I Want You Back

Shay kissed West before he headed off to work at the Arby’s. “I love you baby, I hope you have a great day.” “I love you too Shay.” He told her, looking deeply into her eyes. Shay loved getting up early in the morning to kiss West before work. She was deeply in love with him. They had been together for 1 year and the relationship had its ups and downs, but she would rather be with West than anyone else. She planned on one day getting married and having the finer things. Shay was also getting ready for work. She worked at a grocery store called Food Mart. It was a small store, but a lot of people went shopping there. She was a cashier and she actually loved the job. Her boss was friendly, and she had friends who worked there with her. The pay wasn’t bad either. West always got off before Shay though, so sometimes he would run her bath water for her and have the house cleaned up too, but today was going to be a different scenario for her, and she wasn’t going to see it coming. She got dressed and went to work, and she felt good, like she was going to have a good day, but it turned out to be bad as soon as she got there. Her friend Moniqua was trying to keep taking breaks, so the customers could come on her line and she was getting tired and didn’t even get a chance for her break, the boss was grumpy today to all the staff including her because they were going through a divorce, and a customer got intelligent and sassy with her when they went over their own budget and blamed her for the price they had to pay. Shay even had a terrible lunch break. She dropped her cheeseburger on the ground and had to go back and buy another one and that one was cold and stale tasting. She was aggravated but still tried to be positive. When she got off work finally, she was glad. While walking to her car, a bee kept flying around her, and she forgot she had strong perfume on. She tried to swat at it and when she least expected it stung her while she was getting in the car right on the back of her arm. “OUCH THAT STUPID BUG!” She hollered. She started to cry. The pain was so intense, and immediately she went to a cheap store to get some ointment and pain medicine. She drove up in her yard and did not see the West truck. That was unusual for her. She called West's cell phone, but it went straight to voicemail. She then went into the house still in pain from the bee sting. Shay was getting ready to grab an apple from the counter’s fruit bowl and saw a note in an envelope. It had West's name on it and she got scared. Then she opened the letter and read it. “Dear Shay, you might not understand this, but I’m leaving you. You're a nice woman, but I need more than just nice. I feel like you're holding me back. You have a lot of standards and I love that about you, but we're really not the same. You deserve someone better than me because I've been doing a lot of things that I've been hiding from you. I’m not the good man you think I am, and I can’t keep looking at you every day knowing the dirt I’m doing. Go be happy with someone who is honest and true. I put some money in the envelope for you. It's only $100, but I wanted to give you something, so you can take yourself out. I hope one day we can be friends. Goodbye.”

Shay cried, she felt dizzy, puzzled, and her head was throbbing. She felt as if she was going to pass out. Today was the worst day ever and then she came home to this. What was going on? What happened to her good life? Everything was changing, and she wasn’t ready for it. “Why West? Why?” She said crying. She tried to call him almost 10 times, and he didn’t respond. Shay's heart was pounding, and she was so furious that she started tearing up her whole house, throwing and breaking things. “NO!” She hollered she didn’t want to accept it. She needed someone to talk to. The first person she called with her mom and dad. They always knew how to improve things when she was upset. “Mom……. West left me. He just left me a letter, and he’s not coming back!” She said in full, loaded tears. “Look Shay, your dad and I are busy right now. We are headed to the train station to go visit your dad’s brother who is seriously ill.” “But mom, what about me?” “Look me and your dad never liked him. That’s good he is gone, stop crying and go find you another man.” Her mom said and hung up. Shay could not believe that her parents didn’t even care. She called her little sister who was in college now, and she knew her sister would never turn her away. “Penny, West just left me for no reason, and he didn’t give me a full reason why. He won’t even answer any of my phone calls.” “Well did you know mom and dad never liked him and I didn’t either. Maybe it was for a reason, just move on. I gotta go. I will call you after my class. There are plenty of guys in town you can date, he wasn’t that cute anyway.” Penny said, hanging up. Shay could not believe her sister; she was always there for her, so why she didn’t care now. She called her oldest brother, who was 33. His name was Benjamin. “Benjamin, West left me, and I don’t know why.” “Sis, I will call you back. I'm going to my son’s baseball