Lovely Vines. Tondria Leatrice
she slid down that pole looking into the dim room, she saw nothing but darkness, a few lights, and people cheering her on.
The colored lights glared onto her moistened body, and the money falling onto the stage made her hustle even harder. Making her ass shake and looking at her surroundings at the same time became her norm.
When she danced, all she thought about was growing up looking at her grandma pushing a cart, picking up cans off the streets.
Grandma’s routine was cooking anything, cleaning, fighting, canning fruit, gardening, drinking, and not working.
She didn’t grow up around her runaway dad, or his beautiful family, and Grandma tried hard to fill the empty void.
Her mom was fifteen years old when she had Samaya, so Grandma’s routine is all she saw, and that lifestyle made her twerk even harder.
She didn’t start figuring shit out until she turned twelve that their family was poor and accustomed to the system.
Not only that, the crack epidemic took over the whole motherfucking hood and the ones she looked up to in her family tree. That thought alone made her climb the pole again, coming down fast into the splits and barely thinking about her runaway mom.
That street shit had her mom missing, so she went looking for her daddy’s missing ass. Fuck that hungry shit, she thought. Searching alleys where she heard he gambled, his mother’s house, the clubs, and to find out he was the lead crackhead dealer. The realization alone made her count her money with pride, not caring about shit but the height of the stash.
Eventually, running the streets was all she knew, which blew by like a breeze, missing the last few years of high school to get naked for a dollar. Teaching herself how to hustle from the first period to the six-hour turning could be As into a sum of banknotes.
Never giving in to doing drugs, being she saw it take over some of the strongest in the game, which had her doing headstands to get the powerful dollar.
By sixteen, she was not giving a fuck about feelings or life, period, running away from the empty home into the streets that pretended to love her.
Shaking her ass to the latest bounce music made her forget family function and values to the point family started to shake and forget about her.
Learning the power of money was her main focus, and stacking it by any means necessary was the only goal she had. Breaking anyone that came in her path made her careless of who she was.
Being overpowered by the dollar pumped through her blood, and best believe it was all she knew and to hustle.
*****
Samaya stood on the corner, cold as hell, as the customers came and went, while she watched Queen sit in the car. Queen counted the money, listened to music, and flamed, as usual.
Samaya was more focused on being happy that the hunger pangs were gone, she forgot to eat some days. The money was coming so fast. She was blinded.
*****
When Ginnie from the block approached Samaya, she was relieved as hell knowing that all these hours standing out here was worth it. Everybody knew that Ginnie bought all your shit when she came from turning tricks.
Samaya said, “What’s up, G? What you need?”
Ginnie said, “I need all that shit! What you got left, girl?”
Samaya said, “Quit talking so damn loud! I’ll give you this for one eighty.”
Ginnie said, “Okay! You’re hustling tonight? Here you go!”
*****
All the negative things that occurred in her life made her focus while trying to keep her breath. Is she running, Samaya thought. Not falling to the streets again was all she thought about when chasing this bitch down the alley. “Queen, she took our shit!” Samaya yelled as she punched Ginnie in the back of her head. “What the fuck is wrong with you, Ginnie? Give me my money, and get yo monkey ass on somewhere, bitch!” Samaya shouted. Queen jumped out the car running behind them all out of breath and late, “Get that bitch, fam!” hitting the flame and trying to yell at the same time.
*****
Samaya rushed to the back after watching Queen get all her money off the stage. As she gathered what Queen didn’t, she rushed to the dressing room and saw DJ coming from behind the booth to talk like he always does.
“Saria!” DJ shouted, but the door closed in his face just like that chapter of chasing crackheads down the streets and his simple-as-baby-mama lines.
*****
Samaya said, “Roll up, my nerves getting bad. The mouse face chasing me with his musty ass.”
Queen said, “Oh, one day he’s going to bite yo ass. You know Rocky doesn’t allow smoking anymore.”
Samaya said, “His mouse ass is going to bite the tip of my nine. Da fuck! Well, Rocky knows I don’t follow the rules. Fuck him!”
Queen said, “You dropped out of school and started shaking that ass at fifteen for this club. He knows damn well, you could have been shut down this club a long time ago.”
Samaya said, “Stop it! I’m going to finish school eventually, and shaking my ass fed us, deary.”
Queen said, “You’re always saying that shit!”
Samaya said, “Me doing the splits got you through high school and out of the car.”
Queen said, “I’m just saying, damn! Thank you, Ms. Bouncy.”
Samaya said, “Bouncing, and twerking in the air getting on my nerves.”
Queen said, “Girl, you been needing a man to bounce on for a while now!”
Samaya said, “I wouldn’t know the first thing about how to treat a man, let alone myself.”
Queen said, “It’s easy. All that shit you’re doing on the pole, you do on his dick, then follow his lead with your eyes open.”
Samaya said, “Bitch! You sound dumb as fuck. Hit this shit so that you can come back to earth.”
Queen said, “You don’t have no filter. At least give it a try or something.”
Samaya said, “With no direction, or structure, I’m a hot mess for anybody. Sliding down this pole to get this paper is all I know, and a man will slow that down. Have you ever thought about what our life would be like if our parents raised us, or Granny?”
Queen said, “I don’t think about them. We came from nothing, but look at us now, bitch!”
Samaya said, “I’ve never seen our family work a nine-to-five, attend college, or have rules.”
Queen said, “We ran away from home into the streets to get away from Granny’s army rules, or we’d probably be college graduates by now.”
Samaya said, “Girl, please! We didn’t give a fuck about anything just loose. Chasing people in that old blue Chevy.”
Queen said, “My dumb ass was right there with your hungry ass stealing and shit. Girl, remember Granny tried hard to get us out of that damn car, but we kept dodging her. I didn’t want to move across the country and shit.”
Samaya said, “She had the police looking for us, and we hid in the car for hours. We’d probably be running like my mom did, if we went. Poor Kacee and Kasie, they’re trying to leave now.”
*****
Samaya looked at Queen sideways when Sunshine came into their changing room. “Thanks for knocking first,” Samaya said. Queen knew Samaya wasn’t fucking with any of the females or men that stepped a foot in that club.
Sunshine said, “Let me hit the flame, Queen.”
Queen said, “Huh? What you need?”
Samaya