This Can't be Life Read online

  “Is Talise in?” I asked, when her assistant picked up.

  “No, she left a few hours ago, Simone.”

  “Thank you, Ricky.” I hung up the line and speed dialed her cell. No answer.

  “Where are you?” I yelled, trying not to have a panic attack. I dialed her home number and, bingo, she picked up. Thank God!

  “Hey,” Talise answered.

  “Talise, you are never going to believe what just happened,” I began, as tears began to slide down my cheeks.

  “What happened?”

  “I was at the Cheesecake Factory on Beverly, having lunch with Deon, and guess who just up and came to the table to chat?”

  “Who?” Talise asked, intrigued.

  “Byron. I saw him walk in and I was hoping that he would act like he had some sense and not come near me. I couldn’t believe it when he came to the table, acting like nothing ever happened. Evidently, he knows Deon, which doesn’t surprise me. Talise, he even had the nerve to ask me if we could go talk. Can you believe that?”

  “What? That bastard! I can’t believe him. Who does he think he is? You should have called the fucking police. I hate that poor excuse of a man. I swear he’s bitch-made!”

  “Talise, calm down. It’s okay. I’m fine,” I said, trying to calm her. She was starting to overheat and it didn’t take much for her to do that when it came to Byron Boyd.

  Talise knew how he hurt me and how much anger I still carried because of what he put me through. She hoped, as much as I did, that I’d never see him again. He hurt me more than I could ever express. It was painful to see the face of the first man I had given myself to, the first man that I had ever given my heart to, the first and last man who’d ever dared to put his hands on me and live to tell about it. I stopped at the light and opened my glove compartment to put Res in my 10-disc changer. I needed to hear Ice King. I knew it would make me feel better. Her music always did.

  “Where are you, Simone? You should come over.”

  “I’m on Melrose and will be at the salon in less than 10 minutes. I’m okay, girl. I just can’t believe I saw that asshole.”

  As I waited for the light to change, I heard tires screeching from behind me. I looked into my rear view mirror and saw that I was seconds away from being rear ended by a black SUV. I braced myself for the impact and screamed. It seemed like everything was going in slow motion until I felt the actual impact. It felt like a Mack truck had hit me. My car was pushed into the moving traffic that was traveling south on Fairfax Blvd, where I was hit again by a Volvo. My head hit the driver side window and everything around me went black. I never thought that this would be the way my life would end.

  Talise

  “OH, MY GOD, NO!” I screamed, as I heard screeching and Simone’s screams. After yelling her name repeatedly into the telephone and getting no answer, I knew something really bad had happened. I jumped up and slid into my shoes. I was a nervous wreck. I began to pray as I grabbed my keys and ran out of the house. I was so thankful that I didn’t have to drive too far. With my apartment being on Crescent Heights, near Sunset, no more than a few miles from the salon, I knew I would get there in less than 10 minutes. As I pulled my car out of the garage, I noticed that I was shaking uncontrollably.

  “Get yourself together, girl,” I repeated to myself over and over, knowing I wouldn’t be any help to Simone if something happened to me. I sped most of the way down Crescent Heights until I got to Melrose and maneuvered into the turning lane to make a left. I dialed 911 on my cell and told them that I thought my friend was in a car accident on Melrose Ave and was told that they’d already received several calls regarding the accident, which caused me to panic even more.

  When the light finally changed, after what seemed to be an eternity, I made my left before the oncoming traffic even had a clue that the light had already turned green. As I sped down Melrose approaching Fairfax, I could see an ambulance and a fire truck in the middle of the street. Traffic had come to a complete halt. I wasn’t moving an inch any time soon. I put my car in park, jumped out, and ran the rest of the way down the street to the intersection where the accident had occurred. I noticed a body lying on the ground with a white sheet over it and Simone’s Benz completely demolished. I ran the rest of the distance yelling Simone’s name. When I finally got to the crash site, a police officer grabbed me by my arm and held me back.

