by Parker Paige
When the elevator reached the lobby, Blue Ivy and Camina headed towards the revolving doors. Blue Ivy paced herself several feet behind Camina, her hand still against her bruised cheek. Once on the outside, Blue Ivy was surprised to see Lee waiting for her in his double-parked Jeep. Blue Ivy hurried towards him and quickly climbed inside. “This is a nice surprise,” Blue Ivy said.
“I got off a little early, thought I would surprise you.”
Stopped by a red light, Lee glanced over at Blue Ivy who still nursed her bruised cheek.
“What’s wrong?” he asked her.
Just as Blue Ivy was about to speak, she saw Camina crossing the street in front of them.
“Lee, do me a favor. Run her over.”
Lee eased his foot off the break, moved towards Camina’s direction.
“I was just kidding, Lee.”
Lee chuckled. “Me, too.”
They shared a smile as Camina disappeared down the street.
“Is she giving you trouble at work?”
“Nothing I can’t handle.”
Blue Ivy hadn’t expected Camina to retaliate in the way that she did. It came as a major surprise. She had definite plans to get back at Camina for sure and teach her a lesson in respect, the same way that she schooled that jerk at Excalibur. And not because it was something her sister would have done, but because it was something she needed to do. And she knew exactly how. Only two words sprung to mind.
Bruce Colby.
Blue Ivy stepped through the clutter of shoeboxes, shopping bags and designer hangers as she came through the door of her apartment. After listening to her phone messages, she splashed cold water on her wounded cheek. Camina’s swat to her cheek hit with more force than she thought originally, and she found herself constantly reminded of it. And to top it off, the soreness in her left breast after having purchased a butterfly tattoo the previous night was wearing on her as well. The beautiful red butterfly that symbolized her new persona was the metamorphosis that occurred inside of her.
Blue Ivy stood in her brightly lit kitchen, still wearing her silk blouse and mini skirt, and enjoyed some Chardonnay from the refrigerator. Though not hungry, a potent craving for chocolate cake came over her. That could only mean one thing. It was time for a visit from her little red friend, a time when she craved sweets.
With dirty dishes in the kitchen sink, on the counter and on the kitchen table, housework had become a low priority. Her concerns were focused more on her wardrobe and all the cute things she could do with her looping red hair. After mixing the chocolate cake mix in a large bowl, she heard a knock at the door and her first thought was that it was Lee, but to her surprise, it was not Lee, but Laura wearing a hooded coat.
“Hey,” Blue Ivy said.
Only once before had Laura visited Blue Ivy, the day after the funeral of her sister and Blue Ivy found her visit unusual, yet intriguing.
“I called earlier,” Laura said, after closing the door behind her. As she removed the hood of her coat, she trailed behind Blue Ivy. When Blue Ivy reached the kitchen, she assumed Laura was right behind her but she wasn’t. “Laura?” Blue Ivy called.
Blue Ivy headed back into the living room and found Laura standing before the hall mirror, the same mirror where she usually receives visits from her sister Sandy.
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” Blue Ivy asked her.
Laura studied herself in the mirror. “This mirror is strange. It has an odd, creepy feel to it.”
“Don’t use that mirror,” Blue Ivy said. “Use the one in the bathroom.”
“Why? What’s wrong with this one?”
“I would just rather you didn’t.”
That mirror was sacred to Blue Ivy. It was the only mirror in her apartment where her sister, Sandy, revealed herself. Blue Ivy didn’t know if she would ever see Sandy again, but she definitely didn’t want to stifle any future visits.
Laura and Blue Ivy convened in the kitchen at one of the two bar stools at the counter. Laura was still wearing her coat as if she were in a hurry.
Laura looked around the room. “Somehow I thought your apartment would have been more organized.”
“It usually is. I’ve just been busy─You know, you can take off your coat.”
“Thanks, but I can’t stay long.”
“Suit yourself.”
