The Makeover Page 2

  The rickety, urine-soaked elevator reached the sixth floor. She took a deep breath and placed her backpack against the elevator door as she pulled her bags into the hall. Thankfully, her apartment door was one door down from the elevator. Standing in front of it, Phoenix wiped the perspiration from her face with a dirty tissue from her jeans pocket. She adjusted her wrinkled white blouse, and dug out her Burberry Sheer perfume to freshen up. She knew she needed a shower after pounding the bustling Manhattan streets all day to provide mental health counseling the mentally ill in their homes. She had already been reeking when she rushed uptown to Columbia University where she was taking doctoral psychology courses. By the time she met with her friends, she looked and smelled like she had been run over by an onion truck. After popping a Mentos candy in her mouth, she sniffed her armpits and winced at her pungent scent. She dug out her small bottle of baby power to shake into her blouse.

  Sniffing again, she whispered, “Sorry, Baby, this is the best I could do.”

  She wondered where Cedric was and hoped he’d decided to cook. She was starving, having had that twenty-two dollar slice of pizza at noon that left her without money for an early-evening snack. Thankfully, San and Nic had treated Phoenix to the Thursday-night special—three dollar margaritas. San would have treated her to a meal if she had asked, but Phoenix had been too embarrassed to eat by herself. She didn’t want to be the fat girl eating alone at a table with two beautiful, slender women.

  She unlocked the door, her frown already transforming into a smile. She heard her favorite artist, Maxwell’s, music booming from the bedroom. Pausing, she saw that the small dining table in their living area had been decorated with plates, silverware, and a vase filled with fresh pink roses. She walked down the hall to the table and sniffed the roses. “Too bad I’m home so early. I might have ruined the surprise for him!”

  Surveying the clean apartment, Phoenix’s heart melted. “Wow. He actually cleaned up? No wonder he couldn’t hear my calls or the bell. My baby must be planning something sweet for me.”

  She returned to the kitchen and quickly put her groceries away. The air seduced her with the tangy aroma of Cedric’s famous barbeque sauce. In the kitchen, she found a pan of short ribs and a pot of Spanish rice. “Oh thank you, Baby!”

  She walked back down the hall and stood at the floor-length mirror on the bathroom door. “No wonder that dude was staring at me like I had a bug on my forehead. I look horrible!”

  Her normally relaxed, shoulder-length hair was a frizzy ball of frayed yarn. Her dark skin, the color of the darkest chocolate pudding, glistened with sweat from the July, New York heat. Her blouse was wrinkled against her full-figured frame, and stained with two drops of the lunch time pizza’s grease on her chest. Her eyes scanned the blackheads, and the spattering of dark bumps, on her chin, cheeks, and forehead. There was a long, curly hair sticking out of her chin. She yanked it as hard as she could before hurrying into the bathroom, unable to face the damage any longer. Within minutes, Phoenix had removed her clothes, jumped into the shower, and washed herself. She came out, brushed her teeth, then her hair, and smeared her body with her favorite Victoria’s Secret Honeysuckle lotion.

  Snatching her silk bathrobe from the hook behind the door, she walked out of her bathroom to find her fiancé. “I bet he’s making our room look really pretty, as long as he’s been in there.”

  Her stomach fluttered as she neared the bedroom at the back of the railroad apartment. Her mind shifted into images of the time they had shared together the previous night. It had been the first time in several weeks and her body vibrated with delicious thoughts of being intimate with him again. After the day she’d had, she was glad that this area of their lives, at least, was getting back on track.

  Reaching the bedroom door, she giggled before throwing it open.

  “Surprise, Baby! I’m home early!” Phoenix exclaimed, loud enough to be heard over the music. “Thanks for—”

  She stepped into the room and froze.

  Cedric froze.

  And so did the woman who was kneeling in front of him.

  “What? What? What?” Phoenix stuttered, blinking. “What?! You? What? I—”

  “Phoenix!” Cedric jumped up off the bed, knocking the woman onto her back on the floor. “Baby! You’re home early! I, uh, this is, uh—” He yanked his pants up.

