A/N: yes yes yes i know it's been a while since i updated this story but here i am now so don't forget to Read&Review!
Chapter Seven
"I swear to God if you fuck—ow! Mariah!"
Jazmine rolled her eyes after she popped Riley with her comb. "Maybe if you didn't whine so much…" she offered. He grumbled as he rubbed the sore spot on his head. "Next time, come out with your hair already detangled if you're gonna complain how I'm gonna do it." Riley said something under his breath and Jazmine raised the comb again. "What was that?"
"Nothing! Damn!" he shot back. He folded his arms as Jazmine got back to braiding his hair. "At least be gentle with a nigga's head… shit, I ain't paying you to give me a damn headache while you doing my hair."
"You're not paying me at all!"
"And I don't need to pay you! You family!" Riley shooed her comment away before he finally sat still. "Just don't fuck up my braids," he replied. "Last time they didn't last long enough."
"You know what—" Her phone rang from under her. She slid open the call to answer and balanced it between her ear and shoulder. "Hello?" Riley could hear that the person on the other side was talking, but it wasn't clear enough to understand.
"Bitch, can you do my hair and talk on your own time?" Riley snapped lowly. Jazmine responded with popping him with the comb again. "Ow! You and yo nigga got anger issues!"
"That's just Riley… yeah, I'm doing his hair for him… you know he doesn't pay me!" Riley sucked his teeth. If she was telling her bougie ass doctor friends about him, they were gonna have some problems. "So wassup Cindy?"
Cindy?
"Uh-huh…. yeah… really?" Jazmine continued on. "Well… I would love to hang out with you, but I have to work a shift today." She sounded solemn as if she was really sad that she couldn't go. "But why don't you ask Riley?"
"Huh?" He shot up at the sound of his name.
"Yeah! I mean, it's not like he's doing anything…" Riley ignored the sneak diss from Jazmine. "You don't have his number?" she questioned. "Well it's the same number it's always been…"
Riley shifted in his seat. After all of these years, he still could recite her phone number at the drop of a hat; he'd dialed it so many times it was practically ingrained into his mind for the rest of eternity.
"I'll text it to you then," she replied. There was more silence from Jazmine's end before she said her goodbye and ended the call. She quickly sent a text then went back to doing Riley's hair. She was quiet before she let out a huge sigh. "Don't think anything of it."
"She don't even have my number anymore…"
Jazmine sighed again. "She said that she changed phones and some of her contacts didn't transfer over," she offered. The unsure tone in her voice showed that even she didn't believe that awful excuse. "You know, she actually sounded excited when I said that you can go with her instead."
"Are you for real or is that bullshit too?"
His phone started to vibrate loudly on the coffee table. He almost decided on not answering it, sending her ass to voicemail even though she knew he was expecting her call. He wanted her to feel the sting of being rejected like he did at the moment.
He couldn't do it.
He picked up the phone. "Yeah?"
"Riley! You wanna come with me to a couple of vendors for the wedding?" she questioned. Jazmine was right; she did seem a bit cheerful. "Come on… it'll be free food, free desserts, and free drink samples..."
That was all it took. "I'll be there in thirty minutes."
He looked over his outfit in the mirror for what seemed like the thousandth time. He changed his shirt more times he could count; his shoes even more than that. He wanted to make sure that he looked his best, even better than the triple date at the fancy restaurant and definitely better than Sunday dinner.
He added Granddad's watch to his wrist before stepping out the door, only to be met with Jazmine frantically flipping over couch cushions. He knew that Jazmine was weird but this was something new.
"Uhh… Jazzy?"
"I can't find my badge!" she whined as she searched the couch. "Or my stethoscope!"
"Okay… so what happened the last day you had it?" But as soon as he said that, he regretted it, knowing that now he was gonna have to go through one of Jazmine's long-winded explanations.
