"Never too Late" Part 1

[CarolinaCutie]

[glow=orange,2,300]Thankx 1nce again to sweetgapeaches for helpin' me out![/glow] ;D

“Never Too Late”

[glow=red,2,300]“I know you wonder why I sometimes cry/When I should be happy to have you in my life”
—Faith Evans: You Don’t Understand[/glow]

“Man! I didn’t know it was gettin’ this late!”, Rufus exclaimed as he glanced at his watch. It was going on 10:30. “I’d betta be headin’ home to Latrice. But I can’t wait for you to meet her!”, he smiled as he hugged his childhood friend, Katrina, goodbye.

“Yeah, I can’t wait to meet the poor woman that ended up with you!”, Katrina joked as she and Rufus headed out the door of the local sports bar along with Tamir.

Earlier in the evening, Rufus and Tamir were hanging out when they bumped into her coming out of a store across the street from the sports bar where she decided to hang out with them. Katrina and Rufus hadn’t seen each other since he attended her high school graduation a few years ago. He was like her big brother/protector until she moved out of state to attend college. After being away for five years, she decided to return home after being offered a job in her field of study.

All during the evening as Katrina and Rufus talked, she noticed how Tamir kept trying to holla at her. But she gave him the impression that she wasn’t interested although she found him to be quite amusing and attractive. However, she felt like she wasn’t ready to get to know someone of the opposite sex. She had just gotten out of a bad relationship a year ago and wasn’t ready for the dating scene again.
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When Latrice glanced at the clock hanging over the fireplace, she was past the point of being angry. It read 11:15 and she hadn’t seen or heard from Rufus since he had headed out right after they had dinner around 7:00 that evening.

Latrice began to wonder if Rufus was cheating on her the same way her father had cheated on her mother. Latrice’s mother knew about her father’s cheating ways. However, neither Latrice nor her mother knew about his outside child as a result of his infidelity. That is, until his son, now 18, came by her parents’ house a few weeks ago. He told Latrice’s mother that he was gettin’ ready to go off to college on a football scholarship after high school and wanted to meet and get to know his father before he left. Well, this was the straw that broke the camel’s back because Latrice’s mother had filed for a divorce from her father even though they had been married for over 25 years. Although Latrice had been in denial about what her father had done, the realization of the situation hit her all at once earlier in the day. She had always been a daddy’s girl, but now Latrice felt like she would never be able to look at or love her father the same way again.

Rufus knew that her parents were calling it quits, but Latrice hadn’t told him the reason why yet. She was too embarrassed to tell him, so he just assumed that things hadn’t worked out with them. And although Latrice hadn’t told Rufus, it was her cousin, Maurice, who was trying to help her deal with this troublesome time in her life. She and Maurice were very close because they were the same age and grew up together. They thought of each other as brother and sister more than cousins.

As Latrice continued to think about how her father had betrayed the family, she heard Rufus making his way into the living room.

“W’sup, boo! I’m sorry I’m late, but I ran into an ol’ friend of…”, he started before she cut him off.

“I’m gettin’ tired of sorry @$$ excuses!”, she snapped at him as she jumped up from the sofa and headed towards the guestroom down the hall.

He stood in the middle of the living room as he watched her storm out.

“Dn! What’s wrong with her?!”, he thought to himself as he went out into the hall. He was about to go after her until he saw her go into the guestroom and slam the door. To him, this was a sign that she wanted to be left alone.

He went back into the living room and sat down while waiting for her to cool off. Then the phone began to ring. It was Katrina.

Latrice noticed that the phone in the guestroom only rang once. She was sure that Rufus had picked it up, so she began making her way back down the hall into the living room. “I need to apologize to him for hittin’ the roof like I did.”, she thought to herself.

“W’sup, Ru! Listen, I juss realized that I won’t be able to meet you tomorrow night for dinner. I have a previous engagement with someone else. How is Friday night?”, Katrina asked.

“Ok, yeah that’s coo’!”, he replied.

Katrina and Rufus were still chatting with each other when Latrice came back into the living room. She watched him from the doorway as he laughed and chatted on the phone. But she noticed that he wasn’t speaking in the same tone that he would use when talking with one of the guys.

“Aight, well I can’t wait for us to hook up again. You take care, aight?”, he smiled.

“Ok, you too! Have a good night!”, Katrina replied.

“Thanks…bye!”, he stated.

When he hung up the phone, he stood up from the sofa to go talk with Latrice. However, when he turned around, he saw her standing in the doorway. Latrice mistook his look of surprise for a look of guilt.

“See…I was ready to apologize for snappin’ at you. But now, yo’ @$$ can sleep anywhere but our room!”, Latrice cried.

“What is your dn problem, Trice?!”, Rufus replied as he shrugged his shoulders. He began making his way over to her.

She looked at him while crying and shook her head. She then made her way upstairs to their room with Rufus following closely behind her. When she walked inside the bedroom, she slammed and locked the door.

“Latrice, what’s wrong? I told you I was sorry for bein’ late. Are you gonna let me in?”, he asked as he knocked on the door several times. However, Latrice wouldn’t answer him. She climbed in the bed and turned the lamp off as she cried. She eventually cried herself to sleep.

“Dn! Why didn’t I think to call to let her know where I was?!”, he thought to himself as he headed over to James’ place. He needed to talk with somebody because he noticed how she had become extra moody lately.

“W’sup, man! Sorry to drop by so late, but I need to talk with ya if you’re not busy.”, Rufus stated after James’ opened the door.

“Nah, man! C’mon in. W’sup?”, James’ asked as he and Rufus sat at his kitchen table.

“I think Trice wants out of our relationship.”, Rufus replied as he shook his head.

“How ya’ figga?”, James asked.

“Because…she’s been so moody for the past few weeks. It’s like no matta what I do or say, it’s neva good enough for her. And I’ve been really been goin’ outta my way since she told me about her folks splittin’ up.”, Rufus wearily stated.

“I don’t think she wants out of the relationship. She’s juss havin’ trouble dealin’ with her parents’ breakup. Latrice juss needs time to heal. She’ll be back to herself in no time.”, James’ smiled.

By the time Rufus left James’ place, he felt a little better.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next day as Latrice sat at her desk trying to concentrate on her work, there was a knock at her door. She reached over and turned her radio down a bit.

“Come in!”, she stated.

When her door opened, a floral deliveryman came in with 3-dozen, long-stemmed yellow roses.

“I have a delivery for a Miss Stanton.”, he replied as he headed for her desk.

“Yes, that’s me!”, she blushed. “Thank you!”

While she was reading the card that read "I’m sorry for whatever I did or didn’t do. Please forgive me.”, she heard another knock at her door. This time, it was a woman walking in carrying a large gift basket.

“What tha’?!”, Latrice thought to herself as the woman sat the basket on her desk. The woman smiled and told her to enjoy her gift.

Latrice had a mile-wide grin on her face as she went through the different things in her basket. It contained the latest Omar Tyree novel that she had been dying to have, a pound of imported chocolates, a weekend spa getaway ticket, some champagne, and a “Beautiful” perfume gift set complete with the perfume, body wash, and lotion. When she looked up, she began to laugh as she saw a white handkerchief being waved around by a strong, familiar hand that she recognized.

When Rufus heard her laughing, he shouted, “I surrender!”, as he made his way inside her office. With a sad and sheepish look on his face, he asked Latrice if he was forgiven.

“Of course you are, boo!”, she giggled as she went over to hug and kiss him for the romantic thing he had just done.

“Can we talk about what’s been goin’ on lately over lunch?”, he asked as they held one another.

“Yeah! And while we’re at it, I need to apologize for how I’ve been actin’ lately.”, she smiled as she reached up and kissed him.
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“Man, what in the world are you gawkin’ at so hard?!”, Larry chuckled as he and Tamir walked through the shopping mall.

“Remember, Rufus’ friend that I was tellin’ you about? That’s her ova there!”, Tamir grinned. “I gotta go say w’sup to her!” He headed over to Victoria’s Secret to follow Katrina, and her new neighbor and friend, Octavia inside.

When Larry noticed where he and Tamir were headed, he stopped in his tracks.

[CarolinaCutie]

“Man, ain’t no way in hell I’m walkin’ up in here with you!”, Larry exclaimed.

“Fine! Suit yo’self!”, Tamir replied as he walked through the entrance of the store.