  The roaring in Phoenix’s ears drowned out Cedric’s voice as she stared at the man she loved. Her eyes stayed glued to his as she remembered their year-and-a-half together, scanning each series of memories for a hint that he was cheating on her. In a flash, she recalled the time they’d met, each holiday and birthday they’d spent, each time they had made love, each time they had socialized. She recalled the day he had moved into the apartment a year prior, after losing his job, and the day he proposed five months earlier, while they had been on a cruise to the Bahamas she had treated him to for her birthday. She recollected the day they had gone to pick out her ring that she’d paid for. She saw the past weekend when they had gone to the church and their banquet hall to make final payments on the bills for the wedding that was taking place in two months. She reminisced about the night before when they had enjoyed each other for hours with the lights on. He had really looked at her that time.

  She had felt beautiful.

  Questions screamed in her mind but her lips and tongue could not move to formulate them.

  “Baby, I—” Cedric’s hand trembled as he buckled up his belt.

  His voice was a siren, alerting her of danger. It was then that Phoenix understood.

  Her fiancé was cheating on her in her own house.

  And even worse than that, her fiancé had turned her life into a cliché.

  And that was unforgivable.

  She pounced on him, tears blurring the images before her. Her fists pounded his flesh wherever they could connect with his tall, muscular frame.

  “What are you doing having sex with this woman in my house?” she screamed, biting, scratching, pulling, and pounding.

  Cedric tried in vain to grab her arms. “Wait! Stop! Phoenix, please!”

  Phoenix wrestled away, ran to the hallway closet to grab a bat, and rushed back into the room, swinging in every possible direction. She didn’t flinch when she aimed for Cedric, who ducked, causing her to leave a huge crack in the bedroom wall. She swung the bat so hard again, that she twisted and fell back onto the bed.

  “I will kill you, you piece of—” Phoenix screamed as she reached for Cedric’s throat.

  The other woman’s eyes were wide with horror as she scrambled to gather her belongings. Phoenix saw her trying to sneak out of the room.

  “Where are you going?” Phoenix let go of Cedric, snatched her ceramic lamp from her night table, and hurled it at the woman. The lamp ricocheted against the wall before exploding against the side of the woman’s head. The woman screamed as she fell to the ground.

  The wounded cry was gasoline igniting the flame of Phoenix’s rage. She jumped off the bed and ran to the woman who was bleeding on the side of her face. Phoenix snatched her by her hair and yanked her up to her feet. “I am going to kill you!” she screamed before punching the woman in the face and kicking her. The petite, Asian woman was at least fifty pounds lighter than Phoenix, who had begun swinging her around like a cheap purse. Phoenix tossed her to the floor and turned quickly to retrieve her bat from the bed. She swung at the woman who jumped out of the way in just enough time.

  “I missed?” Phoenix shrieked. “I missed?” She raised the bat way up over her head and bought it crashing down, narrowly missing the side of the woman’s head. The woman jumped up and ran. Phoenix charged and swung, this time smashing the large mirror on the dresser.

  “I am so going to destroy you, you whore!”

  “Fe, stop it! You’re going to kill her!” Cedric boomed before wrenching the bat from Phoenix and yanking her arms behind her in a vise-like grip. “You could kill her, stop!”

  The woman, o
nly clad in her bra, was curled up against the wall now, mewling like a sick bird. Phoenix struggled against her fiancé growling, “Let me go, Cedric, or I will kill you. You brought this heifer to my house to have sex with, while I’m supposed to be out planning our wedding with my friends, and you stand here concerned for her? Are you crazy? Let go of me!”

  Cedric was breathing roughly. “Shia, get out of here. Now!”

  “No, Slut, you stay right there. You came to my house to have sex with my fiancé, right? Huh? Don’t leave on my account!” Phoenix trembled as she watched the young woman gather her belongings and slip out of the door. Phoenix kicked a leg backward into Cedric’s shin.

  “Phoenix!” Cedric yelled.

  “You better run, because if I ever find out who you are, I will come looking for you, Slut. You can bet on that!” Phoenix shouted.

  The front door slammed.

  Cedric waited a few moments as Phoenix struggled and roared. “Look. I know I messed up big time. You have every right to hate me. But I need you to calm down, alright? I mean it, Fe, you gotta calm down before I can let you go.”

