Page 15 of One Lonely Night In Dubai
“Bliss Louise Jones, what you say to get my mama all riled up? She’s over here threatening to get a belt for me, lil’ girl!” she shrieked.
I rolled my eyes at her saying my full name. I hated that old lady ass middle name. She had to have still been high off whatever the hospital gave her to name me some new aged shit like Bliss, just to turn around and give me a grandma middle name.
Hitting my turn signal, I turned into a breakfast spot near my apartment since my stomach was suddenly growling. I’d planned to make me and Jordan’s stupid ass some breakfast, but he’d fucked up our morning. At that point, I wasn’t even in the mood to cook myself anything.
“I just told her I was going to tell on her for talking about my singing, and she started going off, Ma.” I snickered because I could still hear my honey in the background raising hell, probably at my father by.
“Hell, it ain’t like she lied. Baby, I love you to death but you can’t even hum on key. I ain’t never heard of nobody that can’t even hum.”
“Ma, really?” I pulled into a parking spot and sucked my teeth. “We just got a family full of comedians today. Y’all should take your show on the road and be the new Queens of comedy,” I said dryly as I searched for my wallet.
“Don’t be salty, baby. It ain’t cute. Now have you talked to your sister? I ain’t heard from her since her ass been back in the states, and you know I don’t like that. For all we know, somebody done chopped her up and got her in their trunk, ready to be buried,” she fussed, going completely off the deep end and reminding me that Essence had just called me. Pausing my search, I looked at the phone dryly like she could see me.
“Oh, my gosh, Ma! Why does your mind go there of all places? You really need to stop watching Dateline. Essence is fine. In fact, I just missed a call from her.”
“First of all, that’s my show and it keeps me informed so I can keep y’all informed. If I didn’t worry about y’all, you’d just be walking around oblivious to the dangers in the world, but at least she’s calling you ’cause she’s been dodging our calls like we’re some debt collectors! I know you’re going to call her back, so you tell her that if she don’t call me, I’m coming over to her house, and she’s gon’ be the one getting her ass whooped.”
“You not gonetouchmy baby little girl!” my honey shouted in the background, and I cracked up.
She wasn’t even in the conversation and had been actively yelling at my daddy, but she’d stopped just to insert herself in it.
“Oh, my God, Ma, stop it! Ain’t nobody gon’ do nothing to that girl!” My mama huffed, quickly backpedaling with her scary ass. She may have talked shit, but she knew my granny was the head woman in charge. “Bye, girl. I love you, and don’t forget what I said.”
“Okay, and I love you too,” I was able to call out before she hung up, and I realized I was cheesing hard as hell.
I definitely loved my family, and talking to them quickly reminded me that I had a strong support system behind me. That’d lifted my mood in under five minutes without even trying. Feeling a lot better, I finally found my wallet and headed into the restaurant, loving the light breeze outside. The weather had been funny as hell this spring and has alternated between hot as hell and cold since the start of May. It was currently the in between weather that wasn’t too hot or cold, and it felt amazing. Since my plans had changed, I was probably going to come back out after I ate and showered so I could enjoy it.Fuck Jordan!
CHAPTER 9
SANTANA “SOSA” BAPTISTE
“Sir, we really need you to use the wheelchair. It’s policy.”
I stepped into Quick’s room to see him and one of the nurses in a heated debate. The nigga was sitting on the edge of the bed, fully dressed and mugging while she pointed at a wheelchair nearby. As soon as he saw me, he stood to his feet, towering over shorty, but she didn’t back down.
“Look, my ride here, and as you can see, I can stand good as fuck. I can walk, and I can probably do the fuckin’ Dougie, so take this shit up outta here,” he fussed, kicking the chair so it rolled away.
“Man, why you up here giving these people a hard time? Get your big ass in the chair, so we can go.” I tried to help, and he shot his heated glare my way.
“What, so she can be bumping my knees and shit on the way downstairs? Hell naw!”
I couldn’t lie, he had a point, but I wasn’t trying to be up there all day while he argued with them. Since I’d been tasked with picking him up, I’d set up some fun for the nigga, and I was tryna get to that. Coming further into the room, I pushed the chair back toward him, and the nurse leaned over to lock it in place just in case he decided to kick it again.
“Thank you,” she said exasperated before turning back to Quick. “Mr. Baptiste, they’re not going to let you leave if you don’t use the chair. It’s a liability, so nothing happens to you before you’re able to leave the property.” She tried again.
“I’m straight, shorty. Y’all already gave me my papers, so I can leave however I want to.” At that point, his ass sounded like a little kid, and even I was getting fed up.
“I’m going to get Micah. Maybeshecan get you in the chair.” She tossed her hands up with the threat, leaving the room in a huff.
My eyes slid over to my cousin, who was now grinning.
“Nigga, who the fuck is Micah?”
“A bad ass shorty that works here.” He shrugged, and I shook my damn head.
“So, you did that shit on purpose?” Frowning, I dropped onto the bed next to him since he was obviously waiting on the Micah girl, and he shrugged again.
“Duh, nigga. I’m ready to get the fuck up outta here, but I’m tryna see my lil fine shit before I do. She works in therapy, though, so she isn’t on this floor all the time,” he explained.
