Capricorn
Chapter 25

Capricorn as a Parent
* is strict but always fair
* takes parenthood very seriously
* has an ironic sense of humor
* provides the very best for their children

*

Ron could sense that something was wrong with Adena, but he couldn't ask her because he probably couldn't help her. He should probably stay out of it. He just hoped that the surprise party would fix everything, but why did he have a bad feeling about it?

He wasn't alone. Kim had the same feeling, she felt bad as she looked around Craig's apartment. It was decked out with decorations, homemade food, alcohol and he set up his DJ system as well. This party was going to be a waste once she gets here, she thought with a sigh. 

"This is Kim, Adena's 2nd best friend" Missy said introducing Craig to her.

"2nd best?" she asked and laughed, "Nice to finally meet you Craig" she said to him. She looked him up and down. She's seen him before DJ'ing at Fever and other spots. But he always had a girl or 3 on his arm. His booth was always full of them. He was the ultimate bachelor. He was definitely cute, no doubt about that, and that's probably another reason why Adena felt it good to hideout here. But how did they find each other first of all? What were his motives? Was he trying to get her bestie into bed and was only doing this very public display of affection to butter her up? Classic narcissist.

She didn't want to have to do this on Adena's birthday after all she's been through already. She was obviously in a lot of pain if she was reaching out to complete strangers for validation. She hoped when she finally spoke to her that she could get her down from this Craig pedestal she was on. 

She was gonna break this all up. Sometimes things had to fall apart so they could fall back together again. And that's exactly what she planned to do.

"Where do the gifts go?" Kim asked him and he gestured to a table behind him. It was full of gifts. Did he get all of these presents?? Because besides herself, Missy and Craig, no one else in the room knew her. There was an interesting crowd already here. Women outnumbered the men. So he had a lot of girl friends, Adena will not be down for that. And counting the few drag queens that came in their Friday Night's Best, there was a lot of feminine energy and estrogen in this room. She nodded to him and put her gift on top of someone else's.

"Anyway, thanks again for coming" Craig said excitedly to her. "Adena has talked a lot about you."

"She has?" Kim asked with surprise. Well, that was comforting at least. 

Then the doorbell rang once again, he was thinking about leaving the door propped open because it was ringing every other minute but he didn't need the cops to walk right in. It was a rule in his complex that if you were going to have a party, you had to let someone in the managing office know and they would send a note to all the neighbors, just in case. When people had more of a heads up, their office phones would stop ringing while they tried to have at least 5 minutes to themselves. Who wanted to hear the same complaint all fucking night? No one. So Craig did just that but once this place got packed, he probably wouldn't have a choice. His neighbors were more than welcome to come too. There were plenty of drinks for everyone and 2 of his weed guys were here.

He opened the door and a group of people came in, more of his friends from around the city plus an older couple came in which surprised him but he didn't have time to ask. He made a mental note to chat them up on how they knew Adena. 

Then Ron just sent a text message that they were minutes away. He turned down the music. "Attention everyone! The birthday girl is a block away so get your noise makers and find a hiding spot or just try to stay in the dark as much as possible" he said as a guy with shades and a bald head walked in, "What's up, the birthday girl is on her way" he said hurriedly as he patted him on the back and rushed to get everything ready. Probably another friend of Adena's. When Missy said she didn't have many, that was hard to believe.

Taye frowned. "That must be him" he said jealously to himself. He almost went over to give him a piece of his mind but he was surprised to see Adena's parents were actually there and made his way over to them, "I'm glad you two made it."

"Us too. Who's the host?" Gladys asked as she picked up a cup of wine, while her husband, Rich, looked very grim with his sharp, penetrating eyes.

He was gonna have to beg on his knees for him for a lifetime, Taye realized. "That light skinned guy running around like a chicken with his head cut off" he said nastily.

"Oh I wonder how she knows him" she said.

"ATTENTION EVERYONE, SHE'S IN THE ELEVATOR AS WE SPEAK" the light skinned guy said as he turned off the music and turned off all the lights.

"Oh!" Gladys said in surprise as the place went pitch black. She clutched her purse close to her.

"Shhhhhhhh!"

Right before the lights went out, Missy and Kim gasped, they just noticed who came in.

