Can We Go Back

After all the drama of the previous evening, Carmen finally had a chance to get some rest. Although it wasn’t the normal hours she was accustomed to, she did manage to get in a few hours. She woke up and tried to get herself together but as she was in the bathroom, her phone started ringing. When she looked at the number, she became visibly annoyed.

Laura Dunlap was more of a pest than the motherly type but yet she showed some concern in her daughter’s welfare. She was known for her position of power in the city and that if she wanted something done, she would get it her way or it wouldn’t happen at all.

“Good morning mother.” Carmen replied as she picked up the phone.

“Sweetheart, why were there police at your house?”

“I see your spies won’t leave you uninformed. Just had a minor dispute with Duck which was blown out of proportion. You know how neighbors are.”

“Sweetheart, why don’t you leave him alone? I’ve told you from the start not to get involved with his kind. He’s beneath you and wouldn’t look good for you socially.”

“You mean for you socially since I’m your daughter and you don’t need to have anyone whispering bad about you. Listen mother; if you are going to berate me I can just schedule you in for a later date. I don’t have time for this right now.”

“Well I can see that you are still set in your ways. I’ll come by later and check on you.”

Carmen hung up with her mother and let out a loud scream. She then looked at the time and decided to get ready for her morning jog.

“Well I know this should get my mind off things.” she said to herself as he got her jogging gear on.

As she grabbed her Zune and uploaded her jogging playlist, she left her house to get her workout mentally and physically. As she jogged up towards Montebello, she briefly stopped at the tree where she used to carve her name when she was younger. She missed those days where she was living out her childhood but was forced into the spotlight due to her mother’s power.

As she continued to jog around the lake, she looked at the time on her cellphone. Normally, around this time she would be texting Duck. But too many times, she felt as if she was losing the man that she loved due to her insecurities. There was her past that she couldn’t seem to shake free. Carmen knew that eventually she would have to face her demons, but she was using Duck as a means to ignore what was already there.

After about forty-five minutes of running, Carmen decided to make a stop at her favorite breakfast carryout; Ms. Carter’s to get herself a quick bite to eat. Although she was no slouch in the kitchen herself, she really enjoyed Ms. Carter’s cooking because it reminded her of her late grandmother’s cooking that she grew up on. When she entered the restaurant, Ms. Carter smiled upon seeing her face.

“Carmen!! Oh my goodness baby, how have you been?”

Carmen reached out for a hug to the locally known cook. It felt so warm to have such a great greeting.

“Hey Ms. Carter, I’m doing well. Well not really just been going through a lot lately.”

“Well baby I’m going to fix up a plate of your favorite breakfast and we can talk all about it.”

When Ms. Carter left, Carmen couldn’t wait for the French toast breakfast that came along with scrambled cheese eggs that kept her hooked in the first place. She reflected on the many breakfast dates she would share here with Duck. But lately that’s all it’s been is just a distant memory for her. So when Ms. Carter returned with the breakfast, she braced herself for the conversation that would soon follow.

“So how are things with you and Duck dear? I’ve haven’t seen him around lately.”

“Ms. Carter, things between us aren’t looking so great. I accused him of cheating because I found some numbers in his pocket. I may have overreacted but that’s just how I am.”

Ms. Carter sighed at Carmen and stared out of the window.

“You know Carmen sometimes you should try to talk things out before jumping to conclusions. Now I know that relationships have their problems but you have to work through them if you really love that person. Do you really love Duck?”

“Of course I do. He’s a really great guy that I’ve came to love but there are other things that factor into our problems. Like my mother for starters, she really despises Duck for whatever reason. She doesn’t think that he fits into my life structure. I wish she just let me run my own life. I have to make mistakes and learn things on my own.”

“Well you need to make things right so that you two can put this behind you and move on with your lives. No sense in having a petty argument turning serious.”

Carmen took everything in and finished her meal. She went to pay but Ms. Carter told her not to worry about it. Carmen thanked her for the heart to heart and headed home. Deep down inside, she wished Ms. Carter was the mother she had all along.

I'm Running

Rudy was suddenly awakened by some loud banging at her apartment door. She had a long day of school and work, so she decided to call it an early night. But the banging at her door wouldn’t stop until she answered it. So she got up all sleepy eyed to answer the door. Clearly when she saw who it was she none too thrilled.

“Duck you better be dying or bleeding internally for you to be banging on my door at this time of night.”

Duck was out of breath from running those blocks, looked at this watch in disbelief.

“Rudy, it’s only nine thirty in the evening. That is not late.”

“Well for me it is. I have school and work and I don’t have time to deal with your bullshit!”

“So that’s how it’s going to be now Rudy? We supposed to be family and you are treating me like I am an outsider that you don’t even know.”

