Timeless part 2

[JUCIEE GUDNESS FROM DA HOOD]

“Are you mad because I turned it around/But if I stayed the same you would still be runnin’ your mouth”
—Mary J. Blige: Confrontation


“W’sup, girl! You ready to go?”, Peaches asked as she walked in Kiara’s office. They were having lunch together.

“Yeah. Lemme juss put this stuff away real quick.”, Kiara replied as she shuffled through some papers on her desk.

“I juss talked with ‘Mir a few minutes ago and he said that their promo appearances are goin’ great. He said they’ll be home by the end of this week. You know I can’t wait to see my baby!”, Peaches grinned as she checked her lipstick in Kiara’s wall mirror.

“I can’t wait to see mine either.”, Kiara grinned as she stood up to grab her suit jacket from the coat rack. “I talked with him last night and we plan to juss kick back and chill when he gets home. I gotta have my boo all to myself!”, she winked.

“I’m glad to see you so alive again, Kee!”, Peaches smiled as they headed out of her office. “Whateva Mark is doin’, it’s really workin’! I haven’t seen you smile this much in months!”

Kiara grinned and replied, “That’s because I’ve finally washed my hands of Mike!”

“I know that’s right!”, Peaches laughed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
All during lunch in the busy restaurant, Michael kept staring over at the table where Peaches and Kiara were seated. He couldn’t get over how good Kiara looked.

“Dn! A brotha’ really fed up!”, he thought to himself. “I shoulda known it wouldn’t last with Nicki. She was too dn high maintenance and picky. She couldn’t replace Kee like I thought she could.”

“Mike, are you ok, man?”, his co-worker and best friend, Don asked.

“Yeah man, I’m coo’!”, he smiled. “I juss noticed that Kee is havin’ lunch in here with her girl, Peaches.”

Don turned around when Michael showed him where they were sitting. “Dn! If you hadn’t told me that was Kee, I wouldn’t have recognized her. And Peaches has always looked good. But you know me…I’m a one-woman man so I couldn’t holla at her the way I wanted to.” Don had been happily involved in a relationship for two years with his girl, Tina.

“I think I’ll go speak to her.”, Michael stated as he began to stand up from the table.

“Now c’mon, man! You can’t be serious!!! This is a woman scorned that you’re goin’ ova to holla at. Besides, she’s with Mark now.”, Don replied as he tried to keep Michael from making a complete fool of himself.

“She’s with who?!”, Michael asked in a shocked and jealous tone.

“Yeah, man…I thought you knew. Tina and I saw them together a couple of weekends ago at the Knicks game. And they weren’t hangin’ out like friends if ya know what I mean.”, Don replied.

“Well, it looks like I’ll have to step up my game in winnin’ her back.”, Michael fumed as he pulled up and adjusted his trousers before heading to their table.

“I feel for ya when Kee gets through with ya, man!”, Don stated to himself as he placed a forkful of food in his mouth.

“There’s this thing that Tamir does with his…”, Peaches giggled when her conversation was interrupted.

“Hello Kee, Peaches!”, Michael grinned as he stood in front of their table.

When Peaches glanced up at him, she went off. “Oh no this na ain’t got the audacity to roll up to our table!”, she huffed as she slammed her fork down on her plate.

“Nah, Peaches…it’s aight! I’m gonna enjoy listenin’ to what this @$$hole has to say to me!”, Kiara calmly stated as she put her fork down, sat back in her chair and folded her arms. Then she looked up at Michael who had a silly grin on his face.

“I deserve to be called an @$$hole!”, he stated as he pulled up a chair from an empty table to theirs.

“Who asked you to have a seat?”, Kiara asked while watching him.

“Well, is there somewhere that we can talk?”, he asked.

“What makes you think that she wants to go anywhere with yo’ sorry @$$?!”, Peaches hissed. A few people at another table were being nosey watching the action unfolding in front of them. When Kiara noticed them, she told Peaches that she would be okay.

“Listen, Peaches, I feel the need to get some things off of my chest with him. If I don’t do this now, he’ll neva get the message to leave me alone.”, Kiara whispered to her.

“But Kee…”, Peaches began before Kiara reassured her once again that she would be fine.