"What the fuck is Taye doing here!?" Missy asked in shock.

"What the hell are her parents doing here?" Kim said at the same time.

Then everything went in slow motion. The door opened, they all heard a voice, they saw a silhouette of a guy and Adena, the lights burst on, people jumped out of their hiding spots and shouted surprise and happy birthday, confetti was thrown, everyone applauded. Adena practically jumped out of her skin when she walked in, she was shocked, confused, and then angry. She stood frozen in the doorway as "Shout" by the Isley Brothers played loudly. 

Sensory overload wasn't even the word. She was practically blinded by the lights, especially from the small strobe lights Craig set up. She was basically right in front of the speaker when the music blasted back on and there was way too many people here. She started feeling claustrophobic. Who were these people? She saw a couple of scantily clad girls huddled by the door and female intuition told her they were staring her up and down for a reason that wasn't good. Jealousy most likely. Were they in the right apartment? She couldn't think straight and she pushed her way through the crowd toward Craig's bedroom, shut the door and locked it.

"Is it just me or was she not happy?" a drag queen said.

"She's definitely in shock. She obviously wasn't expecting this. Now she knows Craig Mack Daddy likes her likes her. I would be shocked and blushing too. She's probably in there putting on a cute outfit for him" their friend said and then sipped on their drink, "That's what I would be doing. After giving him a big old kiss but she's obviously not into PDA, I can tell."

"Fuck. I knew this was going to happen" Kim said, glaring at Missy.

"Of course it would! Her fucking cheating ex is here! He ruined everything!" Missy said, "How did he find out!?"

"I told him-"

"WHAT!?"

"He wants to work everything out with her. He wants her to come home. I figured the best present would be for them to patch things up-"

"KIM! YOU RUINED EVERYTHING! HE'S THE LAST PERSON SHE WANTS TO SEE!" Missy yelled at her. Thankfully the music was so loud that no one noticed their argument. "I'm gonna see if she's ok" she said as Kim started to go with her, "You stay here, you did enough damage."

"You did enough damage Missy" Kim said to her, "You knew Adena didn't like surprise parties!"

"She doesn't?" Craig asked as he walked up to them, he looked at Missy, "Why? Why didn't you tell me? That would've been nice to know." 

"I thought she would be over it."

"That's why she looked at me like she wanted to kill me!" Craig said, "Shit. I gotta talk to her" he said as he went toward his bedroom. Missy following him. Kim as well.

"I knew this would happen" Rich said as he stood next to Gladys, "We should go to her. She needs to speak with us anyway, this silent treatment has gone on far enough" he said as he walked towards the bedroom that Adena disappeared into. Taye dropped his large brown paper bag on the floor, pulled out a big bouquet of flowers and followed them. Glancing at a couple girls on the way...

Meanwhile...behind closed doors...

"Missy, what the hell is going on? Who are all these people? I told you I didn't want to celebrate! I wanted to treat it like just any other day. But instead you throw a party! I hate surprise parties! I wasn't ready or prepared and I'm not in the partying mood. I just want to go to bed" Adena yelled at her, "And worst of all, you invited my fucking ex husband AND my parents?! I can smell marijuana!"

"I didn't invite them. Kim invited Taye....I don't know who told your parents" Missy said. Damn she was mad. That was her bad. She felt bad now but she was only trying to do something nice for her bestie. It was with good intentions.

"Where's Kim, get her in here" Adena said as she blew her nose, the walk to the apartment was cold as hell, "This is the worst day ever."

Missy opened the door to find Kim, Craig, Taye, Mr. and Mrs. Capricorn patiently waiting. "She wants Kim" she said as she pulled her in and shut the door. Kim walked to Adena and hugged her but Adena pushed her away.

"How could you bring him here? This was the only place where I could get away from all of you and you find a way to ruin it!"

"Grow up Adena!" Kim shouted back at her, "Do you know how worried we all have been? You can't run away from your problems! You know this! You had to face all of us one of these days! I'm sorry! Taye has been calling me non stop about how he still loves you, how he wants to get back together, isn't that what you wanted? Or have you changed into a child now?"

"I don't need to hear this" Adena said as she picked up her purse. She still had her jacket on.

