35
jude
I called in sick. Fuck work! Instead, I went to the Queen Bitch’s apartment to check up on things. She and Henry seemed to be getting a little bit too close for comfort. All the damn work I did to get them to break up, hiring that whore, setting the entire Thanksgiving fiasco up, and after all these years they were speaking again. The world had truly gone to shit! Queen Bitch Meredith needed to take her ass back to whoring and golddigging and forget about Henry.
After driving over there, I got the shock of my life when Flower opened the Queen Bitch’s door.
“Jonquinette!” She flung her arms around me like she was Dorothy and she’d finally made it back home from the Emerald City. “I’m so happy to see you!”
Flower was a cutie. I can’t deny that, but what the hell was she doing in Atlanta? I decided to take the safe route and play nice with her. If I had really said what was on my mind, I would have scared the little chick.
“Hey, Flower. You’re looking beautiful today and that’s an adorable outfit,” I said, trying to think of what timid-ass Jon would say in a similar situation.
Flower twirled around like she was a runway model. “Thanks, Miss Meredith bought it for me.”
“Miss Meredith, huh?” I was getting a really bad feeling. “I should have known. It looks like something she would pick out.” The outfit did have Meredith written all over it. It was much too fancy for a young child and must have cost a grip, which meant Meredith was trying to kiss up to the little one. “Is Miss Meredith home?”
“Yes, she and Daddy are in the kitchen baking cookies.”
“Stop the madness!” I exclaimed, rolling my eyes to the ceiling and following Flower into the condo.
“Huh?” Flower asked. “What does stop the madness mean?”
“It’s just a saying.” As we got farther into the living room, I noticed several shopping bags from high-end stores strewn about. “Someone went on quite a shopping spree, looks like.”
“Yeah, Miss Meredith said she wanted me to have some city clothes. She thought my clothes were too old.”
Humph, no big surprise! That sounded just like the type of bullshit that would come out of Meredith’s mouth.
I noticed that the Disney Channel was on. “Flower, why don’t you finish watching television while I go into the kitchen and see what Mommy and Daddy are doing?” I cringed when I called them Mommy and Daddy, but I really didn’t have a choice. I was on a fishing expedition and I was just now baiting my hook. After Flower sat down, I said, “Be right back.”
“Okay, Sis,” she said.
That stunned me. She was referring to Jon as her sister already, like they’d known each other for years.
I got to the doorway of the kitchen and almost lost it when I saw the Leave It to Beaver action going on. They both had on aprons. Henry was taking a batch of chocolate chip cookies out of the oven while Meredith was stirring a pitcher of iced tea. Give me a break!
Part of me wanted to turn around and storm out the door but I had to get the real deal. I cleared my throat to get their attention.
“Jonquinette, Precious, we didn’t hear you come in!” Meredith exclaimed.
Precious? She was really tripping.
“Flower let me in,” I said. “Imagine my surprise when she answered the door.”
That’s when Henry chimed in, grinning from ear to ear. “We were just about to call you and invite you over. I went to pick up Flower yesterday and drove her right back.”
“What about school?” I asked.
“Aw, she can miss a couple of days,” Meredith replied. “Henry thought it was important for her to go ahead and meet me.”
I shifted from one leg to another. I was getting more pissed off by the second. “And why is that important? For Flower to meet you, I mean.”
They both eyed each other uneasily. Then Henry said, “Jonquinette, we have so much to tell you.” He held up a cookie. “Have a cookie, straight out the oven. Your momma made them from scratch.”
I didn’t take the cookie. I looked at Meredith instead. “Since when did you start making cookies from scratch?”
“Oh, Jonquinette, please! You remember when I used to bake you fresh sweets all the time when you were a child,” she lied without missing a beat. She never baked shit when Jon was a child.
“Oh yeah,” I said. “And they were delicious.” If she was going to stand there and tell bold-faced lies, I might as well join the party. “So, what is it that you have to tell me?”
First Henry sat down at the kitchen table and then Meredith. I thought I was seeing things when they started holding hands.
“This can’t be!” I said loudly. Then I caught myself. “Okay, I take it that the holding of hands means something momentous.”
