"So what did you do when Jazmine left?" Huey asked.
"Well, after she left, I was surprised and upset even though I shouldn't have been," James started. "I only found out about Jazmine's disappearance due to Ms. Grace informing me that she quit her job and there were filers of Jazmine posted all over the place. I couldn't go five minutes without seeing Jazmine's face somewhere," James exclaimed.
"I don't even know how you had the time to print and post fliers all over the place," James said pinching the bridge of his nose.
"I knew a couple of people around the time," Huey simply answered.
"Whatever, that was a waste of paper cause in the end you never found her and she never came back to you," James said causing Huey to glare at him.
"Okay, if that's so, how did you find Jazmine if she traveled out of state? I know you were watching her during her pregnancy," Huey sternly asked.
"Well, this is an interesting story if you ask me. It even took me by surprise when it happened," James said.
"Okay, well what happened?" Huey asked wanting to know.
"So, of course, I haven't seen Jazmine in months. I thought I could track her with her bank statements since I knew a guy at the bank, but he didn't find any signs of transactions from her. It was weird because I thought she would have spent the money. You know since she was on her own and homeless," James started.
"Get to the point Anderson," Huey said rushing James.
Like every other day, I reported to work, saw a few patients, attended meetings, and filed paperwork. Since Jazmine left, I'll be the first to confess that things haven't been the same. I made an effort to accept her absence, but it killed me. I constantly saw her face wherever I went. I n other states as well as at the hospital, bars, and shops. She was always on my mind, and the fact that I couldn't locate her anywhere irritated me.
It didn't make it any better when Huey kept constantly coming to the hospital to ask us if we had heard from Jazmine. He would ask Ms. Grace and me the majority of the time since we associated ourselves with Jazmine.
We always said 'no' because we didn't know where she was and Jazmine never contacted any of us at the hospital. She didn't even contact the other nurses.
Huey asked if he could put up fliers of Jazmine in the hospital and of course, Ms. Grace allowed him to. Instead of putting up one or two fliers, he had them put up in the rooms the patients sit in. Ms. Grace thought it would be a good idea for the patients to be self-aware of this so they could be on the lookout.
I thought it was stupid because no one cares about lost and found fliers. Jazmine might have been missing but no one was going to care to look for her except for Huey.
I tried but I was unsuccessful...I just gave up at one point until I had a patient who knew who Jazmine was.
The thing about this patient is that I haven't seen them before. They highly requested me which was no surprise. When one of the nurses sent me information about my new patient it took me by surprise because they were in need of help.
I was looking over the documents in my office before meeting them. I closed everything up and just laughed at it because it was unbelievable.
I left my office and started heading to the patient's room with my heart rapidly beating. I honestly thought it was Jazmine who came back. I assumed she got tired of having AIDS and was going to give in to one of my agreements.
But I was sadly mistaken when I walked into the room. It was a black man sitting on the bed and I looked at the paperwork to see it was male and not female.
This is what I get for rushing through the documents.
I looked up top for the man's name and then looked up at him and smiled: "Good afternoon, Tyrone Johnson!"
"Hello, Dr. Anderson," he said snapping out of his zone. He held his hand out for me to shake and I just awkwardly looked at him and shook it anyway. I didn't want to do it because of germs.
"How is your day going?" I asked to be nice.
"It's going steady...what about you?" he asked.
"Long!" I simply answered.
"So what brings you in today?" I asked already knowing.
"Well, I'm sure you heard about my condition," he said.
"Your AIDS?" I asked as he looked embarrassed about it.
"Yes, my AIDS," he answered shamefully. I guess he doesn't like when it's mentioned out loud.
I decided to close the door to make him more comfortable.
"How long have you had it?" I asked.
"Almost about a year," he admitted.
"Without treatment?" I questioned a bit surprised.
"Yes," he nodded.
"How did you get it?" I asked out of curiosity. I knew he had sex but I just wanted to hear the story behind it.
"By having sex," he said as if it was the most obvious reason.
"Ok..." I said awaiting his story.
He eventually caught on and started talking: "This is a little embarrassing, but I'm a pornstar, and one of the girls who I had sex with had AIDS."
"And she didn't make you self-aware of that?" I questioned.
"No, I had no awareness about this before we started getting down to it. I found out after a couple of weeks that I had AIDS and I couldn't confront the girl but I knew it was her who gave it to me. Ever since I got AIDS it has really affected my source of income," he admitted.
"You don't have an actual job?" I asked.
"No, I have a job, I work as a P.E. teacher at an elementary school," he said.
"Then why were you working as a pornstar?" I asked confused.
"Because in the school system teachers don't get paid that much. I had bills and student loans to pay. Working as a pornstar was bringing in two sources of income," he answered.
"Well that backfired," I mumbled.
"So, why did you specifically request me?" I asked as he looked confused.
"What?" he asked acting dumb.
