Hey guys,
Keep in mind this is a work in progress. Which means, there’s no heavy editing whatsoever. My goal is to reach 50,000 words by November 30th. Bottom line, it’s about quantity not quality…(NaNoWriMo’s quote). I will be randomly posting excerpts, which may or may not be in sequential order to the previous post. I hope you enjoy, and please continue to leave your feedback. Thanks!
SYNOPSIS:
Tired of the blight in their neighborhoods, three girls relocate to a small town in sunny Georgia, where the people are happy and always friendly…until secrets are revealed and true identities are exposed.
MOOD METER
0 Very frustrated
1 Ready to shoot computer
2 Shocked at what’s written
3 Sleeping
4 Watching TV
5 Logical & Calm
6 Working at novel
7 Joyful
TODAY, MINE IS: 6
TY
Ty stood in the kitchen making small talk with the other fellas. Randomly, she’d yell out to whomever was closest to the radio to turn it up. She had a red plastic cup in one hand and a blunt in the other, passing it around those in the circle. Mesha, Dominique and Fatima had just gotten back from the store…That’s when she saw her.
Ty watched her from afar. A smile crept on her face. “Yo, Spence, which one is that?” Ty nudged Spencer, Mesha’s fiance’, in his side.
In his raspy voice, Spence said, “You gotta be a little more specific. Are you talking about the short one or the tall one?”
“The short one.”
Fatima was 5’3” with brown skin and medium-length hair that she wore feathered and layered like Nia Long’s in Love Jones. She had a small but noticeable gap between her two front teeth. This didn’t matter at all because the rest of them were aligned just right.
After a few more drinks, Ty had built up enough courage to approach Fatima. She didn’t want to scare her aware or be bombarded with the “I’m straight” line. So, she approached her subtly by butting in the girls’ conversation.
Mesha, Dominique and Fatima were sitting snugly on the couch, observing. Fatima sat in the middle.
“What’s up ladies? What’s so funny?” Ty asked Mesha.
“Dang! You need to get you some business,” Mesha joked. “Let me introduce you to my best friends Dominique and Fatima.” Mesha pointed to them respectively. “Ladies, this is Ty.”
“Hi, nice to meet you. You can call me MiMi.” She extended her hand.
“Nice to meet you, too, MiMi.” She shook her hand.
“I’m Fatima, but you can call me Fatima,” she said playfully as she reached to shake her hand.
“Ah! I see we got a jokester. Very nice to meet you, Fatima.” She leaned over slightly and kissed the top of her hand.
“What kinda shit is that? You didn’t kiss mine,” said Dominique unashamedly.
“Ooh! Watch out there now,” Mesha teased.
“I’m sorry Miss MiMi. Give it to me again so I can…”
“Un uh. Forget it now. It’s not the same.”
Mesha and Fatima were laughing hysterically. Ty stood there, a bit embarrassed.
“Let me stop messing with you. I’m just playing, Ty, dang.”
“I know. It’s all good.” Ty laughed it off. “Did you ladies eat yet?”
“I did,” Mesha quickly answered.
“I know your greedy butt did,” said Ty. “I’m referring to these ladies.”
What Ty said and meant were two different things. She was really only referring to Fatima. She couldn’t keep her eyes off of her.
“Not yet. But I’m about to make my way in there right now.” Dominique got up from the couch and went into the kitchen.
“I’m right behind you.” Mesha followed.
“What about you, lady?”
“Eh, it’s not really much in there to choose from.”
“What’chu mean? Have you been in there? There’s spaghetti, taco salad, wing dings, meatballs, um…”
“Yeah, but I don’t eat any of that stuff.”
“What? You a vegetarian or something?”
“No, I eat chicken.”
“It’s some of that in there.”
“I know, but I try not to eat too much fried foods.”
Ty nodded. “I likes that.”
“When the crowd dies down, I’ll go in there and find something.”
“If you want, I can make you something.”
“Yeah right. Like what?”
“What you want?”
“What do you know how to make?”
“Everything. I can cook my ass off.”
“Shut up. For real?”
“I put that on everything.” Ty crossed her heart and faced her palm to the sky.
“What about oodles and noodles?”
“Oodles and what?”
“Ramen noodles.”
“Yeah, yeah. What you call ‘em?”
“Oodles and noodles. That’s what we call ‘em in New Jersey.”
Ty caught a glimpse of Mesha and Dominique out the corner of her eye and knew they were ear hustling. “You from Jersey?”
“Yeah, I got family there. I live in Michigan now, though.”
“That’s cool. That’s cool. So what do you like on your “oodles and noodles?”
Ty almost passed out when Fatima flashed her with that Colgate smile.
“I like mine with lots of butter and a sprinkle of pepper.”
“No way…Me too! I’ll be right back. Don’t go nowhere.”
Phette Hollins 