by Leach, Kiki
“Vanessa, I know that Nathan can be a hot head about a lot of things when it comes to you and other men. But I don’t think he’d actually go that far with something that had to do with me and another man.”
“Oh, he wouldn’t?”
“No. And after the way he’s been with me lately, I don’t think--”
“Look,” she exclaimed. “Maybe before tonight, he wouldn’t give a damn because he’d find random pussy to give his dick a quick jerk in the meantime. But I don’t think that’ll be the case anymore.” She spun her legs around the side of the chair to face Sheila head on. “Did he ever tell you the exact reason he brought Adrian out to the Hamptons?”
“I knew that it had to do with you and Maurice.”
“Yeah, but did he give you a specific reason for it?”
“No.”
She tapped her fingers against her forehead and rocked back and forth in the chair a few times before sliding her fingers back into her hair and steadying herself again.
“He caught us screwing in my bedroom upstairs.”
Sheila guffawed. “What? When?”
“I don’t want to go into specifics about it because they’re not important. But the bottom line is that seeing us ‘wrapped up in each other’ as he put it is what drove him to call Adrian and make sure he was out there in the Hamptons with us, along with my parent’s. It’s also what led to everything that happened here tonight. I didn’t want to go into this either because I thought it could all be avoided. But shit went down between him and Maurice, who dropped by without notice, and it got bad. Really bad as you could tell the minute you walked in my front door, to the point that I finally had to call the cops and have both of their asses arrested for disturbing the peace, and assault.”
Her mouth dropped and she opened her eyes wide. “They’re in jail?!”
“As we speak,” said Vanessa. “Fists went flying and things got bloody between them like I’d never seen before. So I asked to have them locked up for the night because even in handcuffs, they couldn’t stop going at each other like two idiots who needed a good smack upside the head with a leather belt.”
Sheila brought her hand up to her mouth in shock and whispered, “Damn.”
“Yeah. Now do you see why you can’t tell him the truth just yet? The way he looked at me tonight before they shoved him into the back of that police car told me that something was already coming. I don’t know what or when or how, but I’m convinced that it is. Now, if you tell him about Adrian on top of all that? It’ll further crush his puny little ego and we are all fucked up the ass with lead pipes and no lube.”
She thought for a moment, knowing the amount of harm that could come from Nathan’s wrath if she added to his pain, and nodded. “Alright. I’ll keep it to myself for now.”
“Good.”
“But you tell me what I’m supposed to do in the meantime.”
“For starters, you could try not sleeping with Adrian again. Or if you do, keep it under wraps so that no one else finds out about it – especially Harold, otherwise it’ll be blasted across every paper from here to Hong Kong.”
“And what about Nathan?” asked Sheila. “How am I supposed to continue on keeping that up?”
“I don’t know. When he gets out, he’ll go back to you first, more than likely expecting you to stroke his ego like always so just do that, I guess.”
She scowled. “I don’t know if I can give into that like I used to, V. After being with Adrian tonight, there’s not much about Nathan that I look forward to stroking anymore.”
“Yeah, well, join the club.”
They looked at each other and laughed, genuinely. For the first time since returning to the city, Sheila felt that spark of friendship bubbling up between them that had been lost so long ago. She wasn’t sure if Vanessa felt it too, or if her feeling it was just the buzz from booze, but she didn’t care. If this was as close as she was ever going to get in having her best friend back in her life again, she was going to take it and treasure every second of it for all it was worth.
Vanessa on the other hand wasn’t so sure. When she recognized the sincere moment happening between them, reminding her of times long before she felt the sting of Sheila’s betrayal, she suddenly felt uncomfortable and was eager for her to finally leave.
“Um, I don’t know exactly what time it is, but I’ve got to find enough of it to sleep off this bottle, so…”
Sheila nodded sheepishly. “Understood. I obviously kept you up long after you should’ve been in bed for work. Sorry.” She stood up quick, but felt slightly lightheaded and woozy. Grabbing onto her head with one hand and the edge of the table with the other, she stumbled over her feet and fell back into the chair.
Startled, Vanessa sat up. “Are you going to be able to get back to the hotel in just a cab like that?”
“I was worse than this after Bar Nineteen.”
“Worse than nearly falling on your ass?”
Taking a few deep breaths and trying not to think too hard about it, Sheila placed one hand on the table and the other on the head of the chair and slowly stood up again. Feeling more balanced this time, she took one step to the right and another to the left. But before even making it out of the kitchen, she found herself tumbling through the door and toppling to the floor like an old school Jenga set. Her purse went flying out of her hand, as did one shoe that nearly knocked Vanessa back in the face. After landing, the door to the kitchen swung back, smacking her in the side of her stomach. She groaned in pain and reached down to stroke her ribs.
“Shit.” Vanessa got up from her chair and went over to her side. “Are you alright?” she asked, taking her by the arm and dragging her around to sit up.
Sheila grabbed her head and side again, and nodded. “Cheap wine doesn’t normally hit me like this, but I haven’t eaten since this afternoon, so that may be a factor too.”
