Live & Learn ~ A Miss Independent Novel

by Kiki Leach

  “When will that be?”

  “Around 3am. Let’s go.” They bypassed the bouncer and headed inside in search of a table near the dancefloor. Psychedelic lights flooded every corner of the room as music blared from the live 80s cover band playing at the very front. The drunk people were already being obnoxious, sloppily dancing with one another and attempting to sing along to bad chords, while any hint of a good-looking man that appeared to be single was almost seven to none. Sheila hoped the night wouldn’t be a complete bust based on these facts alone. She pulled Melanie in closer to keep them together and leaned into her ear. “A woman I went to high school with, her new boyfriend’s father owns this place,” she said in a loud voice. “She said the drinks were good and cheap if we gave them her name, and that’s all I was looking for tonight since I have to use cash instead of Nathan’s credit cards. He flipped his shit earlier about how much I spent at the spa.”

  “You don’t have your own money?”

  “I do, but most of it’s in a fund that I can’t get to until I’m twenty-five.”

  Melanie faintly rolled her eyes at the privilege. “So what’s your friend’s name?” she hollered over the music.

  “We’re not exactly friends… Her name’s Eliza Duncan.”

  “The author?”

  Sheila bobbed her head as they continued to bounce through the crowd. “Yeah!”

  “I have every volume of her books. They’re not very well written, but they were informative.”

  “I hate to read.”

  “Didn’t you tell me this afternoon that you wanted to write for Attitude?”

  “Yeah!”

  Melanie widened her eyes and chuckled. “Okay.”

  When they finally found an empty table, they called someone over to clean it. While waiting, Sheila shook her body to the ear-piercing music and looked around for any familiar faces. Her eyes landed on someone who looked a lot like Nathan standing near the bar. She thought about moving closer to see if it was really him, but when he turned, she realized it wasn’t and for a split second, thought that she was going crazy in believing that it might have been in the first place. Once the table was clean and they took their seats, a woman dressed in a red tank, white shorts, and a pair of blue cowboy boots came over with what looked like an IPad in her hand to take the order.

  “I’m Cherry,” the woman told them in a sullen tone. She looked as if she would have preferred jumping off the nearest cliff as opposed to taking any more orders that night. “What’ll it be?”

  “Cherry?” asked Sheila snidely. “Have you been popped yet?” Melanie laughed, but ducked in the shame of having done so. The woman laughed too but wasn’t sincere about it; she was only looking for a decent tip. “Sorry. Listen, can I get a vodka martini with two olives? And I’d like a specific vodka if you have it tonight, Circoc. And I don’t want it stirred, I don’t like that.”

  “Vodka martini, two olives, shaken.” She pressed her pen against the pad and looked over at Melanie. “You?”

  “I’ll just have the same for now.”

  “Perfect--”

  “By the way, we’re friends of Eliza Duncan,” Sheila interjected.

  “Isn’t everybody who comes here?” the waitress asked before traipsing off to the bar. Sheila didn’t know whether to take that as a literal statement, or figurative.

  Melanie crossed her legs and leaned down on the table. “This place is kind of loud.”

  “Yeah! It’s great, right?” she asked. Melanie shot her an awkward glance. “So what happened with you after leaving the spa?”

  “I went straight home to check on my kids since the nanny only had them for a little while today. But my mother flew into the city before I left, so she’s taking care of them now while I’m out having a good time and Oscar’s busy at work.”

  Sheila noticed her eyes diverting and tilted her head. “You sound kinda sad when you talk about him.”

  She caught herself and slid back on the table. “I don’t mean to.”

  “How long have you two been married, again?”

  “It’ll be five years in September. If we actually make it that long.”

  Cherry promptly returned with their drinks and plopped them down with liquor splattering across the table. “Can I get you anything else?”

  Sheila grabbed a napkin to dab the drops of vodka that splashed on her dress. “No, thanks.”