Meredith sighed. “Um, yes, it does. Henry and I have been doing a lot of talking these past several days. Making up for lost time, so to speak. This has been a complicated time for all of us but something good has come out of it.”
Henry interrupted her. “What your momma is trying to say is that we’ve decided to make another go at it.”
“You’re kidding!” I exclaimed. “You can’t be serious!”
Henry said, “We’ve never been more serious in our entire lives.” He leaned over and kissed Meredith on the cheek. “In fact, we’re going to get remarried sometime in the spring, after we make sure that your therapy is going well and things have settled back down some.” He held on tighter to her hand. “Besides, none of this should have ever happened. We want you to know that we don’t blame you. It was that other person, that Jude wench, that caused all of this trouble and we’re going to make sure we put a stop to that.”
If it was actually physically possible for smoke to come out of someone’s ears, it would have been coming out of mine right that second. No! That motherfucker didn’t call me a wench! I took a few deep breaths before I went off on both of them.
“Does that mean you’ll be moving here to Atlanta?” I finally asked. The thought of him moving closer to Jon was revolting but I had to pose the question.
Meredith replied, “No, I’m planning on relocating to North Carolina.”
I had to refrain from break dancing, I was so damn happy all of a sudden. While I wasn’t thrilled at the prospect of the two of them getting back together, not having to worry about the Queen Bitch stopping by Jon’s place unannounced or worrying the hell out of her did have its appeal. “Really? Cool!”
Meredith seemed staggered. “Wow, we weren’t expecting that reaction. We assumed you would be upset.”
“Upset about what?” I went closer to them with my arms wide open and they both stood so I could hug them. “I’m thrilled for the two of you. After all, what’s meant to be is meant to be.”
“But we feel kind of guilty about leaving you here in Atlanta alone,” Meredith continued. “We were hoping you might consider moving also.”
She had lost her fucking mind!
“That’s impossible, Momma. I have a good job here, my place, and most importantly, Dr. Spencer.” I couldn’t believe those words had just left my mouth but I had to make it sound legitimate. “I’m also kind of seeing someone now and I want to find out where that can go.”
Meredith and Henry both yelled out in unison, “Seeing someone?”
Okay, Jude, I told myself. Make it look good!
“Yes, his name is Mason and he’s one of my neighbors.”
“I don’t believe I’ve ever met him,” Meredith said.
“You’ve never met any of my neighbors, have you?” I asked, thinking back and trying to recall whether or not Jon had ever introduced her to any. “Besides, he hasn’t been living there that long.”
“Is he a nice man?” Henry asked. “I don’t want you mixed up with some rascal.”
“He’s not a rascal, Daddy. He’s extremely nice and really has it going on.”
“Well, if he can afford an apartment in your building, he must be halfway decent,” Meredith commented.
“He’s more than halfway decent,” I said. “He’s an incredible man.”
Henry cleared his throat. “Does he know about, umm, does he know…”
“About my situation?” I asked.
“Yes. Your situation.”
I really didn’t want to respond to that. I was still trying to deal with the conversation Jon had with Mason in his car and him coming up to her place afterward. Not to mention all the other shit they had been doing together.
“Well, does he know, Jonquinette?” Meredith inquired. “It’s okay, Precious, you can talk to us.”
There she went with that damn Precious again!
“Mason knows everything. He’s accepted it and plans to help me through this. So, you see, while it would be nice to have the two of you around, I can manage. I’m a grown woman, even though I act childish at times, and I have to start living my own life. I’ve got Mason now, and I can understand your logic behind moving to North Carolina. Flower needs both of her parents nearby during her upbringing and I’m sure her mother has no intention of moving to Atlanta.”
Meredith seemed uncomfortable when I mentioned Flower’s mother. That was her stupidity because she knew that she didn’t birth her. Thank goodness because the poor child would have been doomed if she had.
I knew what both of them were thinking, even though they weren’t talking about it. Jon had never had a boyfriend, not ever, and now all of a sudden she had one in her mid-twenties. Not to mention during such a tumultuous period in her life.
