Capricorn
Chapter 13

Typical Behavior and Abilities
When at home, a Capricorn man or woman:
* really enjoys providing for the family and visits from relatives
* likes having a routine and an organized household
* wants quality furniture, decor, etc.
* is basically loyal to home and family
* needs a home as a safe haven for personal pleasure and business 

*

Craig had a good time at work, as he always did. He loved all kinds of music so most random requests didn't bother him. He LOVED music. It literally made any situation better with the right song. As soon as a person walks up, he can tell what they want by just looking at them. It's his personal magical musical trick. He could read minds. He definitely could read a room. He wasn't one of those DJs who mostly played what he wanted to hear. You wouldn't last one night doing that in any joint in New York City. He did that all the time during his free time anyway. He never played a full song, he knew when to switch up. You won't last doing that either. Mixed crowds were tricky. Especially when one party wants all trap music, another wants EDM and another wants rock or pop. You won't last if you didn't find a way to please all three groups. He knew how to maneuver. He also wasn't one of those DJs who screamed on the mic all night long, shouting out random people while people tried to dance. He hated that. It was a huge pet peeve. Like shut the fuck up and let the song play. On top of that, he had another trick most couldn't pull. He was old school. DJs today never play slow jams anymore. It was a shame. And Craig always played the perfect ones. Once a girl has had just enough to drink, danced all night, and found a guy or girl that she didn't mind hanging on to, some nostalgic slow jam usually got her a home run. He needs to get paid a lot more. He's the reason why most of this city gets laid. 

He was doing good for himself though thankfully because he did all of that and more. Being a guy the ladies...and some of the guys too would get thirsty over helped. A lot. And after what happened he was grateful to still have a job somewhere. He would have to do more late nights, probably all of them to make up for what he was about to lose. He had to focus. Which he rarely had a problem with.

But tonight was different. He was distracted. However, he couldn't stop thinking about Adena. He has only known her for less than 24 hours and she was all he could think about. WTF. What was wrong with him? Was he sick too? Did she give him what she got? 

Shiiiiiit, she gave him something and it kind of scared him. 

He zoned out, lost in thought until he realized the track he was playing was only a handful of seconds away from ending and the music was fading out. Shit. The momentum slowed down and most people stopped dancing, some looking his way. Shit. He put his headphones on and scrambled to fill the dreaded silence that was coming. He went with the latest rap song that everyone was talking about. He was gonna save that til the end of the night but he had to switch up and save himself quickly. Luckily that got most people excited and some more even headed to the dance floor.

However, the ones who were on the dance floor who lost momentum all started walking to the booth. SHIT. When a lot of people made requests that meant you weren't doing your job. And ALL of them were experts now all of a sudden. 

"Heeyyyy light skin! You haven't played our Beyonce not once! You know better than that" a guy in a group of regulars said as they all walked over.

"Play that new shit!" a friend said.

"And play something from B-Day! That's her best throwback album!" another said.

"Tuh! To YOU" another said back, pointing in his friend's face. 

"I got you guys don't worry," he said as they started to argue over Beyonce's best throwback album. Personally, he liked Dangerously In Love but he knew better than to throw his 2 cents in while the beehive was already swarming.

"You betta sexy! And DON'T fuck it up!" the ringleader said with a wink and thankfully the rest swarmed off after him, still buzzing about who was the Beyonce expert. 

"Aye, my guy! DJ! I need some of that fist-pumping shit!" said one out of a group of muscled-up Jersey boys and their dates. Figured.

"You KNOW we need some DMX. And some Tupac! And some Biggie!" a Naomi Campbell with blonde hair said, their diamond-studded manicure clicking and waving as she did. "Show some respect!"

"We need some Britney please!" a smaller blonde girl wearing a white veil squeaked as she stood next to the rest of her bachelorette party. EVERYONE looked at them and rolled their eyes.

"I got you! I got you! I got you!" he assured them, already thrown off from being so thrown off, which never happened.

"C-Dawg! You promised to play Megan!" one of the girls hanging in his booth whined.

'Don't call me that,' he thought to himself. He forgot they were even there. He usually had visitors party up here with him, they'll be so impressed by him and he would take the least annoying and sexiest one...or two home. Or to an after-hours spot or strip joint. Or to get some munchies. But usually, yeah straight home or theirs.

But not tonight.

He didn't collect numbers as he usually did, he didn't pick up a girl and take her to his place as he usually did and he didn't sleep at some stranger's place as he usually did. He collected his pay, and his equipment and rushed home. Hoping that Adena was ok. She didn't answer the text he sent hours ago. Hopefully, she was sleeping.

However, he walked into his apartment and saw that the lights in the kitchen were on and that a bowl of soup had been made but barely touched. He sighed, well at least she attempted to eat. Then he noticed that the kitchen was clean, very clean. It smelled Fabuloso. 

"Adena?" he scolded as he walked into his room.

