Decision Time

by Earl Sewell

  “Keysha!” he called to me, but I quickened my pace because I didn’t want to hear a word that he had to say. “Keysha!” he called out once again. By that time, I’d flagged down a cab. As soon as I got situated I told the driver where to go. “Pull off, please,” I urged. The driver immediately made a U-turn and sped off in the direction of the bus terminal.

  eight

  WESLEY

  The following morning I was wheeled out of my room so a series of X-rays could be taken. Once completed, I was transported back to my quarters, where my breakfast was waiting on me. I scooted back into bed, got comfortable and began eating. Being restricted to a hospital was a drag. I was ready to go home. But more importantly, I was eager to find Lori to talk some sense into her. I had a difficult time comprehending why she refused to cooperate with police, especially after all of the mayhem Percy caused. I understood her being afraid, but this wasn’t the time to turn into a yellow chicken. At least it wasn’t from my perspective. I could hardly wait to go to court and put Percy behind bars for what he’d done to me.

  “Ahhh,” I groaned as my right arm began twitching violently. It ached so badly I moaned again. I tried to cope by breathing hard and grinding down on my teeth. It was difficult to manage the pain, but I was determined to bear it while waiting for the excruciating episode to pass. Dr. Foxx explained earlier that sudden sensations of discomfort were a part of the healing process. My distress was so horrific it caused me to have a flashback. I immediately remembered the scent of my burning skin when the red-hot bullet bored through me. I recalled trying to brace myself before I hit the ground and even recollected the haunting sound of my skull slamming against the concrete. I slapped myself on the head a few times with my left hand as if hitting myself would rid my mind of the recurring memory. I willed myself to focus on something else, but it was difficult. Then, I had a revelation and reached for the television remote. I turned on the television just in time to catch an episode of Family Guy. I watched the program and laughed loudly at the antics of baby Stewie. Just as the program ended, there was a knock at my door. When I looked up I was surprised to see Lori. I smiled as I turned off the television.

  “Hey,” she greeted me as she approached my bed.

  “Where have you been?” I asked.

  “Around,” she answered as she removed her jacket and placed it on a nearby coat hook. “How are you feeling?”

  “My pain comes and goes, but overall I’m doing well considering how everything went down.” I repositioned my bed by adjusting the height knob, so I could see her better. She looked great. Nice jeans, formfitting top and hair styled nicely. I noticed her succulent lips and the pretty red lipstick she’d applied.

  “I know. That was crazy, wasn’t it?” she asked, agreeing with me.

  “Crazy is an understatement.” I laughed a little. “So what’s up with you not wanting to help the police convict Percy?” I asked flat out.

  “It’s complicated, Wesley.” She paused. “Let’s not talk about it right now, okay? I had to jump through a lot of hoops to get here to see you. I had to lie, steal money from beneath my grandmother’s mattress and sneak out of the house. I’m so glad you’re going to be okay. I truly am.” Lori leaned forward and hugged me. I embraced her with my left arm while she simultaneously kissed my forehead.

  “You’ve got to testify, Lori,” I tried to persuade her because it was important to me.

  “Shhh, baby.” Lori placed her index finger up to my lips. “Can I say thank you first? What you did was so brave and heroic. You literally took a bullet for me and saved my life. Wesley, I’ll always be grateful to you for doing that. If you had not pushed me out of the way and stepped in front of me, I would probably be dead right now. No one has ever protected me the way you have. I feel so safe when I’m near you.”

  “I can see why. Especially if I’m the one absorbing all of the bullets that are meant for you,” I said.

  “I know, sweetie, and I promise you I’ll make it up to you. Whatever it takes I’ll be there for you. I’ll help you with your work at school. I’ll help you get well…I’ll be at your service, Wesley.” Lori tenderly caressed the side of my face. I held her gaze for a moment and could see that she was thinking about something really hard.

  “You’re my Superman,” she whispered and then leaned in to kiss my lips. When our lips met, I tried not to enjoy it. I wanted to resist, but the tasty sweetness of her soft lips caused my body to betray me. I surrendered to her. Lori then placed her sweet kisses on my cheeks and neck.