Blue Ivy licked the back of the spoon which was covered with cake batter and studied Laura, wondering about the true meaning of this highly irregular visit. “My mother used to make cookies and cakes for my sister and me all the time,” Blue Ivy said. “And the cakes were always my favorite.”
“You miss your mother and sister a lot, don’t you?”
Blue Ivy chose not to answer that question for fear that she might be reminded just how much she did miss them both.
After a short silence, Laura said, “Anyway, Camina called me and told me what happened in the elevator.”
“That was fast. Did she tell you that she struck me?”
“She struck you?”
“And I might sue.”
“I know you don’t mean that.”
“I might.”
Blue Ivy dipped the spoon into the cake batter and moved it in Laura’s direction. “You want some of this?”
“No, thanks.” Laura smiled. “I want to apologize for Camina. She had no right to hit you, and she certainly had no right to say all those mean things to you in the restaurant.”
This was odd, Laura apologizing for someone else’s transgressions. “What, you’re acting as her mother now?”
“No, I just don’t think she has been very nice to you. Actually, she has been very nasty, and it might be better if you didn’t have lunch with us anymore.”
“Oh, really.” Blue Ivy could not have been more nonchalant if she were dead. And she found it odd that Laura would make this decision as if she were some angel or something. Blue Ivy emptied the cake batter into the rectangular-shaped pan and put it into the oven. “Why is coming over here telling me all of this so important to you?”
“Because I like you, Blue Ivy. I’ve always liked you.”
“How sweet?” Blue Ivy said with a straight face, as she was not buying a word of it. Something else was going on here, and it was Blue Ivy’s mission to find out exactly what. “Okay, Laura, what’s this all about?”
“Camina is jealous of you. Did you know that?”
“Jealous? Why?”
“Everyone likes you, Blue Ivy, and Camina is threatened by that, and when you colored your hair and started dressing and behaving differently, it didn’t rest well with her, and it still bothers her to this day.”
“I don’t see the big deal. So what, I colored my hair, changed a few outfits. Big deal. I don’t know why she’s jealous of me. She is the one fucking the finest man in the firm. What more does she want?”
“I can’t believe you just said that.”
“Said what?”
“You said fuck. I’ve never heard you say fuck before.”
“Well, get used to it, because I might be using it a whole lot more.” Blue Ivy paused. “That reminds me. You were going to tell me about this animosity between you and Bruce.”
“It’s really nothing.”
Blue Ivy pushed her hair behind her left ear, smiling. “Does that mean you’re not going to tell me?”
While Blue Ivy waited for Laura to answer, it seemed Laura was at least thinking about it.
“I’ll tell you if you tell me something,” Laura said.
“What do you want to know?” Blue Ivy asked, intrigued.
“Are you a virgin?”
“Laura, I’m thirty years old.” This conversation was getting odder by the moment.
“So. Are you?”
Blue Ivy didn’t know whether to be flattered or insulted. “No, I’m not. Would you like for me to share the details of my past sexual encounters with you?”
“Only if you want to.”
A shocked look raced over Blue Ivy’s face.
Was Laura serious? “I didn’t know you had so much freak in you.”
Laura smiled and didn’t say a word.
“Your turn,” Blue Ivy said. “Tell me about Bruce.”
Laura hesitated for a moment, then sat forward and crossed her legs. “Okay, this goes no further than this room.”
“Of course,” Blue Ivy stated with baited breath.
“I mean it, Blue Ivy. This is for your ears only.”
“Okay already, now will you tell me already? I know this is going to be good.”
“I slept with Bruce, but only once. Just one time.”
“Nooooo. Really?” This was as good as gossip got.
Laura nodded her head yes. “Bruce and I used to play tennis and we used to work out at the gym together. This was when I thought he was separated from his wife.”
“But he wasn’t?”
“No, he wasn’t, but when I learned of it, I had already gone to bed with him. He’s a smart man, Blue Ivy. He knows exactly what to say to get exactly what he wants.”
Blue Ivy reeked of wonder and enthusiasm and rubbed her hands together. “Don’t keep me in suspense. How was it, or should I say, how was he?”
