Scarlett (16 page)

Oh my goodness! I knew I should have worn something else,
she thought, peeking around Luke while smiling at the crowd.

Chapter Fifteen

Luke turned around and looked at Scarlett. “I’m sorry, Red. I wasn’t expecting this.” As brown skinned as she was, he could still see the red in her cheeks. She was just as surprised as he was. His mom walked over and sat the cake on the granite counter top separating the kitchen from the family room. Luke followed behind her with Scarlett still gripping the back of his shirt. Luke turned to face everyone around him who was waiting to hear something from him.

“Thanks everybody for surprising me. I know this was all Mom’s idea.”

“You’re welcome,” intertwined with, “Happy Birthday, and no problem,”
echoed around him.

“Evelyn is such the prankster,” he said jokingly, looking over at his mom. ‘Thanks, Mama. This was sweet of you.”

“Anything for my baby,” Evelyn smiled. She loved her son very much. He was an only child and she wanted the best for him. Scarlett could see a big resemblance in them. His mom’s smile looked just like his. His father walked over and hugged him.

“She’s been planning this for weeks, son. I didn’t think she could pull it off.”

“Yeah, it almost didn’t work, because I was out on a date when she called, wanting me to go pick up all this stuff. If she would’ve caught me in the movies it would’ve been a wrap.” He grinned.

“Speaking of date,” Evelyn said as she peeked around Luke’s shoulder. “Who is she?”

Luke cleared his throat. “Oh my bad, Mama. I was going to introduce her, but you caught me off guard with all this.” He looked around at everybody and back at Scarlett. “Mama this is Scarlett. Scarlett, this is my mom and dad, Mr. and Mrs. Jones.” Scarlett smiled and held out her hand to shake Evelyn’s hand.

Evelyn looked at her strangely. “Girl, give me a hug,” she said and reached in to hug Scarlett. Scarlett’s heart raced, but only because she was so touched by Evelyn’s response. “Just call me Evelyn and you can call my husband Doc. Everybody else does.” They laughed.

“Okay I will and you can just call me Red,” Scarlett replied.

Evelyn smiled. “Everybody this is Red, my son’s friend.” 

Adonis Sr. also reached in for a hug. Scarlett hugged him back. She looked at Luke’s parents and smiled. They looked good together and made a beautiful couple. Luke actually resembled both of them.

“Well, don’t just stand there. Go outside on the patio and get you something to eat,” Evelyn said. “It’s plenty of food and lots of booze too, girl.” Scarlett already liked her, because she was so down to earth and cool.

“Okay, sounds good. I am hungry anyway.”

“Yeah, go fix you a plate. I’m gonna walk around and talk to my family and friends. I’ll meet you over by the bar. Just relax and make yourself at home.” Luke leaned over to whisper in her ear. “My parents like you.” Scarlett smiled. All of this seemed too good to be true. She pinched herself as she made her way out on the patio. This was indeed real and it felt damn good to be walking in her shoes for a change.

Scarlett had taken an empty seat at one of the patio tables and looked down at her plate. She had meatballs, chicken salad, three finger sandwiches, four chicken wings, and shrimp pasta salad. Her plate was full and she was planning to eat it all. She was sipping a peach margarita from a big oval glass that the bartender mixed for her. She felt like she was a special guest at a very big and important event. Luke walked over and sat down beside her.

“Are you having fun?”

“Yeah, I’m actually having a wonderful time. This food is delicious.” Luke admired the fact that she was real and had an appetite, unlike most of the women he talked to.

“Thanks, my mom hired a chef for my party. She normally does the cooking, but she said it was too many people to cook for this time.”

“Adonis, huh?” she said. 

“Yeah that’s my real name. My friends started calling me Luke a long time ago. They said that I was one of the
good ole boys
.” They laughed at his comment.

“You are real silly.” She looked at him and smiled. How she wished to have a man in her life just like him. She didn’t want to rush things between them and felt that it would be best for them to take their time getting to know each other. Luke liked her a lot already, but felt the same way.

“Maybe sometimes I’ll call you Adonis?”

“Sure, if you wanna call me Adonis. It is my name and if anybody other than my mother wanted to call me that, I would prefer it be you.”

Scarlett blushed. “You have a very nice house. I love it.”