I decided to elaborate. “It’s weird, finding a man that I mesh with after all these years. He took me completely by surprise. I met him in the hallway one day, the next week he stopped by with a pie, and it’s been a whirlwind romance ever since.” Meredith didn’t seem like she was quite buying it so I added, “Momma, that’s one reason why you haven’t heard from me too much lately. I’ve been seeing a lot of him. We even attended a wedding together.”
That was a flat-out lie and if it were drama day for me instead of fishing expedition day, I would have really said, “He and I ended up at the same wedding and to make sure I had some ammunition to use later on, I fucked the best man.”
I chuckled as they both stared at me. I wondered what their reaction would have been if I had really blurted that out.
Flower came into the kitchen. “Are the cookies ready yet, Miss Meredith?”
Meredith ran over to the stove like she was Flower’s nanny or some shit like that. “Yes, they are, sweetie. Why don’t you go wash your hands in the little girls’ room while I make you a plate of cookies and a glass of milk?”
Flower pouted. “I want some of the tea Daddy made.”
“Okay,” Meredith conceded. “But just one glass of tea. We wouldn’t want you to consume too much sugar. You’re a growing girl.”
Flower looked at me and asked, “What does consume mean, Sis?”
“It means eat, drink, take in,” I replied, irritated.
Just when I was about to make a speedy exit, Meredith dropped a bombshell.
“Um, Jonquinette, we were going to call you earlier to ask you for a favor.”
“What favor?” I asked, hoping the Queen Bitch wasn’t going to ask me to do something ridiculous.
“Henry and I have tickets for a play this afternoon at the Neighborhood Playhouse and we were wondering if you could watch Flower for us.”
I glimpsed down at Flower, who grabbed my arm excitedly. “Yeah, Sis, can I hang out with you?”
Henry said, “We’d really appreciate it, Jonquinette.”
It became painfully clear that Meredith and Henry were caught up in their own little world and not thinking clearly. If Jonquinette were really Jonquinette at the moment, which she wasn’t, and agreed to watch Flower, what did they think would happen if Jude showed up and took over, which I already had. After all the negative things that had been said about me, why would they risk the possibility of me ending up baby-sitting Flower? Stupid asses!
All three of them anxiously awaited my answer. I had planned to go find some dick action that afternoon to relieve some stress. Baby-sitting would definitely put a damper on my plans, but Jon would never think of telling them no so I had to suck it up and say, “Sure! I’d love to spend the afternoon with Flower!”
Within thirty minutes, Meredith and Henry were glowing as they pranced out the apartment arm in arm. Jon still had a key to Meredith’s place and there was no way I was going to sit there and watch kiddie television all day.
I took Flower to the park and hated every minute of it. A bunch of brats running around, full of hopes and dreams that their lives would be wonderful when they became adults. If they only knew the real deal. I wondered how many of them were the opposite and tried to pick out the ones that looked sad—the ones who looked like they were mistreated, abused, or just had issues to deal with period. Since it was too early for school to let out, most of them were five and under. I saw one little boy off by himself. He was sitting up underneath a slide as other kids took turns plummeting down it above his head. For the entire time we were there, he didn’t talk to another child or play with another child.
His mother was sitting on a bench with a baby in a stroller. She barely paid him any attention. She would shove the pacifier back into the infant girl’s mouth whenever she cried and glimpse at the boy every ten minutes or so. The rest of the time she had her head buried in a novel. Someone could have snatched him easily and she wouldn’t have noticed until they were in a car five or six miles away. Damn shame.
Flower was mighty talkative and I have to admit that she began to grow on me. After all, it wasn’t her fault that Henry had donated the sperm to create her. She was inquisitive, asking me about everything under the sun. She was good-humored and in high spirits and had good manners. I took her on the miniature train ride, let her ride the merry-go-round, and then we played two rounds of putt-putt. She beat me something terrible because Jon never played and I normally had better things to do, like fucking.
After she was worn out from playing, I took her to Paschal’s to grab a bite to eat. We ordered fried chicken, collard greens, and creamy potato salad and threw down on all of it. I should have taken the opportunity to eat some red meat, since Jon refused to, but I couldn’t go to Paschal’s and not jump on the fried chicken.