Larry stood outside of the store for a few seconds before he realized that there were two women’s department stores on either side of Victoria’s Secret as well as a baby store across from it. So he hurried up inside so no one would notice him.

“Isn’t this cute?!”, Katrina smiled as she held up a black, lacy lingerie set.

“Yeah, but I don’t see the need for buyin’ stuff like that because it’s juss gonna end up across the room anyway!”, Octavia laughed as she sampled the latest body lotions that had just been shipped to the store.

Katrina was about to reply to Octavia’s statement when they heard someone behind them.

“How are you ladies doin’ today?”, Tamir smiled.

When Katrina turned around and noticed that it was Tamir whom she thought was kind of a pest, she was about to let out a heavy sigh. However, it got caught in her throat.

“Dn, he fine!!!”, she thought to herself while keeping a cool and calm look on her face.

“Hello. I’m fine, thank you. And yourself?”, she asked.

“I’m aight. I’m glad that I ran into you.”, he smiled.

By this time Octavia was nudging Katrina to introduce him to her. In the middle of their introductions, they saw Larry knock over a few flyers that were on a display table nearby. He hurriedly picked them up and made his way over to where Tamir was.

“This is my friend, Larry. Larry, this is Katrina and Octavia.”, Tamir grinned as he continued to smile at Katrina.

“W’sup! It’s nice to meet you!”, Larry smiled as he shook their hands.

“Well, we have to be headin’ out…but…before we go…”, Katrina slyly smiled as she looked over at Octavia. “…What do you think of this?”, she asked Tamir as she held up the lingerie set that she was admiring earlier against her body.

Both Tamir and Larry were speechless while Tamir’s jaw literally dropped to the floor.

Katrina and Octavia began to giggle when they saw their reactions. Katrina decided to buy the lingerie set. She headed towards the cashier with Octavia. As they were leaving, they waved goodbye to Larry and Tamir who were still standing in the same spot.

“Bye!”, Tamir waved. Larry gave them a head nod.

“See what I mean, man?!”, Tamir chuckled as they headed out. “I gotta get to know that girl betta!”

“Yeah, I see!”, Larry chuckled.

Just then, they bumped into Larry’s girl, Raina, as they stepped outside of the store.

“W’sup, yall!”, she replied as she gave Larry a puzzling look.

“W’sup, Ray!”, Larry nervously smiled .

“What are you doin’ comin’ out of here? Every time I want to go in there, you get embarrassed and say you’ll be somewhere else.”, Raina stated as she folded her arms.

Larry began to ramble. “Well, uh…see, Raina, baby. I know you have a birthday comin’ up soon so I needed to conquer my fear of this place. I went inside to get an idea of what would be nice for you because I know how much you like this store.”

Raina began to giggle and blush. Meanwhile, Tamir stood there with a small smile on his face although he was cracking up inside. He was amused with how Larry had squirmed his way out of that lie.
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“Did I tell you how much I love you?”, Latrice smiled as she kissed the top of Rufus’ head. She was cradling him in her arms as his head rested on her shoulder. They had just finished making up after she came in from work.

“Yeah, you must’ve yelled it at least 20 times!”, he joked.

“Don’t even go there, Mr. Funny Face!”, she laughed.

“Ok…let’s see how funny I look when I take back what I got’cha today!”, he chuckled as he lifted his head up to look at her. He then stretched his arm across her to try to grab the book he had bought for her off of the nightstand.

“Aight, I’m sowwy! I won’t call you that anymore!”, she giggled as she pretended to pout while grabbing his hand. “Besides, you know you look like a movie starruh, like a chocolate candy barruh!”, she sang mimicking Keith Murray.

“Mmmm hmmmm.”, he smiled as he pulled her into his arms. “I can’t wait to introduce you to my ol’ friend at dinner tomorrow night.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, Ru, but I have to attend a meetin’ tomorrow after work. I prolly won’t get home until after 9:00.”, Latrice replied as she looked up at him with a sad face. “But you go on without me and have fun!”, she smiled.

“Are you sure? Because I can postpone our dinner until you have a free schedule.”, he replied with a concerned look.

“Yeah, I’m sure! Go on and have a good time! You can introduce me to your friend lata!”, she grinned as she took his hand and kissed it. Then she intertwined her fingers with his. They were about to smooch when the phone rang.

“Mannnnnn!!! Who could that be?!”, Rufus angrily stated.

Latrice started laughing. “It could be important so go on and answer it.”, she replied. She laid her head down on his chest while he reached over to grab the phone. It was Mark.

“W’sup, man! Naw, I’m spendin’ time with my girl. Go on without me.”, Rufus stated in response to Mark asking him if he wanted to hang out at the sports bar to watch a football game between the Ravens and the Cowboys.

Latrice sat up in the bed and started shaking her head at Rufus. She still felt a little guilty after blowing up at him the night before. It was only right for him to hang out with the guys if he wanted. Besides, this would give her a chance to call her cousin up to talk to him since she hadn’t heard from him in about two days.

“Hold on, man!”, Rufus stated as he looked up at her. “Wha?”, he asked with a puzzled look.

“It’s ok if you wanna hang out tonight.”, she smiled.

Rufus really did want to see the game. He sat up in the bed and leaned over to kiss her. “Well, we’ll pick up where we left off when I get back.”, he grinned with a wink before putting the phone back up to his ear.

“Hey, man! I’ll meet ya in about an hour, aight?” After he hung up, he showered, got dressed and headed out.

As soon as he left, Latrice called Maurice up.

“Hello.”, Maurice answered.

“Hey, buzzard! What up!”, Latrice smiled as she lay back down across the bed.

“Nothin’ much, pigeon!!! What’cha been up to today?”, he chuckled.

“Nothin’; juss dealin’ with the same ol’ stuff as usual, that’s all. What about you?”, she asked.

“Well, I’ve been basically doin’ the same thing. Have you talked to Aunt Nat today?”, he asked.

“I was gonna call her but…I got tied up with somethin’ when I came in from work.”, Latrice slyly smiled.

“Okay, I can tell from the sound of your voice that I’m gonna leave that alone!”, Maurice laughed.

“Anyway, na…I’ma call her in a lil’ while. Ya know I gotta keep a check on mommy!”, Latrice replied with a little sadness in her voice.

“Yeah…so have you heard from Uncle Peanut?”, he asked.

“No! And I don’t want to!!!”, Latrice snapped as her voice became angry.

“Trice, I really think he would like to hear from you. He really needs your support because what yall are goin’ through right now has gotta be hurtin’ him as much as it’s hurtin’ you and Aunt Nat.”, Maurice replied.

“Yeah, right! He didn’t think about that 18 years ago when he decided to go out and sw some ho’ behind mommy’s back and bring a kid into the picture! As far as I’m concerned, daddy can go to hell! Now can we please change the subject?!!”, she spat into the phone.

“Aight, dn! Well, how’s work been goin’?”, Maurice asked.

“It’s been aight. I was told by my bosslady the otha’ day that I’ll have to train the new worker that’s joinin’ our department. From what I’ve been told about her, she sounds pretty coo’!”, Latrice smiled. “And she’s around my age so I’ll finally be able to talk with someone who’s interested in the stuff that I’m interested in. Everybody that I’m around now are close to retirement!”, she joked.
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[CarolinaCutie]

No matter how much Latrice tried to busy herself with some light chores or reading, she couldn’t help from being a little upset that it was going on 10:30 and Rufus wasn’t home. She constantly told herself that he was hanging out and having a couple of drinks with his friend.

After trying to read a few more pages from the novel that he had given to her a couple of days ago, she decided to turn on the tv and watch “Martin” until he arrived home. Although she was gettin’ a little sleepy, she was determined to stay up so they could cuddle up in bed and watch, “The Wood” as they had planned.

When Rufus did come in, he was relieved to hear Latrice’s laughter coming from upstairs. “Whew! I’m in the clear since she’s laughin’! She must be in a good mood!”, he thought to himself as he climbed the stairs and made his way down the hall to their room.

“Hey, boo! How was dinner?”, Latrice asked as she glanced over at Rufus.

“W’sup! It was fun. I’m juss sorry that you had to miss it.”, he replied as he began to remove his clothing and slip into some sweatpants. “But how was your meetin’?”

Latrice told him about her meeting as he went into their bathroom to brush his teeth and get ready for bed. After he came out, he climbed in the bed beside Latrice and hugged and kissed her. “You got the movie in?”, he asked.

