"Happy Endings" Part 1

[Sweet Meat aka CC]

HAPPY ENDINGS

[glow=red,2,300]“I don’t know why/Why you came in my life/Just to see me cry/Or maybe to see me die/But look at me now”
—Mary J. Blige: Happy Endings[/glow]

“Miss Cates, here’s a card for a counselor that I feel you need to speak with down at the Domestic Violence Center.”, Dr. Dennis stated as he handed the business card over to Shalena.

Earlier that morning, Shalena underwent having an abortion. Four days ago, when she told her on-again, off-again boyfriend of 2 years, DaShawn, that she was pregnant, he physically abused her. He told her that she was trying to trap him by becoming pregnant and he wasn’t standing for it. He then followed up by telling her that she was going to get rid of the baby or he would be gone for good. And although he had a 3-year-old daughter from a previous relationship Shalena did as she was told because anytime she didn’t do what he told her, he would abuse her.

However, trapping DaShawn wasn’t Shalena’s intention. The fact of the matter was he had come home high late one night about a month beforehand and forced himself on Shalena against her will. And just as he had always done throughout their stormy relationship, he turned the blame around on her.

“I don’t need to see a counselor. I’m doin’ juss fine!”, she snapped at the doctor as she placed her sunglasses back on her face to cover her blackened eye. She had tried to conceal it with makeup.

“Well at least think about it.”, the doctor calmly replied before leaving out of the room. As soon as he was gone, Shalena took the card, tore it into small pieces and threw it in the wastebasket. Then she put on her jacket and left the clinic.

On her way home on the subway, she pulled her Discman out of her bag to listen to Mary J. Blige’s “Share My World” CD to drown out the cries of a small child who was sitting across from her on his mother’s lap. However, she couldn’t take her eyes off of him. This made Shalena especially sad since she would never know if her baby would’ve been a boy or a girl, who it would’ve looked like, and what it could’ve turned out to be in life.

“God, please forgive me for what I’ve done and take care of my baby.”, she silently prayed while fighting back tears. She then skipped her CD to track #12 and put “Keep Your Head” on repeat. She concentrated on the lyrics during the rest of the ride before getting off at the next stop.

Under normal circumstances, Shalena would’ve walked the 11 blocks back to her place, but because of the painful cramps she was suffering from after her procedure, she decided to flag down a taxi.

A few minutes later when the taxi dropped her off in front of her place, she noticed that DaShawn’s ride was parked across the street even though it was the middle of the day. But then she thought nothing of it as she slowly walked up the flight of stairs to her apartment. She was thinking that maybe he wasn’t feeling well and left work early…WRONG!

Upon entering her home, Shalena noticed that the tv in the living room was on although she heard some loud music coming from the back bedroom.

“Dashawn?!”, she stated as she began to head down the hallway. However, she didn’t hear a response from him. Instead, she heard the sound of a woman moaning as she approached the bedroom door.

“No this muphucca don’t have a itchb in my bed?!”, Shalena frantically thought to herself as she flung the door open. But sure enough, she witnessed DaShawn and his baby’s momma, Maria, having sex.

“Shawn!!!”, Shalena shrieked out of more hurt than anger.

“What the cufk are you doin’ here?!!”, he barked as he sat up and pushed Maria off of him.

Without saying a word, Shalena snapped and quickly turned around and headed for the kitchen. A few seconds later, she returned with a butcher knife raised in the air.

“Yall got 5 seconds to get the cufk outta here!!!”, she shouted as she slowly walked towards them.

Maria began to scream and ran behind DaShawn. However, he ran from in front of her to head for the door to escape first. It wasn’t until they were both chased out of the apartment that he and Maria realized they were half-dressed.

“Lena open this door so we can get our clothes!!!”, he shouted while pounding on the door.

“Yall want yall isht?!!! You betta go outside to get ‘em ‘cause I juss tossed all that cufkin’ isht!!!”, she shouted back without opening the door.