  “Sure.”

  She glared as Cherry walked away. “She sure as hell ain’t gettin’ a tip, unless it’s an advisement to change her damn name,” she mumbled. She threw the napkin down and took a sip of her martini. “Mm. At least this is good. Probably because it was made by someone else.” She sat down her glass and looked straight into Melanie’s eyes, then slapped her hands together and quickly rubbed them back and forth. Melanie grew cautious and leaned back in her chair. “So” – she flicked her hair behind her and bent forward – “what is your story?”

  “I told you most of it this afternoon.”

  “You told me about the husband and the kids and blah, blah, blah.” She smacked her fingers against her thumb. “But I want to know about you. What was your life like before you decided to settle down, get married and have this fabulous life in two cities?”

  “Lackluster,” she said with a laugh as she reached for her drink. “It was dull. I didn’t have much going on aside from work. The Hollywood part was fun, but that would only last for so long which made everything else around me dull. It was only when I met Oscar that things really began to blossom for me outside of my daily routine.”

  “How so?”

  She shrugged her shoulders while drinking back the martini, then sat it down and looked around the place. “Just in different aspects.”

  “Why are you so afraid to tell me anything more? You gave me bits and pieces and I’ve read your cover story in the magazine. Afraid that if you tell me something no one else knows, I might use it against you in the future?”

  “Hey, Sheila” – she opened her hands wide and grinned – “look, from what saw from you this afternoon, I actually like. But to be perfectly honest, I don’t really know you very well outside of that. Or from what I’ve heard around this city--”

  “Most of it being all lies.”

  “You having an affair with Vanessa’s boyfriend in high school, the man you’re marrying now – or was that a lie too?”

  Sheila dropped her head, embarrassed. “Unfortunately, that one is all too true. I’ve never been proud in how that situation came about. But if you expect me to sit here and apologize for being with him now, then we can just end the night right here and go our separate ways.”

  “I’m not expecting you to apologize for anything,” Melanie reassured her. “At least you own up to it. I know plenty of people who wouldn’t.”

  Sheila smirked and rested her head in her hands. “Plan on sharing any stories?” She was always in the mood for hearing a good piece of gossip.

  Melanie raised her glass. “Not until I’ve had another one of these first.”

  “Then let’s get this thing started.” She called over the waitress and ordered more drinks, this time, a pair of screwdrivers with four shots of rum.

  For over two and a half hours, they laughed and talked about everything from their shoe collection, to their waist size, to politics (which bored Sheila to tears), to race in America, to men, which livened them both up immensely.

  Melanie swallowed back another shot and reached for a lime on the table. Sheila covered her mouth laughing at the sour face she made. She grabbed a glass of club soda to wash the taste back with and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.

  “I haven’t had drinks like this since I was sixteen.”

  “Seriously?” asked Sheila. “If that’s true, then you couldn’t have been friends with Vanessa in high school. If you didn’t drink at least a little bit, you weren’t considered to be ‘in the circle’.” She raised her fingers and performed quotations. She laughed again
and rolled her eyes while drinking back her Bellini.

  “Now that you’ve mentioned Vanessa, and since we’re talking about men…” Melanie grabbed an olive from one of her martini glasses and with the plastic toothpick still attached, slid it back and forth between her lips. “Her roommate is one of the most beautiful men I’ve ever met before in my life.”

  “Are you’re talking about Maurice?”

  “That’s the one.”

  “Mm.” She bobbed her head side to side. “He’s a nice piece of eye candy, but kind of an asshole if you’re not his precious V. He did me a few favors back in high school that I paid him for, and he’s never let it go.”

  Melanie raised the pick at an angle and slid the olive off with her tongue. “Well I saw him running one day when I was out shopping for fruit. He was covered in sweat and hadn’t even noticed that he was gleaming from the shine of it. I wanted to lick him from head to toe right in front of everyone who passed by us, but I didn’t think that would be appropriate.”