“Yup!”, she grinned as she grabbed the remote to turn it on.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next day as Katrina was coming out of “Books-A-Million” in a popular shopping center, she ran into Tamir. He was on his way inside “Foot Action”.

“So we meet again!”, Katrina heard someone say behind her. She turned around and to her pleasant surprise, it was Tamir. She felt her heart racing a little bit.

“Hey! How are you doin’?”, she managed to smile as he came up to her.

“I’m doin’ good. How about you?”, he grinned.

“I’m aight, I was juss pickin’ up a book that I had to special order.”, she replied.

“Oh yeah? Well that’s coo'!”, Tamir smiled as they continued to look at one another. Katrina could tell that he was really into her, but she didn’t want to let him know that she was into him also. That’s why when he asked for her number, she declined.

“I tell ya what, how about you give me your number?”, she replied.

“Ok, but do me a favor and call me, please?!”, Tamir chuckled with a wink of his eye.

“I will! Well, I really have to be goin’ now! I’ll talk with ya lata!”, Katrina replied as she waved goodbye to him before making her way across the parking lot to her ride.

Tamir couldn’t wipe the grin off of his face because he liked the sound of her saying that she would talk with him later. He just had no idea how much later it would be.

Later on that night as he and Mark hit up a few hot spots in the city, Mark noticed that Tamir was constantly checking his cell phone as if he were waiting for an important call. Or he would dial his phone and wait in silence for a few seconds before hanging up. What he was doing was checking his voicemail on his home phone every now and then. But to his disappointment, Katrina hadn’t called him.

“Man, what are you doin’?!”, Mark asked out of curiosity after watching Tamir do this several more times.

“Well, ummmm…I was juss wonderin’ if my phone at home was fixed now. Earlier today, it wouldn’t pick up any messages.”, Tamir stammered. “I would hate to miss an important call.”

“Is your celly doin’ the same thing too because you keep lookin’ at it like you’re waitin’ for it to ring or somethin’!”, Mark chuckled. “It wouldn’t happen to be some female that promised to call you and she hasn’t, would it?”

“Nah, man! I juss keep checkin’ my battery level to make sure it’s not dyin’ down.”, Tamir nervously smiled. “Hey! Let’s go in here for a while!”, he stated as he quickly changed the subject. He pointed out a late night café to Mark that he wanted to stop at. They knew that’s where all the ladies hung out on Saturday nights.
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Katrina constantly looked at her phone. Every time she picked it up to call Tamir, she would quickly hang it back up. She really wanted to talk to him, but she was afraid to call. She was scared she would really begin to like him.

“Fo’get this!”, she huffed as she picked up her phone to dial Octavia up. They decided to go hang out at the late night café for a while.

“Girl, there’s a latte with my name written all ova it!”, Katrina joked.

She got up and proceeded to pull her hair up in a ponytail and threw on a cute, white blouse that laced up in the front and a pair of bootcut jeans and a pair of high-heeled boots.

Octavia and Katrina had been chatting over their cups of lattes for a few minutes after arriving at the café when she heard someone saying hello.

“It can’t be!”, she laughed to herself as she turned around.

There stood Tamir except Mark was with him this time. After Tamir introduced Mark to Katrina and Octavia, Mark asked Octavia if she felt like going on the other side of the shop to scan the latest books and magazines. He only had to ask Octavia once. She had jumped up before he finished his question.

Katrina felt all warm inside as Tamir took a seat across from her.

“Well, I guess I can stop worryin’ if you were gonna call me tonight!”, he smiled as they looked into each other’s eyes. “It has to be fate that keeps bringin’ us togetha!”

Katrina responded to his statement by smiling. She also felt herself beginning to glow.

“You know, you have a pretty smile!”, he grinned as he continued to watch her.

“Thank you!”, she replied as she cleared her throat. She looked down in her mug and quickly changed the subject. “Oh! I’m all outta latte. I think I’ll get anotha one for the road!”, she chuckled. She then began to stand up to excuse herself.

“No! I’ll get that for ya!”, Tamir smiled as he reached out for her mug. She was about to decline his offer, but she changed her mind.

“Okay.”, she smiled as she handed it to him.

A few minutes later, he came back with drinks for the both of them. He noticed how she was looking at Octavia and Mark. They really seemed to be hitting it off as they sat together on a sofa flipping through a few magazines.

When Tamir and Katrina turned back around, their eyes caught and held each other’s gaze for a few seconds. Katrina picked up her cup of latte and began to sip on it.

“So how have you been enjoyin’ bein’ back home so far?”, Tamir asked as he sipped on his drink.

“Oh, it’s been real coo’! I noticed that a lot of nice places have been built to chill and relax at since the last time I was here.”, she smiled.

She and Tamir talked for about another hour or so as they got to know each other. However, Mark and Octavia had made their way back over to them.

“Hey, man! I was juss comin’ ova to see if you were ready to be out. I would hate for us to keep these ladies out late!”, Mark grinned as he threw his arm around Octavia’s shoulder.

“Yeah, you’re right!”, Tamir smiled as he glanced over at Katrina. They all made their way out of the shop and headed for Katrina’s ride.

“Well, it was nice talkin’ to ya. Maybe we can do this again real soon!”, Tamir smiled as he reached out to shake Katrina’s hand. When their hands touched they both felt the chemistry.

Meanwhile, Mark was saying his goodbyes to Octavia.

“Thanks for a great time!”, Octavia smiled as she held out her hand to Mark.

“Wha’? I can’t get a hug?!”, he grinned.

“Oh, okay!”, Octavia giggled as she held out her arms. They proceeded to give each other a small hug. Then she climbed in the car with Katrina. The guys waved goodbye to them as Katrina started her car.

“Girl!!! He is so foine!!!”, Octavia exclaimed after Katrina pulled her car out into the night traffic.

“So is Tamir!”, Katrina thought to herself.

Octavia went on endlessly about how she really liked Mark and how they were supposed to be hooking up with each other the next night. Katrina didn’t say too much about Tamir except that he was real cool and nice. She was trying her hardest to fight the feelings she was having about him. She wanted him bad and she wanted him now!

Meanwhile, Tamir was going on and on about Katrina to Mark who had also been going on and on about Octavia.

“I gotta get to know Trina even betta!”, Tamir grinned. “There’s juss somethin’ about her!”

“Yeah, she does seem coo’ and she has a cute smile!”, Mark grinned.

After Katrina arrived home and went to bed, she had a nice, little dream about Tamir that night.

“Dn!”, she thought to herself when she woke up the next morning. “I didn’t know I was feelin’ him like that!”, she smiled. There was no doubt that her feelings were slowly beginning to take over.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[CarolinaCutie]

“Did Rev. Brown preach this mornin’ or what?!”, Natalia smiled from the passenger seat of Latrice’s ride as they headed back to Natalia’s house.

“Yeah! He sure did!”, Latrice slightly smiled.

“Somethin’ wrong, Trice?”, Natalia asked as she leaned forward to look in her daughter’s face.

“It’s nothin’, mommy…I mean, I’d rather wait to talk about it lata!”, Latrice stated with a shrug of her shoulders.

“Let’s talk about it now because it’ll still be the same problem later on.”, her mother replied.

“Well, I was juss wonderin’…how did you know that daddy cheated on you?”, Latrice asked as she glanced over at her mother. This was the first time she was able to bring herself to ask her mother such a personal question. “I’m sorry, mommy; it’s none of my business so forget I asked.”

“No, no, bookie! It’s alright. I don’t mind, because I know it’s hurting you inside.”, Natalia faintly smiled. “It all started when your father started coming in late from work or hanging out with his friends. He never called to let me know where he was and he always had an excuse ready for me when he came in the house. Then later on down the line, he started going in another room to use the phone and he kept his conversations brief with the person he was talking to. I could tell the difference between whether it was one of his friends or relatives and someone else.”

By this time, Latrice had pulled her ride into her mother’s driveway. She wanted to tell her mother that she felt like Rufus was beginning to follow the same pattern as her father, but she decided to keep quiet about it.

“You wanna come in? Your Aunt Ruthie will be over for dinner in a little while.”, Natalia grinned as she climbed out of the car.