  “Doesn’t that feel better?” Lori spoke deliberately in my ear like Aphrodite, the goddess of love tempting a new boyfriend. I was somewhere between confused and horny and would agree with anything she said.

  “Yeah. That was nice,” I admitted as I tried to understand why and how we were heading down the road of intimacy. Common sense told me to beware of Lori, however my hormones were unmistakably energized about the possibility of more kisses.

  “Let me help you eat your food.” Lori picked up the knife and fork on the tray and began to cut up my food into smaller portions.

  “My mother is acting crazy,” Lori confessed. “When the police came to talk to me, my mother freaked completely out, especially when the police told her Percy was a gangbanger. She thinks you’re one, as well.”

  “Why does she think I’m a gangbanger? I’m the furthest thing from that. I don’t wear sagging pants or have tattoos. I don’t walk around with a gun in my pocket or have a criminal record.” I got upset because of how I was being perceived.

  “It’s complex, Wesley.” Lori lifted some food up to my mouth and began to feed me.

  Once I chewed my food I said, “It’s not difficult at all. Percy shot at us because he thought we were dating. It’s a clear-cut case of jealousy.”

  “That part is.” Lori smiled slyly.

  “What do you mean by that?” I asked, eyeing her suspiciously and suspecting she was eluding some bigger secret that I knew nothing about.

  Lori exhaled and remained silent. “Promise you won’t get mad at me?” Lori asked.

  “Get mad at you for what?” I was confused, but wanted to know where she was going with the conversation.

  “Wesley, first off, I’m not even supposed to be dating. I’m not allowed to have a boyfriend. I was sneaking around with Percy behind my mother’s back. I think my grandmother knew, but I can’t be certain.”

  “What does that have to do with you testifying?” I asked.

  “Wesley.” Lori paused again. “I provoked Percy.”

  I sat up as tall as I could. “What did you just say to me?” I asked, not sure if I wanted her to repeat what she’d just said.

  “When I asked you to go out with me for pizza I knew Percy was going to show up. I told him that you and I would be there.” Lori lowered her eyes in shame.

  “Why in the hell did you do that?” I shouted, feeling my aggravation mounting.

  “Revenge, Wesley. I wanted to get payback. I wanted to crush his ego and teach him a lesson. I told him stuff—told him I’d given it up to you…even told him that I let you put it in without a condom. He’d been trying to get me to get down with him for the longest, but I wouldn’t and that frustrated him. That’s why we were fighting in the car that day. He was forcing himself on me. He kept trying to get between my legs. He wanted to do me right there in his car in broad daylight. He was rough and aggressive and wouldn’t take no for an answer. I told him I wasn’t ready and he should respect me, but Percy didn’t want to hear it. All he wanted was some sex. He tried to force my head down between his thighs, so that I’d give him oral sex, but the very thought of it made my stomach turn. I fought him off and jumped out of the car. That’s when he lost it and decided to beat me down. Anyway, after you helped me, he kept calling me. I wanted the phone calls to end, so I figured if I told him you belonged to another gang back in Chicago and that you were going to kick his ass again, he’d leave me alone. I made stuff up just to g
et my vengeance. I had no idea Percy would bring a gun with him to the pizza parlor. I had no idea that he’d even do something as crazy as try to murder us. I never intended for any of this to happen.”

  “This entire situation is—”

  “Wesley, I know I’ve messed up,” Lori interrupted. “Please don’t yell at me because I can’t take being shouted at right now. Yelling at me would just crush me right now. I just want to make things right between us. I want you to know that I’m sorry and that I’m forever indebted to you.”

  “You need to work with the police and testify, Lori,” I said, wanting to win my argument of helping the police bring Percy to justice.

  “Wesley, you’re not understanding. My mother won’t let me testify because she’s afraid of retaliation. She doesn’t want me to have anything to do with this. She’s too afraid. She didn’t even want me to come here to see you because she fears that Percy and his goons will come in here and just start shooting up the place.”