  “My friend drives that car! My friend drives that car!” I kept yelling, to no one in particular.

  “What car?” the officer kept asking me.

  “The black car! The black car!” I cried, as he pulled me away, repeating over and over again that he was sorry.

  “Why did this have to happen? God, NO!” I sat down on the curb and cried my heart out. I couldn’t believe this was happening. I kept looking at her body lying there on the hard pavement under that sheet and all I could think was that I should have been lying there right next to her. What was I supposed to do without my best friend?

  Stacey

  “Has Simone called?” I asked Monique, our receptionist at Sanctuary.

  “No. I called her cell and her voicemail picked up on the first ring. Her 4:30 appointment has been waiting for over 20 minutes,” she replied, lookin’ worried. I picked up the phone and dialed Talise’s work number.

  “Hey, Ricky. Is Talise in?” The telephone receiver was shakin’ against my ear. This was not like Simone. I knew somethin’ was wrong. I could feel it in the pit of my stomach.

  “No, she’s not here, Stacey. She left around noon.”

  “Do you know if her and Simone were together?”

  “I’m not sure if they’re together now, but Simone called here a couple of hours ago looking for Talise.”

  “Ok. Thanks, Ricky.”

  “Hey, Stace, hold up! What’re you doing tonight? You wanna hang out?” Ricky asked.

  “Naw, not tonight. I have clients comin’ early in the mornin’ and I’m beat with four more clients to take care of this evenin’. Thanks, anyway, sweetie.” I hung up the phone and for the thousandth time since I fucked him, regretted it like hell. Talise told me not to mess with him, but he was too damned fine to resist.

  I immediately dialed Talise’s home number and then cell, but got no answer at either.

  “What in the hell is going on? She would’ve called and said somethin’,” I stated, to no one in particular.

  “I’ll take her appointment until she gets here. Make sure you let me know if she calls,” I told Monique.

  “Mrs. Singleton, I’m gonna go ahead and get you started until Simone gets here. She’s runnin’ a little bit late. I apologize for that.” I already had two clients waitin’ and one that I had just finished wet settin’, sittin’ under the dryer.

  “What are we doin’ today, sweetie?” I asked Mrs. Singleton after I set her at my station.

  “Just a shampoo and deep condition,” she replied. I was relieved that she would be an easy client to get in and out because I was barely able to keep my focus. I couldn’t get my mind off Simone. I knew somethin’ was wrong because she was never this late to the salon when she had a client. I picked up the phone hangin’ on the wall at my station and tried their cells again, with the same result. No answer. I didn’t know what to do. Simone barely talks to her mother, so I knew she wouldn’t know anything. Talise’s parents are vacationin’ in South Africa and aren’t due back ‘til Monday, so I couldn’t call them and see if they’d heard anything.

  I told the two ladies waitin’ that I’d be right with them and stepped through the front of the salon and out of the door. I looked up and down the street, hopin’ to catch Simone turnin’ the corner to pull into the back of the salon, but no such luck. Once again, the feelin’ in the pit of my stomach told me that somethin’ was terribly wrong.

  Deon

  Melissa called me back no more than 15 minutes later with Byron’s home number. She couldn’t get his cell number, but said that she was still working on it. Although I kn
ew that he wouldn’t be home, I left him a message anyway and told him to call me as soon as possible. I was going to find out what happened between Byron and Simone if it was the last thing that I did. In the meantime, I still wanted to get to know her. What went down today wasn’t even close to making me want to stop seeing her.

  Plopping down on the sofa and looking out at the ocean in the distance, I was restless. My mind wouldn’t stop wondering and my focus was shot. I sat, staring out at the amazing view from my penthouse and thought about my life. I know that many men would die to be in my shoes, but they don’t know what it takes to fill them and all that you give up to be on this level. At times, I feel like I’m in this all alone. Like a solitary fish in a fish tank. When I’m not on the court, I’m bored and lonely as hell, making the situation with my ‘girlfriend’ even more frustrating.