“Look, I’m not playin’ with your @$$! Open this cufkin’ door!!!”, he shouted as he continued to pound on the door. By this time, a few neighbors who were home came out of their apartments to see what all the commotion was about.

“What the cufk yall lookin’ at?!”, he snapped at an elderly man who just stood shaking his head at him and Maria who was covering her bare breasts with her arms.

“Yall need Jesus!”, the elderly man replied before stepping back into his apartment.

“Come on!”, DaShawn ordered Maria as he ushered her downstairs. After they reached the bottom floor, he ran over to a payphone to call the police.

Within minutes, the police arrived and one proceeded to rush upstairs to persuade Shalena to open the door so DaShawn could get his car keys while the second officer went out back to gather Maria and DaShawn’s clothing so they could get dressed.

After the first policeman knocked several times, Shalena still wouldn’t come to the door.

“Lena, open the muphuccin’ door!”, DaShawn yelled while watching the policeman knock on the door continuously.

“Ma’am, please come to the door! If you don’t open up, we’ll have to use force!”, the police officer warned. Still his orders went unanswered. He backed up and kicked on the door several times before it swung open.

He and his partner ordered Maria and DaShawn to stay in the hall while they went inside.

“Ma’am?! Hello?!”, they both shouted as they cautiously walked through the apartment to find Shalena.

“Call the paramedics!!!”, the second policeman commanded when he discovered Shalena lying on the bathroom floor. He also found a bottle of pills near her lifeless body. They were the painkillers that she was given by the clinic.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Ma?”, Shalena weakly asked when she opened up her eyes the next day. She thought she was still asleep and dreaming when she saw her mother standing next to her.

“Shhhh…don’t say anything. You need to rest.”, her mother whispered as she brought Shalena’s hand up to her lips to kiss. “Glory be to God that you’re still here!”

Shalena slowly directed her eyes to the other side of the bed where her long-time neighbor and friend, Janette, was standing with a small smile on her face.

“I called your family the minute I found out you were in here.”, she stated in response to the confusing look Shalena had given her.

Shalena immediately became embarrassed when she remembered why she was in the hospital. “I’m sorry, ma.”

“Stop that kinda talk! You have nothin’ to be sorry about!”, her mother immediately replied.

“No, she’s not sorry; but that @$$hole she ran off with will be when I get my hands on him!”, her overprotective father mumbled as he stood at the window before walking over to her bedside.

“Marvin, not now!”, her mother whispered as she quickly glanced in his direction.

“Hell no, not now! But soon…he’s gonna pay for what he did to our daughter!”, he snapped as he took another look at Shalena’s bruised eye. He then proceeded to storm out of the room.

Tears began to fall from Shalena’s eyes when she realized how upset her father had become. She felt like everything had become her fault within the last few years.

“It’s gonna be okay.”, Janette softly stated as she squeezed Shalena’s hand that she was holding onto.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Sweet Meat aka CC]

“I guess this is the last of everything.”, Shalena smiled as she observed all of the packed up boxes in her apartment. As soon as she was released from the hospital a few weeks later, her parents talked her into coming to stay with them for a while until she found another job and place to live. They didn’t want her to have to live in her apartment with the memories of her turbulent relationship with DaShawn. However, they had no idea that she also didn’t want to face the memories of having to have an abortion on the count of him as well. Her family was deadest against this type of practice.

“Girl, what am I gonna do without my road dawg?”, Janette jokingly cried as she placed her arm around Shalena’s shoulder.

“Chile, please! I’m only gonna be an hour and a half away!”, Shalena giggled with a shake of her head.

“Yeah, but still…!”, Janette giggled as well.

“Anyway, let me treat ya to dinner since you helped me out with the packin’ and err’thang.”, Shalena smiled as she walked over to her kitchen table to grab her purse.

“Aight…that’s coo’ with me.”, Janette agreed with a nod of her head. “Lemme go get my coat.” She then headed back over to her apartment.

A few seconds later, when Shalena opened her door to leave and let Janette know that she would meet her downstairs, DaShawn was standing before her.

