The Makeover by Vacirca Vaughn Read Free Book Online

your hair was done, your nails too.  You at least tried to
wear cute dresses, heels, and make up.  But, since we’ve moved in together
last year, you stopped even doing that.  Dang, we weren’t even married yet
and you already let yourself go.  If your body looks like this now, how
would you look after you had my babies?  How would my babies look?”
    Phoenix
stared.
    “What?
It’s how I feel!  I work out three times a week, wear cologne, get
haircuts, and dress nice for myself.  But you?  You barely
comb your hair anymore.  It takes you weeks to get your hair done, even
when I would beg you to spend some money on yourself.” 
    Phoenix
laughed.  “What money, Cedric?  You moved in here without a
job.  I’ve been paying the rent by myself, buying all the food, helping
you pay child support, while still buying things for your son when you have him
here for days at a time.  I give you money to hang out with your friends,
even when you don’t want to spend my money to go somewhere with me.  I
even give you gas money to drive my car—the car that you crashed, that I still
am paying for!”
    “Don’t
throw it all that in my face, Phoenix!”
    “Like
you are throwing my looks in mine, Cedric?  What money to pamper myself?
Huh?  You lost your job in the first six months of us dating.  I took
care of you right from the beginning, even before you moved in here.  I
gave you an allowance, practically!  When I met you, I was trying to do
something about my weight.  I was seeing a boxing trainer twice a week,
remember?  I was trying to keep myself up at least by wearing nice clothes
and doing my hair.  I was getting facials and seeing a
dermatologist.  But that costs money, money I was giving to you, because
I thought you loved me.”
    Cedric’s
caramel skin flushed a bright crimson.  “No, Sweetie.  Since we’re
being real, let’s be real.  You give me all that not because you thought I
loved you, but because you wanted me to love you!”
    Phoenix froze
as the truth became a shape blade that punctured holes in her gut. 
    “That’s
why I can’t take you anymore.  You make me sick!  I tried, but if you
really loved me, you would have cared about your looks instead of embarrassing
me like this.”
    “Why
couldn’t you help me like I helped you, Cedric?  Why couldn’t you just
support me and hold my hand in the process just like I had to do for you?”
    “That
ain’t my job, Babe,” Cedric snarled.  “It ain’t my job to give you no
makeover.”
     
     
    ***
    Phoenix cried
as the words and pictures in her mind continued to choke her. 
    Satan laughed,
as he touched Phoenix’s head, and continued to flood her with images of what
Cedric had said and done to break her heart.  “Take another pill,
Phoenix.  It’s no use,” he growled.  He looked up as the room began
to become flooded with light. Groaning, Satan manipulated Phoenix’s mind with
more of the harrowing memories.
    She took
another pill and drank from the Grey Goose.  She hoped the Ambien she had been prescribed the previous year had not
expired.
    If she was
going to do it, she wanted it to work.
    Two angels of
Heaven stood beside Phoenix, motionless.  They stood, ten feet tall,
dressed in flowing robes of white, with flames dancing in their eyes. 
With swords raised, they stood poised and ready, awaiting a command from the
Lord.
     
     
    ***
    Cedric
sighed and sat on the bed.  “Look, this is getting us nowhere,
alright?  I am sorry I hurt you.  I tried to love you, but I got
tired of looking at you like this. Why you think I don’t go out with you as
much as you asked me to?  Why do you think we had sex like once every
three weeks?  I wasn’t feeling you like I should, Fe!  You had the
brains but ain’t have the looks to match.  I believed in you, which is why
I gave you a chance, even though you weren’t initially my type.  But I
guess I was wrong!”
    “So all
this is about my weight, Cedric?  After