A Best Friend Scorned

My friendship with Cassi Monroe began in ninth grade. Before that point, she’d never noticed me because I was the scrawny gay nerd and she was the popular princess. The summer before ninth grade, my gay uncle taught me about style and bought me a bunch of designer clothes. The moment Cassi saw me in Gucci on the first day of school that year, she invited me into her circle of friends. And just like that, I was in. I was the only gay member in her circle of seven girls and one metrosexual straight boy that most of the girls had sex with every now and then. Those four years of high school were amazing because I got to be in the most exclusive clique that walked the halls of Braxton-Jacobs High. I also got the chance to help a few popular basketball and football players experiment on the DL.

Cassi and I went to New York to attend Syracuse University and during our sophomore year, she became involved with star basketball player Vince Robertson. I was happy for her because they seemed to fit together perfectly; however, she started ignoring my calls and hanging out with me less and less. Eventually, I lost my best friend as she was scooped up into another circle. Vince ended up in the NBA and Cassi dropped out of college to be with him. Although I was pissed at her for ending our friendship, I was still happy for her and I chatted with her now and then on social media over the course of five years.

One cold November night, I received my first call from her in years.

“Cassi, hey,” I said while unpacking groceries in my kitchen. “It’s been a while, girl.”

“I know,” she said with a light laugh through my speakerphone. “Dalvin, you’re probably wondering why I’m calling you out of the blue.”

“I am.”

“First, I wanted to say that I’m sorry for the way our friendship ended. We both made mistakes and –”

I turned towards my phone and asked, “Hold up, we both made mistakes? Cassi, I didn’t do anything to you. I supported you and even told you about that trashy white girl I saw all over Vince one night at the club. I did nothing but support you our whole friendship. And what did you do? You abandoned me.”

“Dalvin, calm down.”

“Don’t make me hang up on you, bitch! It might be wise for you to go ahead and get to what this phone call is actually about instead of trying me with this fake ass apology. I have an article to finish writing for next month’s issue of Vogue.”

She sighed and joked, “You always was super smart. Okay, the truth is I need you for something important.”

“You want me to put a word in for you at the magazine?”

“No, it’s not about that. I need you for something serious, Dalvin. It’s about Cierra.”

When she said it was about her and Vince’s daughter, my attitude changed a little. I may have been harboring resentment towards her for our failed friendship, but I was willing to help her with anything related to her two-year-old daughter. I sighed and asked, “What do you need me to do?”

“I’m sure you know I’ve called off my engagement to Vince.”

“Actually, I didn’t know that. I haven’t been on any of your social media accounts in some months.”

“Well, it’s over. Some raggedy ass white bitch showed up at our condo trying to fight me over him. I beat her ass and Vince made her sign a non-disclosure agreement.”

“As many times as he’s cheated on you, I’m surprised that made you dump him.”

“That’s not why I dumped him. It’s what was said by the raggedy ass white bitch prior to her signing the agreement.” She took a deep breath and asked, “Are you alone right now?”

“Yes.”

“Where are you?”

“I’m in my apartment.”

“Where?”

“In Brooklyn, Cassi.”

“Can we meet right now? I can be there in thirty minutes.”

“Why are you suddenly being so annoying?”

“Because…” She paused for a second before continuing, “…there is some shit I need to tell you that has to remain confidential.”

Realizing that this was a deepening situation, I told her, “I’ll give you my building’s address. It has its own parking garage so you can drive instead of taking Uber or Lyft.”

“Thank you, Dalvin. I genuinely appreciate it.”

“I haven’t agreed to anything yet. I’ll text you my address.”

“I’m heading out of my apartment right now.”

“Okay.”

I ended the call and texted her my address. While waiting for her to arrive, I thought about all of the times she screwed me over to help herself. Our friendship had its ups and downs over the years and I couldn’t believe I let her be the one who walked away from it. I should’ve ended our friendship the very first time she showed me who she truly was, but I kept thinking she would change and would appreciate me being there for her every time she needed me. Now she needed me to be there for her again and there I was ready to jump at the opportunity.

“This building is nice,” she said while stepping away from her car in my building’s parking garage. “It must cost a grip to live here.”