  When I was drafted into the NBA, I asked her to move to LA with me. I told her that I’d pay for her to go to USC or UCLA, and she flat out refused, saying LA wasn’t the place for her. I knew then that I’d have to make a decision about our relationship and, more than likely, it wasn’t going to work out. It’s just hard to let go of someone you’ve been with so long. There isn’t another woman, aside from my mother, who I could trust completely and who knows me better than she does. The thought of trying to find someone who is really interested in getting to know me, aside from what I do for a living and the size of my bank account, scares the shit out of me. When my girl and I got together, all I had was what my parents provided for me. Now I have more money than I could ever spend on my own and her not wanting to share this life with me doesn’t make sense. There are thousands of women who’d love to have all that I’m willing to give her. She could be with me now, be my wife, have my children, and be set for life. She could have whatever the hell she asks for, but she doesn’t care like she did before. In the past, we would talk about getting married, having a lot of kids and a big house…just being happy together, but now that seems like a damned dream, like she was never that woman who loved me.

  I’ll admit, things were going downhill before the incident at the hotel with the naked woman, but that was definitely the catalyst that brought all of her feelings to the surface. It was like she was waiting for an excuse to remove herself from my life. Even when we talk now, it’s like I’m talking to a stranger.

  I want nothing more than to have a wife to come home to. A woman I love enough to be the mother of my kids. I’ve been done with partying all the time and being surrounded by women who really don’t give a shit about me. I need a woman who can look past all that’s going on around me and love me for the person that I am, not because of what I do.

  I’ve always had girls available to me; I was just never the type to date multiple women at one time. When I started college, you would’ve thought I was already in the league by all the women who flocked around me. But, I’ve always been the type to stay close to home and surround myself with people that I trust and that I can be myself around. When I met my girl at the beginning of my second year, I knew she was the one for me. It was easy and stress free. Now shit between us is so bad, I don’t have any hopes of us making this relationship work.

  Talise

  “She’s too young,” I cried, as a lady came and sat beside me on the curb. She rubbed my back while I sobbed like there was no tomorrow.

  “It will be okay. God knows,” she said, in a calm voice. “Your friend is fine. I feel that your friend is okay,” she repeated in my ear over and over again. I felt as if my heart had been ripped out of my chest.

  “What am I going to do? What am I going to do?” I was hysterical as one of the officers approached me.

  “Ma’am, I need to speak with you. I’m sorry about your loss and I can understand what you’re going through. The deceased didn’t have any ID. There are no plates on the car and we couldn’t find any registration. I’m sorry to ask you this, but we need you to identify the body and verify your friend’s name.”

  “What’re you talking about? Wasn’t her purse in the car?”

  “Ma’am, there was a man driving the black car. A man passed away. Not a woman.” I looked at him and wiped my face to clear my vision.

  “She was driving the black Benz; my friend Simone Johnson was in the Mercedes, Officer! Where is she?”

  “Ma’am, she should be at Cedars Sinai right now. They rushed her there about 40 minutes ago.”

  I got up and ran down the street toward my car. I hopped in, made the most illegal u-turn in the history of u-turns, and sped down the street. About five minutes later, I pulled up to the emergency room. I put the car in park, jumped out, and ran inside to the front desk.

  “My sister, Simone Johnson, was just in a car accident on Fairfax and Melrose. She was brought here. Can you please tell me where she is?” The overweight lady sitting on her ass behind the desk was looking at me like I was crazy.

  “Hello, did you hear me, damn it?” I asked, raising my voice and pounding my fist on the partition.

  “What’s her name, young lady?” I couldn’t believe this bitch sitting in front of me.

  “I said, her name is Simone Johnson,” I managed to say, through clenched teeth.

  “Let me check.” She got up so slowly that I wanted to kick her in her ass. I bet if she was going to see about some food she’d move her ass a little faster…hell, a lot faster. I paced back and forth until she returned.

