by A'zayler
Chapter 6: Everything’s Not what it Seems
“Did they say what room he was in?” Rain asked Love, once they got off of the elevator.
Jacorey had decided to go ahead and get his gallbladder removed, and the procedure had been that morning. Summer had called them a little less than an hour ago letting them know that he was out of surgery and in a room. Rain was glad that was over because Love had been acting a little weird all morning. Though he refused to admit it, she knew it was because of Jacorey’s surgery. It was only natural. That was his best friend and he was worried about him.
“Yeah, it’s 516,” Love grabbed her hand, as they walked down the hallway. “Here it go right here.” He knocked twice before pushing the door open.
Summer was stretched out on the let-out bed with the covers up to her face, and Jacorey was in his bed watching TV with the volume down. The light blue head scarf that was wrapped around Summer’s head was the only thing you could see on her. The cover was over her face as well. Rain and Love walked in quietly and stood next to the bed.
“Damn, you look like shit, boy.”
“Shhhh, nigga. She sleep.” He nodded his head toward Summer. “I feel like shit, though.”
“Boy, don’t nobody care about Summer.” Rain walked over to her and pulled the blanket from her face. “She needs to get her butt up anyway… Summer?” Rain called out to her.
She stirred a little before opening her eyes. They wandered from Rain, to Jacorey, then to Love, before falling back on Rain.
“Don’t you see me sleep?”
“So? You have company now, so get up.” Rain sat down on the empty space near Summer’s legs.
“Girl, I been up all day and night. These people know they won’t let you sleep. Every time you doze off good they’re running their asses in here.”
Rain and Love laughed at her grouchiness. She sounded so annoyed and it was hilarious to Rain because she could relate. The entire time she’d been in the hospital after the fire, people kept saying get some rest, but there was absolutely no way possible for her to do that with nurses and doctors coming in all hours of the night.
“My bad, baby. We just came to check on your sick-and-shut-in boyfriend before we went home.”
“Well, if you came to check on me, why you talking to her?” Jacorey asked Rain, with a smirk on his face.
She was about to say something smart, but couldn’t at the moment. The fact that Jacorey hadn’t corrected her comment about him being Summer’s boyfriend had her frozen for a second.
“You shushing us and shit as soon as we walked in the door.” Love intervened.
“I just wanted Summer time to get some sleep. They been working her ass. They must think I’m incompetent or something. Every time they come in here they’re asking her questions about me or explaining the aftercare to her. She might as well be the patient.”
“Either that or your girlfriend.” Rain looked at him.
His face was unmoving. No smiling, or frowning, just expressionless. “Might as well. That’s how they’re treating her. I know she has got to be tired.”
“Well, we won’t hold y’all, since y’all so tired. We just wanted to stop by for a minute.”
“You ate today?” Summer rubbed Rain’s stomach.
“Yeah. That’s where we were just coming from. We’re about to run by the store then head to the house now.”
Summer nodded and Rain stood to her feet. She walked past the bed and tapped Jacorey’s feet. “Aight then, Jacorey. I’ll talk to you later. I’m glad everything went okay.”
“Appreciate that, Rain. I’ll holla at you later, Love.”
Love walked to the bed and dapped him up. “Aight, my nigga. Summer, call me if y’all need anything.”
She told him she would and waved as he closed the door. Back in the hallway, Love ushered Rain to the elevators with his hand at the small of her back.
“Which stores you want to go to?” he asked her.
She needed some more clothes, and he had promised to take her to get them. She’d gotten a few things to start off with once she got out of the hospital, but those were slowly dwindling.
“Let’s go to the mall and Walmart because I need some socks, too.”
“Cool.”
Rain grabbed his hand when they stepped off the elevator. She was rounding the corner when her phone began to ring. It took her a minute to locate it since it was at the bottom of her purse, but she finally got it right when it stopped ringing. She was surprised to see Fallon’s name when she pulled it out of her purse.
They’d set a date earlier to go get their toes done, but once the time came and Rain called her, she hadn’t answered. Of course, that angered Love. He went off on a little rant for a while, telling her that it was time for her to let it go and that she could no longer be friends with Fallon. Which was why she was afraid to call her back right then.
She really wanted to talk to her so that they could build some type of relationship, but not at the risk of angering Love. He had his reasons for the way he felt, and although she didn’t know them, she had to respect them. She didn’t find too many people or too many things that he felt strongly about, so whatever it was with Fallon had to be serious. If he would stop being so secretive and just tell her, things would be a lot less complicated.
“Why you looking at me like that?” Love asked her.
Rain hadn’t even noticed she was staring. When he called her out, she looked away and shook her head. “No reason.”
“It’s a reason. You probably just don’t want to tell me.”
“And you would be right.”
“Why you keeping secrets?” Love placed his hand on her back again as they exited the building.
“Because that’s what we do. We keep secrets from one another.”
