As Long as There is Love-Chapter 13
"Okay Rachel. What was so important that you had to leave ten messages on my machine?" Michelle laughed at her best friend.
"Are you alone?"
Michelle was confused but she answered, "Yes," and took the cordless into her bedroom, "What happened?"
"It’s about Justin. He-" She stopped, suddenly hesitant about relaying the information.
"He what?"
"You said he’s not home right?"
Would she get to the point already, "I did. He went out with his little brother and they are not back yet. Why?"
"I saw him when I was out today and it wasn’t his brother that he was with."
"So what are you saying that he lied to me?" Michelle knew that she shouldn’t be jumping to conclusions, but her explanation did seem valid. This was not the first time Justin had used his brother as an excuse to get away from her.
Perhaps, she needed to back off with the wedding plans a bit. No. This was her dream, not his. She wanted the perfect wedding, perfect marriage, and perfect family. And no one was going to get in the way of that. Not Justin or the "other person" he was with, supposedly.
"I don’t know. But he was with some woman and her kids."
"Mmm hmm. Was this woman pregnant?" It could have been Ronnie, Michelle assumed.
"Shelly! Justin got some other girl pregnant!" Rachel screamed shocked and upset.
"No. Calm down. I’m talking about an old friend of ours."
"Oh. Whew…well how pregnant you talking?"
"I’m talking due-any-minute-pregnant."
"Oh. Then no, it wasn’t her, unless she had the baby already. When was the last time you’ve seen her?" Rachel asked
That wasn’t important. The real question was who was the woman he was with if it wasn’t Ronnie?
Michelle already knew the answer. How could Justin go behind her back like that? And to see Nina of all people? Did they have some unresolved issues that they needed to work out? She knew the answer to that too. Oh God, did Justin still have feelings for her? Could that be why he wasn’t ready to get married? Was he waiting to see what could redevelop between him and Nina now that she lived close? Damn. Her mind was reeling from all these questions.
She thought she had finally gotten away from the drama. But now it was all leading to more drama.
And the two kids Rachel spoke of, who were they? Nina had only been pregnant once and who knew if she went through with it? Maybe Justin did.
As if on cue, Justin moseyed into the bedroom, "Hey babe." He leant over to kiss her on the cheek.
"Rachel, I will call you back."
"Bye Rache!" Justin yelled into the phone before Michelle hung up.
"So how was your day? Did Jon have fun?"
Justin shrugged, "I guess he had fun. He asked to go."
"Oh is that so?" Liar.
"Yeah. What’s you’re problem?"
You’re keeping secrets, she accused silently. So are you. "Nothing. I’m going to bed." She slid under the covers and turned off the lamp, leaving Justin to get undressed in the dark.
~*~*~*~*~
"Devon, why ya cheating? Ya know I did not say you could block the girls like that. So back up and give Keisha some space!" Nina shouted at one of her students from the other side of the court.
She knew that she shouldn’t be yelling at the students, but it felt so good. She was excited to be part of the basketball game, even if she was only teaching it.
"Why are you mad because the girls are beating y’all?"
"That’s only cause you helped them Ms. Nina. Otherwise they’d be biting our dust right now." Brad joked and his fellow male classmates congratulated him.
"You always say something stupid Brad, but you still gave me an idea about Ms. Nina." Ashlee, who was the feature player on the girls basketball team smiled.
"An idea ‘bout me?"
"Yup. You could be our new basketball coach. We only have a temporary one right now since Ms. Kraft broke her back, but you could be her replacement. We seriously doubt that she is coming back."
"I don’t know ‘bout that y’all. I don’t have a lot of free time on my hands once I leave here."
"Why not? It’s not like you have a man." Devon teased. He received the same treatment from his classmates that Brad received previously.
"Who the hell told you that?" Nina didn’t mean to overreact, but this was like the umpteenth time she had been knocked for not having a man. And besides, she didn’t appreciate that he was all up in her business.
"Mr. Smith, the biology teacher has been trying to holler at you for like a month and a half since you’ve been working here. He said you didn’t have a man, but you won’t give him no play." Devon told her.
