Eleven minutes later Naima came out of her room with her pink and blue backpack slung over her right shoulder. She had on a loose, sea-crystal blue Fendi top that hit her thighs and white pantyhose with lace edging. Her pink Louis Vuitton high-tops made no sound on the floor boards as she crossed to her mommy's room. She slowly opened the door half hoping to see her awake but she was disappointed — her mommy was sprawled on the bed on her back.
Naima softly stepped in and stood, watching her, then went over to her. She brushed her mommy's red hair out of her face and bent to kiss her forehead. She wrinkled her nose. Why did Mommy smell funny? Whatever it was she smelt of, Naima didn't think it was perfume and she definitely didn't like it at all. She kissed her forehead and ran out of the room and down the stairs to the dining room where Marlee was packing their lunch with her brother. The latter looked up at her and smiled brightly like the sun.
'G morning, sis.'
'G morning, Yannis.' She smiled back with equal energy.
He handed her her lunch which she tucked into her backpack and a hot thermos flask which she tucked in the side compartment of her backpack. She noticed he'd done the same and was already munching on his scrambled eggs. She picked up a spoon for oatmeal when a vehicle honked outside.
'That's the bus,' Yannis said and slurped down the remaining of his oatmeal. 'Gotta go, I don't wanna be left behind.' He got down from his chair.
'Chillax, Yannis, take your juice first,' Marlee said, putting out a hand to stop him from leaving. 'No one is leaving you behind.'
The boy pouted but then took a sip of his juice — a teeny-weeny sip. Then put his small arms around Marlee. 'Thanks for the breakfast, Marlee, tell Mommy this boy loves her when she wakes up. Naima?' He didn't wait for her reply before he tore out through the kitchen to the frontyard, slamming the screen door in his haste.
By now Naima had eaten half of her eggs and oatmeal. She pushed the rest away glancing apologetically at Marlee who smiled and shrugged. Then she drank out of her glass of juice and grabbed a green apple from the fruit bowl then waved, her charm bracelet jingling in the process.
'Bye, Marlee,' she said.
'Bye, be good at school, okay?' Marlee said.
'Aren't I always?' she said with a mischievous smilie and walked out through the loungeroom.
Marlee waited to hear the sound of the school bus leaving before she headed upstairs to Taissa's room.
She tapped her to wake her up. Taissa groaned and opened her eyes.
'Get up, Taissa.'
Taissa shaded her eyes as she squinted at Marlee and tried to stand up, only to fall back down on the bed with a cry. Her body ached all over like someone had taken the pain to pound a wedge hammer all over it and the region in between her thighs was very sore like that same person had slammed a rod through it repeatedly.
'Taissa, get up this instant! I didn't tell you to go drown away your sorrows in booze. I've got places to go, too, you know,' Marlee said, glaring at her.
Taissa managed to sit up this time but it still felt like the floor spun in her view and was about to give way in her vision. She pressed a shaky hand to her forehead. It felt cold. Oh, she felt so tired she wanted to fall back on the bed and go right back to sleep. It must've been work that made her this tired. Her head felt like someone was building a house inside it. She had a headache so bad that she wished she were dead, but it was the sort of migraine that promised her she'd continue to suffer but not die.
Marlee scoffed in impatience. 'Now you tell me what the devil got into you yesterday.'
Taissa tried to look up at her friend but that single action made her migraine worse. 'Yeah, good morning to you too. I've got a severe migraine.'
'Taissa,' Marlee began, going to sit beside her on the bed, 'I'm being serious here.'
'Who's not? My body aches all over, coupled with my head, I def feel like death warmed over.'
'You're having veisalgia from your drinking alcohol,' Marlee told her. Seeing the pitiable condition Taissa was in, she'd decided to go lenient on her.
Taissa jerked her head towards her in shock and fell back on the bed clutching her head and moaning. 'No, no, I didn't.'
'Yes, you did, girlfriend.'
'Oh, Gawd, what kind of mother am I?' She felt like tearing up. She'd never gotten drunk again after all those years. She should've known nothing good would come out of going to a club almost every night to booze.
Marlee didn't answer the rhetorical question, instead she climbed the bed to sit on her heels behind her then gently sat her up and started rubbing circles in between her shoulder blades.
'Don't.' Taissa pried her hands away. 'It worsens my migraine. Get me pain fucking killers instead.'