“No thanks! Rufus and I are goin’ out to dinner lata on this evenin’, but we’ll prolly stop by on our way home. Have fun with Aunt Ruthie!”, Latrice smiled as she waved goodbye to her mother.
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“Ru?!”, Katrina smiled as she saw Rufus standing in the nearly empty lobby of the restaurant that he and Latrice were going to have dinner in. He was waiting on Latrice to check their reservations.

“Hey, Trina! What are you doin’ here?!”, he grinned as they hugged each other. Katrina also kissed him on the cheek.

“I juss finished having dinner with my cousin that’s helpin’ me to get settled into my new place. She’ll be headin’ back home tomorrow though. You remember, LaShawn?”, Katrina asked.

“Yeah, tell her I said w’sup! Well listen, I can introduce you to Latrice.”, he stated as he watched Latrice making her way over to them. He didn’t know that Latrice had witnessed him and Katrina hugging each other.

“You punk @$$! I knew you were up to no good! How the hell you gonna be huggin’ on some trick right up in my face?!! How could you!”, Latrice shouted as she made a scene in the restaurant. She was also slapping Rufus on his shoulders with her hands and purse.

“Wait, Trice! Baby, calm down!!!”, Rufus stated as a look of shock came over his face. He looked over at Katrina who was just as shocked as he was.

“Uh, excuse me, but…!”, Katrina tried to explain as she tapped Latrice on the shoulder.

However, Latrice wasn’t trying to hear it. “Bh, who asked you any dn thing?!”, she shouted as she whirled around and slapped Katrina. Rufus looked like he could have fell through the floor.

Katrina winced in pain and shook her head. She then counted to 10 before she spoke to Latrice. “Listen, I know you’re upset but please undastand that if you EVA touch me again that will be your @$$!” Then she looked over at Rufus. “It was nice seein’ you again.”

He simply nodded his head as he continued to glare at Latrice.

“Latrice, I hope that the next time we meet, it’s under better circumstances.”, Katrina replied before leaving out of the restaurant.

“Latrice…!”, Rufus shouted before she shot him an angry look and stormed out.

“Stop, Latrice! You have got to calm down and listen!”, he shouted as he ran down the block behind her. She had decided that she would walk home because she was too angry and upset to get in the car with him even though they lived several miles away from the restaurant.

When he finally caught up with her, he ran and stood in front of her to keep her from walking away.

“What tha cufk was that all about?!”, he demanded to know as he forced her to look at him when he grabbed her by the chin.

“What do you care?!”, she sobbed.

“C’mon, I’m not gonna let you walk away from this. Let’s go get in the car and go home.”, he stated as he tried to take her hand. However, she put her hand up as a signal that she didn’t want to be touched right now. They silently made their way back down the block to his ride to head home. There was a deadly silence all the way back as he drove. However, he would glance over at Latrice every once in a while to see what was going on with her. He noticed that she looked very distraught.

Once they arrived home, Latrice marched upstairs and began packing a few clothes. She had decided that she was going to stay with her mother for a while.

“Latrice, I’m gettin’ sick and tired of this isht, man!!! You won’t talk to me anymore and you keep jumpin’ down my back ova the slightest thing. I thought we decided the otha’ day that we weren’t gonna go through these changes anymore!”, Rufus slightly shouted as he watched Latrice slamming some of her items down in her suitcase.

“Yeah, well that was before I saw you huggin’ on some female. Not to mention how you keep comin’ in late everytime you go out lately! Wha’…you think I’m stupid or somethin’?!”, she shouted back at him before she started packing again.

“That’s what all this isht is about?!!”, he asked with a shrug of his shoulders. “I told you that I ran into my ol’ friend the other night who juss happened to be the one you went off on while ago!!! I didn’t think you could be so dn ghetto with yours, yo! What you did was beyond tacky! You didn’t even give me a chance to introduce you!!!!!”

“Tacky?! Ma, I’ll show you tacky!!”, Latrice cried as she stomped over to their closet. She began snatching his clothes off of the hangers and throwing them behind her back on the floor or wherever else they would land. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that she was acting very childish and immature.

“Will you stop?!! Dn!!! I’ve neva seen you act this way before!!!!”, Rufus shouted as he grabbed her hands and held her from behind. She began to cry.

“Latrice, I’m really tryna have patience with you and make this work, but I can’t do it by myself! You’ve got to meet me half-way!”, he calmly stated.

After her sobbing had calmed down, she decided to ask him a question. “So after all of this time, why didn’t you once say that your friend juss happened to be a woman?!”

“Because you neva asked!”, he replied.

Latrice felt real low after realizing that he had a valid point. However, she was still mad.

“Let me go, Ru!”, she barked as she broke out of his embrace. She put a few more things in her suitcase before heading out to her ride without saying goodbye.

Rufus had had just about enough of Latrice’s crazy ways lately.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Katrina was lying on her bed going over what happened earlier in the evening. If Rufus hadn’t told her how much he loved Latrice, she would’ve grabbed her by her nappy curls and mopped up the floor with her. Matter of fact, the more she thought about how Latrice slapped her, the angrier she became. However, her ringing phone interrupted her thoughts.

“Hello.”, Katrina emptily answered as she snatched the phone up.

“Uh, Katrina?”, she heard a male voice ask.

“Who’s callin’?!”, she demanded to know.

“It’s me, Tamir. Did I call you at a bad time?”, he nervously asked.

She began to chuckle. “Oh, I’m sorry…I didn’t know it was you. Hey, wait a minute! How did you get my number?”

“I bribed your friend for it, but don’t be mad. I juss had to talk to you again. I love hearin’ your voice.”, he slyly smiled. Of course Katrina had a big grin on her face.

“I’m not mad.”, she smiled.

“So how ya been today?”, he asked.

“I’ve been fine. How about you?”, she replied.

“Pretty good.”, he stated.

“Oh, that’s nice.”, she weakly smiled. However, Tamir could tell in her voice that something was wrong.

“Are you okay, Trina?”, he asked with concern in his voice.

At first, she said she was fine, but she was bad at lying so she went ahead and told him a vague story about her terrible evening without going into too many details of what had actually occurred. Of course, he reassured her that things would be okay. They had been talking for about half an hour when he heard rhythmic breathing on Katrina’s end of the phone.

“Katrina? Katrina?!”, Tamir chuckled.

“Huh?”, she asked as she woke up out of her sleep.

“Dn! Am I THAT boring?!”, he joked.

“Oh…I’m so sorry! I guess I’ve had a long day. I didn’t mean to fall asleep!”, she replied with embarrassing laughter.

“It’s okay!”, he chuckled. “How about on the count of three we both say ‘good night’.”, he suggested.

“Aight!”, Katrina smiled.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[CarolinaCutie]

“Hey, mommy! Can I stay with you for a while?”, Latrice asked as she walked inside her mother’s house with her suitcase.

“Yeah! What’s wrong, baby?!”, Natalia asked as she gave Latrice a big hug.

“I’ll explain as soon as I get out of these clothes.”, Latrice quietly replied as she began to make her way down the hall to her old bedroom.

“Well, I’ma cut us a couple of slices of cheesecake. I’ll be in the kitchen, okay?”, her mother asked.

“Yeah, that’s fine.”, Latrice replied.

After changing into her nightgown and slipping on her robe, Latrice made her way back to the kitchen to sit with her mother who was already sitting at the table eating a slice of cake and sipping on a cup of tea.

“Mommy? Why do men do such stupid things which in turn makes us look stupid?!”, Latrice asked as she sat down and played with her slice of cake.

“What are you talkin’ about?”, Natalia asked.

“I’m sayin’; like when daddy decided to cheat on you. You forgave him and stayed. Didn’t you feel kinda silly and used?”, Latrice asked as she looked up at her mother.

“Trice, I stayed with your father because somewhere in my heart I felt the need to forgive him. Not to mention that we had already invested close to 10 years in our marriage. But the reason why I finally decided to divorce him was because we both vowed that we would neva keep any secrets in our marriage and he kept a secret away from me for 18 years. That I juss can’t bring myself to forgive.”, Natalia sadly stated.

All of a sudden, Latrice started crying like crazy. Natalia reached across the table and placed both of her hands on top of Latrice’s.

“Did somethin’ happen between you and Rufus?!”, Natalia demanded. Although she loved Rufus like he was her own son, she was going to make sure that nobody hurt her daughter.