“I make a grip writing for Vogue,” I quipped. “Now, what is this all about?”

“I’m not talking about it down here. Someone could come down and overhear everything.”

“Cassi, you’re not coming up to my apartment.”

“Oh my God! I know you’re salty about everything but –”

“You have some nerve standing there acting like you’re so fucking innocent!”

She took her shades off and said to me, “Dalvin, I really do need your help and I know our friendship is over and it’s my fault, but we have to put our issues on the backburner for my daughter.”

I exhaled and calmed down before saying, “The only reason why I let you come here is because you mentioned Cierra. I may still be pissed at you but I would never let my feelings get in the way of helping an innocent child. But believe me when I say we will never be friends again.”

“Fine. Can we go up to your apartment now?”

I gave her a look before turning around and stepping over to the parking garage lobby door. I entered the code and then led her inside. We stepped onto the elevator and took it up to the eighth floor, where my apartment was. Once we were inside my apartment, I closed and locked the door and led her into my kitchen. I could tell by the look on her face that she was impressed with my apartment. It may have not been over a million dollars in rent a year like the condo she once shared with Vince, but it was nice.

“Seems like you’re doing better than okay,” she said while watching me pour glasses of Merlot for us. “Maybe I should let you put in a word for me at the magazine.”

I rolled my eyes and handed her a glass and asked her, “What do you need me for?”

She drank nearly all of the Merlot in her glass before wiping her lips and telling me, “I need you to help me set Vince up.”

At first, I couldn’t tell if she was serious or not. When she didn’t even blink for almost a minute, I leaned in closer to her and asked, “What do you mean set him up?”

“The raggedy white bitch revealed that my ex-fiancé was into some…unconventional sex practices.”

“I’m going to need more detail than that, Cassi.”

“He likes to be pegged, Dalvin.”

I smirked and joked, “You have a bigger dick than me. You couldn’t handle that sexual necessity for him?” When she didn’t laugh or even smile, I got serious and explained to her, “That’s not very unconventional, Cassi. A lot of straight men like anal play.”

“I’m sure there aren’t many straight men who like being pegged while watching gay porn.”

I nearly choked on the wine and after coughing a few times, asked her, “Vince is curious?”

“He’s more than curious, Dalvin. I asked him had he been with any men before and he told me no, but I’m not sure I believe him. There was no way I could stay with him after learning about his disgusting desires. I should’ve known he was a fag when he asked me to start rimming him back in college.”

“Okay, you need to watch your mouth in my home. You don’t get to say fag around me, okay?”

She raised her hands and offered, “I’m sorry. I guess I’m still highly upset about all of this.” She finished the wine in her glass and then continued, “He’s not trying to get full custody of Cierra but he is attempting to get shared custody and I don’t want that. I don’t want my daughter around him and his whores and his irresponsible friends. I want full custody of my daughter and I want him to get supervised visits. But my lawyer told me no judge will grant me that kind of ruling since I can’t prove Vince is shitty.”

“Cassi, not to sound selfish, but I don’t understand how I can help with this.”

“I need a way to set Vince up. I need to blackmail him and you’re my key to that.” She took a deep breath before staring into my eyes and asking me, “Can you record yourself fucking him so that I can blackmail him into settling for supervised visits?”

I admit I was in shock after learning Vince was possibly bisexual. I’d never gotten that vibe from him back in college. He was nice to me but not in a way that made me suspect him of liking other men. I was also shocked that my ex-best friend was asking me to do something completely outside of my character. It further proved that she knew absolutely nothing about me or the friendship I once shared with her.

“Cassi, no,” I told her. “No, I will not do something like that.”

“Dalvin…”

“No! I would never betray someone like that, especially someone who can’t come out publicly due to important obligations.”

“What about me?”

“I’m sure Vince has been paying you child support. From the looks of it, he’s paying you a lot.”

“It’s not about the money, Dalvin. I really am worried that he’ll let something happen to my daughter.”

“She’s his daughter, too.”

Tears filled her eyes as she pleaded with me, “Dalvin, you are my only hope. I’ve met someone else and he lives in Los Angeles. I want to move in with him but I won’t be able to if Vince convinces the judge to make a shared custody ruling.”