She stood up straight and closed her eyes. "Okay. It was Thursday. So I parked the car in the garage, then I walked to the front and unlocked the door and I started going up the stairs and I remember my feet were in pain because I had to work three more hours because I had to assist with some paperwork discrepancies which I didn't do but since I'm so nice I had to track down everyone and redo it. So now I'm going up our stairs and I'm texting Huey about how I'm sick of living in a third-floor walkup but he's not seeing my side because Mr. Lawyer gets to sit on his butt for most of the day and I don't have that luxury. So anyways—"
"Jaz."
Huey stood at the frame of their room, her stethoscope and badge in his hands.
She squealed as she ran to grab her stuff. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" she smiled and kissed him on the cheek.
"You know, if you stop dropping your stuff as soon as you come in the door then you'll be able to find it later."
Jazmine rolled her eyes. "I almost took off my scrubs in the living room I was so tired," she explained.
"Oh, word?" Riley questioned.
They both shot him a look. "Shut up," they responded in sync before Jazmine went into the bathroom. Riley followed her to the doorframe. Jazmine glanced at him through the mirror.
"You need something?"
He scratched the back of his head. "Yeah… can you give me a ride down to Cindy's place?" he asked from the couch. "I told her I'd be at her place in thirty minutes."
Jazmine ran the cream through her curls. She gave off a small laugh. "Is there something wrong with your car?"
"Nah it's nothing like that…" he trailed off. Jazmine continued to work with her hair as she waited for an answer. He smacked his lips. "Come on Jazzy! I mean… Dorothy is nice and all but them niggas over on that side got Bentleys and Land Rovers and shit." He moved out of the way when Jazmine finally finished putting her hair in a bun.
"So what?" she replied as she moved to her bedroom. "It's not like my car is better!"
"My car," Huey corrected from the desk on the other side of the room.
Jazmine rolled her eyes. "Fine. Huey's car is a piece of crap and definitely doesn't belong in Cindy's neighborhood." Huey glared at her. "What? It's not mine; there's no use in defending it. Even though I equally fill it up, take it to the shop, use it, pay the insurance—"
"Anyways!" Riley interrupted. "You ain't gotta leave Huey's piece of shit car there! Ion wanna leave Dorothy with them snooty-ass people for them to judge the shit out of me."
"You know, you shouldn't be trying to impress those people, especially people you don't even know," Jazmine announced. "You're not there for them, you're there for Cindy."
"Cindy is one of them though," he retorted. "You tryna separate her from all that but that's who she is now."
"Why didn't you tell her to pick you up from here then?" she responded as she emerged from the bedroom with her lab coat on.
"Man… ain't nobody coming to this shitty place." Jazmine stopped to glare at Riley. "I meant the building, Jazzy! Not this lovely home you've made," he recovered. She grumbled under her breath. "Come on and do me this one favor."
"You say that more often than you think." She sighed hard. "Fine! But don't say I never do anything for you!" Riley smiled widely and gave her a hug. "Yeah, whatever. You're not the one driving all the way on the other side of town."
"You're doing it out of love."
Riley waited in the living room while Jazmine grabbed her things from the bedroom and said goodbye to Huey. he was eternally grateful that it didn't go further than goodbyes this time, which it sometimes did. He followed Jazmine to the parking lot next to the apartment complex where the car was parked. She pushed the books onto the floor to let Riley sit in the passenger seat.
"Does Huey know you keep his car messy as hell?"
"Does Huey know that you smoke weed in Dorothy?"
He paused for a second. "Fair point." He looked over at Jazmine while she drove. "Thanks again. I know I be asking for a lot from you, especially when you know neither me or Huey deserves you."
She laughed. "Tell me about it."
"Jazzy where can I find a girl like you?" he questioned semi-seriously.
"Well, we're definitely not in the bars that you go to," she explained. "You're looking for quick fixes but they aren't gonna make you happy."