By this time, Don had made his way over to their table. “Ladies, how have you been?”, he grinned. Peaches rolled her eyes at him. Kiara didn’t say anything. She stood up to go out in the lobby to speak with Michael.

“After you.”, Michael stated as he turned around and grinned at Peaches.

“Son-of-a-bh!”, she mouthed at him. Don proceeded to sit down in Kiara’s chair. “So how are things goin’ with ya, nowadays, Peaches?”

Peaches got up from the table and headed to the restroom without answering his question.

“Dn!”, Don thought to himself as he strolled back to his table. “Isht is gettin’ outta control!”

“My girl is lookin’ good!”, Michael stated as he tried to hug Kiara.

“What the fk you think you doin’?!”, she asked as she shoved him away from her. “I’ono what makes you think that I wanna be friendly with you. I’m juss out here to let you know that after this moment, I don’t wanna see, hear from, or talk with you again!”

“But, Kee, I’m ready to make this thing work with you. I didn’t know how much I would miss you. You’re all I’ve been thinkin’ about for the past few months because I still love you!”, he stated as he gently pushed back a few strands of her hair that was covering her eye. She quickly smacked his hand away.

“Sounds like a personal problem to me. Anyway, I have someone who shows me much love and appreciation in more ways than you ever have. And now that I’ve said what I had to say, it’s time for you to say peace out!” Kiara was about to walk away from him when he grabbed her by the arm.

“Let go of me!”, she demanded. But he wouldn’t. He held onto her arm even tighter as he pulled her towards him. “Listen, I call the shots when it comes to us. You won’t leave me again until I say so. So I suggest that you tell Mark that it’s ova or there will be hell to pay! Do you undastand me?”, he threatened.

Kiara didn’t answer right away. She was too afraid because she had never seen Michael act this way before. “Do you?!”, he shouted.

The hostess who noticed what was taking place went to get her manager.

“Fk you, Michael!”, Kiara cried.

Evidently, Michael forgot where they were because he was about to give her a backhand slap when the manager came to her rescue.

“Sir, I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”, the manager calmly stated as he stepped up to Michael. By this time, patrons that were both leaving and coming in stopped to see what was happening. Peaches and Don both made their way through the crowd to see what was going on.

“You don’t have to ask me to leave because I’m leaving, now!”, Michael spat as he let go of Kiara’s arm. He took a few bills from his wallet and dropped them at the manager’s feet. “Keep the change!” Michael had a slight grin on his face as he and Don began to leave. However, before stepping outside, Michael turned around and winked at Kiara who was quite shaken up.

“Ma’am are you going to be okay?”, the manager asked after picking up the money. He put his arm around Kiara’s shoulder.

“Yes, I’ll be fine.”, she stated while trying not to cry. It was embarrassing enough to have all eyes on her without her crying in front of them. Peaches paid the manager for their lunch so that they could leave without going back inside the restaurant.

Once they were outside, Kiara broke down. “I saw a side of him today that I don’t eva’ want to see again! I wish Mark was here!!!”

Peaches consoled and informed Kiara that while she was in the restroom, she called Tamir up to tell him to let Mark know that she felt like Michael was trying to get back into the picture.

“Until they get back home, you’re stayin’ with me because it’s no tellin’ what Michael will try.”, Peaches stated as she drove Kiara back to work to pick up her car. On the way back to her office, Kiara called her supervisor to let him know that she had become ill and was going to use some sick time for the rest of the afternoon.

[JUCIEE GUDNESS FROM DA HOOD]

The next day when Kiara returned to work, she had a dozen long-stemmed red roses on her desk. She was about to read the card, even though she knew they were from Mark. However, one of her co-workers, Natasha, walked in.

“Hey, girl! You feelin’ betta?”, she asked as she took a seat beside Kiara’s desk. Even though Natasha could be a little annoying sometimes, Kiara still liked her.

“Yeah, I’m okay. My sinuses were juss actin’ up, that’s all!”, Kiara replied as she pulled the card from its envelope.

“Girllllllll, those are nice! Who are they from?!”, Natasha asked with a bit of excitement as she leaned forward to try to see what was on the card.

