two asked.
People around started to look at Denise. The tourists pulled their cameras out, hoping to get a picture with a model.
Cooley took the camera from the two girls. They stood on either side of Denise. Denise smiled, the two girls gleamed.
“Thank you.”
“No problem.”
The two girls walked off. “I can't believe we just met a supermodel.”
Cooley and Denise laughed at the girl's statement.
An Asian couple walked up to them. The elderly woman held her camera out to Cooley, unable to speak English.
Cooley frowned at Denise. She reluctantly took the camera and snapped a picture.
“OK, let's roll before I become your picture girl.”
“Aww!” Denise put her arm around Cooley's neck. “It's OK. I'll make sure you always have a job as my assistant.”
“Fuck you!”
They joked as they walked up the street. Denise looked back, her billboard farther in the distance. She thought about her grandmother.
I hope you are proud of me, Mema.
 
 
Lena stared at the nursery door. The whole house was undergoing a transformation, but Lena couldn't bear to open the one door that she knew she needed to. She took a deep breath and pushed the door open. The furniture and toys all gone from the house; she couldn't bear it. Brandon had hired a nanny to keep Brandon Jr. at his place while he was on the road. The only thing to remind Lena of the painful past was the walls. The pastel colors on the wall were the constant reminder that the room was for a child, a child that would never be. Lena knew it was her last major project.
Lena couldn't take her eyes off the walls. She stood next to buckets of white, blue, and gray paint. Her gray Grizzly sweat pants rolled up to her knees, her bare feet cold against the clear tarp on the floor. She had to change the color of the room.
Lena picked up the small canister of blue paint and walked to the wall. She dipped the thin paint brush in the navy paint. With one stroke, blue hit the face of a white rabbit on the mural in the room.
Lena's body began to tremble. Emotions rushed up to her hands. She screamed as she threw the canister of paint against the wall. Blue splattered all over the wall and the floor. With Lena's rapid heartbeat, heavy breathing, she knew she couldn't do it.
Fuck it. I'll hire someone
.
 
 
Lena loved what money could do. Within two hours a company sent a painter to her house to do the easy paint job. He promised a completely new room by the end of the day. She promised an off-the-books bonus if he was right.
The loud smell of paint was making her head hurt. Lena changed out of her sweats into a pair of 7*7*7 Nostalgic Luxury Roxanne jeans with a fitted black T-shirt. Lena pulled her hair down out of its ratty ponytail and brushed it until her waves bounced and fell just the way she wanted them. She opened her armoire to find the right jewels to complete her look.
She opened the top drawer and nearly lost her breath. Right on top of all her beautiful Tiffany silver was the small charm bracelet that Denise bought her. She held the bracelet up and put it on her wrist. She could feel Denise near her. She didn't want to lose the feeling. She closed her armoire and walked out of the room.
 
 
Lena took a seat in a small artsy café on South Main. South Main was one of the things she loved about her loft. She was surrounded by art galleries and trendy clothing shops that carried only a few of each product. She could rollerblade or walk up and down the street or head down to the river to think. Carmen was right. If she had to be in Memphis, this was the way to do it.
Lena stared into her martini glass. The orange slice floated in the glass. She stared until the orange was nothing more than a blur to her. She heard the bell on the door open. There was another customer besides her. She didn't look up to see who would be enjoying her new little safe haven; she just stared into the glass.
“Well, isn't this a surprise?”
Lena glanced up from her drink. She thought she was dreaming. Terrin stood with a big smile on her face. Her dimples deeply inset like the rapper turned preacher turned back rapper, Ma$e.
Lena smiled. “Wow, this is.” Lena felt herself blushing. She didn't know why. Terrin's look was completely different. She traded the Jordan's and baggy jeans for a professional black pinstriped woman's suit that was perfectly tailored to her body.
“I was walking past the window and something told me to look up, and to my surprise I saw you.” Terrin glanced down at the extra chair at Lena's table.
Lena motioned for her to sit down.
Terrin sat in the chair, placing her briefcase on the floor. “What are you doing back in Memphis?”
Denise entered Lena's mind. She shook her head, hoping to shake out Denise's beautiful face as well. “Things didn't work out after all.”
Terrin's eyes widened. “I'm sorry to hear that.” Terrin looked at Lena. She cracked a smile. “Do you want to talk about it?”
“There's really nothing to talk about. I made some mistakes and now I'm paying for them.” Lena forced a smile. “But I'm dealing with it. And I would rather not focus on it.”
Terrin's eyes locked into Lena's. “Well, I am sorry that things didn't work out. I hate that you are not happy. But on the flip side, something great is happening right now.”
Lena put her elbows on the table. She placed her chin in her hand. “Is that right?”
Terrin mimicked Lena. “Yes, it is.”
“Do tell.”
“Well, with the unfortunate dismissal of the basketball player, I now have the option of giving you this.” Terrin reached in her pocket and pulled out her wallet. She handed Lena one of her business cards.
TERRIN MCFAYE—D.D.S.
“Oh, so can you give me some laughing gas? I could use it right about now” Lena smirked.
“I could, but that's not the route I usually like to take. Maybe I can make you laugh without the use of drugs.” Terrin smiled.
Lena nodded her head in approval.
“So, Miss Lena, what do you have planned for the rest of the day?”
“Nothing. They are painting at my loft, so I just wanted to get out for a while. I think I might go shopping or something.”
“Well, what do you know? I was just about to go shopping too. Want to check out Indigo Moon?”
“The new store down the way? Sure. Why not? Let me just pay.”
“I got it.” Terrin walked over to the counter and paid for Lena's cocktail.
Lena took her last big gulp; she needed the extra boost of alcohol to get her out the door.
The two walked down the sidewalk commenting on various artworks and items they saw in the windows of a few galleries and stores. Lena made a mental note to check out a dress in one small boutique. She was impressed by Terrin.
“So what type of store is this supposed to be?” Lena asked as they approached the neon blue sign.
“My friend owns it, actually. It's really a mix of fashions you really can't find in Memphis. I'm sure they carry those jeans you have on right now.” Terrin looked Lena up and down. “Seven, right?”
BOOK: Crossroads
12.93Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

Other books

Retro Demonology by Jana Oliver
Deception (Southern Comfort) by O'Neill, Lisa Clark
One Week In December by Holly Chamberlin
Ten of the Best by Wendy Cooling
Hunter Moran Saves the Universe by Patricia Reilly Giff
Taunt by Claire Farrell
Bedford Square by Anne Perry


readsbookonline.com Copyright 2016 - 2024