“You’re right. You aren’t the same cousin that I grew up with eating candy and drinking quarter waters while sitting on the block. You are some stranger of sorts that just seems to pop up whenever he’s in trouble. Now you can come in and sit down but I’m not for your bullshit. I have papers and shit due and this shit is stressing me the fuck out.”

Duck closed the door behind him and took off this jacket. He grabbed some napkins from the countertop and dried his face. His clothes had a few wrinkles but he brushed them clean. He grabbed a bottle of water from the cooler than Rudy kept by the freezer. Rudy sat on the couch and brushed her fingers through her hair. She looked as if she hadn’t been sleeping in days since she was preparing herself to graduate in a few months. Duck sipped his water and took a deep breath before explaining what happened.

“Carm and I got into it heavy this evening. Soon as I got in from work, I saw a burning trash can outside the building. So I’m thinking ok, probably some bad ass kids doing their normal thing. But as I got closer, I noticed my fresh gear that I brought over the weekend. All that money just burned the fuck up. So as I head in the house, Carm is sitting there looking at me like I did something wrong to her. We started going back and forth about some random females numbers that she found in my pants pockets. It’s always the same shit with her. I don’t even be paying these females any attention. But they are relentless, so I take their number just to shut them up. I don’t even call these broads. So then I go to her closet to fuck her shit up and this girl starts smashing and breaking shit up. Then as I’m sitting outside trying to calm down, I’m hearing police sirens in the distance so I got the fuck up out of there. And I ended up here.”

Upon hearing his side of the story, Rudy rolled her eyes in disgust.

“Damn Duck. I told you not to fuck with her at all. That girl doesn’t have it all up there. But you all were being the hopeless romantic and shit, now you’re on the run. I am hoping that you didn’t hit her or anything.”

“I’m not a fucking idiot. I know that assault can carry over five years in prison. No woman is worth that many years locked up. But I feared for my life. She had all types of shit flying in my direction. I had to get the fuck up out of there before I ended up with a concussion.”

“Damn you must’ve really pissed her off. Well if you need to, you can stay just the night here. But tomorrow you need to straighten this out.”

Rudy gave Duck a blanket and pillows so that he could crash on the couch. He tried to shake off the drama from earlier in the evening.

“Fuck you nigga!! You got these bitches numbers in your pockets!! You think I’m stupid!!”

“Carm, I’m not worried about these broads. I don’t even call these numbers back. Damn you acting all insecure. Grow up!!”

The whole saga replayed like a bad car accident in Duck’s mind. Eventually, he fell asleep amidst the thoughts that he continued to have. The next morning Duck awaken to breakfast and voices coming from the kitchen.

“Damn something sure smells good coming from in there.” Duck thought to himself as he stretched and headed to the bathroom for his morning piss. He could still hear Rudy and her friend still in the kitchen chatting it up.

“That fool Rodney called me the other day talking about he wants to make up for lost time. I told him that he lost his time when he ran off to Cancun to get married to that busted up broad. I don’t have time for the foolishness with these lames out here.”

Rudy still continued to laugh and agreed with her friend.

“Well you remember Cole right? Well this “playa” decides that he wants to have his cake and eat it too. And that’s what I did when I saw him. I tried my best to make him choke off that yellow cake. I should have put roaches and other rodents in there.”

At that moment, Duck came into the kitchen among the male bashing and sat at the table. Rudy nudged at her friend as she was still rambling about the negative males that have plagued her adult life.

“Duck, do you know who this is?” Rudy asked as she sipped her orange juice.

Duck looked at the female up and down. She was dressed professionally with a tailored dress suit that fit her to the tee. Her complexion was light brown, which made her dark brown eyes stand out. She wore her hair down her back that make the curls sit up. Duck tried to play her mental photo over and over in his mind, but came up with no results.

“No. I can’t say that I have met her before.”

The young lady turned towards Duck and stared him straight in the eye.

“Now how are you going to forget the first girl who had the neighborhood crush on you?”

Duck damn near choked on his orange juice and took a double take.

“Raquel? This can’t be Raquel?” Duck said with a shocked look on his face.

Raquel Daniels stood up and did a turn and smiled.

“Yes it’s me in the flesh. How you doing, Duck?”

“Shit, I’m doing fine now that I’ve seen you for the first time in years.”

Rudy sat there and shook her head at these two.

“I remember Raquel would be all over you when we were younger. You blew her off and now look at you with your tongue hanging all out. You ain’t shit. Come on Raquel, we need to head to this meeting.”

Raquel walked over to Duck and gave him a hug.

“It was nice seeing you Duck. I hope that we can meet up and talk about old times.”

“Yeah that would be nice. So just have Rudy get at me.”

Rudy quickly brought him back into reality.

“Duck handle your business before you climb in the playpen. I’ll call you later and if you mess up my house, my foot going up your ass.”

Duck waved her off and sat on the couch.

“Damn Raquel. Where have you been all my life? And why was I too blind to see you?”

Blacked Out?