“Excuse you!”, Kiara joked. “I do believe these are for me, thank ya kindly!” When she read the card, it fell from her hand onto the desk. She tried not to look worried about it.

“What’s wrong, Kiara?”, Natasha asked as she leaned forward in her chair.

“Huh? Oh nothin’ girl! I juss realized that I have to make an important phone call. I’ll see ya on break in about 2 hours, aight?”, Kiara stated as she stood up from her desk to walk Natasha out.

“Ok, girl.”, Natasha replied while giving her a strange look. “I’ll see you around 10.”

“Nosey @$$!”, Kiara mumbled after closing the door behind her. She ran back over to her desk to re-read the card to make sure she wasn’t imagining things:

“Kiara,

I’m sorry about the way things went down yesterday, but that’s how much I want you back. Please hear me out!

--Love,
Mike”

She immediately picked up her phone and called Peaches. She was about to hang up when Peaches picked up after the 4th ring.

“Hello.”, Peaches answered.

“W’sup, girl! I was about to hang up. I figured you must’ve been in a meetin’ or somethin’, but anyway, I juss received some roses from Mike! He left some isht on the card about how much he wants me back. I don’t know what to do!” Kiara was hysterical.

“Kee, calm down. The first thing we’re gonna do is go down to the police station so you can take out a restrainin’ order against him. Then you’re gonna have to get your locks changed in case he still has a key to your place.” Peaches knew how to take control of situations in a calm manner. She could understand why Kiara was upset though.

“Oh no! I hadn’t even thought about the key! Thanks for remindin’ me! I juss don’t want to cross Mike’s path after yesterday!” Kiara felt a lump forming in her throat but she was determined she wasn’t going to break down and cry. Besides, she hadn’t cried in a long time until yesterday afternoon.

“It’s ok girl, ya know I got’cha back!”, Peaches smiled. “I’ll meet ya at lunch so we can go down to the police station for the order. Juss try and keep cool. Things will be aight, okay?” Peaches also told her that she would meet her after work everyday to follow her back to Peaches’ place.

“Yeah, you’re right! I’ll be fine as soon as I get myself together.” Kiara felt much better after talking with Peaches.

However, for the rest of the week, Michael continued to send flowers and other gifts to Kiara’s job. He figured that she would definitely receive them there. And everyday, Kiara would throw them in the garbage.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“I’m so glad to see you!”, Kiara cried as she ran towards Mark and wrapped her arms around his neck. He and Tamir had just arrived home.

“It’s okay.”, he replied as he rubbed her hair and kissed her on the cheek. “I’m here now!”

Meanwhile, Peaches and Tamir gave one another hugs and kisses before heading for her sofa in the den. Mark went with Kiara upstairs to gather her things.

“’Mir somethin’ has gotta be done about Mike! I went with Kee to take out a restrainin’ order on him because he has been sending her flowers and other mess at work for the last few days and she had to get her number changed because the first day he ran back into her, he left at least a dozen messages on her phone. Annnnd she changed the locks on her door. She has become a nervous wreck because she truly thinks he’s following her especially after threatening her. I can’t see my girl go out like this!”, Peaches angrily stated.

“I’m feelin’ what both you and Mark are sayin’. That ma definitely needs to be dealt with. But the thing about it is if any of us try to take this thing into our own hands, it would be us that would catch a case while his @$$ walks away free. I think that you and Kee did the right thing by goin’ to get the restrainin’ order and informin’ the police of what’s goin’ on. Now, Michael can be stupid if he wants and still show up where she is, but then the law will take care of his triflin’ @$$.” Tamir gave Peaches a small kiss.

“I undastand all that, but still…”, Peaches replied with a shake of her head.

“I know.”, Tamir stated as they sat back in each other’s arms on her sofa.

“I guess this is everything. I don’t know what I would do without you and Peaches as my roaddawgs!”, Kiara joked as she closed her suitcase.

Mark walked up behind her and held her in his arms. “You know I love you.” He kissed her on the cheek. “That’s why the second I see that ma in the streets, isht will be ova!”

“No!”, Kiara stated as she turned around to look at him. “As long as you’re here with me, that’s all that matters right now!”