Marlee made a well-I-hadn't-thought-of-that face and stood up to get Imitrex from the bathroom. She filled a glass with water and handed two tablets with it to Taissa who took it down with a gulp and held her head again.
Marlee sat beside her again and started brushing her friend's hair out of her face with her hands.
'I'm so sorry.' Taissa face palmed. 'So so stupid of me.' She turned to Marlee. 'My kids . . .'
'On their merry way to school right now in the school bus.'
Taissa let out a cry and, ignoring her pounding head, pulled Marlee in for a hug. 'You're a life saver, Marlee. What would I have done without you?'
'Kay, I get it. Emotinal, aren't we? And here I was planning to jump down your throat.' She paused, then said, 'Um, Taissa, let go, I'm being suffocated.'
Her friend let her go with a sigh. She owed Marlee a lot and she was right when she said she couldn't have done anything without her. Waves of happiness washed over her leaving her feeling euphoric. 'Know what? I feel greatly better already.'
Marlee smiled at this as her eyes fell to the other side of Taissa's neck. She frowned at what she saw and leaned forward, could it be . . . It was! Marlee gasped and covered her mouth.
'W-what?' Taissa looked scared and touched the place Marlee was staring at.
'Taissa,' Marlee said, in shock. 'You've got hi-hickeys on your neck! What?!'
It was Taissa's turn to gasp as she sprang up from the bed faster than a jack-in-the-box. Last night's event came to her instantly and she gasped again and ran to the mirror. Her neck was marked with reddish teeth-mark dots disappearing into the neckline of her dress. She pulled it lower and found hickeys on her breast too.
Oh God! Channing! She'd had sex with Channing!
'No, no, this can't be, this did not happen,' she drilled to herself, hoping that saying the words would magically make it true. But last night was already etched in her memory and she remembered everything vividly.
She collapsed into a chair. Her face had gone through every variation of red to settle on magenta.
In an alley! That is the most stupid thing I've ever done.
Marlee didn't know what to feel. Being slightly elated was one, that her friend had finally let her guard down after so many years. But then maybe fear was another, after all Taissa had been drunk and may have acted out of drunkenness. Or . . . Marlee gasped, what if she'd been taken advantage of?
'Taissa,' Marlee began, 'please tell me you know who it is, because if you don't . . .' she broke off, knowing her point was clear.
'I . . . I do,' Taissa said, a dazed look on her face.
Marlee blew out a sigh.
'But that's what makes it worse, I know him, but I shouldn't have done it with him.' She face palmed. 'I'm so fucked up . . . literally.'
Channing hurriedly clambered out of his car and made his way to the private elevator leading to his pent office. Just as his PA, Leighton, stepped out of it. The latter looked relieved as he sighted his boss, as if the weight of the world had been placed solely on his shoulders and was just lifted. Channing rolled his eyes and tossed his key at him which he caught. 'Finally,' his PA said. 'I was beginning to think you'd disappeared from the surface of Earth.' 'What's on the agenda for this morning?' Channing said curtly, getting into the elevator. His PA quickly did the same. Channing wasn't in the best of moods today, so he had to be careful. The PA knew when to back off, although Channing was just a few years older than him he was still his boss and the one who paid his salary. 'You were supposed to be at the board meeting forty-two minut
It was a miracle Taissa had managed to reach the kids' school without getting herself into a road accident. She was sure she'd have, had there been no snarl-up on the way. Her mind had been preoccupied — was still — with the thoughts and emotions trampling over her like an outraged herd of elephants. Heck, she'd even forgotten to turn the car to selfdrive mode.She parked the car and rested her head on the wheel. What to do? she asked herself that question for the nth time that day. She'd had a roll in the hay with Channing Chevrolet. Up an alley. She palmed her face.This is very bad.If she was going to get drunk, why did it have to be with him? Why couldn't she have been with another person, at least then she wouldn't be feeling this down in the dumps. For fucks sake, he was a playboy! He probably saw her as nothing but a tool to satiate his manly needs for the night. Fuck, he was probably in b
'Mommy, please don't go out tonight, Mommy.'Taissa slowly turned her head from the couch to Yannis. 'Okay,' she consented. Like she was planning to go back to De Grande after what happened last night. God help her, she wasn't going back to any night club again, ever. She needed to catch up with her kids on their life, the way they used to do.Before, it used to be the three of them together, after school and work they'd chat and gist and have fun, but the increasing stress at work had put an abrupt end to that. She had to take on herculean tasks discarded by the others just so to earn extra to pay bills and stuff. So, most often than nought she turned to drowning her sorrows at the bar, getting Marlee or a babysitter to watch over her kids.Remembering all that, she couldn't help but think she was an irresponsible mother to her kids. Take for example what happened earlier today. But, thankfully, the kids had