  “Are you serious? You cheat on me in our place, in our room, on our bed, and you want to give me orders now? Really?” The fire blazed again and she bucked her head back, intent on breaking his nose.

  “Ow! You hit my mouth! I’m bleeding now!” Sucking his teeth, Cedric yanked on her arms. “Fe! Calm down!” Cedric loosened his grip but did not release her. “I want to talk about this. I made a mistake and I am sorry I hurt you, but ain’t no cause to go crazy like this, Fe. This isn’t even like you.”

  “Oh?” Phoenix twisted her head around so she could look into Cedric’s face. “Oh really? Well, after almost two years, you sure don’t know me at all, do you? This is exactly who I am when I walk into my space, and catch the man I am supposed to marry in two months, getting oral favors from another woman.” She twisted around and tried to pull her arms free. “Now let me go, durn it! Now!”

  “Not until you pipe down, okay? I don’t want us to get into a physical altercation. I know you want to kill me but remember that I am a man. I don’t hit women, but I’m not going to let you hit me either. Now, those shots you took earlier? Fine! I deserved those and much worse, but I am not going to let this thing get physical any more. I ain’t going to jail for anybody, ever again. Got me?”

  “So why the heck did you bring this chick into my house? There was only one way out of that one—jail or the hospital! What did you think was going to happen if I caught y’all? Did you even think of that before you brought her? Why here? Did you think about how you would feel rolling up into your own apartment, only to find your woman sucking some man’s—”

  “I know! Fe, listen, I am so sorry.”

  “Sorry?” In a burst of adrenalin-fueled rage, Phoenix wretched her arm away and swung quickly at Cedric’s face, connecting her fist with his cheek. “Sorry?” She pushed him back on the bed, jumped on top of him, pummeling Cedric’s face and neck. “Sorry! Sorry! Sorry! You killed me, Cedric! In my own house, you destroyed me!” She punched and poked and pulled and pushed. “Sorry! I’ll kill you! We were getting married! Married! In two months! And you’re sorry!” She grabbed his cheeks with her nails and dug. Blood spattered from her fingertips as three of her nails broke against his face.

  “Arrraahhh!” Cedric was struggling to move from under Phoenix’s weight while trying to grab her hands away from his face. “Stop!” In a move that knocked Phoenix’s wind out of her, her flipped her onto her back and grabbed her throat. “Stop it! I will knock you out, Fe, I mean it.”

  Phoenix’s chest heaved as she regarded him through narrowed slits. Her lip trembled when she finally whispered. “Get off of me, Cedric.”

  “No. This can’t go no further. It’s clear I gotta leave before I end up doing something I’ll regret. When you calm down enough to let me leave peacefully, I will let go. Now calm your behind down, Fe. I mean it.”

  Phoenix continued to breathe, her hatred pounding in her head. Again memories bombarded her as questions formed in her mind. And suddenly, like someone letting the air out of tire, the fight seeped out of her. Tears slipped out of her eyes.

  After several minutes of staring at each other, Cedric loosened his grip. “I am going to get up, Fe. I am going to let go now. I know you want to kill me, but if this thing goes further, one of us will get killed and regret it forever. I am not going to say anything else for now. But when you are ready to talk about this, I’ll be ready too.”

  “You are so level-headed now, huh?” Phoenix swallowed the saliva that had pooled on the tip of her tongue. She struggled against the urge to spit in his face.

  Cedric blinked back the resignation shining in his eyes. Slowly he released Phoenix’s hands and pulled himself from his position on top of her. He crawled backwards on the bed, never taking his eyes off of her, until he reached the edge. He stepped down and stood, poised and ready.

  Phoenix continued to weep, her silent whimpers rising in decibel until they become tormented wails. “Why?” she shrieked. “I thought you loved me, I thought you wanted to marry me. You said—”

  “I do, Fe. I do… love you. I am so—”

  Phoenix shot up from the bed into a sitting position. “Do not tell me you’re sorry again! I want to know why you are cheating.”

