CROSSROADS

4

Fantasia's plane landed and began to coast to the gate.
She had slept the rest of the flight. She looked over to see Jonica still reading her Ebony magazine. Lena glanced down at the page and gasped.

"Can I see that?" Fantasia asked as she looked at the magazine. Jonica handed her the magazine.

Jonica couldn't stop staring at Taraji's face. There she was, the woman she loved, standing in a picture with other top African American women basketball players. A small profile of Taraji was on the next page along with profiles of each player. Her smile was radiant even on the page.

Fantasia took a deep breath.
"Know someone or something?" Jonica said, looking down at the magazine.

"Yes, I do." Fantasia couldn't stop smiling.
"Ohh. One of them must be your girl. Which one? Wait let me guess." Jonica looked at the page. She pointed at Taraji. "Henson, isn't it?"
"How could you tell?"
"Lucky guess, or maybe the fact that you were calling out to Ti in your sleep."

The plane stopped, and the door opened. People immediately began to get up and gather their items. Fantasia and Jonica stood up and headed out of the aircraft. The terminal was filled with passengers. Jonica and Fantasia walked toward baggage claim together.

"So, you are doing it big, huh? Got you a basketball player."
Fantasia thought about Kendall, her pro basketball player, who was probably tossing her things out on the streets as they spoke. "I guess I have a thing for basketball players." Fantasia instantly realized how she sounded When Jonica's face dropped a bit. "I didn't mean it like that. I don't purposely look for ball players or anything." Fantasia felt like she was having an outer body experience. "I really sound like a groupie right now. But it's really not like-"

Jonica laughed. "Let me stop you before you give yourself a heart attack. I knew what you meant the first time. No need to explain. A lot of women dig that tall, athletic look. Us shorter chicks get the short end of the stick, literally."
Jonica and Fantasia laughed. Fantasaia felt back at ease.
Fantasia and Jonica finally reached the baggage claim area. Jonica turned around to Fantasia. "I know you are here for your girl, but I wouldn't be me if I still didn't try to get your number."

"Now you know that wouldn't be right."
"So your ball player won't let you have friends? Not a good sign in a relationship." Jonica shook her head.

Fantasia smiled. "It was really nice meeting you, Jonica."
Jonica shrugged her shoulders and smiled. "Well, in that case, it was nice meeting you Fantasia, Maybe we will run into each other again one of these days, if Henson doesn't work out."

Jonica took a couple of steps backward then turned around. Fantasia watched her walk to the baggage area where the luggage was starting to circle around.
Fantasia walked toward the front door. She noticed an ATM machine, thought about using her joint account but figured Kendall would be watching it. If she was in the same situation, she would have turned his access off by now.

She remembered her emergency card, her American Express her father told her to never leave home without. She thought about her father. What would he think if he knew his princess left her Prince Charming to be with Cinderella?Fantasia shook her head, hoping to shake her uneasy feelings as well.

Fantasia withdrew three hundred dollars and put it in her bag. She walked out the front door and headed to the taxi area. The assistant quickly got her a cab.
The Middle Eastern driver looked at her via his rear-view mirror. "Where to?"

Fantasia realized she had no idea where she was going.
"Um, can you take me to Saks Fifth Avenue?" The driver nodded his head and pulled out.
Fantasia pulled her cell phone out and turned it on. As soon as the Sprint logo disappeared, her voice mail and text message alerts began to blaze. 10 New Voice Mails,
17 New Text Messages. Fantasia opened her text message inbox.