well, girl gets bitter.â
âI am blocking you now. Guess I wear bitter well,â I answered back.
Who the hell did Gary66 think he was? All of a sudden, I was supposed to confess? IHD (in his dreams)âif weâre talking in alleged text messaging talk. Iâve watched one too many cell phone commercials. Now I think I can make up my own text acronyms.
Just as I turned away from the computer screen, I saw her do it. She moved her knight to kill my castle. Then my mom smugly left the living room. I bet she thought she was a genius when she was growing up. My mom was way too humble to admit it, but every once in a while I caught a glimpse of her smug nature and just wondered ⦠did I crush all that? I moved my queen to take her knight.
âCheck,â I said. My mom ducked her head into the living room. She looked at me out of the corner of her eye like I was a guilty defendant under questioning.
âM.O.M., whatâs for D.I.N.N.E.R?â I asked to purposely mock her.
âT.O.,â she said.
âIâll dial,â I said. It was going to be our Tuesday special. Shrimp with broccoli and brown rice. âOrdering from my room.â
âBy the way, Craig called yesterday while you were at the bookstore.â
âAnd what do you think he wants? To apologize? Reconcile? No. No. Maybe his IQ has gone up a point or two over the past month. Stranger things have happened.â
âBe civil, honey.â
I furrowed my eyebrows as if to say I would have none of that.
âOne last thing, Nee. Iâm flying out to Atlanta the day after tomorrow. Iâm leaving right after work for a meeting on Thursday. Iâll be back Friday. I want you to stay at your grandparentsâ house.â
âYou mean with Nana and Papa?â Nana was my fatherâs mother. Though my father lived halfway across the country, spending the summers with his overprotective, controlling personality wasnât enough. Any chance my mother got, she pushed me to see my Nana. You might picture an older, Wheel of Fortuneâ , Price Is Right âwatching, I-shop-with-a-zillion-coupons-in-my-fanny-pack Nana. Wrong. Nana was a tell-you-what-to-do, she-knows-best type of couture diva who took more cruises than a college student at a B-list school during all of his summer breaks combined. She was too high maintenance for me.
âCanât Cindy come over? Can we stay here one night and then stay at her house one night or whatever? Plus Nana said ⦠sheâs going away soon. You know how she likes to shop before she goes on a big trip.â
Was there any other outlandish reason I could come up with that played up Nanaâs unusual social schedule for a seventy-something?
âNo, Nia. You are not going to stay home by yourself. Two teenagers donât equal one adult.â
âBut sheâs my BFF.â
This time I wasnât the one cutting my eyes. Youâd think my mother was the one who had originated the eye stare popularly known as a dirty look.
âLet Cindy meet you here and you both go over to her house,â she said.
âOkay.â
Chapter 2
I had just gotten this new CD. I was addicted to this new era of R&B. Anyway, my meticulous room was filled with â80s vinyl, â90s CDs, a huge stereo system, and my MP3 player. I was in the process of downloading all my CDs onto my mMP3 player. I tried not to look at my picture wall when I was searching for my dazzling, superstar nightgown. Nana had brought it for me last Christmas. She had left the price tag on. I didnât know if she forgot it or if she was just ostentatious. That was a tough one.
My room was super cool. I painted it gold just last month. It was like my rebirth after I broke up with Craig. It was great because when I woke up every morning, the sun reflected off the metallic-gold walls. It reminded me of art. Sometimes Iâd just lie on the hardwood floors warmed by the sun,