He already knew this. He didn't want to only have one-night stands but he couldn't think of anyway else to fill the emptiness in his chest. He had the perfect girl for him and he fucked it all up. Cindy was to him the way that Jazmine was to Huey. They could be the one planning their wedding and living in the fancy apartment in the nicer side of Baltimore. He thought about the all the times that he prayed after they had unprotected sex that Cindy wouldn't get pregnant. He knew this was selfish to say, but he secretly wished that God didn't answer his prayers.
"How much do you think it cost to live here?" Jazmine asked as she pulled into the apartment building Cindy lived in.
"More than we got, Mariah."
She scoffed when Riley got out the car. "Who is this 'we'? You speaking French?"
Riley sucked his teeth and slammed the car door. He wasn't going to acknowledge that Mariah got a good comeback over on him. He turned to the building and he could tell that the doorman was looking, no, glaring at him.
He rolled his eyes. Niggas couldn't go anywhere with being stared the fuck down?
Riley started to walk through the doors, but he was stopped by the doorman.
"Is there something I can help you with, sir?" He has that sickeningly sweet tone of voice that every white person has around black people they're uncomfortable with.
"No." Riley tried to continue into the building but the doorman wouldn't budge. "Really dude?"
"Are you lost?"
Riley blinked. Was he serious? "Look. I've been here before so I'm not sure why you buggin' like this," he replied. He sighed. "Lemme call Cindy so her ass can talk to you."
The doorman's eyes widened at Cindy's name. "You're here for Ms. McPhearson? You mean the one that's in our penthouse?" Riley raised an eyebrow. Now he was getting somewhere. "I'm sorry for bothering you, sir. Please, come in."
Riley stuck his nose in the air as brushed past the doorman. It paid to have friends in high places.
He walked into the lobby, moving past all white upper-class people in the way. He did notice that the families with children had a brown woman, more than likely the nanny, with accompanying them. In fact, the only people who looked like him seemed to be the workers. Typical. He swore he could feel the eyes of everyone in the building staring at him as he walked towards the elevators. It was almost like they knew he didn't belong.
"Hey! You got here pretty quickly!" Cindy greeted when Riley made it to her apartment. She gave him a big hug as he walked to the room. He never wanted to break away from her. He wanted to keep her in his arms as long as possible. "You found parking okay?"
"Actually Jazmine dropped me off before she went off to work," Riley explained. Cindy smacked her teeth. "And no, I didn't tell you because she was already late and you woulda made her more late."
Cindy rolled her eyes with a smile. "Whatever. You ready?" She grabbed her keys from the kitchen counter. Riley let her leave the apartment first. "Aww, looks like someone's acting like a gentleman."
He sucked his teeth. "Girl, I'm always a gentleman," he responded. Another eye roll. "Look. I'm over here dressed classy, and you decked out in Nike."
Although she looked amazing in those yoga pants, he wasn't going to tell her that.
"It's a vendor tasting, not a date," she retorted.
Ouch. It sounded even harsher because he knew this was the reality of it. He could hang out with her and do things together all he wanted but at the end of the day, she was gonna marry ol' boy. Wack.
"Where is Russell anyways?" he asked when his curiosity got the best of him. "I feel like he should be at this sort of thing."
She pressed the button on the elevator. "Oh, he had to go to D.C. for some… kinda lawyer thingy or something… sorry I wasn't really paying attention to him." Riley grunted under his breath. Nigga couldn't be bothered to do things dealing with his own wedding? "But! He told me to take pictures of everything and describe everything for him. Isn't he thoughtful? Even though he can't be here he wants to be involved."
"Yeah," Riley muttered. "So what kinda vendors we going to?"
"Just a couple of flower vendors then a catering place. No big deal."
If he had to look at another arrangement of flowers, he was going to scream.
Not only were flower vendors absolutely boring, every place they went to thought he was the groom and prompted Cindy to do that awkward laugh and immediately explain that they're nothing more than good friends.