“I’ll take you on a tour when everybody leaves.” Luke turned up his Armadale vodka on ice. He drank it like he was someone who could hold his own. As they sat at the table, laughing and talking, two women walked up. Scarlett quickly checked them out in their tight fitted designer dresses and stilettos. They looked like they were in a cheesy hip-hop video trying to be seen with their weaves hanging mid-way down their backs. She smiled and continued eating. 

“Happy Birthday, Luke,” the curvier dark skinned girl said.

Luke looked up. “Thanks, April,” he dryly responded. “What’s up, Faye?”

“Hey Luke, happy birthday,” Faye said.

“Thanks,” he said. “What brings y’all over this way?”

“Darius invited us over here,” April answered, looking over at Scarlett with her nose turned up.

Luke shook his head. “My cousin is always inviting people somewhere like he’s paying for something.”

“Some people, huh… I’m not just
some
person,” April snapped.

“How do you figure that?” Luke asked turning his Atlanta logo cap to the back and licking his lips. He swallowed the rest of his drink. He didn’t want to look at Scarlett, because no telling what she was thinking by now.

“So it’s like that, Luke? You got a new shawty on your arm and you wanna act brand new and shit, huh?”

Luke laughed. “Faye, take your girl home. She done had a little too much to drink.” Faye stood there like she was waiting for something to go down.

“I don’t have nothing to do with this,” Faye responded.

Luke frowned. “You don’t ever have anything to do with it, but somehow you’re always around.” Scarlett grinned a little and drank her margarita. She still didn’t want to give the ladies any eye contact, because Luke was handling his own.

“Whatever,” Faye stated, rolling her eyes.

“Who is your girlfriend, Luke? She’s eating like she never had real food before.” Faye grinned at April’s comment as if it was so funny. Scarlett looked up at April and bit her chicken tender. April was a very pretty girl and probably could have any man she wanted. She appeared to be upset, but at the wrong person talking that shit about her. Even though her voice seemed harsh and brutal, Scarlett saw right through her hard exterior. She took another drink from her glass and smiled.

“Is that all you came over here for, smart remarks and jokes?” Luke asked.

April jerked her neck with her hand on her hip. “Who is this bitch you’re sitting here with, Luke?”

Scarlett looked up at April in the most casual way.

“I don’t know what your problem is, and why my sitting here is bothering you so bad, but please believe me when I say that this ain’t what you want, sweetie.” Her tone was cool, but very firm.

Luke was turned on by her aggression. “Don’t worry, Red, I got this,” he said and stood up. He stood about five inches taller than April, as she looked up at him. “Last I checked, April, that was none of your business, and mind how you talk about my lady friend. It doesn’t matter who I have around me, because you’re not—”

“I see you’ve met Adonis’ ex,” Evelyn interrupted. “April, I really hope you didn’t come to my house to start no shit.”

“No ma’am, I didn’t,” she snapped, rolling her eyes at Scarlett.

“You had your chance, remember? You are the one who broke up with him so what’s the problem?” Evelyn asked.

“There is no problem,” she surrendered. “I’m sorry to have caused any confusion inside your lovely home.”

Evelyn smiled. “There is no confusion, baby. Now go mingle and enjoy yourself. My son has brought this nice young lady home with him and you need to respect that or leave. Do you understand?”

“Understood,” April said and walked off. Faye followed behind her like a do-girl. Evelyn looked at Scarlett and winked.

“Drink up, Red and enjoy yourself. Don’t let that lil bourgeois witch get to you.” Scarlett and Luke laughed. “I’m ‘bout to go dance with your father,” she said, taking a sip of her Remy Martin XO Excellence mixed with chilled diced peaches.

“Are you mad?” Luke asked.

“No, I’m good. I didn’t think I’d meet your ex on our first date,” she laughed.

“Hell, our first date has had all kind of surprises.”

“You’re right about that. So, what’s the story with Miss April?”

“She and I were together for about two years. She likes to have her way and thinks that everybody is supposed to cater to her. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind catering to my woman, but I don’t like it when I’m being taken advantage of.”

“I feel you,” Scarlett agreed.

“She is a very spoiled woman, and because she is twenty-seven, she thinks she can handle me any kind of way. Listen, she ain’t the first pretty lady I’ve fucked, and she won’t be last. You can ask anybody here, I always talk to women older than me. The women my age ain’t ready for this,” he bragged, putting a smile on Scarlett’s face.