“Honestly?”
“Yes, please.”
“I’ll put it to you like this. If I could buy what I experienced with Bruce, I would have no money left.”
“That good, huh?”
“The best sex ever, never experienced anything like it before.”
“Why? What was it?”
“The man has talent.” Laura smiled, seemingly titillated by the conversation. “He has this technique, if you will, of using his tongue and fingers, at the same time, if you know what I mean.”
“I do know what you mean.” Blue Ivy paused. “They say the freak is usually in the quiet ones.”
Laura smiled and didn’t respond to Blue Ivy’s comment.
Laura’s sexy story left her very curious about this special technique of Bruce’s. She could only wonder and imagine.
“Does Camina know?” Blue Ivy asked. “About your one-time affair with Bruce?”
“No way. I’ll tell you something else that you didn’t know.”
Blue Ivy didn’t know what could possibly top what Laura had just revealed to her.
“Camina likes you,” Laura said.
“Huh?”
“You heard me. Deep down Camina likes you. I mean she really likes you.”
What sort of game was Laura playing, and who exactly was she talking about?
Camina or herself?
Laura’s words sunk deeper and deeper inside Blue Ivy’s head as Blue Ivy peered across the counter at Laura’s spiraling red hair. In one breath Laura expressed her feelings of like, then in the very next sentence, she expressed similar feelings held in Camina’s heart.
Which one was it?
Who liked whom?
A tiny piece of the riddle was amiss, and Blue Ivy knew exactly how to unravel it. The ringing phone on the kitchen counter soon interrupted Blue Ivy’s intense examination into Laura’s motives. Blue Ivy was immobilized. This conversation with Laura was much too intense to stop for a ringing phone. While the phone continued to ring, Laura cleared herself of her coat and sauntered into the next room. When Laura returned, she held in her hand a picture of Blue Ivy and Blue Ivy’s sister.
“I never saw this picture before,” Laura said. “I didn’t know you resembled each other so much.”
“You really think that that picture is supposed to make me forget about what we were just talking about?”
“No, I just never noticed this picture before. You were very close to her, weren’t you?”
Blue Ivy nodded her head. Laura was good. She had managed to change the subject by talking about something very dear to Blue Ivy’s heart. “My sister was smart, taught me a lot, much more than I ever could have learned from a teacher or my parents.”
Laura opened her mouth to speak, but then nothing came out.
“What?” Blue Ivy asked.
“Why did he do it? Why did he kill her?”
“As smart as my sister was, she was no innocent. She had an affair, her husband found out and the rest, as they say, is history.”
“Her husband caught her with another guy?” Laura questioned.
“And you’ll never guess who that guy was.”
“Who?”
“Lee Travis,” Blue Ivy said.
“Lee Travis? Isn’t that your little friend?”
“He’s not little.”
“Whatever.” Laura paused for thought, seemingly confused. “I thought Lee was engaged to marry your sister.”
“He was.”
“But your sister was already married?” Laura stated.
“Exactly. Are the bells starting to ring yet? My sister was married, promising to marry someone else.”
“You’re kidding?”
Blue Ivy nodded her head, knowing that her sister was some kind of woman.
“You were right about your sister,” Laura said. “She definitely knew how to have fun.”
It didn’t take Blue Ivy long to return the conversation back to what was still on her mind. “Back to what you were saying about Camina. You say she likes me?”
“Forget I said anything.”
Blue Ivy was not going to let up that easily. She was determined to make Laura talk. “So, are you saying Camina likes me the way that a man would like me?”
“Something like that,” Laura said, “But I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Why don’t you want to talk about it? You brought it up.”
It was quite evident who possessed these feeling for her, and the person was sitting right across from her. Laura was projecting her own feelings onto someone else. Finally, the light bulb clicked inside Blue Ivy’s head, and everything appeared unmistakably clear. Her suspicions of Laura’s feelings for her were true all along, and this time Blue Ivy was absolutely certain of it. Still, Blue Ivy was somewhat dumbfounded. Apparently, Mr. Bruce Colby had put a real loving on Laura, but still the same, Laura was interested in her. What was it? Did Laura like men, or did she like women? Or, did she like both?