game after that then we can chat.” He said, hanging up. Shay knew it was only one person that she could always turn to when her family was busy, her friend Moniqua. She called her and Moniqua answered quickly. “Hey girl, what’s up?” “Moniqua, I have bad news West broke up with me, and it hurts so bad. He just packed and left and then gave me a note still not explaining why he didn’t want me anymore.” “Girl, is he single?” “I don’t know, I guess he is with someone else now, why?” “Honestly Shay, please don’t get angry with me, but West is really sexy. I mean I would date him if I could.” “Moniqua, what are you talking about?” “Shay, you wouldn’t be mad if I dated West, would you?” Shay got so angry she hung up in Moniqua’s face. “How dare that tramp, she is no kind of friend. No one even cares or loves me. How could West break my heart like this?” She said crying and breathing heavily. Shay took some medicine for her headache and the bee sting and went to lay down in her room. Her emotions were swimming everywhere. She had the worst day ever, and she knew she would never get over this. Finally, she fell asleep with tear stains on her pillow. The next day, Shay got up to get ready to go to work, but before then she wanted to stop by Arby’s to see if West was there, so she could talk to him. West worked at the drive through, and she was hoping to see him. When she got up to the window to receive her breakfast, she didn’t see West. It was another guy there. She was disappointed and just headed straight to work. Work was still bad, and Shay was ready to go home. While she was on her break she was scrolling through social media when she saw West and another woman with braids hugged up and above it, he said, “I love this woman, she is the best”. Shay started to cry all over again, and she was broken into pieces. To her the woman was ugly, and she didn’t understand. She hated seeing the picture, and she went to his page and saw all the pictures were gone of her and him. It was like he had never been with her. Shay wanted revenge right then. She wanted to expose him on Facebook and blast him out, and she decided on her off day tomorrow she was going to do it. Staring at the picture made her want to fight both of them. “I hate West and tomorrow I’m going to show him just how much I hate him.” Shay said. She was even planning on exposing his personal business that he only trusted her with. Shay had just had enough.

That night she saw that West and his new lady had posted more things, and she was even showing off her new house. And she had about 4 kids beside her, and West was smiling like an idiot. Shay was not happy at all. She worked hard to keep a relationship with West, and he did her like that. She found the photo album they had, and she took each picture and ripped it. Some of the West stuff was still there, and she threw all of those things in the trash. Shay decided to go along with her revenge plan the next day. The next day she was off, and she got on her social media and was about to make a post about West, as soon as she got on there the two had professional pictures up and of all her kids. Shay was furious, and she wanted to mess up West's name. She started typing her post. “Well, I know I haven’t been on here in a while posting, but I came to say that my ex West is a hateful no-good man. He left me for an ugly sea creature and now they are happy. He pretended to be happy with me, and now he's out loving a tramp. He is not to be trusted at all. My family never liked him anyway, and I’m glad because he was never the right man for me. I hope he and his sea creature choke on a burger.” When She posted it immediately people laughed. It was up to 20 people, and she was enjoying embarrassing him. Then she saw some of her family members putting laughs on it and right then and there West put a mad face on it. That's when Shay regretted doing that. She didn’t mean for him to see it, just everyone else. He was still friends with her on social media, and she had forgotten for a second. She hurried and deleted the post and then got off the internet. She was upset, and she decided to stay to herself and be done with everyone. She slowly started to turn against her family and friends. She even saw some of her family calling her, and she would not pick up. She even stopped being friends with Moniqua. Shay got to the point she was going to quit her job, nothing was working out for her there and she just got tired of it all. She went to the boss and asked for her two weeks' notice, so she could leave and get some relief. Her house was already paid off; she just had to pay the electricity bill, her car, and water bill. She decided she would find something else to pay her bills, but she didn’t have to worry about all that until next month. After the two weeks were finished of working Shay was glad, she was going to take a whole week off from everything. She had enough food in her house, so she wouldn’t have to go out for a while. She was low and could shake the feeling. She didn’t want to date anyone else for a long time she had made that up in her mind. Days went by, and