Authors: Alice Dee
“And then?”
“And I let him make love to me and then he went home and she got there.”
“His girlfriend?” she said with a gasp.
“And they started fighting. I mean, he had just gotten out of my shower. They fought, she left, he went after her. This is exactly why I don’t need this shit in my life.”
“He went after her?” Shamayla brushed strands of hair out of Hope’s face.
“Yeah he did, and broke plans with me. Whatever, I’ll forget him.”
Shamayla sighed.
“He probably felt obligated.”
“I felt so stupid.” Hope sighed heavy. “I just wonder if I’ll ever meet the right guy.”
“What if Dominic is that guy?”
“Are you serious? He’s screwing his girlfriend over his girlfriend by screwing me! Is that a good guy?”
“Cheating doesn’t always make you a bad person.”
“It says a lot about a person.”
“Maybe he really likes you. Maybe you’re the one for him. Maybe he’s the one for you.”
“How could you think that-“
“And maybe just because he cheated on her doesn’t mean he’d do the same to you.” Shamayla shifted her body. “The way Dominic looks at you, it’s like nothing I’ve seen. It’s not just lust or-“
“Then why did he go after her? Maybe he does love her and I’m a mistake. Whatever, I’ll forget him.”
“Let me ask you this? Did being around Shane tonight help you forget about Dominic?”
Hope stayed quit for a bit.
“It might take a little longer to completely forget about him, for whatever reason. But I will. It was just sex, obviously. Why cry over it?”
Shamayla cracked the door open.
“I hope it works out with him…or Shane. He’s funny!”
Shamayla got out of the car and shut the door. She said bye to Hope and watched her speed off up the street and turn the corner, gone in seconds.
27…She’s preg
Dominic tried to reach Tristan but she wouldn’t take his calls and sent Josephine to answer the door and turn Dominic away. Ignorant to the facts, Josephine answered the door but was polite and courteous and wouldn’t lie to Dominic. She didn’t know what was going on between them and didn’t want to know. Josephine felt sorry for Dominic because he had gone to the house three times that day and Josephine felt bad not letting him in.
Dominic gave up after ten o’ clock, his latest attempt to talk to her at her house. He went home with plans of apologizing to Hope for bailing on her but she wasn’t home. So he went to his empty apartment, waiting up for a call from Tristan, for Hope to get home, for either or both.
Hope sat up in bed and flicked on her lamp illuminating her living room/bedroom with that deep pink color she was so familiar with. Even that light was intense on her sleepy eyes. There was another knock on the door confirming the first knock she wasn’t sure happened or not. For a moment Hope was sure it was Zefar looking for Shamayla again. She rubbed her eyes but there was still a film of floaters in them. The knocking continued. Hope twisted her hair and brought it up front over her shoulder, covering one side of her chest. She got out of bed, tripping on a shoe, and stopped before considering opening the door.
“Who is it?” she called out.
“Dominic,” his muffled voice called back.
She glanced at her watch.
“It’s late!”
“Open the door, please?”
She wanted to see him, to let him explain away. But she didn’t need an explanation. She thought that maybe it was best to just go back to bed and ignore him, only she couldn’t ignore him.
“Come back in the morning.”
“I need to see you.” On the other side of the door under the dim yellow light that spot-lit up her doorstep, Dominic stood with his forehead pressed against her door.
Hope sighed and started to turn the top lock but stopped when she realized her breath was probably killer and she had drool crust on the corner of her lips.
“Just a minute,” she called out. She went to the kitchen and downed a glass of tap water, figuring that miniscule dose of multiple poisons wouldn’t kill her instantly. She wiped her mouth with a kitchen towel, ran her fingers through her hair and opened the door.
Dominic apologized for making her get out of bed but he liked seeing her off guard, in nothing but a shirt and no makeup whatsoever. At the club she was an exquisite, ornate donut, like the pink ones with sprinkles. Right now she was still extraordinary, like a glazed donut rather than a plain one.