"I didn’t even know he was interested in me." She said to herself but aloud as well. A series of "oohs" followed. "But that’s beside the point. The reason I can’t coach y’all ladies is because I have two kids that demand all my time."
"Two kids, how old are you again?" This was the only statement she had heard above the rest.
"I’m 22. And yes, I have two little girls. They are five years old."
"Damn, no wonder you ain’t got time for a man." Nina rolled her eyes at their comments. Men just didn’t know what to say out their mouths.
At least the girls were considerate. "Well, we know that you’re busy but could you at least think about? We really need your help and you’re a fantastic player."
Nina knew the girls were sucking up to her now. They’ve only seen her make five complete shots, yet she was fantastic? Well, they were telling the truth. She knew her skills would have been more than good enough for the WNBA under different circumstances.
"Um…I’ll think about it okay?" She finally replied before the ladies charged toward her.
Even the guys were happy, saying that the girls needed all the help they could get, in which she responded with a smirk, so did they.
Loud laughter filled the gymnasium. It always felt good to put a man is his place, Nina thought.
"Ms. Nina, Principal Long said you have a visitor." Brad came up to her.
"Oh? Who is it?" She passed a basketball over to Keisha.
He shrugged, "Some white lady."
Nina laughed, "You’re white too."
"I know. What does that have to do with anything? She came to see you."
"Never mind, just start another game with the girls. All or Nothing. I’ll be back." Nina walked toward the gym doors.
"Aight y’all heard her ladies, this is an all or nothing game. We gonna whipped y’all…"
"Yes Mr. Long?" She poked her head through the double doors.
"A visitor, Miss Evans." He noted and left.
Nina came out from behind the doors, watching him disappear before acknowledging the guest. Brad was right. It was a white lady, but not just any white lady. She was more than that. Well, that is if they were still friends.
"Michelle…" For some reason calling her Shelly didn’t seem right after so many years, "How are you?"
"I’m good, getting married in a couple of months." Michelle displayed her ring.
"Oh Congratulations." Why was everybody around her getting married? First Ronnie, then Justin, now Michelle. She felt left out, but she was going to go off and get married to just anybody.
"Thanks. So you work here, huh?"
"Yeah. I teach the gym classes and coach the girl’s basketball team." She knew she would have to take the job now that she told her.
"Oh that’s cool..." Michelle smiled since she didn’t know what else to do.
"So how’d ya know?"
"Know what?"
"That I worked here."
"Oh, Justin." Oh no! Why’d she say that? Nina would start asking questions, wouldn’t she? And know that she was not telling the truth.
Justin hadn’t told her anything about Nina. In fact, her name only came up when he was talking about Ronnie.
Jon was the one who told her that Justin had taken him over Nina’s house two weeks ago, and where she worked, he said her twins had told him that.
She was still skeptical if Nina’s so-called twins were Justin’s as well. And unsure of why Jon had told her in the first place. She thought he hated her. Maybe he did it so that she would leave him alone.
"Really? I didn’t know y’all still talked. He never mentioned it."
Michelle figured that much. Of Course, he wouldn’t tell Nina that he was engaged to her in fear of hurting her. And he always said that he would ‘never ever, ever hurt Nina.’ "You’ve seen him?"
Nina nodded. "He’s been coming over a lot these past three weeks. Sometimes he’s brings Jon with him. At times, he just comes by himself to see my girls. You haven’t met them have ya?"
So it was true and she had finally heard for herself. Nina had twins. She went through with the pregnancy, but that didn’t mean Nina's daughters belonged to Justin. She could’ve gotten rid of his baby if there ever was one and gotten pregnant again while he was gone, Michelle hoped.
"No. I haven’t." Michelle answered, but Nina’s statement was not a question. She understood why.
"Jon goes to school with them, but they are only in kindergarten."
Five years old? Shit, still too close for Justin not to be a contender. She shouldn’t have come here anyway; too much drama gave her headache. "Oh look at the time…I have to get going to work."
"Okay. Oh when do you get married?" Nina stopped her from turning around.
"In February." She replied and was gone.