When Love’s hand fell from her body, she turned to look at him. He was looking out over the parking lot, not bothering to acknowledge what she’d just said. It would have angered her had she not already known that’s what he was going to do. It never failed. Whenever he got an attitude or she spoke of something he didn’t want to talk about, he would get quiet and avoid eye contact.
The frigidness of his demeanor wasn’t missed, nor was the small frown in his forehead. Maybe if she weren't so nosey or maybe had she cared about the situation with him and Fallon a little less, then she would try to make light of the situation, but none of that was the case. She wanted to know. Judging by the way Fallon had stood her up earlier, she wasn’t dependable, so her best bet would clearly be to just pressure Love into telling her.
“Dakota, if you would just tell me then I wouldn’t have to keep asking.”
“If you would just leave it alone, you wouldn’t have to keep asking, either.”
“You make me so sick.” Rain snatched open the door to the truck and got in.
Love followed suit, not offering any form of apology. With her arms crossed over her chest, Rain stared out of the window. They rode down the street in silence, with both of their feelings hanging in the balance. Rain, too angry to talk, and Love, too unbothered to make her. She could tell from the direction they were going in that he was still headed to the mall, but for some reason, she had no desire to go there anymore.
“Take me home.”
“You so mad you don’t want to go to the mall no more?”
“Just take me home, please.”
She could tell by the way he sucked his teeth and blew out in frustration that he was getting irritated with her, but she was most definitely about to make that worse.
“I’ve been thinking. I think I want to get my own place again. Living with you is cool, but I like my own space.”
“The fuck?” Love’s nostrils began to flare. “You must really be trying to piss me off today.”
“No. Actually, I’m not. I’m just telling you what I’ve been thinking.”
“And you think you need your own house?”
“That’s what I said.”
“Coo
l. You want your own shit, then you can get your own shit. I don’t have time for these little games you want to play. This shit is juvenile as fuck, and it’s getting on my damn nerves.”
“Well, if it’s getting on your nerves so bad then you should be ready for me to leave.” Rain looked out of the window.
She was sure she heard him mumble something about her being stupid, but she wasn’t sure, so she chose not to respond. It wasn’t long before he was pulling up at his house. Unlike he normally did, Love walked straight into the house. He didn’t open the door for her or wait on her to get out. He was in his house and had disappeared from the front before she could even unbuckle her seatbelt.
Versus getting out and following him around to make sure he was all right, she sat in the truck and called Alex.
“What’s going on, Rain?” His voice sounded a lot less chipper than it normally did.
“What’s wrong with you?”
He was quiet for a few minutes then she could hear him sniffling.
“Alex, what is wrong with you?”
“I don’t know Rain. I just don’t know anymore. I don’t know what to do with myself. I don’t like feeling like this.”
“How do you feel, boo?” Rain hated to hear him sounding so sad. That wasn’t like him at all.
“I don’t know how to describe it. Like I feel used, but then I feel inadequate, I don’t know.”
“Is it because of Damien?”
“Yes, he’s most of it, but I just feel so incomplete. I feel like there’s something missing.”
“You want me to come get you?”
He sniffed again. “No. You just stay with Love in the club. I’ll be fine.” He cleared his throat. “What you was calling me for?”
Rain sighed. “You got problems of your own, you don’t need to hear mine, too.”
“Yes, I do. Tell me.”
Rain went on to tell him about Love and Fallon and how neither of them would tell her about their problems. She expressed Love’s attitude and the way he had been acting anytime she brought it up.
“Well, mind your damn business, Rain. That ain’t got nothing to do with you, for real.”
“I just want them to get back together, or at least talk.”
“That’s your problem, always trying to fix people. Some people like being broken, Rain. It’s easier than doing the work to make things better. The shit they went through might be too deep to open. Hell, it may be some shit that’ll have you looking at them differently, so you never know. Just fall back and leave the boy alone.”
With a suck of her teeth, Rain displayed her annoyance for Alex’s reasoning. Although what he said made plenty of sense, it wasn’t what she wanted to hear, so she had an attitude.
“I don’t care about you having no attitude, bitch. You called me.”
“Well, I don’t care about you feeling like you’re missing something with your incomplete ass.”
Alex burst out laughing, as did Rain. “You pregnant bitch.”
“So, you’re a gay bitch. So, what you saying?”
“That I love your baby acting ass.”
“I know you do. I love you, too. I’ll call you later. Maybe we can pop up at Summer’s house and make her ass cook.”
Alex snickered. “Okay. Just let me know.”
They ended their call and Rain unbuckled her seatbelt. She opened the door and jumped out of the truck. Not bothering to rush up the sidewalk, Rain meandered, stopping to look at the flowers near his porch and his neighbors. She was at the front door and into the house when he walked past her. He didn’t say anything as he walked to the kitchen.
“This is why I need my own house,” Rain called out behind him.
“Well, get that shit then.”
Rain rolled her eyes and went into the living room. She was making things worse, but she couldn’t even help it. She didn’t want to argue, but she couldn’t help herself. Every time he came around, all she could think about was making him feel how she felt with him keeping secrets.
“What you sitting down for? You need to get that computer and look up some apartments so you can get your moody ass up out of here.”
