Underneath it all

3

It Is A Small World After All

I look over to the other side of the stage and motion to Tracy that I’m about to take a break.  I need to find out who this girl is and why she is crying.

“Ladies and gentleman before I go any further into this story I need a bathroom break.  I know some of y’all need to stretch your legs and use the bathroom also.  I will be back shortly.”

As I leave I try to keep tabs on the young lady that was sitting up front.   I’m leaving the auditorium and I’m approached by an older woman in her mid-forties.  She wants to stop and talk.  I politely let her know that I really have to use the bathroom and I will be able to talk to her later.  After I leave her, I see the young girl exiting the building and I catch up to her.

“Excuse me miss. Miss, slow down. I’m sorry but I couldn’t help but notice you were crying in the audience.”

“I gotta go Miss. Taylor. I didn’t mean to come here.”

“Don’t go. Wait, hold up for a minute I know you don’t I?”

“No. I shouldn’t have come here.”

 “There’s a reason you came here. What’s wrong?”

“So much has gone wrong so fast….I’m so sorry, I gotta go.”

“Talk to me. What is your name?”

“I can’t, I just wanted to meet you and I have, so now I can go.”

“Please wait, talk to me. Tell me your name.”

“My name is Alicia and you do know me.”

“How?”

“It was about four months ago. You had a Girl’s Only talk about the things that we as black women need to start doing as far as getting respect in the business world.”

“I remember that discussion. I met so many strong young sisters that day.”  I said, still drawing a blank with this young woman.

“Well I was one of those sisters. I loved the way you carried yourself; you know who you are and you made me want to succeed in being who I wanted to be.   Plus you were down; you came from the same hood I live in today.”

“So why are you crying Alicia?”

“My life is a mess right now and we have more in common than coming from the same hood.”

“Stop crying and tell me what’s wrong?”

“I’m so sorry Miss Taylor. I don’t want you to be mad at me, I respect you a lot.”

“Call me Janelle and I will not be angry at you, just tell me what’s wrong.”

“I know the person you were talking about that gave you HIV.”

“I don’t think you know him Alicia.”

“I do know him Miss Janelle. He calls himself JC doesn’t he?”

“Yes, but how do you….?”

“I know him because we’ve been sleeping together on and off for about a year now.”

“Are you sure you know him?” I felt the blood draining from my face.

“His birth mark is located on the inner part of his right thigh.” She hesitates before adding “Plus he has a tattoo with the initials of his moms on his left chest muscle.”

I look at Alicia and I’m in total silence now.  I’m not really angry at her but I do have some questions now that are eating at me.

“Alicia I’m speechless right now, but lemme ask you, how did you two get together?”

“His team was in town for a game.  One of the local hip hop radio stations was throwing a huge birthday party for one of the players.”

“So you met him there?”

“It was by accident because I wasn’t set on becoming a groupie. He approached me.”

“May I ask how old you are?”

“I’m twenty-one.”

“So you were twenty when you met him? And… you didn’t come on to him?”

“I don’t get down like that. I let the dudes approach me regardless if they got money or not.  My girls and I were chillin’ at the bar and he and some of his teammates came in, they came on to us. They started to buy us drinks.”

“So you were feeling the attention he was giving you?”

“Well yeah. It’s not everyday I get a star NBA player hitting on me. I was gonna pimp him out, I ain’t even gonna lie.  I knew he was only looking to get in my pants so I figured I was gonna play him.”

“Did he know you were underage?”

“No”

“So instead of you playing him, he played you. That’s JC for you; he tends to turn on the charm when you don’t want to fall for him.”

“Yeah I know and now my life is a mess because of him. I just found out like three days ago that I’m HIV positive and pregnant.”

“Alicia, I’m sorry. Are you sure JC gave it to you?”

“Miss Janelle, I’ve slept with only two guys ever in my life.  The first guy was my high school love and we used protection. JC and I never used protection and he is the second guy.”

“Well that answers my second question. Do your parents know?”

“I haven’t told them yet and I know that my pops is gonna freak. I’m scared Miss Janelle, I’m scared!”

“I’m not gonna lie to you, this is a scary thing, but you will get through this.  I’m curious, how did you know I was messing with JC?”

“He would talk about you a lot, I happened to be there when he was talking to you on the phone one day.  He would fly me up to D.C. from time to time.  You were supposed to be coming over to discuss some business opportunity.  He made up some lame excuse why you couldn’t come over.”

“I remember that. Nike wanted to give him some TV and magazine spots to help boost up his image. I wanted him to consider doing it, plus I wanted to see him that day. That bastard! He had you there the whole time?”

“Don’t be mad at me Miss Janelle; I didn’t know you and him were that serious. I just figured you were his PR rep and friend.”

“I’m not mad at you Alicia, you didn’t know. I am mad though, that you had unprotected sex with him.”

“I know and I’m sorry about that too. I fell for JC and in some way I’m still in love with him.”  She started to breakdown.

“Don’t cry Alicia. First things first, we’ve gotta get you fully checked out.  Second, we have to see exactly how far along you are in this pregnancy. Third, you have to tell your parents. And last but not least, if you’re having sex with anybody else you have to tell them to go get themselves checked out.”

“Miss Janelle I don’t want to tell my parents.”

“You’re going to have to tell them Alicia because you can’t go through this alone.

Trust me on this. Are you having sex with anybody else?”

“This one guy. We always use protection though.”

“Still, tell him to go get himself checked out because regardless if you use protection or not he can still get it.”

“Ok. What about JC?”

“I will deal with him. Do you have your cell phone on you?”

“Yes.”

“Give it to me. I’m going to put in my cell number and my direct number to my house in VA, plus the number here in North Carolina.  Also I’m going to get you set up with a Doctor and a counselor here.  I want you to stay in contact with me because you’re going to need all the help you can get.”

“Miss Janelle, I’m sorry I didn’t want you to go through all this for me.”

“Don’t be silly Alicia; we are sisters and we need to stick together in this.  I want to do all I can to educate our people about this disease, especially our young sisters.  You all are the next mothers and leaders.”

“Thank you Miss Janelle. I didn’t know what I was going to do. I’m still scared.”

“I know you are sweetheart, I was too; but I’m not as scared as I was before.  Are you coming back inside?”

“No, I just didn’t feel right being in there so I’m gonna go.”

“Don’t go, come back inside with me. Come sit backstage with Miss Strong and my father and we can talk after all this is done.”

“Ok.”

As we make our way back inside, I go to Tracy and tell her that I would like Alicia to stay backstage and I will explain later.  I go to my purse and get out my cell phone and call JC.  As usual I get his voicemail and leave a message for him to call me as soon as possible.  The people start to make their way back in and I get my strength back to finish telling them my story.

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