MR PERFECT

I WAS A “STRUGGLING” LAW STUDENT BY DAY AND AN OVERWHELMED PEDIATRIC DOCTOR ASSISTANT BY NIGHT. I THOUGHT I HAD IT ALL FIGURED OUT, YA KNOW. I HAD GONE TO SCHOOL AND GOTTEN RIGHT, SO I WOULDN’T HAVE TO BE LIKE ALL THE OTHERS. I WANTED THAT MONEY AND I CHASED IT LIKE A CRACKHEAD FEENING FOR HER NEXT FIX. I WAS SMART ABOUT MINE, YA KNOW. INSTEAD OF WASTING TIME, GETTING SOME CRIMINAL JUSTICE DEGREE; I GOT A MEDICAL SUPPORT CERTIFICATE AND THEN A BACHELORS IN PEDIATRIC HOSPITAL EMERGENCY CARE. AFTER GETTING MY BACHELORS I GOT A FULL RIDE TO JEFFERSON AND ALSO GOT A JOB AT THE HOSPITAL ON FIFTH AND THIRD TWO BLOCKS AWAY FROM MY PLACE. I WAS ON MY GAME GOING TO CLASS EVERY DAY AND WORKING TWELVE HOUR SHIFTS AT NIGHT. BUT, ONE NIGHT I WAS LEAVING WORK TIRED AND READY TO SIT DOWN, I BUMPED INTO THIS FINE WHITE BOY AND HIS GORGEOUS MILK CHOCOLATE FRIEND COMING OUT OF THE SECOND FLOOR ELEVATOR IN MY APARTMENT BUILDING ON LEE STREET ACROSS FROM THE OLD WAFFLE HOUSE AND LAUNDROMAT. I COULD TELL THE WHITE BOY AND HIS FRIEND WERE BOTH FEELING ME IN MY TIGHT RED JEANS AND LAW SCHOOL SWEATSHIRT. THE WHITE BOY GAVE ME HIS NUMBER AND TOLD ME TO TEXT HIM MINE, BUT HIS FRIEND WROTE HIS ON A TWENTY DOLLAR BILL AND SLID IT TO ME AS THEY HEADED OUT THE DOOR. YOU KNOW I HIT THEM BOTH UP, BUT ME AND “D” THE MILK CHOCOLATE BROTHA BECAME JUST FRIENDS WHILE ME AND WHITE BOY HIT IT OFF. DONNY WAS HIS NAME BUT HE SAID HIS FRIENDS CALL HIM DON; HE WAS COOL AT FIRST, COMING OVER, TAKING ME OUT, GOING ON TRIPS, TREATING ME LIKE A QUEEN, YA KNOW. YA GIRL WAS IN LOVE, DON EVEN HELPED ME WITH MY LAW SCHOOL WORK. WE DATED FOR ABOUT SIX MONTHS; EVERYTHING WAS GOOD.

ONE NIGHT “D” YA KNOW “MR.$20” CAME OVER TO WARN ME ABOUT DON CREEPING AROUND WITH THIS GIRL THAT STAYS IN THE RAGGEDY TOWNHOUSES OFF OF OLD & RAMON ON THE CORNER OF FIFTH STREET DOWN PAST THE HOSPITAL. YA EVERYTHING WAS GOOD, I THOUGHT AS I ROLLED MY EYES.

RACHEL HAD FIVE BABY DADDIES; LIL' MIKE A BIG TIME DRUG DEALER WAS HER TWINS DIEONA AND DIANA DADDY, JAY THE NURSE ON THE SECOND FLOOR IN THE HOSPITAL WAS JAY JR. DADDY, ANDRE MY HOME GIRL LISA BOYFRIEND WAS KHLOE DADDY, JON JON THE “WANNABE RAPPER” WHO WORKED AT THE GAS STATION OFF OF LEE AVE WAS MICHAEL’S DADDY, OL' BOY REGGIE RUNEM' THE ALL-TIME PIMP WAS BIANCA'S DADDY AND HER BEST FRIEND FROM EAST PHILLY IS COCO’S DADDY; SO I GUESS SHE TRYING TO MAKE DON BABY DADDY NUMBER SIX. EVERYBODY AND THEIR GRANDDADDY HAS GOTTEN WITH HER. THAT NIGHT D STAYED WITH ME FOR A WHILE JUST TO CHILL AND TALK, I MUST SAY I REALIZED AFTER THAT NIGHT I HAD SADLY CHOSEN THE WRONG FRIEND. D WAS THE BETTER OF THE TWO SMART AND SEXY, HE HAD SOME GOOD GOING FOR HIMSELF AND HE WASN’T OUT HERE TRYING TO BE NO PLAYER OR THUG.

SO, ABOUT THREE OR FOUR MONTHS WENT BY AND I STARTED FEELING D MORE. HIS REAL NAME WAS DERRICK, HE WAS IN MEDICAL SCHOOL DOWN IN MIAMI AND HE LOVED WATCHING MOVIES; HE WOULD SAY THAT EVERY STORYLINE TAUGHT HIM SOMETHING NEW ABOUT LIFE AND THE BEST WAY TO PLAY HIS CARDS. D AND I HAD SOMETHING SPECIAL, WE TALKED AS MUCH AS WE COULD AND TEXTED THROUGHOUT THE DAY. D HAD A LITTLE GIRL HER NAME WAS ROSA; SHE WAS ABOUT THREE YEARS OLD WITH THESE PRETTY GREENISH BLUE EYES AND LONG CURLY HAZEL BROWN HAIR. HIS BABY MAMMA LIZZA WAS COOL, SHE HAD BEEN HIS HIGH SCHOOL SWEETHEART BUT THEN THEY LATER REALIZED THAT THEY WERE BETTER OFF AS FRIENDS AND DECIDED CO-PARENTING WAS THE BEST ROUTE. SHE OWNED JEWELS JEWELS A WOMEN’S CLOTHING STORE IN MIAMI. SO, THIS RELATIONSHIP WAS A PRETTY GOOD DEAL, YA FEEL ME. D AND I DATED FOR A LITTLE OVER TWO YEAR’S KIND OF DOING A BACK AND FORTH THING, UNTIL THE WEEKEND OF HIS GRADUATION. I HAD THIS BIG PLAN TO GO TO GRADUATION AND THEN TAKE HIM OUT. DERRICK WAS GOING TO START WORKING AT THE WOMEN’S AND MEN PLASTIC SURGERY DOCTOR'S OFFICE THAT FOLLOWING MONDAY SO THAT WEEKEND WOULD BE ALL ABOUT HIM. EVEN WITH LIFE BEING SO PERFECT I STILL HAVE THIS FEELING THAT THINGS AREN’T AS PERFECT AS THEY SEEM……