Stripping Asjiah II by Sa'Rese Thompson. Page B

bitch to you earlier. This hasn‟t really been the best day for me.” I placed my hands around the band of my sweatpants and rubbed my stomach.
“It‟s cool. Today hasn‟t really been my favorite day either.” Danielle sipped her tea and began to relax a little as the peach flavored liquid warmed her body.
“Are you doing okay? I know that had to be really scary walking in on something like that.”
“Yeah it was; I‟ve never seen so much blood before.”
“It was that bad huh?” The apple juice I ordered seemed to sit well with baby Jai. Every time I would stop drinking it, I would get kicked.
“Bad is an understatement. It was gruesome. The sheets were bloody, the walls; it scares me just to think of what he must‟ve done to her.”
“I told her to be careful.”
“What do you mean?”
“Keyshia is careless, too impulsive; she doesn‟t think things through.”
“Cobb salad with ranch dressing,” Danielle moved her hands so the waitress could sit her plate down, “And chicken tenders with a small fruit bowl.” After asking if we needed anything else, the petite blonde girl smiled and walked away.
“So did you see anyone leave the room?”
My question made her fumble and drop her fork.
“No…”
“And you said you don‟t remember what the guy looked like that you ran into?”
Danielle hesitated before continuing. “I couldn‟t really see his face…”
Before I could drill her any further, her phone rang.
“Hey baby, what‟s up?”
I picked all the cherries out of the fruit bowl as I waited for her to finish her call.
“I‟m fine, no; I‟ll be there later, I just wanted to make sure she was okay.” Danielle held her finger up, suggesting she would only be a few more minutes. “Alright, love you too.”
“Boyfriend?”
“Huh? Oh yeah, sorry about that. I left the hotel before I could tell him what happened, he just wanted to make sure I was straight.”
I was getting ready to hammer her with questions about this guy of hers but before I could get my words together, she changed the subject.
“So what high school did you go to?”
“Keyshia and I went to South, you?
“Warrensville, is her mother always like that?”
“For the most part, but I only come around when she isn‟t there because as you can tell she despises me.”
“It can‟t be that bad.”
“Trust me, you don‟t know the half.”
Danielle drizzled ranch dressing on her salad then continued.
“So how long have you two been friends?”
“Since elementary, she‟s like a sister to me.” “Then why haven‟t you seen her in a month?” “What?” I pushed my plate to the side and sat back.
“You told her mother you hadn‟t seen her in a month or so. Why is that?”
“So now you‟re interrogating me too?”
“No…I was just…”
“You were just what?” I rubbed my scalp, cocked my head to the side and sighed.
“A lot of drama went down last summer, Keyshia got involved in some shit that I wasn‟t cool with and we stopped speaking. End of story.”
“Sounds like, it‟s either your way, or no way.”
“No, it sounds like you need to mind your fucking business.” My leg began to twitch as I stared across the table at her. She was really beginning to irritate me. “Are you always this mean?”
“Are you always this nosy?”
“I‟m just saying; it seems like you would be a little nicer to the person who saved your best friends life.”
“So what do you want a cookie now?” I looked around the room for our waitress. “I can buy you a cookie if that would make you feel better.”
“Fuck you.” She tossed her napkin on the table and got up.
The other patrons in the restaurant turned and looked my way as Danielle stormed outside.
“Aww, did I upset you?” Laughing, I unlocked the doors to the Civic and allowed her to get into the car.
“Keyshia‟s mom was right, you are a bitch.”
“No, a bitch would be telling you to give me my jacket back and putting you out of my car.” I turned the key, and