I shook my head and said, “I knew there had to be a more selfish reason behind it. Let me guess, the other guy is rich also?”

She wiped her tears as they fell and told me, “I’m not the one who is confused about their sexuality and cheated multiple times. Dalvin, I was nothing but loyal to Vince and you know that.”

“I don’t know what you’ve been doing for the past five years. We haven’t been talking, remember?”

“Oh my God! I can’t believe you’re still putting your feelings before my baby girl.”

“Damnit, Cassi! Why can’t you understand that what you’re asking me is way out of my code of character? I don’t out men. No matter how fucked up I’ve been treated by some of the DL men I’ve been involved with, I’d never out them. It is a fucked-up thing to do.”

“We won’t be outing him. We’ll be blackmailing him. You know and I know that he’ll do whatever I want if I threaten to leak the sex tape. He’s not going to risk losing his basketball career.”

“I can’t do it.”

“All I’m asking for is one night!”

“I can’t do it, Cassi! I’m sorry.”

She put her hands up to her face and sobbed a few times. After calming herself down, she wiped away her tears and said, “Dalvin, I know that I took our friendship for granted and I was a shitty friend. I admit it, I was a shitty friend to you. You did so much for me and I never did a thing for you, except help you realize your potential.”

“Excuse me?”

“Dalvin, you were a nerd who spent all of his time in his room reading comic books before I let you join my circle.”

I laughed and asked, “So, we’re taking this back to high school now? Okay, then let’s talk about how you fucked Chris Simmons in twelfth grade, knowing damn well he was my boyfriend!”

“Are you seriously still mad about that?”

“Cassi, I am mad about every single instance where you wronged me! That one screw-up should have been a warning sign but no, I just let it slide.”

“Chris was on the football team and couldn’t be with you publicly. I didn’t even know how serious you two were until you flipped out on me for having sex with him that one time.”

“He was my boyfriend, Cassi! He was on the low but he was my damn boyfriend! I told you that and you didn’t give a fuck. You never gave a fuck about me!”

“That’s not true!”

“Yes, the fuck it is! You’re right, you were a shitty friend and I will never forgive you for it.”

“All over Chris Simmons from high school? Do you know how long ago that was?”

“I don’t care how fucking long ago it was. I was in love with him and you knew that. Yet, you still seduced him and had sex with him. And you didn’t even tell me about it. I had to learn it from him because he didn’t want to keep anything from me. I look back at that time and realize that it was the beginning of the end of our friendship. But no, my dumbass gave you another chance. I’m all out of forgiveness for you now, sis.”

“This isn’t just about me, Dalvin! What about my daughter? Huh? What about Cierra?! Are you seriously okay with her being around loose women whenever she’s at her daddy’s place? What happens if one of the women or men he has around just happens to accidentally drop some drugs and my baby picks them up? I’d die if I ever lost her, Dalvin. Do you hear me? I would die. She means the world to me and I wouldn’t want to be here if she weren’t here with me. If you don’t want to do this for me, then do it for Cierra. I’m begging you.”

I stared at her for the longest time without saying anything. I thought about everything she’d said and after weighing the costs and benefits, I still wanted to tell her no. However, seeing her that desperate and learning her weakness made me feel an immediate sense of power. As opposed as I was to blackmailing someone by using the threat of outing them, I knew it was the only way that I could hold onto that sense of power. Taking it all into account in my head, I reversed my decision.

“Okay,” I told her.

She sniffled and wiped her tears again before asking, “Okay, what?”

“I’ll do it.”

“You will?”

“Yes. All of this is contingent upon him actually being attracted to me, but I’ll give it a try. If he does find me attractive, then I can take it from there.”

“Thank you, Dalvin. Thank you so much.” She tried to hug me but I pulled away from her.

“Remember, this isn’t about our failed friendship. That can’t be revived and even if it could, I don’t want to revive it. I’ll help you but it won’t solely be for your benefit. I’m doing this for my own reasons and I don’t owe you an explanation.”

“Fine. As long as it gets done, I have no complaints.”

I poured us some more wine and then asked her, “How are we going to pull this off?”

She smiled as she replied, “I have the ultimate plan.”

TO BE CONTINUED

Written by D.A. Morrison