Sister Girls
Page 24
“So, are you going away with me this weekend?” Janay asked Elsie, bringing her back to the here and now.
“No, Janay, I’ve decided not to go.” Janay looked at Elsie expectantly, as if she were waiting for an explanation. Elsie offered none.
“Why not?” Janay wanted to know. She knew Elsie and Summer were no longer together, although it wasn’t because Elsie had told her. She heard it through the grapevine, which was very short in the gay community. Janay planned on making Elsie hers once again. The plan was to wine, dine and charm her on a cruise. It was an annual event given by the African-American gay community.
“I just don’t think it’s a good idea.” Elsie was trying to break the news in an easy way, unlike how she did it with Summer.
“Why not? Do you have other plans?” Janay had on a long, black satin nightgown, almost sheer. She looked sexy as hell. Her plan was to seduce Elsie, have her stay the night, get up and cook breakfast. She could tell now that this wasn’t going to go as planned. She looked down at Elsie’s hands and noticed they were crossed, as though she were nervous.
“After some serious thought, I’ve decided that it would be best for us to just be friends.”
Janay snapped her head up. She was caught off guard. “What? What do you mean just friends?” She wasn’t trying to hear it. She placed her hand in Elsie’s hair and moved her fingers down the nape of her neck.
Elsie grabbed Janay’s hand and asked, “Didn’t you just hear what I said?”
“I think you need to rethink it. How about we go upstairs and make love? After we’re done, we can discuss our relationship.”
“Janay, why do you always think lovemaking is the answer? This time it’s not. And why are you trying to make this harder than it needs to be?”
“We just got back together, and already you’re talking about breaking up.”
Elsie stood up. “We haven’t gotten back together. We were just seeing one another. We started this whole thing off wrong anyway. I cheated on Summer with you, and we both know that was wrong.”
“Well, you weren’t happy with her anyway, so what difference does it make?”
“It just does. Listen, I’m sorry if I led you on, but how was I to know you were making this out to be so much more than it was?”
“What, you thought I was just wasting my time?”
“I don’t know what I thought. What I know is I’ve decided I don’t want to be in any kind of relationship. I’ve never really had a chance to be by myself. I’ve never done that before. I’ve always gone from one relationship to another, and somewhere down the line, I lost myself.”
Pissed off, Janay said, “So, you came over here to tell me this bullshit? You could have told me this over the phone.”
“I could have, and maybe I should have, but I didn’t. I thought you would understand.” Elsie grabbed her purse and walked toward the door.
“You know this is it. You’ll never have another chance with me,” Janay stated, placing her hands on her hips.
Elsie didn’t feel a need to respond. She just walked out the door and closed another chapter of her life.
END OF AFFAIRS
Roger and Crystal were lying in the bed. They’d just finished making love and were basking in the afterglow. Crystal was feeling good about her decision to start life over, her way, alcohol-free. She wanted to have a clear head and be of sound mind and body when she went to visit her mom.
She decided to end a relationship—the one she had with Lange. It wasn’t easy, because she still lusted after him, but lust and love were two different things, and she needed something more substantial. To her surprise, when she broke the news to him, he understood. He wished her the best and told her it didn’t mean they couldn’t hang out sometimes.
She’d thought of telling Roger the same thing, and was all set to do so when he came over. It didn’t go as planned.
Earlier that day, Roger called and said he wanted to see her. Not having any plans for the day, she told him to come on over. She could use the company. She figured Roger would be a nice distraction. Crystal couldn’t stop thinking about her mother. She was consumed with making plans to go see her again as soon as possible.
When Roger arrived, his first question was, “How’s your mom?”
They were sitting on the couch in the living room. Crystal had spoken to her earlier, and she sounded fine. “That’s good to hear. Do you know when you’re going to see her again?”
“In about two weeks,” Crystal responded. Two weeks seemed so far away, but she had a case she needed to wrap up, and it was stressing the hell out of her.
Roger noticed her tenseness and told her, “Listen, you need to relax. Everything is going to work out. You’re going to be there by your mother’s side, and with prayer and patience, it’ll work out.”
Crystal looked at Roger and asked him, “How can you be so sure?”
“It’s called faith, sweetie.”
“Easier said than done,” Crystal told him.