“That crazy broad moved here from her home town in Atlanta and wanted us to move in together, but I told her she needed to slow her roll. I like living on my own. Even when I’m here, at my parent’s house, I come and go as I please. Long story short, she started messing around with her ex-boyfriend, trying to make me jealous.”

“How did you know that?” Scarlett asked.

“Trust me. I have my ways of finding out shit.”

“Scared of you,” Scarlett joked, making Luke laugh.

“So check this out, she calls me one night talking about we shouldn’t be together no more and that she realized how much her ex really loved her. I don’t know if shawty thought I was gonna run behind her or something, but that shit wasn’t happening.”

Scarlett laughed. “Well damn! She was brave.”

“Same thing I was thinking at the time.” He shook his head. “Dude must be tripping on her ass because she over here tryna start some shit, but I ain’t with it. I’m with who I wanna be with.”

“Is that right?” Scarlett asked.

“Damn right, it’s right. She still be trying to call my phone and shit, but I always tell her to call dude since he is the one who really loves her. I think she’s finally realizing I don’t want her ass no more.”

“That’s usually how it is. Once it’s over they come crawling back.” Scarlett concurred.

“Women… I’ll never understand how they think.”

Scarlett grinned at his comment.

Across the room, April and Faye eyeballed them.

“He thinks he’s doing something,” April said, smacking her lips.

“April, I think I know that chick from somewhere.”

“Is she from around here?” April questioned.

“I don’t know, but her face looks familiar.” Faye squinted her eyes trying to get a decent look at Scarlett from across the room. “I’m telling you, I know that chick!” Faye stressed.

“Whoever she is, she got Luke’s attention and his mama seems to like her. But who gives a damn about his nosey ass mama. She’s an old bitch that gets on my damn nerves. It’s always
my son this, my son that
… Damn, let your son be a man and stay outta his business.”

“Yeah, she never liked you, anyway.”

“I know she don’t like me but I don’t give a—”

Faye cut in. “I got it! I know where I know her from.” She blurted out.

“You say that shit like it’s juicy,” April responded.

“We kinda stayed in the same neighborhood,” she said, almost ashamed to tell her best friend where she used to live. “It was in the projects, but I’d only be there because my mama worked and my aunt would keep me until she got off. Anyway, to make a long story short, that chick and her best friend, Nina, used to be fucking grown men and all when we were just teenagers. Trust me, I know her.”

“Are you serious?” April asked.

“Yes I’m serious. They were wide open.” She and April laughed. “We were cool at first, but then I backed off a little. They had too much going on. Word on the streets was that her mama was the biggest crack whore on the block.”

“Really,” April said as the wheels began to turn. “So, he got himself a whore, huh?” April laughed.

“Yeah, and she used to be ugly as hell! She didn’t nearly look that good. She looked like a nappy headed Buck Wheat back then.”

“SHUT THE FUCK UP!” They burst out laughing. “Wow, and he got somebody like that by his side?”

“He doesn’t really know her, that’s all that is. If he knew what she was about, then he wouldn’t be here with her right now.” April was already scheming in her mind.

“What are you ladies whispering about?” Evelyn asked, interrupting them.

“Nothing at all, Mrs. Jones,” April sarcastically responded. “As a matter of fact, we were just leaving. This party was nice… Tell your son I’ll holla at him later.” She smirked.

They exited the home, leaving Evelyn standing there wondering what dirty little schemes they may have been concocting together.

Chapter Sixteen

Scarlett walked in Joan’s hair salon, ready to get beautified. Joan smiled and waved her over. She already had a client in her chair, but it looked as if she was almost finished. She layered the woman’s shiny strawberry-blonde hair with hanging candy curls all over her head.

“Your hair still looks good, even with it pulled up,” Joan commented.

“Thanks,” Scarlett responded.

“Get yourself something to drink out of the fridge. I’ll be done in a little bit.” She swung the chair around and the woman sitting in it was Mrs. Grand. She did a double take, once she figured out Scarlett’s identity.

“Scarlett, is that you, baby?” she asked.

Scarlett cleared her throat. “Yes, ma’am it is,” she responded. “How are you doing?”