  Cedric took a step back from the bed and folded his arms. “It just happened and—”

  Phoenix began to laugh. “Just happened? Man, for real? I come home and there is food that was specially prepared in the kitchen. There was a nice table set up with roses and my good silverware. There was music! There were candles! Ambience! Something you plan and put together to show someone you care about them! Something you do for your girl, or your fiancée, maybe? But you didn’t do it for me, the woman you were going to marry in less than sixty days, the woman who has been with you through the worst time of your life! You did it for some Asian woman, who was in our room with you, on two knees, servicing you!”

  Cedric covered his mouth, as if the account of what Phoenix had described was shocking, devastating news.

  “And you know what kills me, Cedric? I was so excited that you had done something like that for me. I mean, sure we have sex or go out once in a blue, but that was the first time in almost two years that I came home to something beautiful that I thought was just for me!”

  Phoenix began shaking all over as she buried her face in her hands. “I take care of you Cedric! I pay all the bills, give you money, and help you take care of your son. I have every day since you lost your job a year ago. I paid for my own engagement ring and have been paying, with my mother’s help, for our wedding. I don’t get it! Why are you cheating on me? How long ago did it start? Where did you meet the slut?”

  Cedric stood watching Phoenix, one hand covering his mouth and the other clutching his stomach.

  “Well?!” Phoenix screamed.

  Cedric’s shoulders slumped with the weight of his failed future. “It started a few weeks ago. I met her at the Tuba Lounge when I was hanging with Cleflo and Tom-Tom for that open mike event. Her and her two friends came over and talked to us. We had a booth and it was standing room only, so they asked if we would share our spot with ‘em. Cleflo agreed. We ain’t see anything wrong with it.”

  Phoenix sucked her teeth. “Oh, well it wasn’t, not for Clefo and Tom-Tom ‘cause both of them are single. You, however, were engaged to be married.”

  “I know, Fe. I didn’t mean any harm. We let them sit, let them buy us a round of drinks since we shared our spot. We just talked.”

  “So how did it get from that to walking in on my fiancé receiving oral favors from a strange woman in my bedroom?”

  “I…” Cedric shrugged and began to pace. “See, I never meant to hurt you, Fe. I guess, me and Shia—”

  “Don’t say her name to me ever again, Cedric, you hear me?” Phoenix roared, her fists clenched.

  “Sorry, Fe. So she and her friends told us t
hat they had just moved out here to take summer classes at Columbia from South San Francisco. They told us they didn’t know the area that much and since Tom and Clef were into her friends, we ended up leaving the Tuba and walking around Harlem.”

  “No wonder you haven’t gotten a job in over a year, or a rap contract for that matter. You’ve been too busy out there looking at girls!” Phoenix sneered. “So let me get this straight. You leave here to hang out with your two college friends, to do your usual open mike thing, so you can get discovered as a rapper, and somehow up end on a group date?”

  Sheepishly, Cedric shrugged before bowing his head. “Yeah.”

  “I see. So did you tell Miss Asian Exchange Student that you were engaged?”

  “I did. That first night. She came on to me, telling me she has always liked black men and that she found me attractive. And I told her right away.”

  “And so how did we get here, Cedric?”

  Shrugging again, Cedric continued. “At the end of the night, she slipped me her number and said if I wanted one last fling before taking the big walk down the aisle, I should call her.”

  Phoenix charged Cedric again and got into his face. Spittle flew from her lips as she screamed, “So that’s what happened? You wanted one last fling?”

  Cedric stepped back. “No, I threw her number away. I didn’t want to do that to you.”

  Phoenix paused, her forehead wrinkling with confusion. “Wait. Hold on. If you had no intentions of cheating on me, why were you doing it?”

  “A few days later, I went back to the lounge for a drink. I don’t know, man, I was feeling kinda messed up after spending another wasted day looking for jobs that ain’t out there for me. I was feeling so low about my life, man. I got my Associate’s and still couldn’t find a bookkeeping job. So I’m throwing back a Jack and Seven and there she was. And to make a long story short, I got caught up. She kept coming onto me and I liked the attention. So I took her number again and told myself since I was about to marry you, what could it hurt for me to have a little fun for a short time? You weren’t going to know about it. I liked the way she carried herself, liked the way she looked and—”