Vanessa smacked Sheila’s hand against the floor and glowered. “After I saw you tumbling like a block of Legos, I thought for a split second about being generous enough to offer you space on the couch for the night. But even drunk, you still can’t stop yourself from being such a bitch.”
“How does what I said about your wine being cheap make me a bitch, Vanessa? It IS cheap.”
“It doesn’t matter if it was two dollars or two hundred and sixty. You don’t go around telling people that their shit is cheap and not worthy of you while simultaneously drinking every last drop of it! It’s rude as hell and makes you look like a hypocrite – a word I’m pretty sure you’ll need to look up in the dictionary once you’re sober.”
Sheila whipped her head around and snarled. “Why don’t you scream all of that a little louder, V? I don’t think my eardrums heard you in Tokyo.”
Vanessa shoved her aside and jumped to her feet. “This is exactly why we’ll never be friends again,” she told her, “and I’m completely good with that.”
She stepped over Sheila, just missing her hand by a few inches, and headed into the foyer.
Sheila twisted her body around and shouted, “Where are you going?”
“Upstairs to bed,” Vanessa answered.
“You’re just going to leave me here?”
“Hell yeah! Because I don’t give a damn what you do or where you go from here. Crawl out the door for all I care. I’m tired as hell and I’m just about done with everything this evening, your ass included.”
As she stomped off and headed upstairs, Sheila tried rolling over to her knees, but was still so dizzy, that she fell right back down on her ass. Dissatisfied, she straightened her legs and dropped her hands to her lap.
“Ugh!”
She fell back to the floor and stared up at the ceiling.
Resigned to the fact that she’d be forced to spend the rest of the night on Vanessa’s floor like a dog, she started counting the lines in every single crack above her head to help her fall asleep.
Part Sixteen
The next morning, Sheila found herse
lf being forced awake by the aggravating sound of a doorbell. Thanks to the copious amounts of ‘cheap wine’ she had downed from the night before, her head was pounding so badly that she almost forgot where she was and why.
It wasn’t until she opened one eye and then the other, rubbed them a few times to adjust her blurred vision and looked around the living room – which was now completely lit thanks to the natural lighting from the sun that shined through the sheer curtains behind her head – that she even realized she was still inside of Vanessa’s house instead of back in her room at The Palace. Only now, she was lying on a more than comfortable couch in place of the cold, hard floor between her kitchen and foyer.
Feeling something scratching at her feet, she stretched her legs and looked down at herself, taking note of the fact that she was not only on the couch but had been draped with a canary yellow thermal blanket that ran from her neck straight down to her toes. The thing made her itch like hell and was covered in moth balls and lent, and what may or may not have been hair that belonged to a dog or cat; which meant that she went lurking through Vanessa’s house for something to cover herself with before officially passing out in the only room downstairs that contained any furniture with actual reclining positions.
Or, Vanessa decided that stepping over her to get to the kitchen and out the front door was going to be more trouble that it was worth, and dragged her ass from the floor into the living room before officially passing out herself upstairs. Sheila was banking on the latter, if only because she hoped that even the smallest gesture of kindness from her former friend meant that there was in fact still hope in mending their fractured relationship.
But when that bell rang again, all of that hope flew straight out the window and was replaced by even more throbbing pain. As it emanated throughout her face and slammed against the back of her head, Sheila circled her fingers around her eyebrows and across her temples, and tried sitting up. Unfortunately, the moment a rush of wind knocked her straight in the face, she felt just as woozy as she had the night before and had the violent urge to vomit, though she tried to swallow it back to keep from ruining Vanessa’s blanket and couch.
She knew then, as the sensation of acid burned the back of her throat and her stomach rumbled and curdled, that she obviously hadn’t gotten enough sleep which would have more than likely prevented all of this from happening. Aside from a few times in her life (though more and more as of late), she had never been known to drink more than her fair share of alcohol. And when she did, she always managed to sleep it off without any problems developing over the next day.
Sadly, this wouldn’t be one of those days. Not by a long shot.
Clutching her head, she tried rocking back and forth to help the pain subside. But as the bell continued to blast throughout the house, she screamed out in agony. Ripping the blanket from her body and swinging her legs around to the front of the couch, she bent down to her lap and covered her face.
“V?” she called out in a muffled voice through her hands. The bell rang again. “V!”
Screaming even louder made her head want to explode into ten-thousand tiny pieces all over the room.
When Vanessa still hadn’t answered or made her way down the stairs to even see who was standing on the other side of that door, Sheila looked back at the clock on the bookcase and noticed it was only 6:15am. Assuming she may have still been asleep and thus unable to hear any sound at all due to their late night (and Vanessa’s own grandiose consumption of alcohol), Sheila slowly stood up and prepared to answer the door herself.
Still holding her head as she traipsed into the foyer, she noticed that every piece of glass from the night before had been swept away and all blood had been removed with some kind of cleaning solution, making the floor just as spotless as it was the first time she had seen it. Even the broken coatrack had disappeared, though the chair remained in the corner, albeit with a few scratches denting various parts of the wood.