Roger stood up and walked behind the couch. He placed his hands on Crystal’s shoulders and started massaging them. “With your traveling back and forth to North Carolina, who’s going to take care of Billie?” Billie had finally gotten used to Roger and no longer growled at him.
Crystal relaxed under Roger’s touch. “I placed an ad in the paper, and three people are coming to look at him today.”
“So, you’re going to sell him to a stranger?”
“I don’t have much of a choice,” Crystal said.
“How about I take Billie?”
“Stop playing.” Crystal turned to face Roger, to see if he was serious.
“I’m not playing. I’m serious. I’ve been thinking about getting a pet, and why not have one I’m familiar with? Plus, this way you won’t be giving him to a stranger. You’ll still get to see him.”
Crystal wanted so badly to say yes, but she didn’t want to feel obligated to Roger because of a dog.
“Don’t worry,” Roger said, reading her expression. “It won’t hold you to me.”
“I wasn’t thinking that,” she told him.
“Yes, you were. It was written all over your face.”
Crystal smirked.
“I’ll tell you what,” Roger told her. “Meet with the people, and if you don’t find one you like, I’ll be more than happy to take him home with me.”
“Okay, that’s a plan,” she told him.
Roger ended up spending the whole day at Crystal’s and meeting with the potential owners alongside her. As it turned out, she didn’t like anyone.
After the third person left, Roger laughed and asked her, “You don’t think you’re being too picky?”
“I probably am,” she confessed.
She knew that she would end up taking Roger up on his offer. Exhausted and in need of a nap, Crystal yawned.
“Want me to give you a massage before you turn in?” Roger offered.
Not one to turn down such an offer, Crystal said, “Yes. I’d like that very much.”
So upstairs they went. Once in the bedroom, Crystal asked Roger, “You want me to undress?”
“Yes.” There was a huskiness in his voice.
“A massage only, right?”
“Unless you want more.”
Crystal figured he would say that, and she chose not to answer him, because one never knows...
After undressing down to her boy-cut panties, she lay on her stomach and closed her eyes. The massage oil lay near the bed, and she relaxed under Roger’s slow, even strokes.
“What’s on your mind?” he asked, thinking it was her mother.
“Us,” she told him.
“What about us?”
“You want the truth?” Crystal asked.
Roger stopped massaging and braced himself.
Crystal turned over and sat up in the bed. “Before you arrived today, I was thinking about telling you I thought it best if we don’t see one another anymore. But after spend
ing the whole day with you and feeling your love for me, I’ve come to realize it’s what I want. I enjoy what you give me. I enjoy feeling like you have my back, like you have my best interests at heart.”
Roger sat on the bed next to her. “So, what are you telling me?”
“That I’m ready to be your girl.”
Roger responded by leaning over and placing his lips on hers. “Do you know how long I’ve waited to hear those words?”
Crystal started unbuttoning Roger’s shirt and told him, “Make love to me, Roger. Make love to me like it’s our first time together.”
As Roger stood up to undress, Crystal’s phone started to ring.
“Don’t answer it,” Roger said.
“I have to. I’m expecting my mother to call. I promise I won’t forget where we left off.” Crystal leaned over and picked up the phone. It was Susan.
“I’m just calling to remind you about tomorrow. Please be here early. I’m going to need the support of my best friend.”
Crystal smiled. Susan and Timothy’s wedding date was one day away, and it was a pleasure knowing they were starting a new drug-free life together.
“I won’t forget,” she reassured Susan, “Remember, you are not alone in this.”
When Crystal hung up, she was smiling. Roger asked, “What are you smiling about?”
How could Crystal explain to him all the changes that the women in the office made over the past six months? Would he understand the significance of it? She decided not to try.
It was best kept between sister girls.
PLEASE EMAIL THE AUTHOR AT
msangelhunter@aol.com
AND CHECK OUT HER WEBSITE AT
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Sister Girls Copyright © 2005 Angel M. Hunter
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without prior consent of the Publisher, except brief quotes used in reviews.
ISBN: 978-1-8931-9644-5
First Mass Market Printing May 2006
First Trade Paperback Printing May 2005
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This is a work of fiction. Any references or similarities to actual events, real people, living or dead, or to real locales are intended to give the novel a sense of reality. Any similarity in other names, characters, places, and incidents is entirely coincidental.
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