“I think he’s cheatin’ on me! It started a few nights ago when he came in later than usual. He claimed he met up with a childhood friend. But I found out tonight at dinner that his friend is female. Well, I personally think he’s cheatin’ on me with her because the second night he had dinner with her and stayed out late again. So I slapped the taste outta her mouth when I saw her tonight. I’m not gonna let Ru hurt me before I hurt him.”, Latrice uncontrollably sobbed.

“Latrice Renee’ Stanton! How could you behave in such a manner?! Your father and I didn’t raise you with those ghetto street tactics!!! You need to get on that phone this very instant and apologize to Rufus for your behavior! I have neva in my life!”, Natalia shouted as she stood up from her chair and folded her arms.

“You want me to do what?!”, Latrice shrieked as her crying automatically stopped.

“I told you to get on that phone right now and apologize to Rufus! You and I BOTH know that he wouldn’t do anything to hurt you! How dare you base what your father did to me on him?! I will not have this!”, Natalia replied with a shake of her head.

“You’re only sayin’ that because you like Ru more than any other guy I’ve ever introduced you too! You’re not bein’ fair, mommy!”, Latrice stated as she jumped up from the table to leave.

Suddenly, Natalia began to laugh. “You are behavin’ like the spoiled little brat you used to be when you couldn’t have your way. Well guess what?! That may have worked with your father, but you know me! Although you may be grown now, I’ll still grab a switch in a heartbeat!!! Now you come back here and listen to me, young lady!”

Latrice couldn’t believe that her mother would actually say something like this to her. But she did as she was told and came back into the kitchen.

“Lemme ask you some things, Latrice. Has Rufus been stayin’ out late constantly? Has he been makin’ up crazy excuses when he comes in? Has he stopped spendin’ time with you? Does he act like he’s not interested in the things you two normally do togetha?”

“Aight, mommy! Dang! You made your point! But…I’m too ashamed to talk to him right now.” Latrice laid her head down on the table out of embarrassment.

“Awww, honey…it’ll be alright. But I don’t want you to mess up a good thing that you have with him. I’ll call him up and tell him where you are and that you’re alright. You go to bed and get a good night’s rest. Tomorrow is Monday and you have to go to work and you can’t be walking up in there with puffy eyes.”

Natalia kissed Latrice on the cheek once she made sure she had climbed in bed.

“Love you, sweetie.”, Natalia whispered.

“I love you too, mommy.”, Latrice smiled.

[glow=red,2,300]“Who knows what tomorrow brings/
And heaven only knows what's on the other side of the rainbow”
—Faith Evans: Heaven Only Knows[/glow]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[glow=red,2,300]“Baby if you give me just another chance/I can show you love/I promise I’ll be true to you”
—Faith Evans: Soon As I Get Home[/glow]

The next morning at Latrice’s job, everybody was getting ready for Katrina’s arrival by having a big breakfast waiting in the break room to welcome her. Meanwhile, the supervisor was taking Katrina by everyone’s office to introduce her.

Latrice was sitting at her desk checking her email when she heard the supervisor making her way inside her office.

“Latrice Stanton, this is Katrina Davis, our new worker!”, Ms. Hembly smiled as she looked at Latrice.

When Latrice looked up from her computer, she could have crawled up under her desk. “Oh isht!”, she thought to herself. She stood up and extended her hand while forcing a grin on her face.

“Hi! It’s nice to meet you!”, she replied.

“Thanks, you too!”, Katrina forcefully smiled back before mumbling ‘Bh’ under her breath without Ms. Hembly hearing her.

Because Latrice needed her job, she didn’t say anything in response to what Katrina had just called her. In fact, Latrice felt that she deserved it, in a weird way of course.

A few minutes later after everyone gathered in the break room to have breakfast, it dawned on Latrice that Katrina was the new worker she was going to be training for the week. She immediately excused herself and headed for the restroom. She had to get herself together and try to make the best of the situation no matter how embarrassed she felt. After coming out of the restroom, she went back into the break room to join her co-workers.

Later on after breakfast was over, Latrice and Katrina headed back to Latrice’s office to let the training commence.

Katrina noticed a picture of Latrice and Rufus on the corner of her desk, so she decided to make pleasant small talk.

“That’s a nice picture of you two. When was that taken?”, Katrina smiled.

“You should know since you was the one all up on him last night!”, Latrice snapped. Even though she wanted to believe her mother about Rufus not doing anything close to what her father had done, she was still insecure with the fact that Rufus had known Katrina a lot longer than he knew her. It was just one of those stupid things that Latrice had to get over.

“Okay, see…all I was doin’ was tryna be pleasant with you. I could get ugly, but I don’t want to lose my job as soon as I get here!”, Katrina angrily stated as she glared at Latrice.

“Yeah, whateva! Look, let’s juss get this ova with.”, Latrice replied with a shake of her head.

“I can see this is gonna be a loooooooong week!”, Katrina thought to herself as she sucked her teeth.

A few tough, but manageable hours had passed when Latrice heard a knock at her door. When she looked up, she saw Rufus standing there. Although he saw someone standing over in the corner of the office with her back turned to them while filing some things away, he had no idea that it was Katrina.

“Hey, boo!”, Latrice giggled as she jumped up and ran across her office to hug and give him a passionate kiss. She was trying to make Katrina jealous. Katrina thought it was best that she didn’t say anything though. There was no need to cause trouble up in the workplace.

“Dn! So I guess you’re not mad anymore!”, he replied when she let go of him.

“Of course not!”, she deviously grinned. “What brings you here?”, she asked.

“I wanted to take you out to lunch because we still have a lot of things to talk about.”, he replied.

“Aight, let’s go!”, she smiled as they left.

All through lunch, Rufus noticed that Latrice was back to her moody self although she agreed that they would try to work things out, once more. He told her about how her mother had called and assured him that she was just having a tough time with the divorce.

After Rufus pulled up to the front of Latrice’s job to drop her off, she came clean and told him about Katrina being the new worker that she had to train for the week.

“So is that why you were all up on me like that?”, he asked as he began to put two and two together.

“What difference does it make?”, Latrice asked as she glanced over at him.

“Whateva, Trice!”, he replied with a shake of his head as he watched her climbing out of his ride.

[CarolinaCutie]

“Wooooooooo…I juss spent what has to be THE best 42 ½ minutes of my lunch hour with Ru!”, Latrice grinned as she walked back over to her desk to join Katrina who had come back in from lunch a few minutes earlier. However, when Latrice went to sit down, she felt the need to take it a step further.

“Man! I think he’s thrown my back outta wack again!”, she giggled as she cut her eyes at Katrina.

“I don’t remember askin’ for the details of your lunch hour!”, Katrina snapped as she glared at Latrice in pure disgust.

“Well, I thought I’d let you know anyway!”, Latrice snapped back. She was going to make sure that Katrina knew that Rufus belonged to her and her only.

For the rest of the afternoon, the tension between Latrice and Katrina was so thick, it could’ve been cut with a knife. That is, until Tamir called Katrina up an hour before the end of the workday.

“Katrina Davis.”, Katrina answered after picking up the phone.

“Hey! I was juss callin’ to see how your first day has went.”, Tamir smiled on the other end.

With a wide grin plastered on her face, Katrina turned around and looked at Latrice. “Well, in spite of a few bumps in the road, my first day has gone great! Especially since you were thoughtful enough to call and ask me about it.”

Latrice was seething because she knew it was her own fault that she hadn’t heard from Rufus since she returned to work after lunch. He would normally call her at least twice a day. She decided to get up from her desk to take a quick break. She couldn’t bear to hear Katrina’s conversation.

“Now that that bh is gone, I can tell ya the truth! She is tryin’ her best to make me lose my job on the first day! Oh my gosh!!! This is only the first day…I still have four more days to go!!!”, Katrina heavily sighed.

Tamir began to chuckle non-stop. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to laugh!”

“Yeah, right!”, Katrina smiled. “But we still coo’! Oh, I’d betta go…I hear her comin’ back. I’ll talk with ya lata.”

“Hold up juss a sec…would you like to go out to dinner tonight? It’ll be my treat!”, Tamir stated.

“Sure! How about I meet you at Clifton’s at 6:30?”, Katrina asked.

“Aight, that’s coo’!”, Tamir replied before they hung up.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Later on as Tamir and Katrina were having dinner, they were both getting to know each other on a more personal level.

“So, why is a girl like you still unattached?”, Tamir asked with a sly smile as he placed a forkful of food in his mouth.

