Miss Independent, Volumes 1 - 4

by Kiki Leach

  “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 herself 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.

  “Where is she?” Nikki asked again.

  She folded her arms over her chest and slightly rolled her neck to make it seem as if she didn’t have a single damn to give about Nikki’s concern. “All I know is that she wasn’t here when I woke up.”

  “Esa es la pregunta del millón de dólares!” said Nikki. Sheila grimaced. “Because what the hell are you doing here in the first place, chica? Vanessa has never been one to keep RATS for pets, let alone allow them to stay inside her home unless she doesn’t know about them crawling through the walls!”

  “I don’t think the reason behind me being here is really any of your business, Nik.”

  “This is my house too, Sheil’s. So that makes you ‘being here’ my business just as much as it does Vanessa’s.”

  “Is it really still your house, boo? Because from what I’ve seen in the society pages, you haven’t spent much time here since we all came back from the Hamptons. And from what I have heard from other people is that you’ve made William’s place your new pit stop in between auditions and” – she looked her up and down and smirked – “other things. So I think that makes this house more Vanessa’s than yours. But it’s always been that way, right? Since all you’ve ever done is mooch off of her and what she has.”

  Nikki swallowed back her rage and looked over at the phone. “If you don’t tell me what the hell went on here last night with her or where she is now, I’m calling police.”

  “In how many different languages do you want me to tell you that I don’t know where she is?!”

  “I think you’re full of shit.”

  “And I think you’re hard of hearing!”

  Nikki reached for the receiver and began dialing, but Sheila was quick to snatch it from her and shove it back down on the hook.

  With her hand still wrapped around the handle, she shoved her way into Nikki’s space and clinched her jaw tight. “I came here last night to talk to V about something personal, you nosy bitch. We had some wine, I had a little too much and she let me stay here instead of sending me back home drunk off of my ass.”

  Nikki shoved her back and crossed to the other side of the room. “Vanessa would send you out into the traffic herself before she let you stay here, drunk or not. She knows what kind of bullshit that you’re capable of, which never ends well for her or the rest of us.” She ran to her purse in the living room and dug around inside of it for her cell phone. “I’m calling her.”

  “Go ahead.” Sheila headed back into the living room as well and grabbed the blanket from the couch, folding it at every angle and draping it over the edge.

  Nikki placed the phone to her ear and stared at Sheila with deep curiosity and wonder. Vanessa must have absolutely been drunk out of her mind to let her stay overnight. And if she wasn’t responsible for that broken railing and dried blood, then who the hell was?

  After twice dialing and reaching nothing but Vanessa’s voicemail, Nikki left a quick message asking her to call back, then hung up quick and dropped her phone back inside her purse.

  Sheila grabbed her shoes, sliding them on one by one, then turned back to Nikki and condescendingly stuck out her bottom lip while tilting her head. “Couldn’t get ‘Mami’ on the phone to tell her about everything that’s been going on since she was gone?”

  “Eat it, bitch.”

  She lifted both brows and threw her head back. “Isn’t that something you often tell most of your clients?”

  “Well since Nathan was the first on my list of many, why don’t you go home and ask him.”

  A seething Sheila quickly got in her face and peered. “You wanna run that by me one more time, chica?”

  “He never told you about that, perra?” And then Nikki laughed, realizing she could only take something like that so far before she stopped believing it herself.

  Two seconds from tossing a fist directly to the square of her jaw, Sheila stepped back and violently ripped her own purse from the couch. “Lying bitch.”

  “Takes one to know one, doesn’t it, Abeja Reina of them all?”

  Sheila stomped back through the foyer and went straight to the door. But Nikki wasn’t exactly done with her just yet.

  “Hey!” she called out.

  She stopped just as her fingers reached the handle.

  Nikki turned her eyes to the floor while slowly advancing toward Sheila and pointing at the broken railing.

  “If that,” she emphasized, “had nothing to do with you and Vanessa, then did she tell you what happened to it?”

  Sheila glanced over at the broken pieces of wood, then turned to Nikki and shrugged. “I guess that’s something you’re going to have to ask her about. Isn’t that what best friends are supposed to do? Talk about the shit going on in their lives? Vanessa and I had a healthy dose of that last night. You might want to take note if you plan to stay in her life for the long haul.”

  She scoffed. “You think that just because you had a few drunk talks that she probably doesn’t even remember today, that it makes you friends again?”

  “I feel like we’re getting there. In fact, I know that we’re closer than you two have been over the last few months.”

  “And what makes you think something stupid like that?”

  “Because I know things about her, personal, private things that she shared with me and no one else.”

  Nikki’s eyes traveled up and down Sheila’s physique and she shook her head. “Vanessa wouldn’t trust you with anything private, and how could she when you’re part of the reason why her life has become so insanely chaotic over the last few years.”

  Sheila split her full lips into a deceitful smile. “It’s so clear to me just how much you wish things were exactly the way as you described.” She sighed. “I can tell behind that fak
e, bitchy attitude that you don’t really think I’m lying at all, and it scares the shit out of you because it’s more proof that you’re slowly losing her.”

  She chortled, despite the terror building up inside of her second by second that Sheila was in fact right about it all. “You think I’m afraid of losing her to you?”

  “I think you’re afraid of losing her to everyone who isn’t you. What I just said about us last night is eating you up inside. You’re trying like hell to hide it, but I can see it all on your face just from the way that you’re looking at me right now. That terrified look in your eyes is telling me no lies,” she said while attempting to hold back a laugh of her own. “I’m worming my way back in while you seem to be worming your way out. And you know what, it’s probably for the best that you two aren’t friends like you were anymore. Like I said before, everyone knows how her friendship has been more of a benefit to you than it’s ever been to her. But at least you still have William to get you through the nights, right? How are things going with that, by the way? Stronger than ever?”

  “Compared to you and your elastic vagina, we’re still solidly intact.”

  Sheila tilted her head back and cackled, then wagged her finger in Nikki’s face.

  “Again with that sense of humor. And speaking of things that make me laugh, what you said reminds me of something funny that I saw just the other day involving Oscar when I stopped in for a coffee at his shop.” Nikki blinked, attempting to appear unbothered but from the sudden twitch of her lip and keen awareness the moment she said his name, Sheila knew that she had hit just the right nerve and continued on. “He’s looking pretty damn good as far as I could see, and happy. I may stop by The Bean again on my way back to The Palace. You want me to give him a quick hello for you?”

  “What I want you to give me is the funny part of this conversation,” Nikki replied.

  “Right, right, the funny part, which involved him being there with Melanie,” she said. Nikki’s face immediately fell. Sheila beamed. “It was funny because right before she left, I saw him kiss her, deeply. It was the kind of affection I could only wish Nathan would take the time out to show for me in public. The kind that only couples in fairytales seem to get. But I guess those of us that live out here in the real world can’t have everything, can we? Fantasyland seems to only exist for those inside of books. Which I’m starting to notice is much more accurate in your case than anyone else’s I’ve ever known.” Sheila grabbed a pair of sunglasses from deep inside her purse and proudly slid them on her face. “I’ll be seeing you around.”