“W’sup.”, he almost whispered as he witnessed the surprised, then pissed off look on her face. When she wouldn’t answer him, he went on.

“You movin’?”, he asked in surprise when he noticed the boxes throughout her living room while stretching his neck to look inside her door.

“Excuse me.”, she snapped as she stepped into the hall and slammed the door behind her. She still wouldn’t answer him as she made her way over to Janette’s apartment.

“Here I ammmm…”, Janette grinned when she met her in the hall. However he grin quickly disappeared as she was shocked to see DaShawn standing there watching them with a blank look.

“Is everything okay, Lena?”, she asked as she proceeded to give him a more evil stare than the one Shalena was giving him.

“Yeah. Let’s go.”, she replied as she brushed her way past him to go downstairs.

“Lena? Look…I neva meant to hurt you.”, he sadly stated as he gently grabbed up to her arm to stop her. She quickly snatched her arm away without turning around to look at him.

“Why don’t’chu get a cufkin’ life with yo’ punk @$$?!”, Janette spat as she turned around to glare at him.

“Why don’t’chu cufkin’ mind your own business?!”, he huffed. Janette was about to cuss him out until Shalena stopped her.

“Don’t waste your breath, girl!”, Shalena told Janette as they continued to walk away from him.

Several hours and drinks later, Shalena was having a good time with her friend at the local sports/karaoke bar which was something she hadn’t done in a long time.

“Why don’t’chu sign up for the karaoke contest?”, Janette teased after she and Shalena had laughed and poked fun at the first few contestants.

“Are you outta your mind?! I ain’t about to get booed outta here!”, Shalena giggled.

“You can’t sound no worse than the rest of these Apollo rejects!”, Janette laughed with a shake of her head.

“Fo’get it!”, Shalena laughed back.

“I think you juss chicken!”, Janette teased before making squawking sounds and flapping her arms in a chicken-like gesture.

“Oh, aight! Well juss to shut yo’ @$$ up, I’ma do it!”, Shalena snapped before downing the last of her margarita.

“I knew that would work!”, Janette grinned as she watched Shalena heading to the back of the bar to sign up for the contest.

A few minutes later when Shalena came back to their table, she noticed a handsome, dark stranger with a close haircut watching her. She threw a small smile his way even though she wasn’t interested.

“So what’cha gonna sing?”, Janette begged to know once Shalena sat back down across from her.

“You’ll find out when I get up there!”, Shalena teased with a wink of her eye.

“Noooooooooooo…I wanna know NOW!!!”, Janette huffed while shaking her fist at her.

“Well…it’s by one of my favorite singers in the whollllllllllllllllllle wide world!”, Shalena grinned from ear to ear while opening her arms.

“Oh…Mary J.”, Janette emptily replied with a shrug of her shoulders as she sat back in her chair. She then noticed an extremely sexy guy making his way from the bar with a drink in his hand. She couldn’t help from flashing a wide-grin when their eyes met.

“And what’s wrong with that?!”, Shalena demanded to know as she folded her arms. When Janette didn’t answer right away, she turned around to see what she was looking at. However, she didn’t see anything out of the ordinary since the mystery guy had just passed their table.

“Did I say somethin’ was wrong, trick?”, Janette spat when she turned her attention back to Shalena.

“No, ho-cake, but your tone said it all! Ya know how much I love Muray! That’s my girl!”, Shalena exclaimed. “I can’t wait ‘til the tickets for her show go on sale next month! I’ma be sittin’ front row and center to watch her do her thang!”

“Somebody’s a stalllllllll-ker.”, Janette mumbled under her breath before laughing.

“No baby doll…yo’ momma is the definition of a stalker. You know it was quite sad when Grady Wilson had to take out a restrainin’ order against her!”, Shalena laughed uncontrollably.

“It’s no worse than James Evans havin’ to take one out against your momma!”, Janette laughed as she threw her head back.

“Whateva! At least James was a strong, black, hard-workin’ man! Grady didn’t have nothin’ to offer yo’ momma but some of his social security check!”, Shalena laughed back with a shake of her head.

