Chapter 6 (7) - Bubbling Pot
Sitting in the waiting room of the abortion clinic with Savannah was daunting to say the least, not to mention painstakingly long. The chairs where hard and uncomfortable, the walls sterile white with family planning advise posters. We sat there in silence looking through endless magazines and leaflets about sexual health, pregnancy and abortions. Savannah was about four weeks pregnant and opted for the pill method.
"are you absolutely sure this is what you want to do?" I asked cautiously
"Stassi, as if you'd even ask me that" she replied looking at me with a disappointed but sad face
"what, I'm just asking"
"I have no choice. If I was certain it was for D, then we wouldn't be here" She says in a hushed voice, trying not to let the couple sitting opposite us hear our conversation.Savannah had been in a relationship with David for roughly five years – so I guess you could say it was long term. He was a gentle, kind and generous guy who we went to school with. The two of them eventually started dating in college. David had always had a thing for Savannah and I think that although sometimes he suspects her of cheating, he mostly likely just turns a blind eye because he loved her so much.
"There's always a choice hunny. But, I support you as your friend and I understand why you've made this decision". What I really wanted to ask her is why she was bear-backing with Wayne - probably not the right time.The nurse finally calls her in;
"you want me to come in with you?" I ask getting up
"Nah, you wait here I'll be back" she says walking off Savannah was a very private person and shared very little of her personal life with the group.
She didn't have the easiest of upbringing and as a result didn't trust anyone. We grew up in the same neighbourhood so knew of each other before meeting at school. Bitter rivals, but when we turned friends I met her family a few times whilst over at her house. She lived with her mum and younger brother. It was when her mums boyfriend moved in and things turned bad. He used to drink heavily and beat her mum, he also beat Savannah and her brother too. Social services got involved and her and her brother where taken into foster care. They where separated and had limited contact. Instead of getting her act together and fighting to get them back her mum stayed with the man and turned to drink, heroin and crack. We would see her sometimes, looking like a junkie, on our way home from school and Savannah would just walk past her as if she wasn't there.
Her younger brother was six when they got taken into care and after a while was fortunately adopted. On the flip side, unfortunately she now has no contact with him. Savannah was fourteen and getting into trouble as a way of rebelling at all that was going on so ended up in a secure unit for petty crimes. She was never the same after she left. I don't know the exact details of what went on but I do know that with an absent farther and the abuse that she witnessed and endured, she had 'daddy issues' to say the least. However, I think deep down she always wanted a prince charming to rescue her from her life's traumas and prove to her that not all men are bad. That's what I think she sees in David, but because she s so broken, cheats.Twenty minutes later she returns and signals me to follow her as she leaves. On our way out she made it clear she didn't want to talk about it ever again. Changing the convo I begin to tell her about what went down in Nigeria, because much of our conversation prior to that had been preoccupied with her situation.
I'm still yapping on about the trip not paying much attention to the fact that Savannah has zoned out into her own world. As we get to my car my phone goes off – it's Ryder;
"Yo sexy gyal" He said in a Jamaican accent
"Hey pappi" I replied giving him my Dominican twang which he loved
After spending the first five minutes telling me about his most recent business ventures. Such as how much money he's been making and generally showing off about his financial status he asks me "you all set for Friday night?. I'm pick you up around eight.."
I cut him off to ask "we staying over or coming back the same night"
"nah we coming back B" he replies
"can I bring a friend" I ask looking in the direction of Savannah
"is she sexy like you" He questions back
"standard – you remember Savannah" I say knowing he already likes her
"Oh yeah, she can come but might have to go in another car" he replies
"Ok looking forward to it. It's been a while since we've been on one of our little adventures" I say laughing
"Me too, just make sure you turn up with your fine ass self" he answers in a purvey voice.
"Listen, I'm about to drive so I'll shout you back later" I say.
With that I cut the conversation even though I could have carried on over Bluetooth, I never enter into those sleazy conversations with him in order to maintain the boundaries.It's Thursday night and I'm doing my usual beauty routine in preparation for the week ahead. As I'm relaxing in a hot bath with the fragrant aroma of my bath soap filling the room, I can see my phone going off – It's sweet boy Dan.
"what you doing baby" he says as I pick up
"hey, just beautifying myself" I say
"why where you going?" he asks
"nowhere, what's with all the questions" I reply
"I'm outside" he says nonchalantly
"outside where" I ask getting out of the bath, running to the living room naked, dripping water everywhere to peek out the window
"your house silly, come open the door" he replies now laughing at me
"what? How did you know I was home" he hangs up the phone
I run to the bathroom grab a towel and go to open the front door.
I stand in the doorway hair and body wet. He gives me a big drawn out hug and we go inside.
"what if I had my man here"
"I'm the only man of this house"He enters my living room and puts down the carrier bag he was holding. Turns and grabs me by the towel, unravelling it until it drops to the floor. He stood there looking at my naked body for a moment. Grabbing me he lifts me up and places me on the counter.
That night he was really attentive and overly affectionate as we had sex. We went for hours, each hour more satisfying than the last. We drank Vodka and smoked weed in between sessions of what felt more like lovemaking than just smashing. His kisses where long and his lips were full and soft as they met mine. I put it down to the fact that he'd missed me.