Chevrolet tried to sit up in the bed but the girl pulled him back down beside her, her mouth going back to his ears. He resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Instead he looked down at her with a smile and buried his face in her breasts, earning a moan from her.Funny, the girl wasn't even on his mind; a certain redhead was. He hadn't stopped thinking of her since that night, no matter how hard he tried, she was already stuck to his brain. He'd hooked up with this one yesternight to get his mind off her but it failed to work. As he had plunged into her his thoughts had turned to a mess and all he'd seen was Taissa. Every thrust into the girl had been reliving the ones with Taissa up the alley. For a moment he'd even believed she had been the one right beneath him till they both came and he looked down. He'd fallen out of his castle in the air hard, knocking the air out of him, leaving him cold as reality slapped him right in the face. It wasn't Taissa and it'd neve
Naima hugged her mommy as she got out of the car.'Be good, okay.'Naima rolled her eyes. 'Aren't I always?'Taissa chuckled and passed her her school bag and a few wads of money. 'For munchies and souvenirs and whatnot,' she said.'Okay, thanks, Mommy. You want me to get you something?'Taissa pretended to chew over this for a moment. 'Anything will do,' she said finally just as the son came out from the other side of the car.'What of me?!' he asked loudly as he bounded over to his sister. He held her right hand and made puppy eyes at her, sticking out his bottom lip. 'Aren't you gonna get me something, Naima?''Oh, why would I ever forget you? I'd get the best anything for you.''Can I get a Jag model, please.''No way, man. It's way too high-priced. 'Sides they might not have that.'
'Ring-a-ring o' roses,A pocket full of poises,A-tissue! A-tissue,We all fall down.'Naima's eardrums were starting to pain her. It was just that Annoying Thing Adolf and the boys singing wouldn't make it in a singing career. Annoying Thing's voice was a high-pitched nasal whine, like his passages were clogged — they most probably were.'Clive, Anointing, this isn't exactly the kinda song that gives you an architectural firm vibe,' Ms. McCullough said.'Oh, we were just tryna cheer up the bus,' a nasal whine answered.'Oh, I know, let's sing a Mason song,' another boy said.'How about you don't see any song at all,' Thelma, a girl from the other class said and almost everybody unanimously agreed with her.This shut the boys up and fast.So, Naima sat back and cracked the window shut some to reduce the wind blowing in on her face then she sat back and watched the city fly by.This is so baw-ring!
Annoying Thing, somewhere along the line, had sidled up to Naima and was trying at small talk and didn't get the gist that he wasn't wanted. He kept on talking to a brick wall that was already making a gap between them.She cast her gaze around wildly for her former company. They were nowhere in sight. Where were those friends of hers when she needed them the most?"I got an extra toe, did you know that?" Annoying Thing was saying. Naima rolled her eyes and made a retching sound, clawing at her throat. But the girl was only disappointed to find out that didn't keep off Annoying Thing, it only impressed the morbid creep. She crossed her fingers and hoped Wanda and the rest would show up and save her.But they didn't. And the poor girl tried to drown out the sound of a mooning Annoying Thing telling her about his obese aunt who did yoga to rid herself of asthmaUgh!Her rescue came in the form of Mr Quasar as the wiry man came up with two guys in office wear to announce to the bored
Leighton packed the files off the systems analyst's desk. The latter looked nervous, twirling a strand of hair. She looked full of nerves enough to chew on it.'Leighton, you sure everything's fine?''Yeah,' said Leighton, rolling his eyes.'I mean, I was gonna bring the files myself, is Mr Chevrolet angry?''No. Wena, you're overreacting.'Rowena wrung her hands and tried to smile but only succeeded in looking more nervous. 'If you say so.'Leighton flashed a smile, ticked something on the top file then pat her cheek and made to go.'Leighton?'He stopped and glanced back at her.'I was wondering if you're still up for a drink at my apartment.' Rowena was shy saying this, her face red right to the roots of her hair, like someone suffering from a bad rash.Leighton turned pink at the neck and ears. 'Well, okay, fine by me.' Then he bolted out of the room speedwalking to the elevator towards the end of the hallway.It was his luck it was a mini-break for the fourth floor and no one was