all Shay did was eat and sleep. She didn’t even watch TV, read, or take herself out at all. June was here now, and Shay got up to find work and get back on her feet, she was still sad, but things got a little better. She then finally got back on the internet and soon as she did, she saw a long post up there from the West. “Someone stole all my money out of my wallet, and I know exactly who it was, TAMMI. I had just got paid, and now my money is gone. I know that woman did it and TAMMI I want my money back! I’m tired of you always using me for money and leaving me with your terrible kids! You are a bad girlfriend and mother. Y’all, I promise if this woman does one more thing, I’m dumping her for real!” Shay burst out laughing. She thought that was exactly what he got. After how he treated her, she didn’t even care. She even saw all his family and friends putting laughs on it. It was up to 12 people who laughed or wowed. Shay was glad that the woman had done him dirty, and she hoped that more happened to him. She then shut her cellphone off and decided to take herself out. She was going to go to a fancy Italian restaurant to celebrate. Two days later, West wrote another post. “That’s it y'all I’m done all you men can have her! She’s a cheater and a gold digger and I can’t take it anymore! I wish I never would have met that broad! Tammi, when you see this post go suck an egg. You weren't all that anyway. In fact, you are ugly inside and out, and you don’t deserve a good man.” Shay spit her sweet tea out laughing. “That’s what you get bastard.” She said, and then she put on some music and danced to Mint Condition. “It doesn't feel so good now does it?” She said enjoying his misery. While she was dancing, Shay heard her doorbell ring. She went to the door to see a cute tall dark skin man smiling at the door. “Hey, I’m John Taylors, and I’m going around selling my t-shirts.” “Umm come on in.” Shay said. The next thing you know, unexpectedly Shay was dating John, and she forgot all about West. John was fun, funny, and sweet. She was glad she met him. He took her all kinds of places, and he spoiled her until she found out he was a drug dealer, and he had been to prison before for assault on a woman and her child. She broke up with him and was back lonely and in the blues again.

Five months passed and Shay noticed that West kept talking about all his problems on the internet and no one cared at all. One day, he had talked about his car breaking down right on the highway, the next day he hollered about how his boss fired him for no reason, and today he was screaming about how his friends are two - faced, and they are backstabbers and have been setting him up. Shay shook her head and she kind of started feeling sorry for him, but deep down she knew he was getting pay back for what he did to her. West was going through a lot of issues and people started just shunning him away. It was November and Shay was now working at Popeyes, and she was happy and single. She started back talking to her family, and they were supporting her all the way and listening to her finally. Today her brother even offered to take her to the bowling alley and spend time with her. He even gave her $50 to have. Shay still felt sad sometimes about West, but things were trying to get better. But today she would get a shock. While doing a new style in her hair, she heard her doorbell ring several times. “Hold on, I'm coming.” She yelled. She had completed curling her hair. She used to always wear her hair in two small buns, but she wanted a new look. She rushed in her robe to the door and when she opened it, she almost fell out. It was West, and he had gained some weight and his beard looked rough and uncombed. He was dressed in a hoodie, jeans, and beat up shoes. “Hey Shay, how have you been? I like your hair.” West said, handing her some flowers and her favorite candy, which was gummy bears. “Shay looked at him, took the stuff and slammed the door right in his face. “SHAY COME ON, OPEN THE DOOR BABY, PLEASE!” “Leave me alone you jerk!” Shay hollered through the door. “Shay please, just give me 5 minutes to talk.” “How about 0 minutes!” She hollered. “Shay, come on now.” “Alright fine, you get 1 minute.” She said opening the door. “Can I come in?” He asked politely. “Whatever.” She said, walking away from the door. West walked over and sat down on the couch. “Are you comfortable?” “Yeah, I’m cool.” “Now get out!” She said, pulling his arm. “Come on Shay, be mature about this.” “Why because your life is a disaster now? Because your plans didn’t work out?” “Well, too bad so sad, don’t come back here thinking I’m going to be a dumb idiot and take you back.” “Shay, please sit down. I realize that I made a huge mistake. I was cruel and cold to you and leaving you was the biggest mistake I ever made. I lost everything chasing behind a whore.” “Yes, you did, and how does it feel? Pretty rotten doesn’t it. You never thought about my feelings in any of this. You are selfish!” “I did think about your feelings, that's why I left. I knew I was doing wrong behind your back. I was cheating, smoking weed, selling