Sister Girls

by Angel Hunter

  Mrs. Gem ignored it.

  Looking at Crystal, he asked, “Is this true?”

  “Is it true? How could you ask her that? Of course it isn’t true!” Mrs. Newton answered. “Jake would never do anything like that. You know how these young girls are always calling and throwing themselves on him. She’s just trying to trap him.”

  “If you say another negative word about my daughter, it’s going to be me and you,” Mrs. Gem threatened. The tone of her voice told everyone that she meant it.

  “Yes sir, it’s true,” Crystal said.

  Jake looked at his father. He wanted to deny it, but he knew his father would not believe him. This was not the first time Jake had been accused of sexual assault. The first time was a little over year earlier, and his father took care of it then. He could only hope that his father would do the same now.

  Mr. Newton turned toward Jake, eyes blazing. “Go to your room and don’t come out. As a matter of fact, I don’t want to hear you breathe. I will deal with you later.”

  Jake faced Crystal, started to say something, then thought better of it and walked away.

  His mother started to follow behind him, but Mr. Newton placed his big hands on her shoulders and stopped her. “Go fix us some drinks. I think we all need one.” He looked at Mrs. Gem and said, “I think the young lady needs one as well, to calm her nerves. Don’t you think so?”

  “No, I don’t think so. If you have hot tea, bring that instead,” she said, sitting on the couch.

  Mrs. Newton left the room.

  “Now, what are we going to do about this?” Mrs. Gem wanted to know.

  “What do you recommend?” Mr. Newton asked.

  Crystal wanted to say, “Call the cops. What do you think we’re going to do?”

  Mrs. Newton returned with the drinks and said, “I say we forget about it. After all, we don’t know what really happened.”

  Crystal looked at her in disbelief. “I know what happened. Your son raped me. I thought he liked me. He offered me a ride and was flirting with me. He said he needed to come home and invited me in. I liked him, so I said yes, and maybe I shouldn’t have. Maybe that was stupid of me, but how was I supposed to know he was lying to me?” Close to hysterics, Crystal went on to tell them what happened and how she got home.

  They knew she was telling the truth. The pain in her voice spoke volumes.

  Mr. Newton stood up and told Mrs. Gem they should go in the kitchen and talk amongst themselves. Mrs. Gem followed him, leaving Crystal sipping on her tea as Mrs. Newton looked past her, avoiding all contact. Ten minutes later her mother and Mr. Newton returned.

  “Let’s go.” Mrs. Gem took the cup out of Crystal’s hand and placed it on the table.

  “Why are we leaving? What did you and him talk about? Where are the cops?”

  Grabbing her hand, Mrs. Gem pulled her up and practically dragged her toward the door. “Come on. Like I said, everything is taken care of.”

  “Everything can’t be taken care of. The cops aren’t here,” Crystal said.

  Her mother ignored her.

  Crystal never knew what transpired between her mother and Mr. Newton. Jake never returned to school, and suddenly they had extra money. Her mother spoiled her for a good three months before things returned to normal. Well, normal as far as appearances. To Crystal, nothing would ever be the same.

  Her relationship with her mother had never been the same. She felt as though her silence had been bought.

  Now, over a decade later, sitting in a bar, Crystal found herself reliving what happened that dreadful day. Not that she ever forgot, because rape is something a victim never forgets or gets over. She just stopped letting it consume her.

  Now it appeared that if this was Jake’s son—and Crystal knew in her gut that it was, he was stepping into his father’s shoes. Crystal really hoped Tina would press charges, because this was a case she would do pro bono.

  Could this have been what her dream was about? Was it a warning, telling her to be prepared?

  “Excuse me, miss? Excuse me, miss?” Someone was tapping Crystal on the shoulder, bringing her out of her past. “Are you all right to drive?”

  Looking down at the bar, Crystal had four empty glasses in front of her. She only remembered ordering one.

  WILL THE TRUTH SET YOU FREE?

