It's Always The Pretty Ones (4 page)

“You there?”
 
Dazzy asked.

“Yeah, I’m here.”
 
Anton quickly answered.

“Look, I don’t expect you to be a part of this pregnancy at all.
 
I have a good job and my own place so the baby and I will be fine.
 
Goodbye.”

“Wait!”
 
Anton shouted.
 
“I apologize for how I’m coming off; this is just all so crazy to me.”

“How do you think I feel?”
 

“Look,” He pulled into a spot of the parking garage at work, “Maybe we can hook up later so we can talk this out.”

“I guess.”
 
She said with slight hesitation.

“I will call you once I get off work, okay?”

“Sure.
 
I look forward to it.”
 
She said with an audible smile.

Anton hung up his phone and sat in his car for a moment staring at the wall in front of him, trying to collect himself before he went inside.
 

Romeo sat in the Dynex courtyard waiting for Anton to meet him for lunch, like they had planned earlier in the day.
 
He made sure to check out every female ass that walked past him.
 
Well…not
all
of them.
 
He made it a point to only look at the ones that had shape and size to them.
 
He would tell anyone around that he hated ‘pancake-ass’.
 

He didn’t have a preference on color either.
 
He once dated an Asian woman that he said had an ass the size of China.
 
“It looked like two yellow moons” is what he told Anton.
 
He says that now whenever he sees a full moon, he thinks about Mingmei, and out of respect, has to bow.
 

He didn’t know what Anton was so nervous about when he told him to meet him; all he knew was that he told him he had some big, important news to tell him.
 

“Hey Rome.”
 
Anton said from behind Romeo sitting on the bench.

“Hey, what’s up man?
 
Why did you insist we sit out here in this hot-ass sun?”
 
Romeo said as he took a sip of his soda.

Anton let out a loud breath as he sat down beside him “Dude.”

“What?”
 
Romeo said with an anxious smile.

“Do you remember that girl, Dazzy?”

Romeo thought for a second.
 
“Wasn’t that the chick you hit the sheets with a few months ago from the club?
 
What…she back for more?”
 
He laughed.

“Nah man.
 
She called me on the way to work this morning.
 
She says she is pregnant.”

Romeo’s mouth dropped open.
 
“What?”

Anton leaned back and raised his head up looking up at the perfectly blue sky.
 
“I know.
 
That is what
I
said.
 
I don’t know how this happened.”

“Well, we know how it happened.”
 
Romeo answered.
 
“Did you use a condom?”
 

“Of course I did!
 
She is the one that gave it to me!
 
That is why I don’t get this!”

Rome stood up abruptly.
 
“Wait.
 
She gave you the condom?”

Anton squinted slightly from the sun in his eyes as he looked up at Romeo.
 
“Yeah, so.”

“So?
 
Man, you always use your supply!
 
You never use the chick’s!
 
That thing was probably full of holes!”

“No way man.
 
It would have broken.
 
Wouldn’t it?”

“Hell nah!”
 
Romeo spoke loudly.
 
“Not if she’s a professional!”

“I really don’t think that’s the case, man.
 
She seemed just as shocked as I was.”

“Of course she would!
 
She just succeeded in snagging her a man with benefits!”

Anton looked down as he bit his lip and let out a sigh.
 
“I just don’t know what to do.
 
If this kid is mine, I have to be there.
 
I can’t let the kid grow up without a dad like I had to.”

“That is noble of you man, but you can’t let this chick get you for your shit either.
 
You need a DNA test!”

“I can’t do that until the baby gets here.”

Romeo shook his head.
 
“No sir!
 
You can get that shit done while the baby still in her belly.
 
A partner of mine did that.”

Anton sat back and raised an eyebrow.
 
“I’m not sure about all that.
 
Is that safe?”

“I mean, there is some risk.”

“No, I can’t do that, man!”
 
Anton refused.
 

Romeo sat back down on the bench beside Anton.
 
“So what are you going to do; sit through her whole pregnancy and not even know if the baby is yours?
 
I say you tell that chick to meet you at the paternity office when shortie is born.”

Anton just closed his eyes and held his head back, allowing the warm summer breeze to sweep across his face.
 
He had no idea what he was going to do. What if this
was
his baby?
 
He had to be there.
 
He made a promise to himself when he was 10 years old, that he would never be the type of dad he had.
 
His father was “missing in action” all of his life.
 

He watched his mom raise him and his sister all alone.
 
She struggled for years to take care of them until she died right after his younger sister graduated from college.
 
They found out from a family member that was sworn to absolute secrecy, that she had been diagnosed with cancer but refused treatment so that she could continue to put her kids through school.
 
