Baby Momma Drama by Carl Weber

Might as well get it over with, I decided.
    “Hello?” I was trying to think of a lie fast.
    “Jasmine?” I let out a thankful sigh when I heard Big Momma’s voice. “Where you been, girl? I was callin’ your house all night. I must’ve left fifteen messages. Why ain’t you call me back?”
    I looked down at my answering machine and the number 20 was flashing. That was not a good sign. Big Momma was not the type to leave one message, let alone fifteen, so something must be really wrong.
    “I spent the night at Becky’s house last night, Big Momma. Why? What’s wrong?” I braced myself for bad news.
    Big Momma released a sigh that made it clear she knew I wasn’t telling the whole truth. She had probably called Becky’s house as many times as she’d called me. I was sure she’d ask me for the real story another time, but now Big Momma had more urgent things to tell me.
    “Your sister had her baby last night, child! A big ol’ nine-pound baby boy!”
    “Oh, that’s great, Big Momma. What’d she name him?” I tried to sound enthusiastic, but it wasn’t working. I was happy for Stephanie and Travis, but more than that I was jealous. I’d been wanting a baby for a long time. Derrick and I had even started trying to have a baby, but of course that all came to an end once he got locked up. So it wasn’t that easy for me to share my grandmother’s joy.
    “Travis Jr. They’re gonna call him T. J.” Big Momma ignored my lack of enthusiasm and kept talking a mile a minute. She was like that. Wasn’t no one or nothing gonna spoil her good mood. “Yeah, my first great-grandson. I can’t wait to see him. I want you to come over here and pick me up so I can see my great-grandbaby. You hear?” she ordered.
    Going out again was the last thing I wanted to do, especially since I’d have to put on a happy face for everyone else’s benefit. But Big Momma was not the kind of person you refused. So I promised I’d pick her up as soon as I took a shower and changed. At least with the birth of Stephanie’s baby I had an excuse for where I was last night when I did finally talk to Derrick.
    Before I could kick off my shoes and head to the shower, there was a knock on my door.
    “Who is it?” I sighed wearily.
    “It’s me, girl. Open the door!” It was Sabrina, my best friend and next-door neighbor. She and I had been friends for years, but we really got close when her husband, Richie, got locked up and sent to prison for armed robbery around the same time as Derrick. I liked Sabrina. It was nice having a friend who understood what it was like to have her man in jail. The only difference between us was Sabrina was sick of traveling up to Roanoke every weekend and was looking for a new man. You see, along with being my best friend, Sabrina was also the biggest slut I’d ever met. She’d slept with about half of Richmond, and the other half was on standby.
    “I hope you got that twenty dollars I loaned you the other day.” I opened the door. “’Cause girl, I’m broke.”
    “Please, Jazz,” she sucked her teeth as she entered my apartment. “You know Uncle Sam don’t pay ’cept on the first or the fifteenth. And it ain’t neither one of those days. So you just gonna have to wait till next week like the rest of the bill collectors. I’m as broke as you, if not broker.” She held out a vase filled with the prettiest red and white roses I’d ever seen.
    “So where’d you manage to get them roses, then? Seems to me if you got a man who can afford roses, he should be able to help you pay me back,” I teased. I knew when I gave Sabrina that twenty dollars I wasn’t gonna see it anytime soon.
    “Shiiit! Ain’t nobody give me these flowers, girl. I was coming up the steps from work when the florist came knockin’ on your door an hour ago. He asked me if I’d give these to you when you got home.” Sabrina smirked. “He was kinda cute, so I told him, ‘Sure, but you gotta give me your phone