  “Yes, she’s here. She’s in with the doctor now. I told them you were here. The doctor will be out to see you as soon as he gets a chance.” She spoke to me like I wasn’t a living, breathing person with feelings. She was definitely in the wrong line of work. I walked away before I gave her a piece of my mind and continued pacing back and forth, too nervous to sit.

  An hour had passed and there still wasn’t any news on Simone. It seemed as if I had been back and forth to the front desk about 30 times until, finally, the doctor walked in, asking for the family of Simone Johnson.

  “Right here, sir.” I was apprehensive as hell about what I was about to hear. I extended my hand to him and told him my name.

  “Miss Miles, I’m Dr. Edmonds. Your sister is a lucky woman. She was in a very bad accident, but it looks as if she fared well. She fractured a few ribs and got a really bad bump to the head that rendered her unconscious for a while. We ran some tests and everything else looks fine. I’m telling you, she’s very lucky from what I’ve heard about the other driver.” I sat down and started crying. All that time I spent not knowing what was going on with my best friend made me a nervous wreck. To hear that she was going to be okay was very overwhelming. He placed a reassuring hand on my shoulder and told me that everything was going to be okay.

  “I’m sure she’s anxious to see you. Come. I’ll take you to her.” I stood up and followed the doctor to her room. Simone was resting peacefully, looking like a black version of Sleeping Beauty. If it weren’t for the knot on the left side of her forehead, you wouldn’t have been able to tell that she had been in an accident. I thanked the doctor, walked over to the side of Simone’s bed, and touched her hand. When our eyes met, we began crying. I felt so relieved. I couldn’t imagine what I would have done if she wasn’t okay.

  “Simone, you okay?” I asked, when I was finally able to speak through the huge lump in my throat that wasn’t subsiding.

  “Yeah. I just have a mad ass headache and my side hurts. Nothing I can’t deal with. Did you call Stacey?”

  “Oh, my God, I didn’t think to call anyone. I thought you were dead!” I choked out, prompting another round of tears from the both of us.

  “Tali, I’m so happy you were on the phone with me. Nobody would have known. I could’ve died and nobody would’ve known.” Simone sobbed as we held each other and thanked God for sparing her life.

  When Simone began having shooting pains in her head, the doctor decided to keep her in the hospital for a few days. I volunteered to run to Simone’s house to grab some items so she could make it t
hrough the next few days comfortably. My cell battery was dead, so when I got to Simone’s house, I called the salon to speak to Stacey. I knew he had to be a nervous wreck by now.

  “Where is Simone, Talise?” Stacey asked in a shaky voice, after the receptionist transferred the call to him. I immediately reassured him that she was okay and told him what happened. I could tell that he was worried to death.

  “I can’t believe you didn’t call me, Talise!”

  “I’m so sorry, Stace, I wasn’t even thinking. You have no idea what I just went through. I thought she was dead!”

  “Hell, I did, too, Talise! I’ve been in this damned salon for hours, worried out of my damned mind about both of ya’ll! I was about to lose it!”

  “I’m really sorry, Stace, don’t be mad at me, please.”

  “How can I be mad, Talise, when I’m just happy that you guys aren’t dead? I’ll be at the hospital as soon as I finish up here. I’m gonna call and talk to her now.”

  “All right, I’ll see you when you get there. Love you, Stacey,”

  “Love you, too. Bye.”

  I grabbed her toothbrush out of its holder and began packing a small bag of panties and pajamas. When her home phone rang, I picked it up without thinking to check the caller ID. I figured it was either Simone telling me to bring something else or Stacey, who always forgets to say something and calls right back.

  “Hello?”

  “Hi. Can I speak to Simone?”

  “She’s not in right now. Can I take a message?” I asked, wondering who was calling her home phone. She didn’t give that number out regularly.

  “Yeah, can you tell her Deon called? I just wanted to make sure she made it home all right. She was kind of upset when she dropped me off earlier.”