"That's right, run away again! Run Adena, but where the fuck are you going to go?" Kim challenged her.

"Adena come on, Craig and I spent a lot of money on this party, don't waste it" Missy said. Craig was so excited, more excited than Adena obviously.

"Well get a refund and plan your fucking wedding together!" Adena said angrily and then opened the door and walked out. She had every right to leave her disaster of a birthday party. 

"Wait...what?" Then Missy figured it out, "Adena!" she shouted after her, "It ain't even like that!" 

She likes him. She's jealous!

Mr. and Mrs. Capricorn, Taye and Craig didn't notice Adena walk out of the bedroom and out the front door. The place was so packed, it was hard to keep up with anyone. The partiers didn't notice. 

"Don't bother, she's on her disappearing spree again, she doesn't want to be found." Kim said sadly as she walked up to them. Craig wasn't having it, he left and went after her as Taye and her parents questioned Kim.

Missy went over to the alcohol and made herself a concoction and then downed all of it. She was gonna need a drink. All the money she spent on this party, wasted. Not even a thank you.

"Hey slow down babe, what's the rush?" someone asked her. She turned and saw the guy that Adena came in with, must be Craig's roommate.

"This party is over. The birthday girl is crying and having a fucking hissy fit."

"Hey, it's her party and she can cry if she wants to" he said as he surveyed her body, "Doesn't mean the party is over though" he said as he finished another beer. "I own the place, so I have the right to kick everyone out and say it's over and YOU aren't going nowhere."

"Fine I won't" Missy said with a smile.

"I'm a doctor you know. I don't know if Craig mentioned" he said with a smile. Missy smiled as well and her eyes sparkled with the images of dollar signs dancing in her head.

*

If a friendship goes wrong because of bad judgement in the first place, Capricorn may turn hateful.

*

"Adena! Wait!" Craig said as he grabbed her arm before she got into the elevator. "What's wrong? Where are you going?"

"Away! From you!" she said, "I can't believe you going behind my back!"

"It's a surprise party! That's how it works!"

"Well I don't like surprises! How many times did I tell you that I didn't want to celebrate today? And who are all those fucking people? I don't know them!"

"You've met most of the people in there at least once. And some people invited their friends, and their friends. Come on, you didn't even get to say hi to the 'ladies' from The Love Shack. They all got you gifts-" 

All she did was shake her head. "I had a long day. Ron can tell you and thanks for having him babysit me. I can take care of myself. I'm not in the partying mood. Tell everyone to go home-"

"I know that now! But I didn't know that before" he said to her. "I'm not going to apologize for the fact that I went out of my way to do something for you! That's what I've been doing! That's all I've been doing! I've been hiding you away from all your friends, taking you out, trying to cheer you up. All day, every day I'm worried about whether you're ok or whether you are gonna get sick and have a nervous breakdown. I wanted you to have the best birthday, something that could help forget last year. I know you said nothing could make that happen but fuck it, I wanted to try! Obviously that fucked up but I did it. All for you. And no thank you at all. What is up Adena, this ain't like you!"

"You don't even know what I'm like, obviously!" she yelled back at him, "You didn't know that I didn't like surprise parties, fine, but helping me forget last year won't happen by inviting my ex husband!!"

"What? Why would I do that?" Craig asked and then, speaking of the devil.

"Adena, we need to talk, this has gone on far enough" Taye said as he walked up to them with his big bouquet of flowers.

"Tom!?? This is him?" Craig asked her. How in the fuck did he get here?

"My name is Taye" he said, sneering at him.

"His name is Taye, Craig" Adena said at the same time, putting her head in her hands. This was the biggest nightmare. Her ex and her crush meeting at a surprise party that she didn't want. "Taye just go home, please. I'm not ready to talk to you-"

"No Dena, I've waited long enough. 2 weeks practically! Dena baby I know I hurt you but I will do everything. ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING I can to fix this. To fix us! I know that's all you wanted and I'm sorry I was so stupid to not realize it. We can see Dr. Osbourne every fucking day if we have to. That girl I was with? She meant nothing and is no longer a factor. I-"

"THERE YOU ARE, YOU STUPID MOTHERFUCKERS!" a girl said as she came out of the elevator. "You two are gonna listen to me, and you're gonna listen now! You have to choose between me and that bitch Adena!"