“Whadayya mean ‘no’! This punk-@$$ thinks he can juss stroll back into the picture and threaten you, while I juss sit back and take it?!! I don’t fin’ think so, Kee! What kind of man would I be if I let that bh get away with this isht?!!!” Mark was going off the deep end until Kiara grabbed him and pulled him into her arms.

She laid her head on his shoulder. “I know, but I don’t want Mike to think he’s won if you go lookin’ for him. I can’t stand the thought of bein’ without you if you lose your temper and do somethin’ you may regret.”


“Just bring me the love/The love that I need/And that’s enough”
—Mary J. Blige: Give Me You

[JUCIEE GUDNESS FROM DA HOOD]

Baby I got a love for you/And I know that you got me baby/But every time the sun shines bright/It gets so cloudy”
—Mary J. Blige: Rainy Dayz


Kiara was deep in thought as she stared at some inter-office mail on her desk. She felt like she was on top of the world now that Mark had been back for a couple of weeks. Since his return and after getting a restraining order against Michael, she noticed that the flowers and gifts from him had stopped. She knew that as long as Mark was around, she was safe.

“Kiara, would you step into my office, please?”, Harry asked as he stuck his head inside her office.

She caught herself smiling after Harry brought her back to the here and now. “Sure, I’ll be right there.”, she managed to say. “Oh isht! What could it be? I’ve been doin’ a pretty good job as far as I know…!” A million and one thoughts raced through her mind as she headed towards her supervisor’s office.

“Have a seat, Kiara.”, Harry smiled as he waved his hand to the chair in front of his desk. For an older man, Kiara found him to be quite handsome. The gray hair that had begun to form at his temples made him look very distinguished. And she thought the way he wore his glasses on the tip of his nose was very cute. However, at the moment, she was so nervous that she couldn’t really look at him.

“Thank you.”, she smiled as she smoothed the back of her skirt before taking a seat.

“Kiara, before I begin, I want you to know that this will not be a bad meeting.”, he smiled as he took his glasses off and placed them on his desk.

“Whewwwwwwww!!!”, she thought to herself as she relaxed in the chair. Harry chuckled when he noticed how she immediately loosened up.

“Are we comfy, now?”, he joked.

“Yes, sir!”, she grinned as she pushed her hair away from her eye with her hand.

“As you already know, you’re one of my best and most efficient employees and to keep you that way, I’m ordering you to take a month’s vacation. I was going over your record earlier this morning to prepare for your upcoming evaluation and discovered that you have a little over 10 months worth of vacation time that you haven’t taken. Which proves that I’ve been slack in evaluating my workers.”, he chuckled. “But gettin’ back to my original point, I’ve noticed that you seem to be a bit overworked and we can’t have that. No, no. Not to say that I don’t admire your dedication to the company, but I feel that you certainly need some time off. I’m ordering that this goes into effect immediately.” Harry clasped his hands together while studying her.

Kiara knew she could hide her personal issues for only so long. This month’s vacation was like a blessing in disguise. She did feel like she needed some time away from all the madness to get her head together.

“Well, first of all, I want to thank you for viewing me as one of your best employees, Harry. That type of incentive is what keeps me going here.”, she replied with a pleased look. “But…if you make it two months, then we have a deal.”, she joked.

“Pretty clever, Kiara, but I think one month should be enough.”, he chuckled while shaking his finger at her. He proceeded to stand up behind his desk. Kiara also stood up.

“Go somewhere nice and unwind. You truly deserve some time to yourself.” He walked her to his door and opened it. “As of 12:00 today, your vacation time will begin. So you better get a move on to get some work done and pack up.”, he teased as he placed his hand on her shoulder and smiled. It was 11:50 a.m.

“You only gotta tell me once!”, she thought to herself as she smiled back at him. “I’m on it!”, she replied as she quickly headed back to her office. When she opened her door and stepped inside, she saw Mark sitting by the window.

“W’sup, boo!”, he grinned as he stood up and walked towards her.

“Hey! How did you get in here past that crab, Myra?!”, Kiara laughed as they hugged one another. Myra was an old bat that no one in the company could stand. She thought she ran things when all she actually did was sit at the front desk of the place and grumpily greet visitors and workers.