It sucked. And he didn't even get any food yet.
"This better not be another flower shop," he announced when they pulled into a parking lot of a small building.
"Nope." She assured him. "This is one of the most exclusive caterers in the area. I had to be put on a waiting list just for the taste test!"
He sucked his teeth as he went for the door. "They better be good… a nigga hungry." Cindy locked the door again. "…Is there something you gotta say?"
She sighed hard as she tried to find the words. He raised his eyebrow, a la his brother. "Just… be mindful of how… you act around these people okay?" He still stared at her. "Look, I had to pull a lot of strings to get this tasting scheduled."
"So don't act like a nigga. Got it."
When they walked into the building, they were greeted by serves with champagne. Riley smiled; so far, so good. While they waited for the tasting to start, Cindy looked around the room, which was set up to mimic a banquet hall. At the double doors in the back, a petite French woman made her way to Cindy and Riley.
"Bonjour Madame McPhearson! Welcome to Bijou Catering, finest catering in Baltimore," she greeted. "I'm glad you find it here on time." She turned to Riley. "And this is…?"
"Riley. He's one of the groomsmen and one of my oldest friends."
The woman winked at Riley. "Must be nice to have friends like that." Riley eyed her. Was she coming on to him? "My name is Marie and I'm the head chef here. As you can see we take very good care of our customers." Another look in Riley's direction.
She was totally coming on to him.
Marie ushered them to a table filled with cut fruits and vegetables. "One of our options is a cheese table while your guests wait on the reception to start," she explained. "All customizable. If you want, you can even add a bit of chocolate to the table." Riley almost choked on his drink.
"I think we're leaning more towards an hors d'œuvres course," Cindy pondered as she analyzed the plates of various cheeses. She didn't even notice the googly eyes that Marie was trying to make with him right now.
"Of course!" Marie moved them to the end of the table, where silver platters of food were laid out. Now they were talking. "These are the hors d'œuvres that we make. You can choose three to serve. Of course, this option is a bit more expensive since we also have to have extra servers and it is more time consuming."
Cindy waved her off. "Not a problem."
"Ohh… Riley, your good friend says money is not issue," Marie cooed, putting her hand on his shoulder. "Must be nice to have friends like that." Riley only cleared his throat. "I will let you guys talk and I will go check on the next course."
When Marie walked back into the kitchen, Riley leaned towards Cindy. "Yo Cin… don't that woman seem… ion know… weird?"
Cindy rolled her eyes. "She's French. They all weird. Now eat and see which ones you like."
Riley shrugged off the encounters. Cindy was right; French niggas just be like that sometimes.
They tasted the hors d'œuvres and discussed which ones Cindy liked the most. Riley didn't really have an opinion on any of them since French food wasn't really his thing. Nevertheless, he was there for his friend.
Were they friends?
Marie came back to the table. "How was everything?" she asked when she approached them. Although it was directed at both of them, she was really looking in Riley's direction.
Cindy smiled. "Just perfect. It's exactly how everyone says it is."
Marie put her hand on Riley's lower back. "Oh! I am glad we are living up to our reputation," she answered. "Riley, what about you? You have reputation?"
He smirked. "Depends on what we talkin' bout." Marie and Riley shared a laugh, but when he looked at Cindy, her questioning face made him stop almost as immediately as he started. "Nah, but the food is very… high class. Perfect for Cindy's wedding."
"Thank you Riley. Shall we move to the plated course?"
"Please," Riley commented. "I've been waiting all day for a real plate of food."
"Oh?" Marie replied quizzically. "And what kind of 'real' food do you eat, Riley?"
"Shit. Anything."
"Shouldn't you be asking what I like to eat?" Cindy interrupted. Finally she noticed that Marie was a little too interested in Riley. "I am the bride, you know."
Marie smiled widely. "Of course! We do not want the bride to be upset on her special day." More laughs from Marie and Riley. Cindy didn't really see what was so funny. "So we did make five plates of food for you guys today. The sides are mix and match but the proteins are most important."