Speaking of another devil, here was Felicia. 

"Excuse me!" Adena said angrily, "I'm Adena, who the hell are you?" she said as Taye attempted to hold Felicia back.

The woman looked at her, startled that THE Adena was standing there. Here she was. Her competition, the woman who didn't even love Taye but Taye was falling over backwards for. She looked her up and down, then she gave an evil smirk, "I'm Craig's girlfriend....and Taye's too"

"WHAT?!?" Adena, Taye and Craig all said at the same time. Did she just say what they think she just said??

"Don't act surprised, Taye, we fucked yesterday" Felicia said. She was going to drop every bomb she could so that Adena would disappear. She didn't care how far she had to go. Adena's jaw dropped to the floor. Craig's too.

"How are you even here!?" Taye yelped at her.

"I heard you giving out my man's address. You two been working together to get over on me? Huh? You're so fucking jealous, Craig, that you're in cahoots with this nigga and convinced him to leave me?"

Craig looked at her angrily, "What the fuck is even going on right now!? I don't know him! And you're not my-"

Adena stared at her with a hateful look, "You're Missy's co-worker! You're the lipstick bitch?" she said, now realizing what was going on. Felicia gave her a look, she's the what? Then before she could control herself, she jumped toward her and Craig practically caught her and held her back. Taye stared at Adena with shock, Adena never fought in her life!

"Yeah girl, we are both gettin' played!" Felicia said unfazed.

"Felicia, shut the fuck up. That was always your problem. Your fucking mouth!" Craig snapped at her. Adena looked at him in shock, she's never seen him angry like this before. But if he was yelling at her like this, he had to have some type of history with her. He turned to her, "Adena, she is not my girlfriend" Craig said to her as he held her back but she struggled out of his grasp. She had to know that. Out of all this craziness, lies and foolishness, that was true. "She left me. For Thad here."

"My name is fucking Taye!"

"Turns out he's the guy she's been seeing behind my back. So I broke it off with her, she just believes we are together when this guy doesn't give her the time of day" Craig said to her. Adena stared at him blankly.

"You weren't acting like that when I came here the other night?" Felicia said with a roll of her neck. 

"You were HERE? When?" Adena and Taye said at the same time.

"That's not what I said, Fee, and you know it-"

"So she was here then though?" Adena said to Craig.

"Craig, you still love me. You know you do. You too Taye. We need to settle this once and for all. Do you want me or her!?" Felicia yelled, she looked at Taye, "You promised me that once your divorce was final we would start a life together but now you wanna go crawling back to her? And what happened to all those I miss you messages Craig? You left me one last week!" she said as she held up her phone. "Siri, call My Boo."

"Calling My Boo" her phone said.

Then a phone started ringing, all of the color left Craig's face, when his cell phone started ringing in his back pocket. 

"See!? Don't tell me your feelings have changed that quickly!?"

"YES!" Craig growled as he hung up on her. "I moved on and you obviously have too! With a married man no less! This is a new low, especially for you Fee" he said as he looked at Taye. He bit down on his lip so he wouldn't say anything else that he would later regret. For the first time in his life, he wanted to hit this girl. He wanted to beat Taye's ass for hurting Adena. How did Felicia get in on this? It was a small fucking world.

"Fine fuck you Craig. Taye, you need to own up to your shit alright? You cheated on your wife with me and you promised you would let me move in! Don't give me this I changed my mind shit! You told me you didn't love her anymore, so why crawl back to her now? Why? Cuz you still ain't got a job!?"

Before Taye could even think about it,  Adena slapped Felicia across the face. Felicia staggered back, stunned. "I barely even know you. But I know you will be the one person that I will hate for the rest of my life. You ruined a marriage, like it wasn't an unbreakable bond that two people had made. You ruined it, like....it was something easily broken and no one cared about! I put my heart, soul, time, and strength into this marriage and YOU fucked it up! You officially ruined my life...you too Taye. I never want to see any of you again" she said as tears started falling down her face. She then ran toward the back door and went down the stairs. 

