Page 1 of The Smoke Hour

Kaifiya “Fiya” Michelle Simmons

Saturday Night

Iturned my glass up again and let the whiskey burn my throat.

“Damn, girl. You good?” Christina Jamison, one of my best friends, asked.

“Shit. As good as I’m going to be, Chris.”

“You don’t have to go through with this, you know?” Tamara Washington, my other friend, commented, leaning forward on her barstool to look around Christina at me.

“I told the man that I would marry him. What the fuck I look like reneging on that shit now?” I grabbed my glass, turned it up, and finished it off.

“Like a fucking nightmare if you show up on your ass, which is where you’re heading if you don’t quit tossing them back,” Christina stated.

“I’ve got time. It’s not until next Sunday. Besides, y’all supposed to be my girls. How y’all let me go out like that?”

“We had nothing to do with that. Don’t turn that shit on us, Kai. You’re the one who wanted to do this shit because you thought it was the only way to save your little business.”

I mugged Tamara and waved a finger at her. “My shit ain’t little. Don’t go there with me. I worked my ass off to build what I’ve got, and I wasn’t about to lose it. I tried every damn bank to get a loan, and they all turned my ass flat down because I didn’t have the revenue to back that shit up.”

“Okay, so what the fuck is you saying? You decided that marrying his ass was the only way out of this shit.”

“Well… now I’m deciding that I don’t want that to be the fate of my future.”

“Why? What changed?” Tamara asked.

“The bigger question should be, why aren’t you telling him that?” Christina asked.

“Because I spent the money,” I whined and dropped my head onto the bar.

“All of it?” Christina asked.

“All of it.” I whimpered.

“Bitch, how the hell did you spend a quarter of a mill in less than six months?” Tamara shrieked.

“Shut the fuck up.” Christina hissed at her.

I groaned. “Please stop with the judgment, Tam. I feel bad enough.”

“I get it, but damn. Seriously, how, Kai?”

“I repaid the initial loan, and I had bills to pay. I did what I needed to do to make sure that I could keep the shop open and put food on my table.”

“Sometimes, you have to put your dreams on hold to handle the real shit, Kai,” Tam stated.

I glanced at her through one bleary eye.

“Don’t be mad at her, Kai. She’s right, honey,” Christina stated.

“You too?” I hissed as I glared at Christina.

“I wouldn’t be a good friend if I didn’t tell you the truth.”

“Why me? Fuck. My. Life.” With each word, I thumped the bar counter hard with my hand.

“Well, at least you’re having one final fun weekend before you’re on lockdown with Mr. T,” Tamara stated.

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