“What couldn’t wait till morning?”
Dominic closed her door behind him.
“I was waiting up for you but I fell asleep.”
Hope crossed her arms. He didn’t look like he had been sleeping. He was dressed and his features were popping unlike hers. She could feel her eyes wanting to close; burning like there was air in them. She was eager at his presence but she was worn out nonetheless. Dominic wouldn’t sit down till Hope asked him to. He apologized for never coming back earlier that day, for leaving her “hanging”. Hope sat at the edge of her bed with a deep, pensive expression.
“It’s all right. I’m not the type of girl to sit around and sulk.”
Dominic claimed he knew that, but inside was thinking she was lying. He apologized again anyway and explained to her what she already knew. Tristan knew about them. Hope felt sort of bad but at the same time, it was a relief. She didn’t want to be sneaky and sneaky guys were a turn off. She stared down at the ground as he went on, revealing to her that Tristan might be pregnant. He explained that he’d been trying to get a hold of Tristan because she had left so fast. He said he wasn’t sure what to do. He said he wasn’t sure Tristan was even telling the truth.
“What do you think?” he asked at the closing of his “revelation”.
What Hope was thinking was that this was a whole lot of drama she wanted no part of. She liked Dominic, no lie there. But he had baggage in the form of a girlfriend and a possible kid on the way which usually spelled out trouble indefinitely, maybe even for the rest of his life. It was best to stay away from situations like this. No one ever had to tell Hope this stuff and she didn’t have to learn things the hard way to realize something wasn’t good for her. She had common sense and tried her best to apply it to most aspects of her life, especially when it came to relationships. But…
“I…don’t know…”
“I’m not asking what I should do. I know what I have to do. There’s no doubt I’ll do everything in my power for that kid. But as far as her, I’m done with her. I feel like an asshole but I’m not leaving her because she might be pregnant. It might look that way but it isn’t like that.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“What you think matters to me.”
“We don’t even know each other.”
“Yeah, but I want to get to know you. I can’t wash away everything that has just happened. But I really want another chance.”
“What are you talking about, chance?”
“A chance to make a good impression. Anything’s possible right?”
Hope didn’t know how to respond. Everyone knows you only get one shot at making a good first impression. But anyway, she wasn’t sure what her first impression of him had been. She saw what she saw on the surface and liked that. That was good enough.
“You know what I think? I think you’re making way too much out of this.”
“You think so?”
Hope nodded and smiled through the dark pink curtain of light.
“Let’s just forget about everything. Let’s just have fun. Everyone wants to have fun.” She crossed her legs.
“If you really believe that why do I never see you even smiling?”
“You make me smile…”
“I make you scream.”
She was still grinning.
“So you’re not mad about earlier?”
“No, I understand. But maybe next time, assuming there’s a next time, you have the courtesy to let me know in advance that there’s been a change of plans.”
“I will.”
Hope sighed, looked at the clock.
“I hate to do this but I have to wake up early.”
Dominic stood on his feet as soon as she did.
“I can’t even stay for a little bit?”
“Sorry,” she replied, holding open the door.
“Really?”
“Really. I have to get up early and I need my beauty sleep.”
He wondered if this was a test. He walked passed her and stood outside her door, realizing she was serious. He thought she was surely trying to get back at him.
“Hey,” she called after him. “I really hope everything works out.”
***
“You’re not taking his calls?”
Tristan folded her left arm on her desk and rested her head on it.
“No. I can’t. I can’t talk to him, I can’t look at him.”
Charla was quiet for a few seconds.
“Are you sure…”
“I’m sure.” Tristan forced her sluggish body up and stared at the brightness of her computer screen. “He didn’t even deny it. All this time I knew something was up with them. Well, I hoped I was wrong but I wasn’t.”
“I don’t even know how you managed to make it to work today. Work is the last place I’d want to be if I just found out my boyfriend was with another girl.”
“It’s not easy but I can’t just lie in bed all day. I have some things to figure out.”