“You know how I do when it comes to the females.”, he replied with a devilish grin as he began to close the door while still holding on to her.

“Now what’chu think you doin’?”, she laughed.

“Guess!”, he said as he placed her up against the door and kissed her.

“I don’t EVEN think so! This is not ‘Two Can Play that Game’! I’m not Vivica and you dn sho’ ain’t Morris!”, she giggled after kissing him back.

“Dn! You ain’t gotta say it like that!”, he chuckled as he let go of her. “Here I am tryna be nice by surprising you to take you out to lunch and this is the thanks I get. You cut me deep that time, Kee!”, he sadly stated even though he had a slight grin on his face.

“Awwww, I’m sorry boo-boo. Ya know I still luvsh ya though!”, she stated in a baby voice as she pinched his cheek. “Anyway, we’ll have plenty of time for that since I was juss informed by Harry that as of 12:00 today, I’m on a month’s vacation.”

“Word?! That means we’ll have plenty of time to chill with each other”, Mark replied with a wide grin.

“I juss said that, silly!”, Kiara teased as she kissed him on the cheek. She gathered a few papers from her desk to file away before leaving.

“Anyway, that still doesn’t mean we can’t have a quick appetizer before lunch.”, he slyly stated as he watched her walking over to a filing cabinet. He walked over to her desk and pushed some things to the side. He then proceeded to lie down on his back across it.

“Yo, Kee…c’mere, girl!”, he whispered. She glanced over her shoulder and gave him a sly smile.

She slowly strolled over to her desk and stood at the edge of it as she began to lower her face down to his. She softly began kissing him all over his face.

“You know what I want’cha to do for me?”, she softly whispered after placing a kiss on his ear.

“What?”, he whispered back as she kissed him on and around his neck. She felt him wrap his arms around her.

“I want’cha to turn the lights out for me on your way out!” She quickly grabbed her purse and made a beeline for the door as he jumped up to grab her. Just then they heard a knock at the door.

“Come in!”, Kiara replied with a chuckle as she watched Mark quickly trying to place everything back on her desk the way he found it. But when he saw Harry open the door, he leaned back on her desk to block Harry’s view of the things he wasn’t able to put back right away.

Kiara quietly taunted and stuck her tongue out at Mark before turning around to look at Harry.

“Oh, I’m sorry, Kiara. I didn’t know you had a visitor. I don’t believe we’ve met.”, Harry stated as he walked towards Mark with an extended hand.

“Hello. I’m Kiara’s supervisor, Harry.”, he stated as he and Mark shook hands.

“Hi, how are ya? I’m Kiara’s boyfriend, Mark.”

“I’m fine, thank you. It’s nice to meet you, Mark.”, Harry smiled before turning back around to look at Kiara. “I was just stopping by to bid you farewell until you return. Now remember what I said…take it easy and enjoy your time off. I don’t want your mind on this place. We’ll hold things down until you get back. Be good and don’t get into any trouble.” He took her hand and held it while warmly smiling at her.

“Thank you, Harry! I’ll try my best to be good!”, she replied with an innocent smile. She wasn’t fooling Mark with that smile of hers though. It was his turn to taunt her behind Harry’s back until Harry turned back around. Mark quickly changed his mischievous grin into a serious facial expression.

“Once again, it was nice to meet you, Mark. I take it that you will make sure that Kiara behaves herself!”, Harry chuckled as he and Mark shook hands again.

“I’ll do my best, sir!”, Mark grinned.

On their way out of the office, Kiara and Mark passed by Myra’s desk. Kiara told him to watch what was going to happen.

“See ya in a month, Myra!”, Kiara grinned as they walked past her.

“Yeah.”, Myra mumbled in reply as she continued flipping through a magazine. Kiara and Mark started chuckling.

“Hold up!”, Mark whispered as he stopped Kiara. He strolled back over to Myra’s desk.

“Excuse me, ma’am, but I couldn’t help noticin’ that powerful scent you’re wearin’. Do you mind my askin’ what it is?”, he grinned while watching Myra. She loudly cleared her throat, looked up at him, and was about to tell him to buzz off until she saw that adorable smile of his.

“Why it’s some floral-fragranced body spray!”, she blushed.