dope, and stealing, but you never knew it.” “WHAT?” “I’m sorry, okay. I wasn’t good enough for you, so I left. I couldn’t keep looking at you knowing the things I was doing.” “Look I heard enough I want you to get out of my house! I’m glad your life is going down, you deserve it.” “Shay, I want to come over to say I want you to give me another chance. I’m not the same man anymore. I changed 100% but I’m still facing consequences. Shay, I love you. I loved you even when I was with Tammi, I just tried to pretend to forget about you but it's so hard.” “Well, that was a touching story…. Now get out West. Love, don't live here anymore.” “Shay, you're not this heartless.” “Well, you turned me that way.” “Shay please, I really love you.” “Well love me while going out the door.” She said coldly. It hurt West so deep his heart was beating slower than normal. West got up and headed out the door. “Shay before I got here….this is my new number. Feel free to call me.” He said giving her a piece of paper with his number on it and kissing her cheek. Then he left out the door. West jumped in the car with his cousin Mooky, and they got ready to leave. “What happened bro you look sad?” “Mooky she turned me down, she’s beyond hurt she doesn't want me anymore.” “It's okay man, she will come around one day.” While they were driving back to Mooky’s house, a big log truck came speeding. The driver was drunk, and it crashed into Mooky’s vehicle, killing the truck driver instantly with him flying out the vehicle and killing Mooky instantly with a bad blow to his head. West was injured. One of his legs was broken and he had a concussion. His back was in extreme pain like his spine was damaged. He screamed and cried seeing his cousin dead beside him. He reached for his phone to call 911. Other drivers came out of their cars and were calling the ambulance and police, crying and scared.

Shay got a phone call from Moniqua she hadn’t heard from in a while, and she didn’t really care, but this time she answered her phone call. “Hey Shay I know we haven’t talked in a while, how are you?” “I’m fine, you?” “Yes, but I got bad news. I don’t know whether you heard or not, but West is in the hospital, and he has been there for a few hours.” “What? What happened?” “There was a bad car accident, a log truck hit him and his cousin on the highway. The truck driver and his cousin were killed.” “Oh my goodness!” “Yeah, I thought I would let you know. West is beat up pretty badly. I heard he is in the General County Hospital.” “Oh no, that's where they send the people that’s bad off hurt.” “I know. I hope West is alright, but Shay, it's your right to go see him. You've been with him for a long time.” “Yeah I guess, I will try to go up there tonight.” “Okay girl, you want me to go with you?” “Yeah you can.” Shay said. It was 7:30 and Shay decided to go to the hospital to see about West. When she got there a nurse came, and she talked to her and the nurse took her back to where she could see West. When she got there, the nurse told her not to stay too long because West needed his rest, she also said another person was there visiting him. Shay wondered who it could be when that girl Tammi that used to date him was walking out. “Excuse me? What are you doing here?” “Who are you?” Tammi said, looking up and down at Shay a frowning. “I’m West ex and I come to check on him.” “Well, too late for that, I already checked on him, and he did not want to see me. Anyway, soon he will be back with me anyway he is just a little upset right now.” “Tammi, let me ask you a question. Do you really love West?” “Yeah I guess, I mean he did give me everything I wanted. Now the guy I’m with is broke and having issues, so I guess I mine well go back to West.” Tammi said, folding her arms, smiling. “So you just think West is a money train because you're broke?” Shay said, getting mad. “Yeah I got 4 kids to raise, and I need a man, well, any man to help me take care of them and pamper me. Plus West is great in bed. You can’t really find too many men who are pleasurable. And your man was just that. We were fooling around while y'all were together. West wanted to do right by you, but I persuaded him to leave.” “You know what, you are nothing but a whore Tammi and I want you to leave West alone, or I will be putting you in the hospital next. I don’t appreciate you using him like that.” “Look I’m just trying to make it, and anyway I’m not taking care of him. I just want him to hurry and get well, so I can do what I want to. Why are you concerned anyway he broke your heart?” “Cause deep down I still care about him. Go ruin another man’s life and stay away from West. If I catch you around here again I’m calling security.” Tammi got in Shay’s face. “Fine he will leave you again and come right on back to me to watch, and you will be crying again. It's only a matter of time. He left you once, he will leave you again.” Tammi said, then walking away. Shay rolled her eyes and walked into the room where West was. She hated seeing him hurt like that. She sat beside him and held his hand. “Oh hey Shay, I’m glad you came.” West said smiling