  “Probably not.” She laughed nervously and looked around the room as if she expected Vanessa to come out from some place the moment Melanie said Maurice’s name in such a sensual way. “Besides, Vanessa most likely would’ve killed you since they’re seeing each other now.”

  Shock crossed Melanie’s face, but she tried to play it off. “I think I remember her telling me something about that… we’ll see how long it lasts.”

  “Why do you say it like that?”

  “I like Vanessa. She’s a good person. She’s smart and beautiful… but she seems sort of unbalanced and angry a lot of the time.”

  “With any luck, Maurice can change that,” Sheila replied. “And maybe if she’s finally happy again, it’ll help change her attitude toward me.” Melanie didn’t seem so sure; it was more of her not wanting to believe it than it not being true. “But I’ve seen Oscar too, and he isn’t all that bad to look at either.”

  “You’re right, my husband is handsome. He is. I just haven’t seen what he’s looked like outside of his clothes in months. Maybe even almost a year.” She knocked back her third shot of tequila and quickly ordered a few more from their passing waitress, who brought back half of the bar on a tray.

  Stunned at what she had just been told, Sheila moved in close, her mouth opened, her eyes narrowed. “Are you saying that you two haven’t had sex in almost a year?”

  “That’s what I’m saying.”

  “Doesn’t your body miss it?”

  “All the time.”

  Sheila looked away and gulped back the rest of her Bellini, then pounded back another shot. Hearing Melanie’s confession forced her to think about her own time with Nathan. “If we’re being honest here, I hadn’t had sex in almost the same amount of time. I missed it like crazy, being touched by a man. A vibrator can only do so much and the battery life wasn’t worth it most of the time. Plus, I missed having someone inside of me who knew what they were doing.” Melanie lifted her brows. “Not that I didn’t know how to take care of myself, I did. And I never cheated on Nathan or anything like that, though there have been times I was tempted to ride a dick just to find some release for all the tension that had been building up between us. But no matter where I ever wanted to go, I knew no man could ever measure up to him. He’s the only one I’ve ever been with that knew how to make love to me. He could touch me a certain way, and I’d come in an instant. He just knew how to work it from the very beginning. I think that’s why I’ve stayed sprung off of him for so long… and maybe for a few other reasons.”

  “‘Dickmatized’ is what they call it now, right?” she asked.

  Sheila eyed her with interest. “What does a blue eyed girl from the Midwest know about that?”

  “More than you would think…. Have you two started having sex again?”

  “We did. The first time was after the reunion. We had a huge fight and I was so pissed after seeing him dancing with Vanessa. We got back to the room and I just remember screaming at him, and then he left. He was gone for hours and I still don’t know where he went; he refused to tell me and I just stopped asking to avoid more fighting. By the time he got back, I was asleep, but he woke me up and didn’t say a word. We just started kissing and it went from there.”

  “What made him change his mind about coming back to have sex with you?”

  “I don’t know. And I didn’t care at the time because I thought I had finally had him back. Except I didn’t.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “Because nothing has really changed since then. Our sex life is sort of back on track, but I thought that by giving ourselves to each other again, it meant him staying away from Vanessa. I know that it’s unrealistic to think that they will never talk or see each other, but why can’t he stay away from her until we get married? It’s like a moth to a flame with those two. I can’t get past that even though I have tried so damn hard for so damn long to do it. The only reason we even came back to this city is because he wanted to attend that damn reunion. Admittedly, I wanted to try and get back in Vanessa’s good graces so I signed up for it, but I never thought that all of that would lead to any of this.”

  “To what?”

  “This life we’re living now. It’s not that I don’t enjoy the benefits of it, but I’m lucky that some of the people I’ve hired to work with me on my wedding are even bothering to do so after that fight was smeared across every paper from here to the Pacific. I just thought that my life would be different, better once we got closer to making it official. And it hasn’t turned out that way.”