“Oh, I was about to say…I was thinkin’ it mighta been some Icy Hah…”, he began before Kiara ran back over to him and grabbed his arm. She quickly pulled him away as they both chuckled some more.

“I have to work here, boy; you don’t!”, Kiara whispered as they exited the building.

“Hmmmmmpppppphhhh!!!”, Myra grumbled as she turned her head up and away from them.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[JUCIEE GUDNESS FROM DA HOOD]

“Hey girl!”, Kiara stated after opening the door for Peaches who had just arrived at Mark’s place. She and Peaches were going to hang out in the house and watch some movies while all of the guys went out for a boys’ night on the town.

“W’sup, Kee! How ya been today?”, Peaches smiled as she and Kiara headed for the den. Peaches took a seat on the sofa.

“Under normal circumstance, I would say I’m glad today was Friday, but since this is only my first day into my month’s vacation, everyday for me will be Friday!”, Kiara replied with a chuckle and a wink.

“You gonna continue to throw that in my face, right?!”, Peaches snapped at her while pretending to pout.

“Well, hey! Some of us juss have it like that at our jobs!”, Kiara teased as she placed “Antwone Fisher” in the DVD player even though she and Peaches had already been to the movies to see it twice.

“Whateva!”, Peaches replied with a roll of her eyes and a wave of her hand.

“Hush now! You know my babies ‘bout to come on the screen!”, Kiara giggled as she ran over and sat on the opposite end of the sofa.

“Girl, I’m feelin’ ya on Derek, but you know Denzel’s old enough to be yo’ daddy!”, Peaches laughed.

“Daddy-Do-Me-Right is mo’ like it!”, Kiara replied as she fanned herself.

“Keep right on, and I’ma tell Mark that you up in his house lustin’ after anotha’ man!”, Peaches threatened while pointing her finger at Kiara.

“Chile, please! I ain’t worried ‘bout Mark. There’s a difference between Denzel bein’ a Daddy-Do-Me-Right and Mark bein’ a Big POPPA Do-Me-Right!”, Kiara replied with a wink.

“Now see, I didn’t even ask for all of that!”, Peaches laughed. “Although I know what you sayin’ since Tamir is a Big Poppa too!”

“Okayyyyyyy!!!”, Kiara exclaimed as she reached over to give Peaches a high-five.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Meanwhile, on the other side of town, Mark picked Tamir up at his place. They were meeting the rest of the fellas at a popular sports bar in the heart of the city.

“So how have things been goin’ with you and Kee lately?”, Tamir asked as he went through some of Mark’s CD’s. He finally decided to slip Red and Meth’s “Blackout” CD in the CD player.

“It’s been goin’ good! She’s not afraid anymore now that she has her Big Poppa around!”, Mark grinned from the driver’s seat as he sped through a yellow light.

Tamir began to chuckle. “Yeah, right! Anyway, I’m glad to hear that. Kiara had Peaches worried for a minute because of her situation.” Tamir shook his head while skipping through the CD to see which song he wanted to hear.

“Yeah, that ma hasn’t bothered her anymore ‘cuz he knows the deal! But Kee keeps beggin’ me not to do or say anything if I see him somewhere. She’s talkin’ some noise about I’ll catch a case if he provokes me to hurt him. Babygirl don’t know that he’s already done that by tryna get back in there. But it’ll neva be that as long as I’m in the picture!”

“Isht, man! How many times are we gonna have to tell ya the same thing ova and ova and ova?! Talkin’ to you sometimes is like talkin’ to a brick wall!”, Tamir chuckled. “Everybody knows how your temper is. You can be real out there with it at times! And ya know how much Kee loves ya; why, I don’t know, but she does! That’s why you need to listen to her if not your boys!”, he joked.

“Fo’get you, man!”, Mark laughed as he checked his rearview mirror. “Whoeva this fool is drivin’ behind us has one mo’ time to get up on me! They have been weavin’ in and out of lanes the whole time! It’s almost like they’re tryna keep up with us. They betta back up off me though!”

Tamir started laughing. “Looks like the driver heard you! They juss moved ova to the turnin’ lane.”

“I thought so!”, Mark barked as he and Tamir went through the green light.