  Susan pulled up into the driveway of her two-story, three bedroom, two bath house, and saw her friend Timothy sitting on the porch. When she bought the house six years ago, she thought she’d have a family by now. She was in what she thought was a committed relationship, then she found out she was pregnant and told her man. He left her. Maybe it was God’s intervention that caused her to have a miscarriage. Whatever it was, she was thankful that her best friend Timothy was there to help her through it.

  Susan and Timothy had been through a lot with each other and for each other. They denied they were in a relationship when confronted, stating they were just friends. She stood by him when he used women, dogged them out and when he fell in love and got hurt. One time he almost got married, but with her help realized it would have been a mistake.

  She’d threatened many women behind him and helped him out with bills when he was getting his band together. He walked her through one abusive relationship, beat the guy’s behind and went to court. He stood by her through an abortion and supported her when she was in school.

  Susan turned off her car and looked at Timothy. She wasn’t sure if she should be pissed or happy to see him. She hadn’t heard from him in over a month and suddenly there he sat, like it was okay.

  Getting out of her car, she slammed the door and walked right by him, not saying a word. She did, though, take note of how good he looked. He had on a pair of black jeans, Timberland boots and a mock turtleneck sweater. His hair was freshly cut and she noticed he wore her favorite cologne, Jean Paul Gautier.

  “Susan,” he called out, noticing the angry look on her face. “Don’t just walk by me.”

  She ignored him.

  “Don’t do that. Don’t ignore me.”

  She went into her house and closed the door in his face. The nerve of him, she thought.

  Timothy knocked on the door. Susan wouldn’t answer it.

  “Susan, let me in!” he yelled.

  “No, go away!”

  “Please,” he begged. “I’ll stand out here and knock and yell all day if I have to.”

  “You think you can just not call me or come see me for a whole month and suddenly pop up like everything is supposed to be okay?” She stood near the door with her hand on her chest, feeling her heartbeat, angry because she cared more than she wanted to admit.

  “I’m sorry,” Timothy told her. “I was away on an emergency.”

  Susan snatched the door open. “Where the hell did you go for a whole month that you couldn’t call me? We’ve been friends for a long time. I thought we were tighter than that. If I had an emergency, I would call you right away and I thought the same applied—”

  Not letting her finish, Timothy admitted. “I was in rehab.”

  Susan blinked twice. At a loss for words, she let him in.

  “I just got out today and came straight here.” He followed her into the living room.

  She sat on the couch. Timothy remained standing. Just in case she decided to throw him out, he didn’t want to get too comfortable.

  Susan faced him. “Why?”

  “Why what?”

  “Why were you in rehab?”

  “Because I needed to go.”

  “Why?”

  Timothy shifted in his seat. “What is this, twenty questions?”

  “You don’t have to get nasty. It’s just that I thought we could confide in one another, and for you to just disappear like that, I didn’t know what to think. I’ve been stressing and worrying about your black ass. I thought maybe something happened to you then you pop up like it’s okay and announce, ‘Oh, by the way, I was in rehab’.”

  Timothy sat next to her
and placed her hand in his. “Susan, I’m sorry for stressing you out. I just had to do what was right for me. I know that sounds selfish and all, but I felt like I was losing control. I was in trouble and trying to hide it from you and my band, but most of all from myself. I couldn’t take it anymore. I’ve been getting high now for over a decade and it was time for me to take a look in the mirror. I didn’t like what I saw. It was time for me to stop.”

  “Why now? Not that I don’t think it’s a good thing, but I didn’t have a clue anything was going on.”

  Ashamed, Timothy put his head down and revealed that he’d almost overdosed.

  “What! When?”

  “Well, the last time I was over here. When I left, I hung out with Jelly and his crew. We were getting high all night. I don’t remember much. All I recall is waking up soaking wet with them sitting around me, looking scared shitless. They said I’d passed out.”

