Present
Mariposa checked the time. The clock read 4:36 am. She was ready to leave when she remembered Boodah drove, and she couldn't just take his car. She looked next to her expecting to see him, but he wasn't there. That's when she noticed the faint sound of music coming from his living room.
After going to the bathroom to wash her face, she left his room and noticed him asleep on the couch.
She walked up to him and gently shook him until he woke up.
"Why you not in the room?" Mari asked. He rubbed his eyes then looked at her, she noticed they were bloodshot.
"Oh." She chuckled. "You hungry?"
He nodded.
•••
Mari drove them to get street tacos then went to "their spot" on Miami Beach.
"Calm down we just here to eat." Mari said when she noticed Boodah looking at her in a certain type of way.
"Das what you think." He said under his breath.
They ate as some music played. Before they knew it, the sun started to rise.
"It's almost as beautiful as you." Boodah said caressing her thigh.
"Corny." She chuckled.
He patted his thigh. She hopped over the console and sat in his lap before he hugged her waist and pulled her in.
"Why you don't take me serious?" He asked before nuzzling his head into her chest.
"This again?" She sighed and he nodded.
"Boodah, I like what we have goin on. And so did you. Why you wanna change it?"
"Mariposa... We so much more than what we got goin' on." He started. "We best friends. Ion spend time with nobody as much as I spend time with you. I literally tell you everything. We always together. You always there for me. I'm always there for you. I don't even fuck nobody else no more."
He held her chin, "You fuckin' own me, and I don't wanna lose that." He finished pulling her in for a kiss.
She wanted to say something, but she couldn't. She was stuck.
"You tellin' me you don't have no typa feelins fa me? At all Mari?" He asked.
"I do, Boodah. You know I do but when you got back with ol girl last year and I couldn't have you, it fucked me up. I don't blame you cause it's what we agreed on, but I can't go through that again... We can't go through that again."
Mari became nauseous thinking about that time, but this was a different type of nausea. Something didn't feel right and she knew it.
Just then, his phone rang. He kissed his teeth and declined the call.
"Do you actually want me or do you just not want me fuckin other people? Cause das not fair." She said, projecting part of how she used to feel onto him.
He shrugged his shoulders, "Both."
His phone rang once again and he cussed at it.
"Just pick up." Mari said putting her hand on his chest.
"Hello?" He said annoyed.
"The fuck you want?" He continued.
"What?" He spat, making up his face.
It made Mari nervous. She was even more concerned when his grip on her waist loosened, so she hopped back into the driver's seat.
He hung up the phone and put his head in his hands. Mari could only stare.
He wondered how he was going to tell Mari he got his ex pregnant. The same girl that tested the strength of their relationship. He felt like he was so close to making her his, and one stupid mistake set him back so much.
•••
"Mariposa I'm so fuckin sorry." He said for what felt like the millionth time.
She was silent. Most of her steam was let out when he initially broke the news to her. She was gathering all of her belongings that were at his house.
"I can fix this Mari, I promise." He begged.
"Fix fucking what, Jerome?" She shouted.
"Baby, don't call me dat." He said barely above a whisper as his heart sank.
"I'm not ya baby. That baby is ya damn baby, nigga." She said. "Jerome, it's the way you fucking lied... You fucking lied to my face."
"I was scared to tell you."
"FOR FUCKING WHAT?" She screamed. "We not together. What the fuck you had to hide it from me for? 'Oh I fucked ol girl.' Simple as that. But you didn't.
Ain't you just tell me you wasn't fucking nobody no more at the beach an hour ago? And you fuckin' bitches RAW? What if I had caught something?" She explained, using her hands for emphasis. "You really don't give a fuck about me or my feelings."
Jerome exhaled, realizing that he'd lost her.
"You thought you was hurt when I told you I fucked James? Imagine how the fuck I feel right now. AT LEAST I FUCKIN' TOLD YOU. AT LEAST WE WAS SAFE AND THAT NIGGA AINT GET ME PREGNANT." She yelled, getting up in his face.
"And you better not beg that girl to get an abortion thinking that's gon fix shit." She said as she finally let a tear fall.
It broke Boodah's heart to know he was causing her this type of pain. He embraced her, hoping she would return the gesture. She didn't.
"Whatever we had goin on. Wraps. This 'friendship'? Done." She yelled. "Take me home." She demanded.
•••