even though in pain. “You know I had to come to check on you. What happened? And what did the doctor say?” West started to cry, he looked at Shay with sorrow in his eyes. “When I left your house, me and my cousin Mooky were driving on the highway back to his house and BOOM a log truck crashed into us. The man went flying out of the car and Mooky…… he took a hard blow to the head and didn’t make it.” “Awww West, I’m so sorry to hear that.” “I injured my legs, back, and arm. I could barely move. The doctor said that my arm is not broken, it's sprained but both my legs have fractures and my back has a serious tear in the muscle. He said for a long time my back might trouble me even with medicine that the muscle will have to heal on its own, or I will have to get back surgery.” “Oh my goodness West. I’m sorry you went through all of this, and it's my fault for being mean to you.” “No Shay, don’t blame yourself. I understand why you were mean to me. All I ask is that you help take care of me, I can’t do this on my own.” “Okay, when you get out of here, I will pick you up, and you can stay with me until you recover.” She told him. “Thank you so much Shay, I appreciate you.” “Yeah, you're welcome. Now to get some rest, I will come visit you tomorrow. Has your other family come to see you yet?” “Yeah and they made me mad, so I sent them away and told them not to come back.” “Oh no, well, I will come to check on you.” “Oh and Shay before you leave. I didn’t know Tammi was coming and when I saw her, I asked her to not come back here and that I did not want her anymore. I just wanted you to know.” “Okay… ... well, get you some rest.” “She said, leaning over and kissing his head, he returned the favor by kissing her hand and she left. When Shay got home she thought about everything that happened. She felt like it was the right thing to do to help West. She was slowly forgiving him for how he did to her.

Today was the day that Shay had to pick up West from the hospital. He had called her, and she was on her way. When she came to get him, he was happy to see her, and she helped him into the car. “West I’m going to order some wings from Buffalo Ranch Country for us to eat for lunch.” “That sounds good, Shay.” Shay had gone to a Buffalo Ranch Country fast food place and ordered buffalo and fried wings, and she got chili cheese fries to go with it. “Do you need anything at the store?” “No, thanks, I'm good. I’m just ready to eat. I had to eat that nasty hospital food.” “Yeah, I know you're ready for a real meal.” Shay said laughing. She helped West get into the house, and then she brought the food in. The two ate and talked about old times. West was actually laughing and having fun. After they ate, Shay gave West a pillow and a blanket for him to use when it was time for bed. She helped him prop his leg up on the sofa, and then she went to call Moniqua in her room. “Hey Moniqua.” “Hey girl, what are you doing?” “Guess what, I just picked him up from the hospital.” Shay said happily. “What? Girl, are you going to take care of that man?” “Yep, he asked me to.” “Alright now you two might end up falling in love again.” “Girl please, it's nothing like that. Once I help him get well, I’m kicking him out.” Shay said laughing. “Shay, that's mean. You got the man right where you want him. Keep him there.” Moniqua said. “Girl I don’t know what if when he gets better, he finds another girl to look at.” “Come on Shay, I believe this has opened up his eyes. Maybe this is a second chance at love for ya’ll.” “I don’t know Moniqua. After finding out all that stuff about him, it scares me to trust him again.” “Well, just take one day at a time. I believe West still loves you, he just did something stupid.” “I don’t know, well, I gotta go girl. I will see you at work tomorrow.” “Okay girl, bye.” Moniqua said, hanging up. Four weeks passed and Shay had been taking care of West. The two started to grow back together and West enjoyed taking care of him. She felt almost like they never split up. West legs and back were still in bad shape, but he was in a good mood. Shay had to end up sponge bathing him and even though she had seen his body before, it made her nervous and West could tell that. Everyday West would kiss Shay on the hand before she went to bed. But today after work, Shay was going to get a shocking surprise. Shay got from work and decided to bring some biscuits home from work for her and West. She walked in the door and saw West dressed up nice. His hair and beard were cute, and he was holding a small black box in his hand. “What are you up to?” Shay said, looking curious. “Shay, come sit next to me.” West said. “West, what’s going on?” “I've been thinking about this since you've been taking care of me, and I've been holding on to it for a while. Shay, will you marry me?” West said, pulling out the ring.” Shay was completely shocked and excited. She hugged him and took the ring then she took a second to think. “West I need a little time. I do still love you but let me think it over tonight okay.” “Yeah sure take your time.” She kissed him on the cheek and the two started eating.