The only other noticeable blemish remaining was the staircase, which made Sheila wonder if Vanessa planned to leave it uncovered as a reminder of Nathan’s constant destruction, not only in her life but now inside her home.
Maybe she left it visible as a way to keep him from coming back, she thought.
When the ringing turned to knocking, she grudgingly trudged forward and peeked one eye through the peephole.
Getting an eyeful of none other than Nikki, she smirked and turned her face up toward the stairs.
When Nikki knocked again, explaining that she needed the door opened because she lost her key, Sheila turned back and called out Vanessa’s name as loudly as she could, which sent vibrations right through the wood of the door.
From the other side, Nikki pushed her brows together and tilted her head like a confused dog. The voice from inside the house was recognizable, but sure as hell didn’t sound a damn thing like Vanessa’s from what she could understand. Not to mention, she knew that her best friend wouldn’t be crazy enough to shout her own name throughout her own house. At least not during a time in which she wasn’t dropping acid or any other illegal drug.
Nikki knocked again in the hopes to get a good look for herself at what the hell might have been going on inside and by the fourth hard bang, the door slowly pulled back, revealing a beaming Sheila, which made her almost swallow her tongue whole. Her eyes quickly moved left to right and she glanced up at the number on the door to make sure she was at the right place.
Sheila casually folded her arms and leaned to the side, eying Nikki from her head straight down to the one of a kind pink and red leather Prada peep toe pumps gracing her newly manicured feet. Instantly intrigued yet at the same time envious and bemused at how Nikki had managed to snag a pair before they were even in stores (because even William of all people couldn’t have had that kind of connection, right? And Vanessa would’ve snagged them for herself), Sheila looked back into her puzzled eyes and tiled her head.
“Can I help you with something?” asked Sheila snidely.
“Yes.” Nikki took a step forward. “By moving the hell out of my way.” She pushed Sheila aside and without hesitance, stormed right through the foyer.
Staring back at her, Sheila echoed a laugh and closed the door. “And good morning to you too, sunshine--”
“Where the hell is Vanessa?” asked Nikki, spinning around on her heels and thrusting her purse in Sheila’s face.
Sheila jerked her head back and shoved Nikki’s hand down. “Relax, Dora,” she snapped. Nikki could’ve thrown a hand across her face right then and there for that remark, but held herself back from getting physical inside of Vanessa’s home. “I’m sure that wherever the hell she is,” she continued, “she’s safe and sound.”
“Safe and sound?” Nikki fiercely rattled her head. “What the hell have you done with her – V!” she yelled.
Sheila slid her fingers up the side of her face and plugged her ears. “Could you please keep your voice dow--”
“Vanessa! There is a She-Devil lurking inside your house!” Trampling through the kitchen before backtracking into the living room, Nikki tossed her purse in a chair and headed for the stairs, only stopping when she noticed the severely broken railing. Everything suddenly went cold for her then, as if she had just spotted the body of someone she knew personally straddling a garbage can in a dark alley. She rounded the stairs to get a good look at the wide hole in the railing and anxiously clutched her chest. “There’s blood here,” she breathed. “In parts of the wood, there’s small drops of dried blood.” She turned her focus back to Sheila and jumped down past the last step. “What the hell did you do with her?” She reached her arms out and grabbed her by the collar of her shirt, yanking her close. “Where is she, PUTA?!”
Sheila quickly moved her arms beneath Nikki’s and shoved her hard in the chest with both hands. Nikki flew back against the broken railing, forcing more beams to collapse around her head, but caught herself on the edge of the wood before she was able to completely fall to the
ground.
“Are you crazy?!” Sheila hollered, fixing her shirt as it stretched down to the center of her chest. “I just bought this from Ralph Lauren two days ago!”
Nikki wobbled on her heels as she attempted to stand up straight and laughed. “Well now you can stuff it into the bargain bin where it belongs. Then again…” She tugged down on her skirt. “I’m not sure even those on a tight budget would wear clothes first worn by a skunk.”
Sheila glared at her while continuing to readjust her shirt.
“Now what the hell did you do to Vanessa?”
“I told you that I didn’t do anything to her, you lunatic! Is English becoming your third language now?”
“You are such garbage,” Nikki replied. “You’ve always been hateful about who I am and where I come from.”
“Oh, stop feeling sorry for yourself -- !”
“And you hate even more that Vanessa has always chosen me over you and will continue to do so no matter what ever happens between us.”
Sheila snickered and leaned back on the heels of her feet. “You sound more like her lover than her friend.”
“I’m not the one who’s always been obsessed with getting back into her life after being so rightfully kicked out of it. If I didn’t know any better, I would think that you and Nathan were the exact same person.” Nikki took a step forward and exhaled between her lips, forcing a baffled Sheila to take a few steps back. “La forma de que tus payasadas espejo mutuamente es francamente aterrador. To the extreme. Now where is she?”
Sheila had no idea what Nikki had just said and never cared to understand her native tongue, even when they were children. All she knew was that every word had more than likely insulted her, like always, but she wasn’t going to appear intimidated by it, especially in the face of someone she never liked or respected as either a person or woman.