Katrina didn’t respond to his question right away because she began to think about her last boyfriend, Lamar, and how badly he had treated her.

“Well, let’s juss say that I’m enjoyin’ the single life right now.”, Katrina replied with a weak smile. “What about you? Why hasn’t some female scooped you up yet?”, she forcefully chuckled while trying to change the subject.

“The right one hasn’t come along until maybe now.”, he stated with a wink and a grin.

Although Katrina was flattered by his comment, she was having a hard time changing her gloomy mood after thinking about her ex.

When Tamir saw the look on her face, he began to talk to her about different stuff going on around town until they were finished eating. “I hope I haven’t said the wrong thing!”, he thought to himself.

After dinner, he was walking Katrina to her ride when he asked if she wanted to hang out with him and the guys. They were going to meet up at the sports bar to play pool and hang out for a while.

“Thanks! But I guess I’d betta call it a night. I need to do some paperwork for my job so I won’t have to deal with that bh no more than I have to!”, she chuckled.

“Aight, well I had fun tonight. We’re gonna have to do this again real soon!”, Tamir smiled as he leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. He noticed how she immediately froze up when he kissed her.

“Okay, well thanks for everything.”, she smiled as she climbed in her ride and left.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“W’sup, man!”, Larry stated as he and Mark gave each other a pound. Mark was just walking inside the sports bar after coming off of his date with Octavia. Judging by his grin, they knew he had had a good time with her. Tamir followed in behind him about 10 minutes later.

“So, how were your dates, tonight?”, Larry asked as he, James, and Rufus headed over to a pool table with Mark and Tamir following behind them.

“Aw, man! Octavia is hot to def!!! I’m glad that I ran into her the otha night. I can’t wait to see her again!”, Mark beamed.

“Yeah, mine went good too!”, Tamir replied with a solemn look on his face. When Rufus noticed this, he went over and stood up against the wall beside him to see what had happened while the rest of the guys played pool and ordered drinks. He didn’t like how Tamir was looking.

“Everything aight man?”, Rufus asked with a concerned look.

“Man, I’ono. I really wanna get to know your friend betta, but I’m tempted not to call her anymore. She doesn’t seem to be interested.”, Tamir replied with a shake of his head.

“Nah, man! Don’t do that! Listen, she’s not gonna tell ya this, so I might as well do it.”, Rufus stated as he and Tamir went to sit down at a nearby table.

“W’sup, man!”, Tamir demanded to know.

“Well, she admitted to me the otha night that she’s having a hard time trustin’ somebody else because of the last guy she went with that juss happened to be her high school sweetheart. For starters, he stood her up at their senior prom. He was also abusive to her, mentally more than physically, even though she loved him with all of her heart. But he really broke her heart when he got her sister pregnant about a year ago. That’s when she decided to leave him. It was a cufked up situation for her to deal with.”, Rufus sadly replied. It hurt him to think how much his friend had been hurting in the past and even now.

“Dn, man! That is cufked up. Well, what should I do to pull her from the past into the present and future because I really like her!”, Tamir asked.

“Well, right now, it’s best to be her friend so that she can build her trust back up.”, Rufus smiled.

“I hear ya, but I wanna be more than juss her friend!”, Tamir joked.

“Hey, hey, hey! Watch it, that’s my play sis you talkin’ ‘bout. I don’t care if you and I are friends. I’ll still knock yo’ @$$ out if you don’t treat her with respect!”, Rufus laughed.

"Man, whateva!", Tamir chuckled while shaking his head.

“But, nah, seriously, you juss have to do whateva is necessary to win her heart.”, Rufus replied. “Now, if only I could do the same!”, he thought to himself as he thought about Latrice. He decided that he would drop by her mother’s place to talk with her for a while.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Latrice! Will you please turn that hippity hop gangsta music off?!!! I can hardly hear myself think!”, Natalia shouted over Nas’ edited version of “Made You Look”. Latrice knew betta than to play the real stuff in front of her mother. Anyway, she and Natalia were on their way back home after going out to eat earlier in the evening.

“Awww, but mommy, this is the jam!”, Latrice pouted as she continued to bop her head to the music. “Juss lemme finish hearing this part, pleeeeeeease!!!”

“Well at least turn it down! And after it goes off, put in somethin’ else for Pete’s sake!”, Natalia begged.

“Okay, okay!”, Latrice giggled as she turned down the volume just a bit.

“I swear, you young folks wouldn’t know good music if it slapped you in the face!”, Natalia laughed as she looked out of the window at the passing cars.

“We know what good music is! Did you forget about my…?”, Latrice started before she realized where she was headed.

“Go on and say it, sweetie…your baby, right?”, Natalia smiled as she looked over at her daughter.

Latrice began to blush. “Yeah, well, let’s juss say I HOPE Ru’s still my baby! I’ve been so stupid, mommy! I don’t know if he’s gonna tolerate me too much longer. And I have my dumb aaah…uh, stupid father to thank for that!”

[CarolinaCutie]

“No, honey. Regardless of what your father has done, you must still show him respect.”, Natalia lightly scolded her. She was about to go on some more until she noticed Latrice hitting the CD changer.

“Remember this?”, Latrice giggled as her mother’s favorite singer, D’Angelo, started crooning through the speakers. “Lady” was Natalia’s favorite song. Latrice wasn’t doing this for sentimental reasons though; she was doing it because she didn’t want to hear what her mother had to say to her about still having to show respect to her father. After all, he hadn’t shown any respect to them in the last few years.

“Aw shaw now! Turn my baby daddy up!!!”, Natalia grinned as she began to snap her fingers while bobbing her head around.

“But you juss told me to turn it down!”, Latrice laughed as they continued to head home.

Once they arrived home and went inside, Latrice showered and started getting ready for bed. In the meantime, Natalia went into the kitchen to have her nightly cup of tea. In the middle of reading the Bible, she heard the doorbell ringing.

“Who could that be this time of night?”, Natalia thought to herself as she glanced over at the microwave clock. It was 9:42.

“Rufus! How are you, dear?!”, Natalia grinned as she gave him a big hug.

“I’m doin’ fine. How about you?”, he smiled as he followed her inside.

“Oh, I’m doin’ well in spite of everything that’s goin’ on. Have a seat. I’ll go get Latrice for you.”, Natalia grinned as she led Rufus into the den.

“Latriiiiiiiiiiiiiice…someone’s here to see you!”, Natalia shouted down the hall towards Latrice’s bedroom.

“What?”, Latrice thought to herself as she put her Essence magazine to the side that she had been reading.

“Okay, I’ll be right out!”, she shouted back to her mother as she grabbed her robe to put on. “Maybe it’s Maurice!”, she smiled as she began to open her door. When she and Maurice had talked on the phone earlier in the day, he told her that he would probably stop by to see her.

“Who is it, mommy?”, Latrice asked when she saw her mother coming down the hall to head to the bathroom.

“It’s a surprise, honey!”, Natalia whispered.

“So it is Maurice!”, Latrice grinned to herself as she headed for the den. But she was shocked when she saw Rufus sitting on the sofa.

“Hhh…hey!”, she bashfully smiled as she walked over to him.

“W’sup, ma! I wanted to know if we could talk for a few minutes?”, he smiled as he slid over on the sofa to make room for her.

“Yeah, sure!”, she stated with a nod of her head as she sat down next to him.

For the next hour or so, they talked about everything that Latrice had been going through with her parents. She also sincerely apologized to Rufus for how she had been behaving and how stupid it was of her to try to accuse him of his best friend. However, she still couldn’t bring herself to tell him about the new addition to her family just yet.

“It’s okay, Trice! I juss don’t want you to keep thinkin’ bad stuff about Trina. If you would juss give her a chance, you would see that she’s like my lil’ sister and that’s it. Now, can we finally call a truce once and for all?!”, he chuckled as he put his arm around her shoulder.

“Yeah, I’ll give it a shot!”, she smiled as she laid her head on his shoulder. “But, I wanna stay with mommy for a while because I can tell that she’s havin’ an even harder time dealin’ with what’s been goin’ on between her and daddy.”

“Aight, that’s coo’! I undastand.”, Rufus replied with a nod of his head as he kissed her forehead.

“I don’t deserve you!”, Latrice whispered as she snuggled up even closer to him. A few minutes later, he noticed that she had fallen asleep as they watched some tv.

“Trice? I’m gettin’ ready to leave so you can go to bed, aight?”, he stated as he gently nudged her awake.