He noticed she was getting slower and skinnier, and even asked her about it.
 
She told him it was because “she was working to hard and hasn’t been eating right”.
 
He didn’t really believe her, but didn’t push the issue too much because she got angry when he did.
   

That was one of the hardest things he had to do; watching his mom die.
 
When staring into her eyes as she lay in her bed, all the life slowly leaving her, he always tried to remember her as the striking beauty she was.
 
That’s still what he saw; her long brown hair, deep brown eyes, and a smile that could melt butter.
 

He remembered dancing with his little sister and mom in their living room to Billie Holiday records.
 
His favorite to hear her sing was “
All of Me
”.
 
He remembered laying his head on her chest and listening to the sound of her heartbeat as she sang it to him for the last time before she died.
 
To this day he can’t listen to that song without a knot building in his throat.
 
He knew his mom would be extremely upset with him if he didn’t do the right thing if this was in fact his baby.
 

“Hello?”
 
Romeo asked waving his hand in front of Anton’s face.
 

“I hear you man.”
 
Anton said, his mind clouded with confusion.

“What are you going to do?
 
You can’t let this chick get you with this.”
 
Romeo took another sip of his soda as his eyes locked in on an African beauty coming their way.
 

“I have no earthly idea, man…none at all.”
 
Anton sighed.

Chapter 3

Anton arrived at Mike’s, a small restaurant near his office to meet Dazzy.
 
He wasn’t quite sure what he was going to say to her; this was all so sudden.
 
He still hadn’t quite processed it all.
 
Talking to Romeo didn’t really help either.
 
Anton knew he thought he was an idiot for even giving Dazzy the time of day, but he just couldn’t turn his back to this.
 

Dazzy entered the restaurant just as he made himself comfortable at a table near the window.
 
He watched her as she nervously strolled over to the table and gave him a small peck on the cheek.
 

“How are you feeling?”
 
Anton asked nervously as they both sat down.

“Oh, I’m doing okay.
 
I haven’t really been able to hold anything down lately.”
 
Dazzy grimaced.

Awkwardly, Anton cleared his throat.
 
“Okay, let’s get right to this, okay?
 
I don’t have any problem providing for this child if it’s mine, but…”

“You just don’t think it is.”
 
Dazzy interrupted.

Anton silently looked out the window for a second “Frankly, no; we used a condom!”
 

Dazzy lowered her head slightly.
 
“I know.
 
I was there, remember?”

“Now, either I have the potency of a mule or…”

“Or what?”
 
Dazzy cocked her head to the side and put her
 

hand on her hip.
 
“I’m lying?”

Anton raised his eyebrows as he sat back in his chair.
 
“I’m not saying that.
 
I mean, are you sure I was the only one?”

“Is this what you invited me here for?
 
So you could basically call me a scheming ho?”

“You didn’t hear me say that.”

“That is exactly what you are saying!”
 
She shouted.

Embarrassed by the stares they were getting Anton tried to calm her down.
 
“Dazzy, let’s calm down and try to be adults about this.”

“So, now I’m immature?”
 
She reached beside her and grabbed her purse off the floor.
 

“I didn’t say that.”
 
He replied, spacing his words out evenly.

“You might as well!
 
I’m gone.
 
Just like I said, you don’t have to do shit for me or this baby!
 
I don’t have to sit here and deal with this!”
 
She stood up and stormed out of the restaurant.
 

Anton sat for a moment with conflicting feelings.
 
He didn’t know whether to go after her or let her leave.
 
He watched her through the window as she stood at the curb hailing a cab.
 
He knew he was wrong for coming at her like that, but what was he supposed to do?
 
She just called him out of the blue after he hadn’t seen or heard from her in 2 months and tells him she’s pregnant?
 

Plus, the fact still remains…they used a condom!
 
Aside from all of that, he still felt bad for the way the conversation had gone, so he got up and walked up to her outside still standing at the curb.
 
“Look, I’m sorry for how I came off, it’ just this is all so …”

“Hard?
 
Stressful?”
 
Dazzy interrupted.
 
“Do you really think that I would put myself through all this humiliation for nothing?
 
It took me 3 weeks just to get up the nerve to call you!”

Anton held his head down and let out a sigh.
 
“No, I don’t, but, you have to understand how hard this is for me too!”

“Don’t you think I know that?”
 
Dazzy shouted slightly.
 

Anton sighed as he grabbed her hand.
 
“Look.
 
I’ll be there for you as much as I can, okay?”
 
He wiped away the tear that trailed down her cheek.
 
“Let’s go back inside and eat, okay?”