The mysterious driver of the car that had been following behind Mark made a u-turn through his light and went back in the opposite direction of the busy, night traffic.

“I think I’ll go pick up somethin’ nice for Kee before the store closes.”, Mike said aloud to himself after making his u-turn in the traffic.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Peaches and Kiara had talked through most of “Antwone Fisher” even though they would stop to check out a scene here and there. However, by the end of the movie, they were both bawling like a couple of babies.

“Girl, I was so happy when I first got here! But you had to put that dn movie in!”, Peaches sobbed as she took a couple of Kleenex from its box that Kiara passed to her.

“I’m sorry, but I thought that after seeing this movie a few times, we would both be able to handle it by now.”, Kiara sniffed as she wiped at her nose and eyes with the few Kleenex she had.

“And I was juss about to say let’s watch ‘Crooklyn’ next. But I don’t want my eyes all swollen up and isht by the time I get home to ‘Mir. We are gonna have to watch somethin’ funny now!”, Peaches stated as she blew her nose.

“Aight, girl, lemme see what else we have.”, Kiara replied as she continued to wipe the tears from her eyes with her Kleenex as she headed back over to the entertainment center. She was going through a few movies when she found one.

“How about this?”, Kiara suggested with a chuckle as she held up the “Belly” DVD. “Now this is some funny isht!”

“Okay, Kee…I said I wanted to watch somethin’ funny as in a comedy; not somethin’ that’s funny because it’s so pathetic! Keep it movin’!”, Peaches chuckled.

“Aight. Oh, hold up…what about this one?!”, Kiara asked as she held up the “Meet the Parents” DVD. “Now you know Ben Stiller is a fool with his crazy self!”

“Okay, I’m with that one!”, Peaches smiled.

“Coo’!”, Kiara replied as she put the movie in.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[JUCIEE GUDNESS FROM DA HOOD]

“Mark! Mark, did you hear what I said?!”, Kiara shouted as she slapped his shoulder to wake him up.

“Wha’ girl?!”, he asked with irritation as he lifted his head to look at her over his shoulder. She chuckled when she saw the mean look on his face.

“I said I’m goin’ shoppin’ with Peaches. I juss wanted to let you know that I’m on my way out.”

“Aight, bye!!!”, he snapped as he grabbed a pillow and put it over his head.

Kiara snatched the pillow away from him and hit him as hard as she possibly could with it.

“You betta watch yo’ tone with me!”, she angrily stated. Then she sucked her teeth and began to walk away. That’s when she felt Mark grab the back of her shirt. She tried breaking away from him but she couldn’t because he was pulling her back with all of his might and her laughter wasn’t helping her at all. Suddenly, she fell back on the bed and he pinned her down.

“Who you think you talkin’ to like that?”, he laughed as he tried to kiss her. But she quickly put her hand over his nose and mouth to keep him from doing so.

“Look, boo! I ain’t tryna be funny but you might wanna hit up yo’ fronts with a lil’ Aquafresh before plantin’ one on me!”, she laughed as she turned her head away from his.

“Awwwwwwww, you know you love it, girllllllll!”, he heavily breathed in her face after pulling her hand away from his mouth.

“Tha’ devil IS a lie!!!”, she hollered right before he kissed her anyway.

“Now that you have made me suffer an unusual, inhumane, and cruel punishment, let me up so I can go get Peaches!”, Kiara laughed hysterically as she tried getting herself together.

“Aight, love ya!”, he smiled before giving her another quick kiss.

“I love you too, yuck-mouth!”, she joked as she got up to leave.

“Whateva!”, he laughed as he rolled over to go back to sleep. It was a little after 8:30 and he didn’t get started with his day until 11:00. The only time he woke up any earlier is if it was work-related or if he was having one of those mornings with Kiara.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After a fun-filled morning of hitting up a few flea markets, the mall, and having brunch with Peaches, Kiara decided to stop by her place to see what she needed to pick up from the grocery store.

“Good mornin’ ladies!”, the adorable and elderly security guard, Mr. Thompson, grinned from behind his desk as Peaches and Kiara entered her apartment building. He had been working as a security guard in the building for quite some time. Sometimes, Peaches would joke and tell Kiara that he reminded her of the old man that played Mista’s daddy in “The Color Purple”.