“Don’t talk to me, you inconsiderate nigga.”
“I ain’t inconsiderate. I just ain’t about to sit here and kiss your ass when you’re acting up for no reason. If you want to leave, then leave. I’m not making you stay.”
“Good.”
He shrugged. “Good.”
The TV popped on when he held the remote up and pressed the red button. He flipped through the channels and stopped on football. Rain sat, watching him ignore her with a frown on her face. She probably would have still been looking at him had her phone not began to ring. She held her hand up and noticed it was Fallon calling again.
“Hello.”
“Hey, Rain.” She coughed for a minute before trying her best to clear her throat. “Sorry about this morning, but I wasn’t feeling well.”
“It’s okay. How are you feeling now?”
“Not too good, but better… just one of those days, you know?”
Rain’s heart got heavy just listening to her. “I know, boo… trust me, I know.”
“Are you busy right now?”
“Nope, not at all. What’s going on?” Rain looked away when she saw Love look over at her.
“You think we could meet somewhere? I need to get out of the house.”
“Sure, what time?”
“Well, I’m on the road now so I should be there in about twenty minutes.”
Rain was confused. “Road from where?”
“Albany. I live in Albany.”
Albany was a small town a little over an hour outside of Columbus. Rain had never been, but Summer used to go all the time when she was dating Chance, a high school teacher that she’d gone to school with. Their relationship hadn’t lasted long, but she frequented Albany a lot when they were together.
“Oh wow, I didn’t know that. I thought you lived here.”
“I wish, but no.”
Rain could tell by the way that she’d said she wish, that there was more to the story, but she’d worry about that later. Right now she would just go with the flow of things. She didn’t want to say the wrong thing and have Fallon back out on her for the second time in one day.
“Oh, okay. Well, are you hungry? I could surely eat again.”
“Not really. I just want to relax. You want to go to a park or something?”
A park? Really? Rain wasn’t too thrilled, but clearly there was something going on with Fallon, so she agreed. Once Fallon told her which park they could meet at, they got off the phone. Rain scrolled up and down her phone pretending not to see Love looking at her.
“I know you see me looking at you.”
She continued messing with her phone, pretending not to hear him.
“Rain.”
“What?”
“Who was that?”
“None of your business, now bye.” Rain got up from the sofa and hopped up the stairs.
If they were going to a park, she didn’t need to be so dressed up. She kicked her sneakers off, before her jeans and shirt followed. She then redressed in a pair of cotton shorts and a tank top. She slid her feet into her cheetah print flip flops and walked back out.
Downstairs, she grabbed the keys to her car and her purse and headed for the door. She only stopped because Love had gotten up and was following her. She turned around to face him before he could say anything.
“Why are you following me?”
“Because you need to tell me where you’re going.”
“Apartment hunting.”
His face frowned. “No, you ain’t. Your ass is going to meet up with whatever nigga you was just on the phone with.”
“Really, Dakota?”
“Don’t really me, Rain. Tell me where the fuck you’re going, or you’re about to stay your ass right here.”
“Nigga, please. I’m grown.”
Love reach
ed down and snatched her keys from her hand. “Now tell me where you’re going.”
“To the park, nigga. Now give me my keys back.”
“With who?”
“Fallon.”
Love’s entire demeanor changed as he began shaking his head. “No, you ain’t. You about to stay right here. I told you this morning to let that shit go. Ain’t no way in the world you’re about to meet her no damn where.”
“You act like the girl is going to do something to me.”
“She might. You don’t know that damn girl. Hell, I don’t even know her, and she’s my sister. It’s been almost ten years and I haven’t seen or heard from her. You don’t know what kind of shit she might be on.”
Rain leaned back on one leg and crossed her arms over her chest. “Well, go with me then.”
“Nope.”
“Well, excuse me.” Rain snatched her keys back from him and headed for the door.
He was right behind her. “You don’t need to be going nowhere with her. We still don’t even know who set your spot on fire. She might have done it, for all you know.”
Rain spun around. “You should be ashamed of yourself. That girl didn’t do that, and you know it.”
“I don’t know shit.”
“Whatever.” Rain walked away again.
“For real, Rain, stay here. How convenient was it for us to run into her after all this time, right after your spot caught fire?”
“She doesn’t live here, Dakota. She lives out of town. She’s driving here just to meet up with me.” Tired of fighting, Rain walked toward him. “She sounds like a lot is on her mind. She may just need a friend.”
Love looked away so that she couldn’t see the look in his eyes. Ever since they had split up, he had been worried about her. Whether or not she was safe. How was her life and what she may have had going on? So, for Rain to come out of her mouth with something may be wrong with her, it put him right back into a bad head space.
“Well, take someone with you. Where’s Alex?”
“He’s at home, but I’ll call him and see.”
“Call him now.”
“Dakota, stop acting up and let me go see this girl.”
His rigid body and hard expression displayed his discomfort with the situation, but he nodded anyway. Maybe he was being a little unreasonable.