"ADENA!" Craig, Taye and now Missy, Kim and her parents yelled as they walked out of Craig's apartment.

"Hey Fee-Fee! Girl what you doing here?" Missy asked as they walked towards them. She didn't bother to invite her because she was avoiding her.

"You need to make a choice. You can't string the two of us along! It's not my fault, you're in this shit too! In fact, YOU started this!" Felicia shouted at him as Rick and Gladys Capricorn came up to them.

"Where's our daughter going?" Rich asked Taye, giving him a look that could kill.

"She left. It's best that we leave her alone" Taye said. After all the bombs that Felicia had just dropped, he and Craig were exhausted. "I'm sorry. You two didn't get one word in to your daughter-"

"You're her parents??" Craig asked. How? He couldn't stay for this. He jogged toward the stairs, trying to catch up with Adena.

"It's unfortunate" Rich said as he sized up Felicia. Who was she? And why was she staring at Taye like that? Then he instantly knew. "We're leaving Gladys."

"But-"

"We're leaving. Adena can keep running. Taye can keep acting like a child. But we are not going to get caught up in this. Adena knows that she will need to turn to us and we will wait for as long as it takes" he said harshly. 

He looked at Taye and then grabbed him by his collar, shocking everyone, holding him up against the wall, "It's over between you two. I don't ever want to see you in even the same room with my daughter unless it's in court" he said sternly. He let go of Taye forcefully and he staggered back. He then looked at Felicia, she backed away from him after seeing how he just handled Taye. He pointed at her. "This mess you got my daughter in has gone on long enough and I will not tolerate it. Stay away from my daughter, you homewrecker" he said, grabbing his wife's hand and walking toward the elevator. Gladys gasped, obediently following him. She hadn't caught up to everything that's happened.

However, Missy did. "Wait, this 'asshole' you've been fooling around with since we met.....is my best friend's husband?" she said to Felicia, pointing at Taye. Kim gasped and glared at him.

"Right!? Look at this fucked up, tangled web of bullshit he's gotten us into. I'm just finding out myself-"

Before she could finish, Missy grabbed her by her hair, flipped her onto the floor and started to do what she did best as Kim and Taye tried to pull them both apart.

*

Capricorn men assume that their partners are dependent on them, he'll give them the world but expects absolute loyalty.

*

"Adena please, don't run, please don't run away from me!" Craig called as he followed Adena. "Let's talk about this. Please. I can explain everything!"

"There's nothing to talk about" Adena said as she wiped her tears and struggled to find something in her purse, not looking at him.

"Adena, don't leave....where are you going to go?"

"It doesn't matter-"

"IT DOES MATTER! YOU MATTER TO ME ADENA!" Craig shouted at her.

"Look Craig, did you expect this to last forever or something? That I would seek solace in your apartment for the rest of my life? Not have a job and just club all night and sleep in the next day? No I need to make something of myself. I'm not going to sit back and not get my life back together. I need to get my job back, my life back-"

"You can but you can't keep running" Craig said saying each word slowly and carefully.

"I have to leave, this situation hasn't made me better, at anything. Remember? Go where you are celebrated, not tolerated."

"THAT'S LITERALLY WHAT I'M DOING RIGHT NOW! I'M TRYING TO CELEBRATE YOU WITH AN OLD FASHIONED BIRTHDAY PARTY!"

"I'm not gonna talk to you if you're like this" she said and started walking. 

"I'm sorry, Adena please. I'm sorry I won't yell" he said as he grabbed her hand. She smacked it away from her and turned to look at him, she didn't know how to put into words what she was feeling right now. However, Craig did. "I'm sorry but you know what, just a couple weekends ago, you were some drunk, snotty nosed girl who thought she lost her job, who was too drunk, sick and passed out before she could get home. Just a couple weekends ago, you were some insecure girl who couldn't take care of herself, didn't know what to do about anything, couldn't make a decision for herself or face anyone. Just a couple weekends ago you turned from a complete stranger into a friend. You turned to a complete stranger for help and that was me Adena! God forbid...I mean who fucking knows what would have happened if I wasn't at that bar-"

"Ok! ALRIGHT!" she shouted at him, "THANK YOU CRAIG FOR BEING A SUPERMAN, THANK YOU CRAIG FOR SAVING MY LIFE! IS THAT WHAT YOU WANT?"

