Moving Forward: Part 2

I lay in bed, staring up at the small cracks in my ceiling. My mind wandered to
the mystery boy I had met last night at the club, and as if on cue, my phone
began to ring. Hesitantly, I eyed the small device, wondering who would be
calling me at 12 A.M. on a monday.
“Hello,” I mumbled, trying to avoid waking anybody else up.
“Hey,” a familiar voice seductively called out to me. “It’s Ray from the club last
night. I was wondering if you wanted to chill.”
Immediately, I sat up, a grin already making its way onto my face. “Sure,” I said,
praying that I didn’t sound too excited. “When do you want to hang out?”
“Umm,” there was a pause, followed by a quiet conversation in the background
before he returned, “I’m just chillin’ right now, so let me know where you’re
staying, and I’ll pick you up.”
Eagerly, I gave him the address before clumsily getting out of bed. Across from
my bed, I saw my roommate roll over, and I froze, scared that I had woke her up.
When she resumed her heavy breathing, I tiptoed to my dresser, throwing on
the first outfit I found.
Closing my eyes, I sent a quick prayer up to God to make sure that my ass
wasn’t gonna get caught tonight, then I made my way out of my room.
Somehow, (praise Jesus!) I made it outside without waking up Mrs. Harris, who
was in charge of making sure curfew was made.
When I the toe of my sneaker made it onto the concrete steps of the building, I
relaxed. The door softly shut behind me, and I sat on the top step, waiting for
Ray.
“You look good tonight,” Ray commented, smirking. He held a hand out to help
me up, and I gratefully took it. “I’m glad you put in effort to look nice for me.”
Smiling, I tried to appear as nonchalant as possible. “Boy, I always look this
good.”
“Well you look good enough to go with me and some boys to the club,” he said.
He lead me down the stairs, his fingertips brushing the curve of my ass. “You
gonna let me buy you a drink tonight?”
“I’ll think about it.”
--
I stumbled into the empty hotel lobby, giggling. Ray looked back at me
mischievously, and I smiled at him. Before I could question him on where he
was taking me, he lead me to the elevators. We made our way inside, his lips
immediately finding mine once the doors closed.
My head swam as my lips moved against his. His fingers roughly grabbed me by the hips, and I moaned when his tongue leisurely dragged across my bottom
lip. I barely had time to open my mouth before the elevators doors reopened.
Ray dragged me out of the elevator, quickly leading me down the hallway.
“You got to be quiet, OK?” he whispered, pressing a finger over his lips. I
nodded dumbly, giggling again when he gently pushed me into the room
labeled Ice Vending Machine.
“Ray,” I slurred his name, my fingers latching onto the front of his shirt. “You
look so hot right now.”
He smirked, sliding his hands underneath my tight shirt. His fingertips brushed
the curve of my breasts, and Ireattached my lips to his.
“You’re so drunk; you know that?” he whispered, unbuttoning my jeans.
Clumsily, I stumbled backwards, but he moved with me, not hesitating to slide
his hands down my pants.
--
When I woke up, I could hear the sounds of someone jiggling the door handle. I
sat up, wincing at the massive headache that was forming at the base of my
skull. Forcing myself to stand up, I located my clothes, that were haphazardly
strewn around the small room. Once I was fully dressed, I turned to face Ray,
frowning, when I noticed he was gone.
“What the hell?” I turned around, smiling sheepishly at the security guard. He
folded his massive arms across his chest. “Now, what do you think you’re doing
in my hotel? Are you staying here?”
I paused, shaking my head. “Nah, I ain’t staying here,” I quietly admitted. “I don’t
live too far actually; I’ll just walk-”
“Now hold on, you lil’ hood rat,” the guard, grabbed my arm before I could even
think about taking a step. He roughly pulled me out of the room, smiling
apologetically at the cleaning staff. “I’m givin’ your raggedy ass to the damn
cops. You must got me fucked up...”
Looking around for Ray, I turned my attention to the guard. The pounding in my
head only intensified when we passed a room with a vacuum on, making it so
much harder to concentrate.

“Did you see a guy here earlier with two braids in his hair?” I asked.
The guard frowned before shaking his head. “Why? You tryna say you were
fucking in my damn hotel? Child, people get ice and other beverages from in
there; they don’t want soda from where yo naked ass has been!”
“N-Nah, I w-wasn’t tryna say that,” I stuttered. “I just couldn’t get home last night,
so I crashed here!”
Ignoring my pathetic attempts at salvaging the small remains of my dignity, he
lead me down the service stairs only stopping once we made it outside. He
handed me off to the first cop he saw, bid me farewell, then watched with a
frown on his face as the cop drove me down the busy streets of New York. The
entire ride, he mumbled under his breath about “this shitty generation” and a
whole lot of other bullshit I didn’t want to think about. By the time he dropped my
black ass off at that station, I damn near praised jesus.
“Hey, Barbara,” the cop waved at the secretary, shoving me over to her. “We
got another minor.”
The secretary eyed me skeptically from behind her desk before typing on her
outdated computer. “What’s this girl’s name?” she asked, squinting to see her
screen.
“Uh,” I swallowed nervously. Could this shit go on my record? Man, I wasn’t
ready to do time. “I’m Aaliyah August.”
She raised an eyebrow at the name. “Well, she ain’t got any previous offenses
in here, John.”
The cop, who must’ve been John, nodded his head in approval. “Well, call up
her guardian to pick her up.” He then turned to face me. “Listen, I’m lettin’ you
walk since it’s your first offense, but don’t let this happen again.”
He gestured for me to take a seat in one of the plastic waiting chairs, and I
obliged grateful that the cop didn’t get me for trespassing. As I slouched down
in the seat, I allowed my mind to wander. Where had Ray gone? Why wasn’t he
there when I woke up? And what the fuck did we even do last night?
“Damn it, Aaliyah,” Roc’s voice snapped me out of my daze. “What the hell is
wrong with yo black ass? You would’ve thought that you ain’t had no decent
home trainin’ with you runnin’ around actin’ like this.”
“Chresanto,” I used his real name, hoping to make him listen. “I can explain.”
He looked at me, shocked by my statement. Huffing, he folded his arms across
his chest. “Explain.”
“Well...” I looked away from him awkwardly. “I don’t exactly remember what
happened, but I know that I ain’t do nothing too bad!”
Shaking his head, he roughly pulled me to my feet. “Do you know how hard it is to get from Manhattan all the way to here? Damn, I can’t believe yo ass. Bet I

ain’t takin’ you nowhere after this.”
Lowering my head in shame, I followed Roc out the door. We walked silently to
the subway station, neither one of us too excited to start conversation. Once we
were safely on the train, I pulled out my phone, sending Ray a quick text. A few
seconds later my phone buzzed, and I opened the reply, only to find myself
reading:
The Verizon Wireless number you are attempting to reach is no longer in
service. For further assistance, please call 222-2342.
Sighing, I called Ray. When the phone stopped ringing, I found myself listening
to a mechanical voice saying, “This number is no longer in service; please hang
up or try again.”
I closed my phone, trying to hide the feelings of shock and disappointment that
were washing over me. My heart stuttered painfully, causing me to gasp out in
shock. Roc glanced over at me curiously, but I ignored him, instead, trying to
focus on regaining my breath.
Why the fuck would Ray ditch me like this?


Part 3...