Adena jumped like she was almost caught doing something. She turned away from him, sniffled, and quickly wiped her face. "Oh. You scared me" she said as she went over to the bed and quickly sat down.

"What happened?" he asked her. 

"Huh? Um, nothing" she said vaguely as she picked up a glass of water and drank it.

"I mean I just got home. It's almost 4 am and you're still up..." he asked. He didn't mean to coddle but this was what he feared. What exactly? Who knows? Her being uncomfortable. Her getting sicker. Or her getting sick of him, storming out, and never wanting to see him again. Maybe all of the above but he was really worried. He didn't know what to think.

"I...um...I couldn't sleep that's all," she said not looking him in the eye.

"And?..." he asked her. He felt that it was more to the story than that. Her eyes were red and puffy and teary. She looked like she definitely didn't sleep.

"That's it," she said as she yawned and wiped her face, especially her eyes, again with her sleeve.

"You look tired..."

"Thanks," she said sarcastically. "I'm not in my own bed...what do you expect?"

"Sorry," he said and they sat in silence. "Um well...I saw an untouched bowl of soup and a very clean kitchen...can you explain what happened there?" he asked her.

"I attempted to eat as you said but I noticed that you and your roommate...well I just decided to clean up-"

"You didn't have to do that. You're sick because you overworked yourself, now cleaning my kitchen isn't the best medicine."

"You're welcome," she said to him as she laid back on the pillows.

"Thank you...sorry...but you didn't have to. I'm the one who's going to do the cleaning out of the two of us ok?"

"Ok sorry I just...it's a habit. I clean when I'm bored-"

"Well sorry. I should have left you something to do. I mean I figured you would sleep the rest of the night..."

"I'm not 5 Craig. I can keep myself busy...I wasn't even bored exactly. I just...it's a habit. When I see a dirty kitchen I clean it, even if it isn't mine. I'm kind of a neat freak. It's tedious, I don't even really like to do it but I figured...I dunno" she said, not feeling she should explain herself anymore.

"It's fine...it's just...you should rest that's all," he said to her, and then the front buzzer went off. 

"Who the hell is that?" she asked him, "You said it was 4 am."

"Someone very important," he said as he hopped up and went to the front door. He almost forgot. Adena sat there in the bed, awkwardly wondering who it was. She hoped it wasn't a girlfriend of his or a female friend. She should go. That would be awkward. But did he have a girlfriend? Was he seeing anyone? She wouldn't be surprised but if he wasn't...why not?

Her first question was soon answered when he walked back in and tossed her a fortune cookie. "It's a routine I have, every night I DJ, I always call Dragon City when I leave so by the time I get home, they are knocking at my door," he said to her as he held up a plastic Thank You bag, "You want some?" he asked her.

"No I don't have an appetite really," she said with relief. Good no angry girlfriend. She did have an appetite earlier but Taye's voicemail kind of ruined it.

Craig didn't really want to hear that. But he piled a paper plate filled with sweet and sour chicken, shrimp fried rice, chicken and broccoli, white rice, their special brown sauce, and lo mein. He walked in and placed an empty plate on the nightstand next to her. He sat down next to her and started eating. He put his feet up, leaned back, got comfy, and opened up a bottle of Bud Light. He looked over at her as he dug in. She had a weird look on her face, "What?"

"You're eating in bed without a tray, you're gonna spill," she said to him.

He laughed, "Wow you are a neat freak. Don't worry MOM, my mouth does not miss a thing," he said to her. He turned his back towards her and got an extra plastic fork. "Want some?" he asked her again but when he turned around she was gone and his bathroom door closed abruptly behind her.

Adena stared at herself in the mirror. She tried to hold back the tears but she gave up. She turned on the sink so he couldn't hear her cry.

She knew he didn't mean it but Taye screaming at her, calling her 'Mom' with such disgust, and running off to his girlfriend, unbeknownst to her, came rushing back. How couldn't she have seen the signs? They were all there. What grown man...or one who thinks he's grown...escapes from his nagging wife just to play Animal Crossing or whatever with his dumbass friends for 8 hours? Who comes home at 5 am because they were playing video games? Who actually stays that long at a nightclub? Craig works at a club and he still came home before Taye did! How could she be so blind? How could she let him just walk in and out without a fight? How could she let him just walk all over her? Her heart? Enable him. Enable this! Where was her fucking backbone?! 

Why couldn't she be a takes-no-shit-I'd-cut-his-dick-off type of girl like Missy?

Why couldn't she be an I'm-one-step-ahead-of-you-so-respect-me type of girl like Kim?

She did everything right. Right? She's got her own, with or without him, and it still wasn't good enough. She's smart, she's got a degree, and it still wasn't good enough. She was loyal, faithful, ride or die, and it still wasn't good enough.

WHAT WAS GOOD ENOUGH? 

"Adena!? Got an extra fork for ya" Craig called.

"No I'm fine really," she said back, not caring if he could hear her or not. 