When we finally decided to get some sleep wee cuddled for what seemed like forever – You know usually you hug then roll over to go sleep, this guy would not let go.
The next morning my apartment smells of Budussy (Budah ((weed)), dick and pussy). Dan lays on my queen size bed watching me get dressed for work with a big smile on his face.
"you remember I said I had a proposal for you" he asks out of the blue
"Oh, yeah what was that about" I reply
"you kinda know what man do enit. But I got an opportunity to put my hands in other pies" he says beating around the bush
"yyyeah such as" I prompt him to tell me more
"banking. I got this mark that works at a branch in Shoreditch man know him from round the ends". he says vaguely
"so what's that got to do with me" I'm like get to the point
"I need a girl to talk to him, nice him up. They wouldn't have to do anything with him but get him to pass on information. Obviously everyone gets paid enit and we're talking big money too". He eventually discloses
"so what you saying you need a girl to finesse a bank clerk as part of an organised fraud network. I hope you're not asking me, you know I'm a straight laced kind of girl" I say with attitude.
"nah, but if you've got any friends that wanna earn serious p, tell them to holla"
I listen to him going on about how it would work, what low risk is involved and how much can be earnt as I finish getting ready.
I physically have to fight him off as he try's to seduce me into one more sex session. We finally leave out and say a prolonged goodbye by our cars with lots of kisses and hugs. Driving off we head our separate ways. I was late for work - again.
I spent most of the day thinking about what Dan had proposed. If I wouldn't do it, I wouldn't ask my friends to do it I concluded with myself. The hours tick by slowly. Have you ever looked at the clock at work and then look back again twenty minutes later but the clock hasn't moved?Eventually Friday night arrives.
Ryder pulls up outside my apartment with a convoy of prestige top of the line cars. I walk out and towards the car looking killer – I could see Ryders eyes piercing above the beaming headlights. I get in the back as his right hand man Chester was in the passenger. As I got in the back of the SUV I recognised Ant one of his workers and a dark skinned girl who introduced herself. The music was loud and Ryder was even louder on the car journey over to Savannah's house. As usual Savannah looked Stunning. Ryder made it his business to get out of our car and show her to the car she would be travelling in.
The four car convoy down to London was fun – we sang loudly, drank Hennessey, Snapchat and catch joke whilst racing each other down the M1. Finally we pull up at a deceivingly quiet bar from the outside. However Inside was vibrant, colourful and airy - pretty big too. It was packed over capacity in fact. We make our way through the crowd to VIP with Ryder the socialite stopping every two seconds to talk to everyone who's anyone. Our twenty odd strong entourage eventually gets through all the people and to our booths.Savannah and I waste no time in taking full advantage of the drinks in the ice buckets on the table. Ciroc was our chosen poison for the night. As we danced VIP got more crowed. Ryder came and said he wanted to introduce me to someone - Chipmunk.
He seemed very happy to meet me and we exchange pleasantries and take a few selfies together. But before I could engage in a conversation with him, another Caribbean Indian looking girl comes over and taps him on the shoulder. Like a female dog marking her territory she distracts him - dam, why are girls so competitive. Ryder was talking to someone so I was now left standing, after a few minutes I decide to head back and find Savannah.
She wasn't in the booth and Ants hadn't seen her, so go toilets to see if I could find her.
"Savvi" shout as I entered the toilets
"Yo Stass" she replies from a cubical
I was a bit tipsy at this point but find her after banging on a few. She lets me in and I immediately see the prepared lines of coke on the toilet seat. She rolls a five pound note and bends down to take a line.
"how long you been in here and how much you had" asked
"just got in here" she says whipping her nose and sniffing whilst passing me the note
I bend down and take the other line, throwing my head back as it dissolves down my throat.
As the coke hit my blood stream I became louder and more Bolshoi. We make several trips to the bathroom that night and at one point I advised Savannah to slow down. On the last trip we exit the toilet cubical and as we're reapplying make up in the mirror her nose starts to bleed. The toilet attendant hands us some tissue as she holds her head back trying to stop it. She goes back into a cubical closes the toilet and sits down. I stand at the door way. She starts crying
"awe don't do that you'll ruin your make up"
"I I I can't get over" she struggles to get her words out whilst crying with her head back
"it's ok, take a minute breath and let t out" I say which probably wasn't the best advice because she let out a loud whale of a cry. I look around me to see who's in the public club toilets.
"ok, now reign t back in, reign it back in" I say trying to get control of the situation
As she clams herself down and try's to stop crying she actually opened up to me.
She didn't think she could get pregnant, she had barebacked with numerous partners (behind hubby's back) and never caught. She never once had a pregnancy scare so thought she couldn't conceive. Turns out the first time she does conceive she doesn't know who the baby daddy is. Given her background she would have loved to have had a baby even though she was still young. Now she feels that might have been her only chance. I console her as much as I can, we wait for the nose bleed to pass, fix her up and rejoin the others.
Ryder was ready to go. Some of our squad would be heading home but we were going onto an after party at an apartment in the City. Chipmunck and Calum Best who was also there that night would be heading over there too. Suddenly the night was looking up....
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