“Yeah, well at least Grady didn’t take a whole jar of Vaseline to smear across his fo’head like James.”, Janette laughed.

“Well, at least James didn’t look like he brushed his teeth with a charcoal briquette! Can we say tartar control toothpaste, Grady?!”, Shalena laughed back.

“But at least Grady…”, Janette began before she was interrupted.

“Damn! Yall juss goin’ at it, huh?”, the mystery man that she had noticed earlier laughed as he stood next to their table along with the guy that Shalena had also noticed. He and his friend decided that they would see if the girls would mind their company.

“I guess we were!”, Janette bashfully giggled before looking in Shalena’s direction. She was surprised when she saw a pissed off look on her face.

[Sweet Meat aka CC]

“Look at this! A broke @$$ G-Money wannabe and Derek Luke!”, Shalena angrily thought to herself.

“Do you mind some company?”, the dark stranger that noticed Shalena earlier asked as he smiled in her direction.

Shalena didn’t answer right away but when she did, she did so with a bit of rudeness. “Ummmmm…my friend and I are havin’ a girl’s night out if you don’t mind.”

“Oh! Well excuse us, then.”, he sarcastically replied as he and his friend were about to turn and leave from the table.

“Wait a minute! We wouldn’t mind your company at ALL!”, Janette hurriedly stated while glaring at Shalena.

“You sure?”, he asked while giving Shalena a puzzling look.

“Yes. Have a sit down!”, Janette smiled while trying to ignore Shalena’s sudden sour mood.

“Hi. My name is Calvin.”, the man that Janette had been admiring stated with a smile after sitting down next to her. “This is my boy, Tariq.”

“Nice to meet you two. I’m Janette and…”, Janette began as she glanced in Shalena’s direction.

“…Shalena. Nice to meet yall.”, she emptily replied as she began to take a sip of her Long Island Iced Tea that she had brought back from the bar when she signed up for the contest.

During the last few weeks, Shalena vowed that she wouldn’t show a slight bit of interest in any more men for a long time. As far as she was concerned, they were the same as DaShawn. Plus she was scared of having her heart broken again.

“Likewise.”, Calvin stated while giving her a questioning look before turning his attention back to Janette. They were sharing a bit of small talk while getting to know one another better. However, things were the opposite for Tariq who seemed to be doing all of the talking while Shalena came back with one word answers while waiting to hear her name come up. Within a few minutes, she was saved when the emcee called her up to the stage.

“Excuse me.”, she sighed just as Tariq was in the middle of a statement he was making.

“Damn! What is up with your girl?”, he asked Janette after watching Shalena quickly make her way up to the front.

“I’ono, but I’ma find out real soon!”, Janette sighed with a shake of her head. “I have to apologize to yall for how she’s actin’. This isn’t usually like her.”

“Is she into dudes? Maybe that’s what’s wrong?”, Calvin joked as he turned his head back around to look at Janette.

“Yes, she’s into dudes! I think a lot of it may be due to her goin’ through a nasty breakup not too long ago.”, Janette replied suddenly remembering why Shalena was probably acting the way she was.

Just then, the bar was filled with the thumping intro of Mary J’s “Family Affair” that Shalena had chosen to perform. In no time flat, she was grinning from ear to ear while singing and going back and forth from one end of the makeshift stage to the other.

Janette was surprised by her voice. Shalena wasn’t that great, but she wasn’t bad either.
“She into it, ain’t she?!”, Tariq laughed while glancing over his shoulder at Janette.

“Well, Mary is her idol! She’s what really makes her happy, I guess.”, Janette giggled with a shrug of her shoulders.

All three noticed how Shalena appeared to be happy for the rest of the evening when she returned to the table immediately after finishing her number.

“You were pretty good!”, Tariq grinned which seemed to make Shalena’s heart skip a beat. However, she was not about to go there with him and no one else.

“Thanks.”, she smiled.

[glow=blue,2,300]*Part 2 Comin' Up Soon*[/glow]