“Okay.”, she stated as she stood up to walk him to the door.

“G’night.”, he stated as they gave each other a quick kiss.

“G’night.”, she smiled as she watched him walking down the steps of the front porch.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
All during the next morning at work, Katrina noticed that although Latrice still wasn’t saying too much, she also wasn’t as crabby as she had been the day before.

However, things became a little shaky when Tamir decided to drop by to surprise Katrina and take her out to lunch. He had found out from the night before that Latrice was the one who had went off on Katrina in the restaurant a few days ago. He pretty much figured out that Katrina hadn’t told him all of the details because he was friends with Rufus and Latrice. Not to mention that he had also found out that Latrice was the one training Katrina for the week.

“W’sup, Trina!”, he smiled as he walked inside Latrice’s office. Latrice had stepped away from her desk to make some copies.

“Hey, ‘Mir! I’ll be ready in juss a sec.”, Katrina smiled as she stood up to grab her purse out of a filing cabinet.

“Aight.”, he stated as he watched Katrina writing Latrice a note to let her know she was taking her lunch a few minutes earlier. But little did he know that Katrina was wishing in the back of her mind that he would have called before coming to pick her up. That way she could’ve met him in the lobby instead. She didn’t want him to know that she had been talking about his friend.

“Okay, I’m ready!”, Katrina replied as she began to button her suit jacket.

“Aight. Well ummm…let’s be…”, he started before Latrice walked in.

“Hey, ‘Mir! What’chu doin’ here?!”, Latrice asked with a puzzled look. Then she put two and two together. He must’ve been there to see Katrina since she had her purse on her shoulder.

“Uh…excuse me, but I think I betta run to the restroom real quick!”, Katrina nervously stated. She was embarrassed with knowing that Tamir had found out who she had to go through what she had earlier called “her week of hell”.

“Okay.”, he replied as he watched her walking out of the office.

“So, you two are seein’ each otha’?!”, Latrice asked in surprise as she went to sit back down behind her desk.

“Yeah. We juss started hangin’ out a few days ago.”, he replied before bursting out in laughter.

“What’s so dn funny?!”, Latrice hissed.

“All I can say is that you don’t play!”, he laughed.

“How so?!”, she demanded to know.

“Let’s juss say that I know alllllll about what’s been goin’ on between you and Trina!”, he laughed even harder.

“Cufk you, ‘Mir!!!”, Latrice snapped at him while waving her hand for him to buzz off.

He only responded by laughing harder. She wanted to laugh too for being so stupid but she didn’t want him to see her laughing. But she was cracking up on the inside.

“Aight, I’m ready to be out!”, Katrina smiled as she met back up with Tamir in Latrice’s office.

“Aight.”, he chuckled as he walked out with her. “See ya lata’, Trice!”, he smiled as he looked over his shoulder at her.

Latrice proceeded to throw her finger up at him.

“What’s so funny, ‘Mir?!”, Katrina asked as she and he headed for his ride.

“I’m juss laughin’ at Trice’s crazy @$$! I can’t believe that it was her you were talkin’ about all this time!”, Tamir laughed.

“Anyway! I don’t want to talk about her anymore!”, Katrina chuckled as they headed to lunch.

All through lunch, Tamir said things to Katrina that made her feel really special. He even surprised her on the way back to work by pulling his ride up to a floral shop on the corner. He got out and bought a single, red rose to give to her as his way of thanking her for the nice time they had together.

When Katrina came back in, it was her turn to brag about her lunch with Tamir. Of course, Latrice was like “whateva”. Latrice was pissed because she ended up having lunch with her mother even though she really wanted to have lunch with Rufus.

Later on before the end of the workday, Tamir called Katrina up to invite her to a movie. Of course she agreed to it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After work, Latrice decided to stop by her place to pick up a few more things to take over to her mother’s place. When she went inside, she bumped into Rufus who was on his way out to the gym.

“Hey, Trice!”, he smiled as they hugged each other.

“Hey, Ru!”, she smiled back. “Listen, do you have a second?”, she asked. She decided that she would go ahead and tell him about her newfound brother.

“Yeah, aight. W’sup?”, he asked as they sat together in the den.

“I’ve been thinkin’ about how selfish and cold I’ve been about somethin’ that I shouldn’t have kept away from you because it’s not fair to the person that I’m about to tell you about.”, she sighed as she looked downward.

“Well, what is it?!”, he anxiously asked.

She cleared her throat. “Well, I found out a few weeks ago that daddy has an 18 year old son named Brian that he hadn’t told me or mommy about. That’s why they’re gettin’ a divorce. I was too embarrassed to tell you because I thought stuff like this only happened to other people.” Latrice began to cry.

“Ohhhhh, it’s aight, boo!”, Rufus stated as he pulled her into his arms. “It’s no need to be embarrassed about somethin’ like that. No one expects things like this to happen.”

“I know, but I let this whole situation get the best of me and it almost cost me my relationship with you. Not to mention with my brother. It’s not his fault that he’s daddy’s son. He didn’t ask to be here. He wanted to meet me ova dinner when he paid them a visit a few weeks ago, but I turned his invitation down. But now I realize how wrong and stupid it was of me to do that. I would like to get to know him before he leaves for college.”, Latrice stated as she continued to cry and hang on tightly to Rufus.

“It’ll all work out.”, he stated before he bent down to kiss her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[CarolinaCutie]

After taking in a movie, Katrina decided to invite Tamir in for a cup of latte.

“This is a real coo’ place you got here!”, Tamir smiled as he took a seat on the sofa in her living room.

“Thanks!”, she smiled as she came into the living room with their cups of lattes. “Lemme see what’s on.”, she stated as she turned on her tv once she sat down next to him.

“Awww man! Now that’s the movie right there!”, Tamir smiled when she came across “Love Jones”.

“Oh no! I need to turn away from this as soon as I can because that steamy scene hasn’t come up yet!”, she frantically thought to herself. She knew with the feelings she was having deep down inside for Tamir, that was the last thing she needed to watch with him.

However, they had forgot all about the movie as they chatted with each other. But then it happened…they both heard Maxwell’s sultry vocals as the infamous scene came up.

“Oh God!”, Katrina thought to herself. She felt her cheeks turning three different shades of red.

Tamir threw his arm around her shoulder. “I wonda’ how many takes they had to go through to make that scene.”

“What would make you think somethin’ like that?!”, Katrina asked as she turned around to look at him.

“Because personally, if it were me, I would’ve messed up on purpose since it’s Nia!”, he chuckled. Then he looked down in his cup and noticed that it was empty.

“Oh, aight…well maybe she can make you anotha cup of coffee!”, Katrina laughed when he made the comment that he was fresh out of his drink.

“Nah, I like the original coffeemaker betta'.”, he slyly grinned while looking at Katrina.

Katrina started blushing. “Boy, gimme that mug! I’ll be right back!”

When she came back with another cup for him, they cuddled up together to watch the rest of the movie. After it was over, Tamir decided to call it an evening because it was gettin’ late and he knew she had to go to work the next morning.

“Well, I guess I’ll be goin’ for now.”, he whispered. Then he did it, he leaned forward and they shared a brief, but tender kiss. He noticed that she didn’t freeze up this time.

“Okay, I’ll see ya lata.”, she smiled as she closed the door behind him.

“Whewwwwwwww!!!”, Katrina heavily breathed as she leaned up against the door. Then she started singing Aaliyah’s “Are You Feelin’ Me” as she danced to her bedroom to get ready for work.

Tamir was so pleased with how his evening had went with Katrina that he had to stop by Rufus’ house to share the good news with him.

“W’sup! Man, I know it’s late, but I had to tell ya that things went well with yo’ girl tonight!”, Tamir grinned as he walked inside to the living room.

“That’s great! But how good a time are we talkin’ here?!”, Rufus joked as he glared at Tamir.

“I’m talkin’ a good, gooooood time!”, Tamir replied with a wink.

“Watch yo’self, man! Remember, that’s my lil’ sis you talkin’ about!”, Rufus chuckled.

“Nah, man! It was nothin’ like that! I mean, we juss clicked tonight. She didn’t even freeze up this time when I kissed her goodbye! I really feel like doin’ somethin’ special for her now. You know, I’ve been thinkin’…I should do the prom thing for her!” Tamir had a mile-wide grin on his face.