“Good mornin’, Mr. Thompson! How ya doin’?”, Kiara smiled as she and Peaches stopped by his desk for a quick minute.

“Oh, I can’t complain. God saw fit to let me live to see anotha’ day!”, he smiled as he leaned back in his chair.

“That’s right! He blessed all of us to be alive today!”, Peaches smiled.

“Amen!”, Kiara stated with a smile and a nod of her head. “Well, I hate to rush off, Mr. Thompson, but I need to run up to my place for a minute before headin’ back out. Take care and have a good day!”

“Thank you! You ladies do the same, hear?!”, he replied with a wave of his hand. “Oh, hold on a second, honey!” He stopped Kiara as he remembered something. “A gentleman came by earlier and left this for you.” He pulled a long, black narrow box with a gold ribbon on it from his desk drawer.

Kiara stared at it for a few seconds as she froze in place with fear. She began to back away from him as he held the box in his hand.

“Somethin’ wrong, Miss Kiara?”, Mr. Thompson asked with a puzzled look on his face.

Kiara shook her head frantically. “Uh, Mr. Thompson, do you remember what the guy looked like that brought this in?”

“No, I can’t say that I do. But I do know that it was someone I haven’t seen before. He was dressed in a t-shirt and some jeans though; but it wasn’t one of your usual group of friends that drop by from time to time.”, he replied. Michael had paid some teenager to deliver the gift for him.

“Oh, see, Kee? It’s probably a surprise gift from Mark. You, yourself, said that he loves to spring lil’ gifts on ya every now and then. Maybe he had one of his other boys drop this off for him.”, Peaches replied as she stayed calm for her friend. However, she knew in her heart from Kiara’s reaction that it must’ve come from the last person she expected to hear from.

“I don’t think so.”, Kiara whispered as she hesitated to take the gift from Mr. Thompson.

“Is there anything I can do?”, Mr. Thompson asked as he continued to stare at Kiara.

“No thank you, Mr. Thompson. We’ll be fine, but I’ll call ya if we need you.”, Peaches smiled as she and Kiara headed for the elevator.

Once they were inside Kiara’s place, Kiara leaned up against the door as she slowly unwrapped her gift.

Peaches took a deep breath when Kiara pulled a gold necklace with a diamond, heart-shaped pendant from the box. Holding on tightly to the necklace, Kiara nervously pulled a folded up note from the box that had been placed under the cotton.

She covered her mouth with her hand as she skimmed over it and then she read it aloud to Peaches.

“Kiara,

How long must we play this game? Don’t you know the more you resist me, the more I want you back? Even if it means taking out your new na, Mark? But if you don’t want me back, then that’s cool. But as long as you’re not with anyone else, I’ll be able to sleep better at night. I can’t stand the thought of someone else doing the things with you that the two of us used to do together. Please don’t be responsible for something happening to Mark if you don’t leave him.

--Love,
Mike

P.S. If you show this to the police or Mark, I can always say that you came running back to me like you always have in the past. Who do you think they will believe?”

“Oh God! What am I gonna do?!!”, Kiara cried as she and Peaches hugged one another. “I don’t want to give Mark up, but I don’t want Michael to hurt him!!!!”

After talking things over with Peaches for a while, Kiara decided that she would have to break up with Mark until she could get things straightened out with Michael; how, she didn’t know. However, she wouldn’t let Mark know the real reason why she was breaking up with him. She would have to think of an excuse because all Mark needed to know was that Michael was threatening to wild out on him. The hurt in Kiara’s heart was like no pain she had ever known. But she’d rather sacrifice her relationship, and possibly, her friendship with Mark if it meant preventing anything from happening to him.

For the rest of the weekend, Kiara succeeded in staying clear of Mark. She gave him an excuse that she wasn’t feeling well and she didn’t want to keep him from going out with his friends or doing what he wanted to on the count of her not being able to spend time with him. Although Mark agreed to her request to go out and not worry about her, he had his suspicions.


“Sometimes I feel like I’m a prisoner/I think I’m trapped here for a while”
—Mary J. Blige: 911