"You've been contacting the hospital non-stop to book a visit with me, why is that?" I asked once again as he sighed.
"I heard that you might have the cure or treatments for the virus," he admitted.
"And where did you hear that from?" I asked crossing my arms. There was a rare amount of people who knew I had medication and treatments for AIDS, but none knew that I had the cure that could get rid of it all.
"I heard about you from one of my friends that you provided treatment for the virus and I thought I could possibly get it prescribed because this is urgent," he said.
"Is it really that urgent?" I asked unfazed.
"Uh yeah, my life is at risk here! You're a doctor, aren't you supposed to prevent that the best way possible?" he rhetorically asked.
"I am supposed to prevent it the best way possible but the way you got it is the same way that's gonna make it worse," I exclaimed.
"I'm not having sex anymore, I've been staying celibate for almost a year," he said as I snickered.
"You have no choice but to stay celibate," I said unfazed.
"I know, but I was just hoping you could provide any type of treatment," he pleaded ashamed.
"I could but it's going to be pricey," I warned.
"It doesn't matter, what's your price?" he rushed.
"You're up to about $1,000 per bottle," I said as his face went completely blank.
I wanted to crack a smile because it was as if he lost his color.
"Are you serious?" he asked being for real.
"Does it look like I'm joking about my one-of-a-kind medicine that you can't get from any other doctor?" I rhetorically asked keeping a straight face.
"No, but man I don't have that kind of money to be spending on one bottle," he said defeated.
"Well that sounds like a personal problem but if you have no intentions of paying then you might as well leave," I said as he sighed.
He starts to get up from the bed and before he leaves he all of a sudden looks at a picture of Jazmine on the wall. He kept staring at it and just looked confused.
"Do you need help leaving or something?" I rhetorically asked trying to make him leave.
"No, my bad, it's just this lady looks really familiar," he said which perked me up.
"Familiar how?" I asked wanting to know.
"Like as in I seen her before," he said.
"Where, where did you see her?" I asked. Tyrone starts to read the description of Jazmine's appearance on the flier and then he starts to think about it.
"You know she's been missing for a couple of months?" I asked as he looked back at me.
"Really?" he asked in disbelief.
"Yes, these fliers of hers have been up all over town and in other states," I said making him self-aware.
"Ah, I see," he said still looking at the flier.
I gave him time to keep looking at it until I got impatient and asked once again, "So have you seen her before?"
"I'm pretty sure I have...I work with her," he said out of realization.
"You work with her?" I asked in disbelief myself.
Was Jazmine showing off her body to get money? I assumed she might have been a pornstar like Tyrone because I can't see Jazmine doing much, especially if she is pregnant.
"Yeah, she's a nurse at the elementary school I work at," he answered.
A pornstar working at an elementary school as a teacher, that's something you don't hear of nowadays.
"A nurse huh," I said a little interested.
"Yes, she's been working there for a couple of months," Tyrone revealed.
"A couple of months you say," I said fixing my posture.
"Yeah a couple of months," he repeated.
"Are you guys close?" I asked as he started to look uneasy.
"No, not really! I've never spoken to her," he said.
"But you're coworkers," I defended.
"That doesn't mean anything. I'm pretty sure you don't speak to all your coworkers," he said.
"Touché!" I mumbled. He made a good point. As long as I've been working here at this hospital I have not talked to everybody who works here. Even people who I did surgeries with.
"Plus I always avoid the nurses that come in. They're always coming at me about how many kids get hurt during my period. It's gym, you expect kids not to rough around a little," he exclaimed.
You're a teacher, you're supposed to make sure the kids don't get hurt! If I was the nurse and I kept having a bunch of children comes to my office hurt then I would be pissed off too.
"I see!" I said thinking if I could get him to spy on Jazmine for me then it'll calm my nerves. I can always be self-aware of her health and see if she's doing good or bad. Of course, she's most likely going to be doing badly because she's carrying the disease.
"Tyrone I would like to make a proposal to you..." I said catching Tyrone's attention.
"What kind of proposal?" he asked.
"Look, I know you can't afford my the pills to take them on a regular basis, so how about you pay me in some other way?" I suggested.
"Look, man, I don't roll that way, I like girls and girls only," he said letting me know he was not gay. I rolled my eyes at him and wanted to smack my forehead because that is not what I meant.
"No, I'm talking about something else," I assured.
"Again, that would be?" he said wanting me to continue.
"If you can watch that lady on the flier and let me know about her progress then I'll pay with my pills," I offered.
"Watch her?" he questioned unsure about it.
"Yes, watch her," I repeated.
"That's a little wrong if you ask me. I could get in trouble for doing something like that," he said backing out of it.
"You work with her, I don't think you're going to get in trouble. If I were you I would take my offer because it's obvious you can't afford my medicine, so watching a lady you work with isn't that hard. If she lived far from you I could see how that would look bad but you work with her 5 days a week so you can find some time in your schedule to watch her," I exclaimed.