She paced back and forth...which basically meant she was going in circles since the bathroom was so small. What was the point? Divorced?! At 23!? She didn't know if she could do this. She didn't want to do this. She just wanted to disappear. Kim and Missy were too strong and too smart to understand. She couldn't talk to them anymore about it. She already knew what they were gonna say. She felt like an idiot. She couldn't talk to her parents, she would only disappoint them. Their only daughter couldn't keep a man. She could date Taye for 4 years but the marriage...didn't even last a year. Maybe she wasn't marriage material.

So what was it? Personality didn't work. Classiness didn't work. It was for the birds. No wonder everyone just showed off their entire bodies on social media, no wonder girls dated more than married, hoes were turning into housewives now. She was doing it backward. All wrong. 

What was she gonna do!? How was she gonna go on like this!? Just disregarded like trash. 

Grandma would know what to say. Grandma......

Why couldn't she just stay around just a little bit longer? So she could help her with this. She didn't know how exactly but Grandma had a devoted husband for 60 years, so she knew what to do. Why did she have to go? A few months ago everything was fine. Grandma was fine. Taye was fine. She was fine. Life was fine.

Now her whole world, her whole life was falling apart. Not was. Is. It is. It has.

"I don't wanna do this anymore" she whispered through her tears. "I don't wanna suffer like this anymore."

She was tired of faking. She's been faking it while thinking she was making it. She was done. No more. She wasn't going to need to worry anymore. No one would have to. Especially Craig, he'll be able to go back to his normal life soon. And one day he'll forget all about her.

A few minutes later, Adena walked out of the bathroom with a washed face and a calm demeanor. Her eyes were less puffy, still sad, but less puffy. Craig smiled at her. Adena was strong in dealing with all of this on her own. He didn't know if he could. Actually, he couldn't. He's been through this. He never married but he's been through this. He needed to stop worrying about her, she was resilient. She was going to be just fine. Whatever she needed, he had her back. He hoped she knew that.

She sat next to him on the bed and looked at the tv. Some music video was playing but her mind was so scrambled that she couldn't pay attention. 

"Come on, just one piece of chicken," he said as he picked up a small piece of sweet and sour chicken. "Eat," he said as he put the fork toward her mouth. She resisted and turned her head. He put the plate down on the other nightstand next to the bed and said, "Hey...EAT."

Adena chuckled a little and shook her head. Then all of a sudden he started tickling her and she started to squeal a little. Somehow as he tickled her he maneuvered the chicken into her mouth. All she could do was accept defeat and chew on it. "There you go," he said with a laugh, "There you goooooo. See? It ain't killing you."

"But you made me kill my fortune cookie. I sat on it" she said as she showed him the bag with a crushed-up cookie inside. She swallowed the chicken with some water. It was delicious though. 

"Oh stop whining it's still in the bag. You can still eat it" he said as he opened his cookie and looked at the fortune and then laughed.

"What's so funny?" she asked him.

"'The source of eternal happiness will soon be found'"he read, "In bed."

"What?! Dirty fortune cookies?" she asked him.

"No, whenever you read a fortune you add 'in bed' on the end. It always makes perfect sense" he said, "That's a great fortune, I'm gonna keep this one," he said with a laugh. He got up, went over to his shelf, and put the fortune into a mason jar.

"What are you doing?" she asked him.

"Grew up saving fortune cookies. You give up and throw it away, you'll miss out on something good" he said. "What does yours say?" he asked her as he sat back on the bed.

Adena opened the bag and took the fortune slip out, she then laughed and read, "'Respect your elders'...in bed" she laughed. "Eeew."

"You still win. I've never seen someone get a fortune that ruins my theory that they're all perfect. Thanks" Craig laughed, "Oh that's classic. Hey Im older than you, I can be considered an elder. They don't have to mean elderly," he said to her. Then he realized what he said, he cleared his throat, picked up his plate, and started to eat, hoping he didn't offend her. "Chicken?" he asked her.

"I'm fine," she said quietly as she ate her fortune cookie crumbs. They sat there in silence as they both chewed. A throwback Beyonce video came on. "Her first album was her best album, not gonna lie. It's my favorite one" she commented as they watched.

Craig looked at her, impressed and surprised. "Really? Me too."

"Right? Like whose debut album, solo, has ever been more iconic than everything they did before?"

"Michael Jackson," Craig said.

Adena nodded, "Actually you're right," she said as she leaned back. Then her stomach growled. Loudly. 

"Looks like someone's appetite is back," Craig said with a laugh.

"That chicken was really good though-"

"Hold tight, I'll make you a plate," Craig said and then got up.

"No Craig you've done enough really-"

"Girl if you don't sit back and relax" Craig threatened her jokingly. "Let a dude pamper you for once," he said with a wink. 

Adena chuckled to herself, he was something else. Everything he said...hit her differently somehow? She felt truly lucky and grateful she was here with him.

She'd be worse off anywhere else.

*

Capricorns, unfortunately, are not very good judges of character...

*