  “They didn’t call anyone, or try to get you to the hospital?

  “They were afraid.”

  Susan rolled her eyes.

  “Anyway, it was a wake-up call. I could have died, and they probably would have left me there to do so.”

  Susan sat in silence.

  “I think you should stop also, especially if we’re going to be together.” Timothy’s words surprised her.

  “What do you mean, if we’re going to be together?”

  Timothy got on one knee, looked up at Susan and popped the question. “Will you marry me?”

  “Stop playing.” They had always joked about getting married when they grew older, neither of them really meaning it. It was usually said in jest, while they were both in relationships with other people.

  “Being away from you those thirty days and getting clean opened my eyes and my heart. It made me realize how much you mean to me, how special what we have is. All these years we’ve been fooling ourselves, denying what we both know.”

  Susan could feel the tears welling up. Clearing her throat, she asked, “And what is that?”

  “That we love each other, or better yet, that we are in love with each other.”

  Susan stood up and started pacing. “I don’t know, Timothy. Getting married might ruin what we have. You know how I am. You know I’m moody and a fly by night person. Even you can’t stand to be around me for a long period of time. You’ve said so yourself.”

  “Are you telling me no?”

  “I’m not saying yes or no. I need to think about it. Will you let me do that?”

  “Yes, but don’t take too long.”

  There was an awkward silence, neither knowing what to say. To break the silence, Susan asked Timothy if he was hungry. She needed some sort of distraction from the conversation they were having. “I’ll cook you something to eat,” she told him, “and while you’re eating, I’m going to jump in the Jacuzzi.”

  “Can I jump in with you?” Timothy asked.

  “I need some time to think about what you said.”

  “I understand,” he told her.

  As she cooked him a steak, potatoes and broccoli, Timothy dozed off on the couch. She woke him up with his plate made, and headed toward the bathroom.

  She turned on the Jacuzzi and sat on the edge thinking about Timothy’s proposal. Suddenly, she started to cry. She thought about everything that Timothy had said, especially the part about her no longer getting high. This might be just what she needed to stop. She had to admit she did love him, his company and his lovemaking skills. Yes, they’d made love quite a few times, and it was always phenomenal.

  Twenty minutes later, Timothy knocked on the bathroom door and walked in before she had a chance to say anything. “The food was delicious. I need to run out. Are you going to be home?”

  She nodded.

  Timothy bent over the Jacuzzi and kissed her on the lips. “I’ll call you later, okay?”

  “Okay,” she told him and watched as he walked out. She couldn’t help smiling. Yeah, it would definitely be nice to get that on a regular basis. Maybe now she would have that family she always wanted.

  WHAT’S A GIRL TO DO?

  Elsie was thinking about the family she wanted to have one day but didn’t know if she would because of her sexuality. She was starting to get the Mommy itch, but after considering adoption, she wasn’t too keen on the idea. She wanted to have a child come from her womb. She wanted the experience of carrying a child for nine months.

  Summer was already a parent; her daughter was damn near a teenager. Elsie had yet to meet her, even though she and Summer were in their sixth month of dating. Maybe it was a good thing she hadn’t, because Summer was pressuring Elsie to take their relationship to another level, meaning she wanted her to move in. Elsie wasn’t feeling it, and didn’t have the nerve to tell her.

  When Elsie pulled into Summer’s driveway, there was an unfamiliar car with out-of-state plates parked in front of the house. Summer’s front door opened and out walked an older couple. Summer was behind them, holding a little girl’s hand. The conversation between Summer and the couple looked intense, so Elsie stayed put.

  Shit. She was not in the mood for any drama. After leaving the office, she attended her book club meeting and was in a relaxed state of mind. She thought they would just have a couple of drinks, maybe make love. It didn’t look like that was going to happen. If she wasn’t parked in the driveway, she would have driven away.

  Sitting in the car trying to act preoccupied, Elsie looked up to see the couple walking past. She almost spoke until she realized they purposely didn’t look her way.