Laura dipped her finger in the remnants in the bowl from the cake batter, licked her finger and casually changed the subject. “So, what’s for dinner?”
Blue Ivy pointed to the cake in the oven. “My dinner is in the oven.”
“What? A cake? That’s dinner?”
Blue Ivy elegantly sipped her Chardonnay. “And this, of course.”
Laura stood up, placed the top back onto the wine bottle, then stored it into the refrigerator.
“What do you want to eat?” Laura asked. “You want pizza?”
Not answering, Blue Ivy studied Laura, her hairy arms, connecting eyebrows, and rosy cheeks. After putting all the pieces together, Blue Ivy found herself excruciatingly flattered by Laura’s indirect come on.
“I’ll order something for you,” Laura said.
Laura picked up the phone on the kitchen counter and ordered pizza while Blue Ivy seized the Chardonnay from the refrigerator and poured herself another glass. Blue Ivy then resigned to the bedroom, flopped down on the unmade bed, almost dropping the glass of wine. Blue Ivy moved back upon the bed, her back against the headboard.
Soon Laura made her way into Blue Ivy’s room. “Why are you in here?” Laura questioned.
“I thought we might be more comfortable in here.”
On the edge of the bed, Laura slouched, sitting unusually close to Blue Ivy. As Blue Ivy monitored the equal breaths of air exhaling from Laura’s mouth, for the first time, she understood what Laura Moore was all about. Patiently, Blue Ivy eagerly waited for Laura to make her move, but to her disappointment, there was just silence. Lots and lots of silence.
“Did you hear anything about us possibly merging with Kirkland & Ellis?” Laura asked.
“I heard something about it,” Blue Ivy said. “But I doubt you came over here to talk about a possible
merger.”
“Maybe I did,” Laura said.
“Are you warm at all, or is it just me?” Blue Ivy asked Laura, as she fanned herself, pretending, of course.
“What are you talking about?” Laura answered, in an unusual defensive tone.
“Well, it’s warm to me.” Blue Ivy unbuttoned her blouse, witnessing the mystified expression on Laura’s face before Laura looked away.
“Would you like to see my tattoo?” Blue Ivy asked her.
Laura was slow to answer, then, “Sure.”
Blue Ivy opened her blouse and ran her fingers over her still tender and swollen breast.
“When did you get that?”
“A couple of days ago. You can touch it if you like.”
“No. That’s okay.”
Blue Ivy knew otherwise. She grasped Laura’s hand into hers and warmly placed it over the tattoo. Purposely, she then lowered Laura’s hand down onto her erect nipple. “You like it?”
“Yes,” Laura uttered in a whisper.
Blue Ivy’s curt smile seemed to make Laura nervous which was evident when Laura abruptly removed her hand from Blue Ivy’s breast. Blue Ivy soon buttoned her blouse and smiled at Laura.
“Red hair looks pretty on you,” Laura said.
“Thank you, but it’s not as pretty as yours.”
Laura blushed, and leaned towards Blue Ivy. “I should probably go.”
“Why?”
Laura’s eyes moved towards the corner of her head as if searching for the answer.
“What did you come here for, Laura?”
“I told you,” Laura said. “I wanted to apologize for Camina.”
“Sorry, but I don’t believe you.”
“Well, it’s the truth,” Laura stood up, seemingly a tad hostile, then stepped away from the bed.
“Why are you standing over there? Sit down next to me.”
“I have to go,” Laura stated firmly.
“Could you sit down for a minute? Please. I want to tell you something.”
Laura hesitated for a moment, then returned to the bed near Blue Ivy. “What do you want to tell me?”
“I know you’re frustrated, Laura.” Blue Ivy so enjoyed toying with Laura.
“What are you talking about?”