Page 3 of Nikki Sinatra: For Her Lover
“That’s what I said,” said Raven. “But you know men. They gots to have their way.”
“Not if I have something to say about it,” said Deja. “It’ll be Australia when I finish bending them to my will.”
“Now that’s a loaded response,” Nikki said, and they all laughed.
“But seriously girl, what are we gonna do about Teddy?” asked Deja. “You need to put your foot down and tell his ass to save this date or whatever you gots to do because we’re going. And guess what? He’ll save the date and go with us.”
“If he loves you he will,” Raven added. “Men have to show their love for us or they aren’t real men. Look at Deja and me for example. We’re small, beautiful, dainty ladies. Other than the fact that we’re black and the ladies Teddy used to prefer were white, it’s the same body type though. It’s the same look though: small and dainty. I heard Teddy never fooled around with anybody but those skinny, model types like us. You’re the first big girl he’s ever been with. The first and only. So who knows?”
Nikki frowned. That’s so Raven! “What are you talking about, Raven? Who knows what?”
“Maybe Teddy never shows up because he’s no longer interested in you. Maybe he decided to go back to his natural type of woman. Women with body types more like mine and Deja’s, and less like yours.”
Although Nikki didn’t dignify Raven’s putdown with a response as the waiter returned with her drink, deep down it hit a nerve. Which she knew was exactly what Raven meant to do.
And Raven kept on pouncing. “You can dismiss it all you want. But I’ll say it until I’m blue in the face: Men who love their women show up for their women. And Teddy? He ain’t been showing up. I’m sorry, Nikki, but he hasn’t.”
“Not even a little bit,” added Deja. “Men have to make sacrifices for their ladies, that’s all we’re saying. You can’t let a man take you for granted.”
“Now look,” Nikki said in that tone they knew meant she’d had it. “What y’all aren’t going to do is sit up here and tell me how to handle my man when I don’t see all this handling you’re doing with your own men.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Raven asked.
“Your men ain’t shit either,” said Nikki.
Deja laughed, but Raven was offended. “Yeah our men aren’t perfect. We didn’t say they were. But when my man messes up, guess what? He get down on those knees and promise me he’ll do better. And he does. What knees Teddy ever got down on for you? And I’m not talking about when he gets down on his knees for those hoes he be fooling around with all over town. And don’t take my head off. I’m just saying what I heard he be doing in them streets.”
Nikki gave Raven a hard look. She knew how she loved to push her buttons and get a rise out of her. But not this time. Nikki sipped from her drink and ignored her little comments. But Raven wouldn’t let it go, even when Deja tried to move on.
“We’ll table this discussion for another time,” Deja said. “Let’s talk about our next girls’ night out. I may be able to wrangle us some tickets to see Usher. He’s back, y’all.”
“You can call our men trifling or whatever, but they show up for us though.” Raven continued her diatribe. “They show up for us every single time we put together a trip. They make it their business to be there. But Teddy T? Forget where them fans at. Where Teddy at?”
“Where that baby at?” Nikki dropped a hard dime on Raven. Since she wanted to get down and dirty, Nikki was her girl. “Hun, Raven? Where that baby at? Since your man shows up for you so much and woo woo woo, where’s his baby?Talking about my man and some hoes. Your husband just had a whole baby with another woman while he’s married to you, and your ass stayed with him. And you have the nerve to sit up here and tell me my man is missing in action because he can’t get away from work to go on some damn trip with y’all? Girl get out of my face!”
“You should have known better, Rave,” Deja said, shaking her head. “You took it too far with Nikki. You know she don’t play that. Now let’s move on.”
But Raven wouldn’t let it go. “For your information,” she said to Nikki, “that’s not even his baby.”
Even Deja looked hard at Raven. Even she knew that was a lie.
“He took a DNA test and everything,” Raven claimed. “It’s not his kid!”
“Bitch bye,” said Nikki. “You know good n’ well that’s Kyle’s baby. You already told us what that DNA test showed. So don’t even try that.”
“Yeah, Raven,” said Deja. “Don’t even go there. That’s Kyle’s baby. You know it and we know it too.”
“What about Javaugh?” Raven asked Deja. “Your man ain’t pure as the driven snow either.”
“First of all, I didn’t say he was,” said Deja. “Second of all, I’m not trying to marry that man. Third of all, he hasn’t had nobody’s baby while he’s been with me.”
“That you know of,” said Raven. “Kyle had one affair out of wedlock. Just one. But Javaugh has had what? Fifty? Sixty? Don’t get me started,” Raven said. “I know your secrets too.”
And now Deja and Raven were mixing it up about their respective men.
And that was why Nikki had been staying away as much as she could from the girl groups. She was tired of the drama. Her job gave her too much drama as it was.
Although her girlfriends had their suspicions given Mick Sinatra’s reputation around Philly, as far as they knew, Nikki was just a dock supervisor for Teddy’s lucrative import/export business.
