"Dang girl! I haven't seen you in forever!" Dijonay extended her free arm to wrap penny I a hug, the other had a baby occupying it, "How's collage been , my home girl gettin' in to brown, shoot!"
Penny checked out the girl she once knew, she had tight jeans and a pink baby phat t-shirt on that was not concealing a baby bump. "I've been really good Dee, browns great. How's little pickle doing?" She laughed, "I still can't believe you called him that."
"Oh, girl you know I did! He'll have a brother to match to, I'm gonna call him Gherkin!" She placed her hand proudly on her stomach, her bright, long pink nails contrasted with her dark skin. "Girl don't just stand out on the porch, come on inside."
The house was littered with boxes and trash, a T.V sat in the corner only picking up snow and static, "Oh Dang not again! Oh well, would have missed my soaps anyways."
Cat was littered everywhere, magazines were strewn upon the coffee table, ashtrays overflowed on end tables, the place was your stereotypical ghetto housing.
"Play quietly now pickle, mommy and her friend are going to talk," she set the infant in a second, or by the looks of it, fifth hand play pen where he proceeded to gnaw on a plastic ring.
"Let's go sit in the kitchen Penny." Dijonay eased herself into a chipped wooden chair a painted a different color then the table.
"Wow Dee, I can't believe you got… your own place." Penny said looking around her crib.
"Yeah, it's not much now but once Omar gets a promotion down at Fryin' Brian's were movin' out, lookin' at them condo's, you know the new ones on mallard street?"
Penny recalled driving by the half a million dollar condo's on her way to her parent's the other day. "Oh yeah? Good for you Dee."
"Yeah, I might even go to beauty school once the baby's born," she tossed her French braid back over her shoulder, "Fact, I'm already working on my application."
"Beauty school? Girl, you could hook me up!" She tried to sound as convincing as she could, though she knew she'd never let the now platinum blonde, touch her hair, nails or face, ever.
"You know it!" She started laughing, which quickly turned into hacking.
It made Penny's heart hurt in all the wrong places when she heard her friend, who was only 22 cough like that, worse when she thought of the baby, "Dee," She began, placing an hand on her back, "Don't you think you should stop smoking, at least for the baby?"
"Don't you talk down to me Penny!" She snapped at her friend, "I know you go to Brown now, but that don't mean you're better than I!" She started hacking again.
Penny was shell shocked, "I wasn't-"
"Oh Penny I'm sorry, you know it's just the nicotine!" She reached for a pack, "I just need to light up is all."
A mangy cat jumped up on the table and started to lick itself, she looked at it, clearly disgusted "Go on now, shoo!" Penny waved a hand at it.
"No, no it's alright, cat hair all-over the damn place anyways." She was fumbling with a lighter. "Shoot, out of fluid, Penny hand me that one over there."
She handed her a lighter with a topless blonde printed on it, "Damn Omar, I keep telling him not to buy shit like this now that we got a son." But she proceeded to light up anyways.
"Is he at work right now?" Penny was getting more uncomfortable the more she saw how much her once best friend had changed.
"Yeah, took some extra hours, you don't get promoted to fry cook for nothin' I guess." She successfully light her cigarette, held it to her lips taking a long drag and exhaled, savouring the moment by closing her eyes, "Oh that reminds me, you'll never guess who I saw the other day," she paused for dramatic emphasis, "LaCeaniga"
Penny, thrilled in having a topic of discussion re-adjusted her sitting position and promptly answered, "Let me guess, married to a rich man, no kids… thin and gorgeous?"
"You a mind reader!"
"It's so typically her, I knew she'd end up like that, she always was plastic."
"Hey, don't blame me, I said it now I'll say it again, she was a different person entirely to me."
"I know, I know."
"I knew you'd always end up like this, Penny."
"Like what?
"Smart, going to school somewhere, getting' a career and stuffin' that big ol' head of yours full of knowledge."
Penny smiled at this, she knew Dijonay's sense of humour she wanted to say, "And I never in a million years thought this would be your life." But she just couldn't bring herself to do it.
"Well, of course I thought it would be you and Zoey…"
They both looked solemn, "Yeah, I wish- I wish she was still here, with us." Penny realized how dumb this sounded the moment the words were impossible to get back, of course she didn't want Zoey to die of Leukemia, and she was too young, too good to die the death she did.
"Did you ever think my life would be like this?" Dijonay asked.
Penny scratched her head, looking for answers among her thick, dark hair. She found them, "Yeah, yeah I always knew you'd have a husband and kids, a family."
Penny looked at the woman sitting across from her, she wasn't the girl all those years ago in junior high, and she had matured, in her own way. Their friendship wouldn't be the same, they wouldn't ever have that platonic connection they once did, but from each other they learned, the other side of the tracks, the opposite way of life.