That night, while Shay was sleeping she had a dream about her and West getting married, but it was like while they were walking down the aisle everything was fine, but when they went up to the front, West hugged her and stabbed her in the back and everyone was hollering and crying. She woke up hollering and West came into her room. “What’s wrong Shay?” Shay just looked at him for a long time. She was thinking the dream meant he was going to stab her in the back and betray her again. Probably even with another girl. “I’m fine, West, just a bad dream.” “Okay, you want me to stay with you here?” “No I’m fine, thanks though.” Shay went back to sleep and the second dream was that she and West were on their honeymoon and while they were kissing he stabbed her in the side. She woke up again, and she thought long and hard. She didn’t want to be with no man who had wicked plans. Shay decided she would tell West no about the ring in the morning. The next morning, while West was still sleeping, Shay looked and saw his phone on the table. She grabbed it and went through it to see what she could find. Sure enough, she saw text messages from West and Tammi from last night. They were texting like they were going to get back together. Shay was upset, and she decided to text the girl back on purpose before she woke West up and kicked him out of her house. “This is Shay, if he was so in love with you, why is he at my house, and I’m taking care of him, and he brought me a ring? Anyway, you can have him because you two losers deserve each other and are better men out there than West.” After Shay sent the message, she woke West up. “Good morning Shay, have you thought about everything yet?” “Yeah I did. Sit up West.” She asked him to sit on the sofa next to him. “What’s wrong, why do you look sad?” He asked. “I don’t look sad. Now just listen I can’t marry you. Yes, I did love you, but I can’t trust you again. No matter what you say, I can’t trust your words. I did think you changed at first, but I feel like this is not right.” “Shay please, maybe you're overthinking. We can be a great couple again.” “No West, that’s where you are wrong, we were a great couple in the beginning, but you ruined it chasing behind a whore. You might have changed 50% but not 100% or even 80% you're still the same.” “What! Shay, I don’t understand you.” “You just wanted me to take care of you, so you can get better and do dirt again but not this time. I’m wiser.” The West got completely silent. “Fine, I understand.” He said bitterly. “West, I want you out of my house and to never come back, oh, and I wish you the best with Tammi. Give her the ring she will be more than happy to walk down the aisle with you.” West eyes stretched. “Shay, wait… ... I can explain why I was texting her.” “Goodbye West.” She told him. West packed his things up within an hour, and he looked back at Shay one last time and walked out the door. A year had passed and Shay was doing much better. She quit the Popeyes job and went back to her old job and got a promotion and on the side she made her own lotion to sell. She and Moniqua friendship got strong, and she was closer to her family. She still didn’t have a boyfriend, but she was happy being single. Things were going right for her at every turn. Good things were flowing her way. She was happy she kicked West out of her life last year, it didn’t hurt her, it taught her a lesson and benefitted her. On the other side, West made Tammi his fiancé, but things were not too smooth. West had to buy Tammi stuff all the time, and he had to deal with her bad kids and Tammi cheated on him twice. Tammi would always laugh and say, “You should have stayed with Miss Shay.” West got so fed up that he took a pot and hit Tammi over the head multiple times and left her on the floor bleeding. He did it right in front of the kids, and then he packed his things and left. He ended up having to live with his Aunt who never liked him but agreed to let him stay if he paid $200 every month. He took the offer and was staying there and all he could do was look at an old picture of him and Shay and cry. “Shay I should have never done you dirty, I’m sorry for how I treated you.” He said upset. Tammi was in a coma and not Shay or West heard about her anymore. This break up was final, but it was actually for the best.