Flower opened up to me and talked a lot about her mother. Allison seemed like a decent human being so at least she had one parent she could count on. Then Flower turned the tables on me and started asking a lot of questions about Jon’s childhood. I lied and said that it was the greatest and that Jon was popular and had tons of friends and all the boys were in love with her. What a crock of bullshit!
When I got back to Meredith’s condo with Flower, they still were not back. I let Flower watch television while I snooped around. The Queen Bitch had enough sexy lingerie to clothe a whorehouse full of women. She had one sexy little red lace number that I just had to snag since the tag was still on it. I crammed it into Jon’s purse, already making some plans for later that night.
They finally came back in about nine, which still gave me plenty of time to go searching for dick. The way they were all lovey-dovey made me sick and I couldn’t take it anymore. I planned to go out, fuck some fool, and then ponder over whether or not I would allow them to get back together or break that shit up again. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind that I could put a stop to it, if I so desired.
It was too damn easy to just pick up a man. No man was likely to turn down pussy if the woman looked halfway attractive. I wanted a challenge so I went to this gay club called The Milk Farm, which I took to mean that there were a lot of men up in there milking each other’s dicks. Shame on it all.
When I first walked in, some of them might have assumed that I was a transvestite but upon closer inspection, you could see their chins practically hit the floor. I had always assumed that some women hang out at gay bars for whatever reason, but this one was all male except for me. They were grinding all up on each other, tonguing each other down, and my pussy was getting wetter by the second. True sex fiends get turned on by anything sexual, even two dogs humping.
I hopped on a vacant barstool and waited for the bartender, a midget in a thong and leather hat who walked on top of the bar instead of behind it. He snarled at me and asked me what I wanted. I said, “A blow job just like everyone else in here.” I laughed at my joke but he didn’t like it. “Don’t front. I’m sure you know how to make it.”
He teetered away to get my drink.
The two men, or queens rather, that I was sitting between were hideous. I wouldn’t have fucked either one of them for bone marrow. I started scanning the club for other prospects. I realized that it would prove too difficult to pick out which ones were prospective fucks. The ones that went both ways. The ones who were married and in there on the downlow. That was the beauty of being me. Because I didn’t really exist, at least not on paper or as far as anyone was concerned, I could do whatever the hell I wanted, whenever the hell I wanted, and no one could touch me. Too many people hold back from doing the things they yearn to do. They are too busy worrying about what so-and-so might think. On the other hand, I didn’t give a fuck what people thought.
That’s why there was no hesitation on my part to do what I did next. The midget finally came back with my drink. I did my little hands behind my back trick and gulped it down. Just then, the DJ put on “Fever” and it was on. I climbed up on the bar, started dancing to the music, and singing. Then I started stripping.
Of course, the assholes were the initial ones to start yelling shit like, “You need to sit down, bitch!” “Get that slut off the bar! No one wants to see a whore stripping!” and “Did it suddenly get a little fishy in here!”
I ignored them all. I was waiting for that one person who defended me because I knew he would be the one open to what I had in mind. Sure enough, right before the song ended, I heard someone yell out, “Leave her alone! Let the diva do her thing!”
The strobe lights on the ceiling were irritating and I shielded my forehead with my hand so I could make out someone in the back. The only thing I could see was that he was extremely tall and dark-skinned. The song ended and no one applauded but one smart aleck said, “Great! Now get the hell out and go to a club where people like kitties!”
I played it cool and sat back down at the bar. Within five minutes there was a tap on my shoulder and it was him. Men are so damn predictable. It turned out that Hugh, which I’m quite sure wasn’t his real name, was married with four kids and trying to find himself. He said that he had experimented with men in college and had never gotten his curiosity out of his system. I asked him did he take it up the ass or give it. He said give it and that was cool with me because I had no intention of fucking a man who would take one up the ass. I made sure he had a condom, invited him to step in the back into a bathroom stall, and then I let him experiment with a freak and give it to me up the ass. Poor Jon was going to wake up the next morning wondering what the hell!