“Maybe you should talk to him.” Charla stuck the tip of pen between her front teeth. “At least about the baby. You can take him to the cleaners, you know.”
Tristan miserably stared at the matte glazed imitation wood of the desk in front of her. She couldn’t get the images out of her mind; imagining details of Hope’s bathroom, wet skin, her arms around Dominic’s body, them savagely eating each other’s mouths. Worse, these images were like a memory, you’d think she actually saw it with her own eyes. Twice as worse, she saw it slow motion.
“You think that baby changed his mind?” Charla asked.
“I don’t know. I don’t see how it would.”
“Maybe he is sorry and wants to work things out. You won’t know unless you talk to him.”
“We’ll see. I’m just not ready yet.”
“Well,” Charla said, spinning around in her chair. “I’m going to Italy in two months. I would like for you to go but I guess you can’t being preggers and all.”
“You decided you’re going?”
“Yeah,” she replied. “For three months.”
“What about your job?”
“I’ve already let them know. They said I can come back if I want, once I’m back from Italy. And even if they wouldn’t take me back, this is a once in a lifetime thing. I don’t care that much about this job.”
“You’re leaving.”
“Yeah,” Charla sighed. “But unfortunately I’ll be back. Really wish you could come along.”
“Me too.”
“I’ll stop by your house tonight. Maybe we can go out for something to eat or just hang out, yeah?”
“I don’t know.” Tristan shuddered at the idea. She wanted to go home, climb in bed and just hide away forever. She hadn’t been able to really cry, to let it all out because she was at work. She actually looked forward to going home so she could facially release water.
“Remember what you said? Life doesn’t stop.”
“You’re right.” She thought about Dominic. In a few hours he’d be off work and would probably be with Hope. Surely he wasn’t thinking about her or how miserable she felt. Tristan squeezed her phone against her ear. She knew Dominic was having all the fun despite her despair. No, she couldn’t just lie in bed and wither away into an old dried up shrimp. She had to do anything to get her mind off of this. She agreed with Charla to hang out that night, just for a bit.
28…We need a plan
Josephine opened the door for Charla who was wearing faded jeans with shreds on her thighs and knees. She was wearing a heather cream colored sweatshirt that draped off her shoulders. As always her nails were manicured and she was wearing thin golden loops in her ears, one of many replicate pairs she owned. Her hair was piled on top of her head in a fancy bun that was so tight it slanted her eyes. She slung her handbag over her shoulder and followed Josephine to the stairs.
Tristan came down in dark blue jeans and a hoodie. Charla immediately looked at her tennis shoes that screamed Kmart.
“You look like shit,” she whispered, so Josephine who was a few feet away couldn’t hear.
“Screw you, bitch. Is this what you came for?” Tristan tilted her head.
Charla looked at Tristan’s bare face. Her eyes were somewhat swollen and her freckles were visible. She had a dewy look to her skin and she had messy bed head hair.
“On second thought, I think pregnancy is doing you justice. Come here,” Charla held her arms out to her friend and finger combed her hair. “Don’t slouch. Stand up straight and look proud. You don’t want to look like someone who just got dumped.”
“I feel like I’m dying,” she whispered in Charla’s face.
“That doesn’t mean you have to look it.”
“I’m heading out,” Tristan called out to Josephine. She and Charla walked to the car.
“I was thinking about something.” Charla reached for her seatbelt and strapped it across her chest. “Why don’t we make this girl’s life hell?”
Tristan frowned, strapping herself in.
“I thought about it. Soon as this thing is out of me, I’m gonna beat the shit out of her.”
“Are you for real? You can’t think of one thing you want to do to her now? She didn’t even steal my man and I have all kinds of shit in my head. What are you going to do, let her win?”
“She has won. He screwed her. Screwing her,” she corrected herself with an eye roll.
“Why let her think she can get away with it?”
Tristan looked at her friend.
“What are you saying?”
“We know where she lives and where she works. There are millions of ways to make her life absolute hell.”