  Elsie looked at Summer, who was watching them with a frown. Once the couple got into their car and pulled off, Elsie climbed out of her vehicle and headed toward Summer, who bent down and said something to the little girl. The child went inside.

  “What’s going on?” Elsie asked, following Summer into the house. “It looks like you’ve been crying. Is that your daughter?”

  Instead of answering the question, Summer said, “I can’t wait to start buying furniture.”

  Summer had just purchased the house and asked Elsie to move in. Elsie, caught in the after effects of an orgasm, told her she would move in as soon as the lease on her condo was up. Unbeknownst to Summer, it was up over a month ago. Elsie wasn’t too sure about the cohabitation. She liked her space, and after having grown up in a foster home, the whole sharing a room bit didn’t appeal to her.

  For Elsie, living alone would be hard to give up. She was used to doing what she wanted, when she wanted, and not having to worry about the other person. She liked to think that living with someone she was dating would be different, because they were moving in together for the sake of love, but she still wasn’t sure about it. She’d already had one bad roommate experience, an experience she was not ready to repeat.

  The bad experience turned her off to rooming. If it wasn’t for the fact that she was saving to start her own business, she would have never done it. Tish was her roommate’s name, the roommate from hell. For the first couple of months, everything was fine. They got along great. Food was always in the fridge, rent was paid on time and the house was always clean. Elsie considered herself lucky. Things started to change overnight. Tish started having all kinds of company at all hours of the night. Elsie was always picking up after her and she grew tired of it. Still she didn’t say anything. She needed the money. Elsie tried her best to make it work, until one day she came home from work and some man was walking around nude, like it was his house.

  “Where’s Tish?” Elsie asked, averting her eyes.

  “She’s not here,” he told her, not even trying to cover up.

  That was the last straw. Elsie threw her out and vowed she would never again have a roommate.

  She knew things would not be this extreme with Summer, but it still stressed her when she thought about the whole “moving in together” thing. Now on top of everything else, it looked like Summer’ daughter would be staying a while. Elsie had not missed the stack of suitcases near
the steps.

  “What’s going on?” Elsie asked again.

  Summer looked toward the steps. “That’s my daughter, Winter.”

  Elsie figured that part out already. She was the spitting image of Summer.

  “Is she moving in?” Elsie wanted to know.

  “Well, it looks that way. Her father, my ex-husband, was in a car accident, and those were my parents.”

  Elsie didn’t know what to respond to first. “An accident? Your parents?”

  For starters, Elsie knew that Summer was estranged from her family. They wrote her off when she came out of the closet. Summer cried when she told Elsie the story of when she realized she was gay and could deny it no longer. She had dated and married her high school sweetheart, became pregnant the first year of marriage, and she thought having a baby would complete her. It didn’t. She just grew more depressed, and being married to James wasn’t what she wanted anymore. She was tired of living to please her dad. She just couldn’t continue with the charade anymore.

  One night after dinner, Summer told James they needed to talk. Taking his hands in hers, she told him she wanted a divorce. She didn’t love him anymore, and felt he deserved better. He refused to leave, telling her, “I won’t break up my family.”

  She stayed in the marriage, unhappily, until she met someone, another woman, who she was willing to take a chance on. Broaching the subject of divorce once again, it fell on deaf ears. Unable to put off her desire, Summer started seeing the woman on the sly.

  One day, the only day the woman had come to her house, James was supposed to be out of town. He arrived home two days early and busted them making love. Being a man of God, he granted her the divorce on the condition that he got custody of their daughter. It was the hardest thing Summer ever had to do, besides telling her parents why they were divorcing. Her father, a minister, told her she was going to hell and disowned her. James took Winter and moved to another state. Summer got to see her on holidays and in the summer. Now it looked like she’d be seeing her every day.

  “Summer, what’s going on?” Elsie asked again, growing agitated.