  “Lori, if you don’t stand up now and this guy gets off, he’ll continue to harass you.”

  “I know.” Lori paused in thought. “I’ll do it, Wesley. I’ll have to find some way to keep this from my mother, but I’ll do it.”

  “Good, because it’s the right thing to do,” I said, feeling more at ease now that I’d talked some sense into her.

  “So we’ll go through this together, right?” Lori asked.

  “Of course,” I answered. “Come here,” I said, reaching up to embrace her. Lori allowed me to hug her and I whispered, “It’s going to be okay. Sometimes doing the right thing is hard to do.” We held on to each other for some time before I let her go.

  “You know, I was thinking.” Lori fed me more of my food. “You’re a really good kisser and you’re not a bad-looking guy. You’re nicer than most guys and I’m glad that you haven’t tossed me out of the room for what I’ve done.”

  “I don’t want to talk about it anymore,” I said.

  “Okay, but I just wanted to let you know that your kisses are so sweet and I would love to be your girlfriend.”

  “Lori—”

  “Don’t say anything. Just think about that and let me take care of you,” she said as she placed more food in my mouth. We looked at each other for a while, then I smiled at her warmly.

  “Wesley, is that you?” the sound of Keysha’s voice startled me. I looked past Lori and was super shocked to see Keysha standing in the doorway. I quickly swallowed my food.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked.

  “Oh, my God, it is you!” Keysha positioned her suitcase against the wall and rushed over to my bed. “I’m so happy that I’ve finally found you.” Keysha seemed overjoyed but I could tell right away that something was slightly off.

  “Are you hurting? Is there anything I can do for you?” Keysha asked a number of questions. She appeared to be overly eager to help me in any way she could.

  “He’s okay. I’m taking good care of him,” Lori spoke up as she gave Keysha a judgmental glare.

  “Who are you?” Keysha asked defensively.

  “I’m—”

  “Keysha, how did you get here?” I cut Lori off before she could answer.

  “It’s a long story, Wesley, and I don’t want to talk about it right now. All I know is I wasn’t about to allow you to sit in this hospital all alone. I knew you’d want me to come. I knew that you’d want me to be here with you. I could feel it in my heart,” Keysha said as she rubbed my leg and then my bare feet. “I couldn’t sleep at night knowing that you’d been hurt.”

  “How did you even find out?” I asked, still dumbfounded as to how she’d gotten here.

  “Your grandmother told me,” she said.

  “And once your parents found out, they drove all the way here so that you could see me?” I asked, figuring I’d pieced together the scenario that got her here.

  “Not exactly,” Keysha answered as she continued to rub my feet.

  “What do you mean, ‘not exactly’?”

  “Yes. What do you mean?” Lori asked as she moved my food tray out of the way.

  “Are you his nurse or something?” Keysha asked Lori, looking her up and down.

  “No, I’m not,” Lori answered.

  “Then can you, like, excuse yourself or something while I talk to my man?” Keysha rolled her eyes and became deliberately snotty with Lori.

  “Oh, hell no! Hold up, chick! You don’t come up in here telling me what to do,” Lori snapped.

  “Wesley, who is she?” Keysha asked, her voice rising. I looked into Keysha’s eyes and could see that she was in a very feisty, “take no prisoners” kind of mood.

  “Keysha, this is Lori. She’s a friend,” I answered truthfully.

  “So you’re the whore.” Keysha gave Lori a nasty glare as she folded her arms across her chest.

  “Slut, you don’t even know me!” Lori barked back matching Keysha’s fire with her own.

  “I know enough about you to know that I don’t like you.” Keysha didn’t hold back for one instant.

  “Hold on, you two. Stop it before things get out of hand.” I tried to cool the tension between them. It was clear, at least from what I was witnessing, that Keysha and Lori were heading down the slippery slope of a girl brawl.

  Lori postured defiantly, raised her right arm high above her head and pointed two fingers and her thumb at Keysha as if she were shooting a gun. “How are you just going to come up in here and start calling people out of their name?” Lori ignored what I’d just said about calming down and was sharpening her claws for a catfight.