They both immediately dug into the food. It had been a long day for both of them and they were both famished from all the trips and stops they had to make today. Riley noted that Cindy didn't take pictures to send to Russell and at this point he wasn't going to remind her.
"Which ones do you like?" Marie inquired when they had ample time to try everything. "Miss Bride?"
Cindy ignored the little quip from Marie. "I'm definitely leaning towards the chicken and the salmon."
Riley shrugged. "Ion know Cin, those lamb chops and that pork tenderloin were bomb as fuck," he disputed. "I think people would like that too."
"Lamb and Pork. Very good choices," Marie added. "Those are dishes I like the most as well."
Cindy put her hands up. "I'm sorry, is this Riley's wedding? Is he gonna pay for anything of this?" she snapped. "You've been asking Riley what he thinks about things and been ignoring me, the bride and the bitch who's paying for all this!"
Marie looked flustered. "I was… just being friendly…"
"There's a difference with being friendly and overstepping your boundaries," Cindy answered, rolling her eyes. "Maybe he don't want you touching all up on him like that! Riley, did you want Marie to touch up on you?" she sternly asked him.
Riley looked at both Cindy and Marie before scratching the back of his head. "Uhh… not really—"
"See?" Cindy glanced back at the plates. "Actually, you know what?" She gathered all of her things. "I don't give a fuck how good your food is, I will not sit here and let you disrespect my friend like that. Yo ass better be glad I don't give a call to my lawyer." She turned on her heels towards the exit, and Riley quickly followed behind her.
When they finally got back in the car, Cindy didn't start the engine immediately. Riley looked over at her. "Cin?" Her breathing started to get deep and shaky. "Cindy?" She gripped her steering wheel until her knuckles got white. "Cindy you gotta breathe."
"How am I supposed to explain this to Russell?" Her breathing didn't change; instead she turned to Riley, her glossy eyes threatening to flow. "I mean, how can I say that the chef was being a freak to you and I snapped? I haven't… he doesn't know that side of me!"
He knew exactly what she was referring to. The old Cindy, the Cindy he knew and grew up with was gone. She was no longer the brash, wannabe gangster that didn't take shit from anyone. She no longer hit first, ask questions later. She was an adult who had learned to control her temper whenever frustrated. Until now.
"Look," he began. "Tell Russ that you went to the tasting, but when you went to tell her your wedding date, they were all booked up."
"Okay but what about catering? People need to eat at the wedding."
He paused. "You remember Nicky from high school?"
Cindy tried to rack her brain to remember people from high school. "Big Nicky? The one who was a linebacker and looked mean but was a sweetheart?"
"Yeah. Anyways he's a caterer or chef or whatever and he does events," he explained. "He did the food for when we had a party for Huey passing the bar. Anyways, I did a couple of paintings for his place and he owes me a favor. I don't mind calling it in for your wedding."
"You serious?"
He rolled his eyes. "Of course! You my girl, Cin." She wiped the tears from her face and a small smile appeared. "Besides, this can count as your wedding gift so I don't have to spend money on getting you shit."
A small laugh before she reached over to give him a hug. He didn't know if he should hug her back, considering how he felt, but it felt so good he couldn't resist wrapping his arms around her.
"Thank you Riley," she said into his shoulder. She pulled away from him. "Truly. I don't know what I would've done."
"Don't sweat it."
"So I didn't really deliver on my promise for food and drinks," she announced. "I know this place that has some bomb ass burgers and cocktails, you wanna hit it up? My treat?" He smiled and wanted to immediately say yes, but his phone rang in his pocket. "You gotta take that?"
He looked at the caller ID. It was Lexi, and more than likely she was calling for a little bit of Netflix and Chill. He shook his head. "Nah," he answered. He was hanging out with the girl he really wanted to be with at the moment.