"Yeah, but I have never talked to her. All the other teachers and students talk to her except for me. She's going to find it odd that I all of a sudden start talking to her," he argued.
"No, she's not! You'd be very surprised at how accepting she is," I defended.
He starts to think about it and then says, "Okay, if I were to go talk to her, what would I talk about?" he asked. "I highly doubt I have anything in common with her," he added.
"That might be true, but I can give you notes on her," I assured.
"Notes?" he questioned a little unsure.
"Yes, notes, all about what she likes and dislikes," I explained.
"If you can just get close with her and tell me how she's doing then I'll sale you my medication free of charge," I assured as he thought about it.
I was really hoping he would take me up on my offer because I had been dreading to know how Jazmine's doing. I didn't like the bitch, but I was a little concerned about her well-being.
"Okay!" he simply said.
"Okay you do it or okay you're not too sure about this?" I asked of reassurance.
"I mean okay I'll do it because this seems easier than paying $1,000 for one bottle," he said agreeing to my offer.
"Good, just leave me your email, phone number, and address and we'll go from there," I instructed.
"All my info should be in the folders," he said as I rolled my eyes.
"I don't feel like going through that so just write it down..." I said looking around the room for some paper when I all of a sudden spotted the bed that had paper on it.
I walked over towards the bed and ripped off a safe amount of paper for him to put down his information. I walked back over to Tyrone and gave him the paper and let him borrow my pen.
Tyrone found a hard surface to write all the information down but as he was writing he looked uneasy about the whole situation. It's as if he didn't want to do this at all. Like it was held against his will.
When he finished putting down his information, he handed it to me.
"If you don't mind me asking...why are you so high on watching this girl?" he asked being nosy.
"Let's just say I'm worried about her wellbeing," I partially lied.
"Well, she's doing, so you don't have to worry about much," he said being a smartass.
"Yeah, uh, get back to me in a couple of weeks when I call you," I said gathering all my belongings before leaving.
"Tyrone's the reason why you were able to keep track of Jazmine," Huey said in disbelief.
"Yeah, pretty much," James casually answered.
"So, you mean to tell me Jazmine and Tyrone's relationship was all a lie?" Huey said a little upset.
He felt relieved that what Tyrone and Jazmine had wasn't real but then he felt bad because that means he was with Jazmine for all the wrong reasons.
Tyrone initially didn't want nothing to do with Jazmine. He was only associating himself in her life just to get Anderson's pills.
He finally got what Jazmine meant when she said she felt like the men she dated were putting up an act for her. They never acted as their true selves, and they showed the fake side of their personality rather than the cold hard truth.
When Huey first heard about Jazmine and all that he's done for her, something wasn't making any sense in Ebony's story. Tyrone seemed way to nice and calm about the whole situation.
There are men who will step to be in a child's life but what Tyrone did was just unbelievable. The worst part was that Jazmine actually liked him and he did this out of carelessness.
"I guess you can say their relationship was a lie," James said a little unsure and upset at the thought of it.
"What do you mean you guess?" Huey sternly asked.
"What I mean is that I never fully knew what was going on between Tyrone and Jazmine. He did what I asked and told me about Jazmine's progress, but he didn't give me the information I desperately needed. All he would tell me is that she was doing good and there was nothing wrong with her and then he would tell me what the two would do when they went out. I will admit I did not enjoy hearing about the two going on dates, but I knew he was just doing it to get close to her," James explained.
"I don't think so...you seemed really bothered about the fact that Jazmine was moving on from someone like you and she was trying to live her best life," Huey disagreed.
"I wasn't fucking bothered by that worthless bitch! She could go fuck or date anybody she wanted, I just wanted her dead," James carelessly spoke causing Huey to ball up his fist. It angered him whenever James said something disrespectful about Jazmine. He just wanted to jump out of his chair and beat the living shit out of James.
It's as if James knew this and he was trying to push Huey into doing it without making it obvious. If he had met him 30 years ago and tried to pull this, he wouldn't think twice about beating James's ass. He would have killed him if that!
Huey was not the one to be reckoned with when it came to Jazmine. He even thought about beating the male nurse's ass for giving her a problem at the hospital.
Whenever guys that either wanted to flirt or mess with Jazmine they would think twice before doing it when they see Huey near her. If he found out, then that James was stalking and harassing Jazmine he would have settled the problem.
But since they're living in an advance decade where you can get caught for anything he has to keep his cool. James might have cameras around the house and could show proof of Huey beating him if he were to go through with it.
"You might have wanted her dead but we both know that you couldn't get over Jazmine. It angered you when she was with someone else who wasn't you," Huey said getting under James skin.
The two men still hadn't settle their argument and there was more to come along the way!
Thank you for reading!
Sorry I have not kept up with the updates. The semester has started and it's hard having school and activities to worry about. This is a comfort book so it will get updates but if they're not as fast you want it's cause I'm dealing with school.