“Awww man! That would be hot! Do that!”, Rufus grinned as he gave Tamir the details on what the theme was for the prom and other necessary information. Tamir decided that it would be something just for the two of them. He wanted to show how special he thought she was.

Meanwhile, for the rest of the week, Tamir continued to take Katrina out to lunch and dinner.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On Friday, Latrice was in a really good mood as she worked alongside Katrina. And for that Katrina was thankful. It still ended up being a long week for her but being with Tamir for the last few days and nights made it bearable.

A few minutes before lunchtime as Latrice was helping Katrina to pack up some of her things to take with her to her new office on Monday, a handsome, husky young man knocked on Latrice’s door.

Katrina noticed how Latrice’s face kind of lit up when she saw the young man standing there.

“I’m lookin’ for a Miss Latrice Stanton.”, the young man said in a very deep voice.

“Hi! That’s me!”, Latrice smiled as she stood up from behind her desk.

“I’m Brian Smith. It’s nice to meet you.”, he shyly smiled as he extended his hand to shake hers.

“You too!”, she stated as she shook his hand. Then they both hugged each other. Latrice forgot that Katrina was in the same room with them because she began to cry.

“Oh gosh! I can’t believe that I’m finally meetin’ you!”, Latrice stated as she wiped her tears away with the tips of her fingernails.

“Oh, I’m sorry! Excuse my manners! This is my co-worker, Katrina Davis. Katrina, this is my brother, Brian!”, Latrice excitedly stated as she introduced them.

“Hi! It’s nice to meet you!”, Katrina warmly smiled as she shook his hand.

“Thank you! It’s nice meetin’ you too!”, Brian grinned.

“Well, ummm, listen…we’re gettin’ ready to go to lunch, but I’ll be back in an hour. See ya!’, Latrice stated as she and Brian waved goodbye to Katrina.

“Whoa!!!! So she’s meetin’ a brotha of hers for the first time?!”, Katrina thought to herself.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When Brian and Latrice were seated at a table, they began to order lunch. However, Brian insisted that he pay for it.

“Brian, I wanna take this time to apologize for not wantin’ to meet you before now. But I want to make you undastand that it wasn’t your fault. It was juss a lil’ hard for me to deal with everything that was goin’ on in the beginnin’.”, Latrice smiled as she placed her hand on top of his.

“I undastand. And I apologize for poppin’ up on your family without warnin’. But I found out who my father was from one of the workers down at your job in the adoptions unit a few months ago. See, my grandmother raised me because right after my mother had me, she got hooked on drugs and died of an overdose when I was 2 ½ years old. Well, my grandma neva’ mentioned who my father was when I would ask and his name wasn’t on my birth certificate. For years, I wondered who he may have been. So when I turned 18 not too long ago, my grandmother gave me the okay to find out about him. She said she felt like I could handle things now.” The look on Brian’s face broke Latrice’s heart.

“I’m so sorry to hear that! However, I’m not gonna sit here and lie and say that it doesn’t hurt to know what my father did. But what I am sayin’ is that I want us to have an honest sistah and brotha relationship. I know it’s gonna take some time for us to get used to each otha, but in the meantime, I want'chu to know that if you need ANYTHING juss come to your big sis and I’ll help in whateva way I can, okay?” Latrice squeezed his hand that she had been holding.

“Okay.”, he smiled as he looked at her. It was then and there that they both noticed how they had some of their father’s same facial features. The big, doe eyes, the same high-cheekbone structure, and the same crooked smiles. They also inherited their father’s cocoa-buttery complexion and his thick but wiry and curly hair.

Latrice began to chuckle. “You know what?! One thing’s for sure…we’re our daddy’s kids!”

“Fo’ sho’!”, he agreed while chuckling.

They ended up having a very nice lunch together and Latrice promised him that she would introduce him to all of those who were closest to her starting with Rufus.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[CarolinaCutie]

“I hate to get up and go back to mommy’s now!”, Latrice giggled as she buried her head in Rufus’ shoulder.

“Yeah, I wish you could stay!”, he sighed as he held her in his arms. “You know, I’ve been thinkin’ that maybe Brian could hang out with me and the fellas tomorrow night at the sports bar to watch the game. Ya know, since he’s about to go off to college to play football.”

“I’m sure he would like that, Ru! I’ll call him up tomorrow mornin’ to ask him if he would like to hang out with yall if he doesn’t have any plans. He might be a playa and have a couple of dates already lined up!”, Latrice chuckled.

“You neva know! He’s the star of his team so there’s always that chance!”, Rufus laughed as he began to sit up. “Well, c’mon girl! I don’t want Momma Stanton to blame me for havin’ her GOOD lil’ girl out all times of the night!”, he winked as he looked over at her.

“Boy, please! I’m a grown @$$ woman, dawg!!!”, Latrice joked as she slipped her sweater on over her t-shirt before heading to the bathroom.

“You know yo’ momma still has a curfew for you for 10:00 because that’s her house and you know you gotta go by her rules.”, he laughed. “And it’s now 10:15!”, he warned.

“Oh isht!”, Latrice exclaimed as she hurriedly got herself together and ran back out of the bathroom. “Hurry up and put yo’ clothes on, man, and let’s go!”, she shouted as she began to make her way over to the bedroom door.

“I thought you said you were a grown @$$ woman, dawg?!!!”, he laughed as he saw her running out of their room.

When they pulled up to the front of Natalia’s house, he and Latrice noticed an SUV with new license tags on them.

“Who in the world could be ova’ here this time of night?!”, Latrice asked as she and Rufus walked up to the door.

When Natalia answered the door, she had a strange but sad look on her face.

“Somethin’ wrong, mommy?!”, Latrice anxiously asked as she and Rufus stepped inside.

However, Natalia didn’t answer because when Latrice saw her father sitting at the kitchen table, her question didn’t need to be answered.

“Hi, Baby T!”, Leonard smiled as he stood up with open arms to hug his little girl.

“What tha hell is he doin’ here?!!!”, Latrice shouted as she glared from him to her mother.

“Aren’t you glad to see me, baby?”, Leonard sadly asked as he put his arms down.

“No, I’m not! Mommy why is he here?!!”, she demanded to know as she went and stood beside Natalia.

“Trice, calm down!”, Rufus stated as he placed his hands on her shoulders. However, she ignored him.

“Haven’t you had enough of his sorry @$$?!!”, Latrice shouted.

“Latrice…your father came over here so we could sign some papers regarding the divorce. Now this is STILL my house and you will respect the both of us because we’re the parents and you’re the child! Do you undastand me?!”, Natalia calmly replied.

“Yeah, mommy! You right! This is YOUR house and while that sorry, no-good-for-nothin’ man is in it, I will not stay here!”, Latrice hissed as she began to make her way out of the kitchen to go gather her things up from her room.

She heard her father sobbing. “I cannot believe that this is the same child I raised and love with all of my heart. How could you say those things about me, Tree-Tree? You know that in spite of everything that’s goin’ on, I still love you.”

“Yeah, the same way you loved your son that you kept a secret for 18 years! You are the cufkin’ father of the century!”, Latrice shouted as she went over to stand in front of him.

“Latrice! You’ve said enough!!!”, Rufus stated as he ran over and grabbed her by the arm to make her leave her father alone.

“Fo’get this…I’m gone!”, she cried as she went into her room to pack her things up. Meanwhile, Rufus apologized and said his goodbyes to her parents and went back out to his ride to wait for Latrice.

“Tree-Tree! I’m sorry for what I’ve done! Please find it in your heart to forgive me!”, Leonard begged as he saw her walking out the backdoor with her bags.

Latrice stopped in the doorway without turning around to look at either of her parents while crying. “Bye, mommy.”, she whispered. And like that, she was climbing in Rufus’ ride to go back home.

[glow=red,2,300]“I don't wanna see your tears/I don't wanna hear your voice/Don't you know you made the choice”
—Faith Evans: Don’t Cry[/glow]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Drulady03]

oooo this is good! luvin it ;D I'm looking forward to reading the rest.

[aDRUfan4LiFe]

It tis good!!!! Keep it coming!!!! That girlie needs some help going off on her pops like that!!!

[Jewlnmbr1]

dang...baby fatha drama is the worst. But this is some good ish! I'm really likin the relationship between Katrina and Nokio. Good job girl!

[CarolinaCutie]

Thanky yall!

[DruDiamond]

::thumbs up:: I'm lovin it