  “Wesley’s grandmother told me all about you.” Keysha sized Lori up once again and then cautiously turned back to look at me. “What I want to know, Wesley, is why is she even here and how did you get shot over her?” Keysha rudely pointed her index finger close to Lori’s face.

  “You’d better get your damn fingers out of my face before I chop them the hell off!” Lori threatened.

  “Oh, I can’t believe this is happening,” I said, not wanting to deal with this type of drama.

  “Well, Wesley? Is it her or is it me that you’re in love with?” Keysha asked flat out as she lowered her hand and glanced sideways at Lori.

  “Keysha, you’re overreacting,” I said, trying to calm her down. I tried to move but I felt a sharp pain and opted to stay put.

  “Hmph! Obviously he isn’t in love with you the way you think he is. He hasn’t smiled once since you’ve walked in the door,” Lori pointed out.

  “I don’t think anyone was talking to you, tramp!” Keysha snapped.

  “Hey! That’s enough!” I yelled at them both. “Keysha, where are you staying?” I asked.

  “She needs to leave the room. I’m not saying anything until this heifer gets out,” Keysha growled. I’d never seen this side of her. She was acting like a person who was unstable.

  “I’m not going anywhere,” Lori said.

  “Would you two please cut it out? You guys don’t even know each other and you’re squabbling like cats and dogs.” I once again pleaded with them to be civil toward each other.

  “She started it,” Lori said.

  “And I’ll damn sure be the one to finish it,” Keysha taunted Lori. She certainly wasn’t behaving like the Keysha I knew—the one who needed to be rescued.

  “Keysha, what’s going on? You don’t seem like yourself.” I didn’t want to seem like I was interrogating her, but I couldn’t help it.

  “Do you have any idea of what I did to get here? I risked everything to be here at your side. I’d hoped you’d be here resting comfortably while waiting for me to arrive. I pictured you telling me how much you loved me and how you were glad I’d moved heaven and earth to get here. It never crossed my mind that you’d be laying here on your deathbed being spoon-fed by this ignorant—”

  “Who in the hell are you calling ignorant? You’re the one who rolled up in here on some imaginary fairy tale only to get your face cracked!”
Lori said as she shifted her weight from one foot to the other. I saw Lori scoop up some of my food with her fingers. I knew she was just waiting for the perfect time to fling it at Keysha. “You’re lucky we’re in this hospital room because if we were outside I’d deal with you. Right now I’m just going to ignore you and pretend you’re not here.”

  Keysha placed the palm of her hand in Lori’s face. “Talk to the hand, tramp!” Lori lost it. She stepped from behind Keysha’s hand and slung the food, hitting Keysha on the side of her face. Keysha howled out like a mad woman and grabbed a handful of Lori’s hair. Lori tired to reach up and pull Keysha’s hair, but Keysha successfully avoided her.

  “I will beat you down!” Keysha shouted as she tugged and yanked on Lori’s hair.

  “Let her go, Keysha!” I barked.

  “This crazy whore doesn’t know who she’s messing with, Wesley! I will beat her down!”

  “Keysha, please, let her go,” I pleaded.

  “Let me go!” Lori shouted as she continued to swing her arms.

  “If you two don’t stop, security is going to come in here and kick both of you out,” I yelled. Keysha finally let her go, but Lori wasn’t done just yet.

  “Wait right there. I’ve got something for you!” Lori said as she rushed out of the room.

  “Will you just chill for a second, Lori?” I said. But she was already gone. “Keysha, I’m glad that you came, but you didn’t have to,” I said, trying to calm her down.

  Keysha was breathing very hard. “What do you mean, ’I didn’t have to come’?” Keysha looked like she was emotionally on the brink. “Wesley, what are you saying?” She looked at me as if I were crushing her heart.

  “Don’t get me wrong, baby. I’m glad you’re here, but I get the feeling that you being here has come at a bigger price than you can pay.” I tried to be both sensitive and understanding, but it appeared as if every word that came out of my mouth was doing the exact opposite.