  “Life’s a bitch and then you die, right?” Melanie smiled. “I never thought my life would turn out the way it has either, but here I am competing for my husband’s affections with a whorish barista.”

  Sheila narrowed her eyes. “What?”

  “My husband has been having an affair with Nicole Sanger. That’s why we haven’t been having sex.”

  “You’re kidding.”

  “I wish I were.” Cherry brought over a few more martinis. Melanie thanked her and took a few sips of one, then returned her focus to Sheila. “You’re not so bowled over in hearing that news about her?”

  She slowly shook her head. “If it’s one thing I’ve always known about Nikki Sanger it’s what a fucking hypocrite she is. Bitch has been too hot to thot since we were kids. All throughout high school, she blasted me for sleeping around when I knew for a fact that she was doing the same. But none of her prospects ever talked about it unless prompted – either because she initially paid them to keep quiet and the money ran out, or she wasn’t that good at making them come, so they didn’t want to bother telling anybody that a girl who looked like her couldn’t get them off. Whenever she found out I had been with someone different, she treated me as if I were lower than the shit that rots at the bottom of the fucking earth. Meanwhile, she was getting her jollies off in classrooms with teachers and students alike.”

  “Teachers?”

  “She’s always had a thing for older men, they’re like catnip. That’s something I think she and Vanessa might have in common.”

  “Maurice can’t be that much older than V, can he?”

  “Maurice isn’t who I was talking about…” She waved her hand, hoping Melanie hadn’t caught on to her words. “But that isn’t the point. If Nikki is trying to claim your territory, I’d say to hit her where it hurts. Tell Oscar to fire her. I’d bet every dime of my inheritance that she barely shows up as it is because she’s too busy going on ‘auditions’. The day she actually lands one will be the day that hell freezes over. She has no other real income, but I’m sure whatever she’s getting now from her current sugar daddy will suffice until he finally wises up and cuts her loose, which he should. She likes them older, maybe not so much wiser because they see her face and her body and just want to climb all over her like a tree. She does something to them. I don’t know what, but whatever it is forces their wallets to miraculously drop open. Vanessa’s practically been t
aking care of her since we graduated, but it’s never been enough. If you don’t get rid of her fast, you’re going to keep having trouble on your hands.” She drank the rest of her shot and slid it to the side as Cherry returned with another on cue. “I might have to rethink the tip if you keep ‘em coming like this.”

  Cherry laughed.

  When she moved past their table, Melanie turned her head toward the bar and instantly spotted someone she recognized. “I think I know that woman over there from when I lived here before – Jill!” she called out. “Jill Schaffer!” A woman with bright red hair and electric green eyes who was with her own group of friends near the end of the bar, saw Melanie and waved. She whispered something to her friends about meeting them at their own table, then eased her slender body through the crowd. Sheila continued sucking down her drink, only looking up to smile when Jill finally got to them. “Oh my God!” Melanie stood up to hug her, then pulled back and admired her outfit. “I haven’t seen you in what feels like forever! How has everything been?”

  “Good!” Jill replied. “Great, in fact. I just had our first little one not so long ago. He’s at home with David.”

  “How long have you two been married now?”

  “Six years in December.”

  Melanie glanced down at Sheila who sat her drink down and anxiously eyed them both. “Oh, I’m sorry! Dr. Jill Schaffer, this is my new friend, Sheila Harris.”

  They shook hands. “Sheila, Harris,” said Jill, squinting to get a better look at her face. “You look vaguely familiar to me. Have we met?”

  Sheila immediately thought of the papers and brought her hair forward to cover what little of her face that she could. “No, I don’t think so. What do you, um…” She snapped her fingers in trying to remember the right word to use; the alcohol was beginning to soak up the other parts of her brain that it hadn’t gotten to just yet.

  “Gynecology,” she answered, realizing. “I started working at the New York Medical Center just last month.”