Craig took a deep breath so he wouldn't start yelling at her again. "You know that's not what I want. I want you to stay and talk to me. Don't run. I don't think of myself as Superman-"

"You do. You came to my rescue and I'm thankful for that, I am. But you can't keep saving me. You barely know me. I barely know you. I mean you throw me this surprise party to help me forget last year but I will never forget last year Craig, because I'm not ready. Everything is going too fast and I can't keep up. I can't hold on to you and be dependent on you. Because that brought out feelings Craig. Feelings that I know that you can't return. Feelings that I shouldn't be...feeling."

"Feelings?" Craig asked. Her admitting that made him sigh with relief. "Adena....if you feel something for me, don't deny it, let's talk-"

"NO!"

"WHY!?" he shouted back, that second of relief blowing away in the wind.

"Because I'm married, because you barely know me and me, the same with you, you've been out with my best friend, you have slept with strippers, with that SLUT upstairs!?-"

"What?" he asked. Out with her best friend??

"Ron told me how you used to be, how he missed the 'old Craig'. Do you still do that? I mean, once I leave you can go back to your old tricks or back to that THOT that seems to be sleeping with everyone and everything. You might want to get yourself checked out."

"Stop it. I'm not that person anymore. I haven't been for quite some time now. It's been over between Felicia and I. I have no feelings for Missy either. We have been planning this surprise party together and that's it."

Adena didn't believe it. "The bottom line is I'm not ready. You're not ready. We don't know each other. We're too different."

"Then let's get to know each other! Adena, I feel like I do know you. I know that you love waffles, pina coloda baths, Denzel Washington movies and Basquiat. I know that your passion is to have a family and be one of the biggest art dealers in the world and have all of your favorite artists hanging in your penthouse loft."

"Yeah because I told you-"

"You're anal and you can be really rude and barely smile and you're a neat freak and you have a slight OCD problem that gets on my nerves. You sometimes drool when you sleep, you bite your lip and cry when you're nervous. You run away from anything that makes you uncomfortable. You are hard working, organized to the T, loyal, respectful, faithful, classy, realistic, beautiful but you're a fucking perfectionist that hates surprises....if I don't know you...."he said and took a breath, "I spent all this time getting to know you because I'm interested in you Adena, yes. I wanted to. I want to be around you and learn more about you. I want to see you smile and laugh. I'm sorry again about this party and everything that went with it. I just wanted to make you happy and maybe it was unrealistic to think that I could make you forget last year...but it's the thought that counts right? I've been obsessed with this birthday thing because of my own personal experiences...."he said and decided to stop talking.

He poured his heart out to her and he just hoped that she won't just let it spill and make a mess.

Adena stared at him with tears in her eyes, he described her to the T and it scared her. How could he know so much about her? But she didn't know anything about him? And what she learned today was too much to bear. "I have to go" she said as she backed away from him. "This is best for us."

Craig shook his head. Wow. "Yeah alright.....'your way is always best' Adena" he said as a car pulled up to them. He saw the Lyft sign in the car and just stood there as she got in the car and then left him out in the cold. Feeling less of a man.

He stared off into the distance and saw someone holding up a cardboard sign. Some people passing by were taking pictures of them on their phones. The sign read: A STRONG, INTIMATE RELATIONSHIP CAN'T BE MADE WITH SOMEONE WHO CONSISTENTLY RUNS FROM THE UNHEALED PART OF THEMSELVES.

He read the sign a few times and sighed. He was being attacked. He turned away and then shivered, forgetting that he was standing outside with no jacket on.

Then a cop car pulled up, distracting him out of his sorrow. "You live here?" one of the cops asked him.

"Yeah, everything alright?"

"Have you been complaining about your neighbor? We've gotten quite a few noise complaints. Seems a party got so out of hand that a fight started."

His eyes bulged out of his head, "A fight?" he asked. "Shit" he said and then ran inside. 

*

"If you ever dream of beating me you'd better wake up and apologize." - Muhammad Ali (Capricorn)

*

https://youtu.be/0Ogs_NsXh58