The Other Woman

Before I can make a smartass comment about my blindfold, he’s already unbuckling his seatbelt and opening his side of the door. I fumble to open my door and nearly fall out when he savagely pulls open the car door.
“It would have been funny if yo—“
“Shut it,” I interject, rolling my eyes from behind the blindfold.
“Someone’s feisty tonight,” he smirks, diamond blue eyes fixating on me as he helps me out.

Our walk towards wherever the hell we were going was quite amusing, to Tre anyway. Instead of smoothly leading me like a decent boyfriend, he allows me to crash into a wall AND pillar not once, but twice. Also, the temperature inside wherever we are seems to be below zero.

“Can you please t-take the damned blindfold o-off?” I chatter, snuggling up to his side for a source of heat.
“Sorry it’s cold, I asked if they could shut off the air but they don’t control that,” he replies, gripping my hand as we make a right into what seems to be a quiet room of a large building. I can even hear our faint echoes bouncing off the hollow walls.

“Where are we?” I ask, still unbelievably blind.
“In two minutes you’ll see. Be right back,” and he then lets go of my hand, and the fading of his footsteps are the last thing audible.

After a minute, a loud scraping sound can be heard, making me jump a little.
“That was me dumbass,” Tre shouts from somewhere, noticing my fright.

“Fuck you,” I answer just as loud, grinning madly the entire time.
“Been there done that,” is his haughty response.

I laugh, unable to conjure up any sort of retaliation. I suddenly feel his presence behind me, but make no movement, not wanting to ruin this planned moment. His strong arms encircle me from behind, pulling me against his warm frame as his lips press against the skin of my neck, slowly dragging around to the front. A soft moan hitches in my throat, unable to surface when his lips leave my skin, and a soft melody resounds throughout the room.

Meet me in outerspace…
We could spend the night, watch the earth come up

“Happy Birthday Serenity,” Tre whispers, before ripping off the blinding cloth from my eyes. Staring back at me is complete blackness marred with thousands of tiny sparkling stars shading the sky. My eyes can’t fathom anything else, and when my head turns I notice the small connecting chairs behind us, and it quickly dawns on me that we’re at the city’s planetarium. Just us two with outerspace as the backdrop.

I’ve grown tired of that place, wont you come with me
We could start… again

Thinking that tonight, or rather this morning, can get no better, a flickering yellow light suddenly appears in front of my face. A vanilla cupcake with rainbow sprinkles decorating its pasty white frosting, and a little candle stuck inside.
On the brink of tears, I carefully seize the delicious treat from his grasp, before spinning around to meet his eyes. They’re exactly as mine, choked full of love and passion.

How do you do it, make me feel like I do

“H-how did you do this?” I stutter, heart melting when his mouth curves into a sexy grin.
He only shrugs, encircling his arms around my waist once again. When I feel salty tears burning my eyes, I avert them to the cupcake below, taking my pinky finger and swiping a dollop of icing on it. Instead of licking it off clean, I dot the tip of his nose with it, trying to find humor to dry away the accumulating tears, this was a lot to handle.

He in return rubs his nose against mine; cream smearing onto the bridge of my nose as well.
“I love you,” he whispers with those cobalt colored eyes seeping into mine through the sparkling darkness. Unable to respond I outstretch my arm from his embrace before placing the cute cupcake on a nearby stone ledge. Instead of repeating those infamous words, I take hold of his brawn shoulders, and press my lips hungrily against his.

How do you do it, its better than I ever knew

His tongue slips past my swollen lips, clashing with my own. With our eyes shut tight, we kiss for what seems like forever, and ever.

Meet me in outerspace
I will hold you close, If you’re afraid of heights

My arms quickly slither from around his shoulders towards his back, slowly wrapping around his lower waist, melting into him. He moans into my mouth, making the want even hungrier.

I need you to see this place, It might be the only way
That I can show you how, it feels to be inside of you

With hearts pounding rapidly against one another we find ourselves floating to the blue-carpeted planetarium floors, completely lost in one another. The soft blanket that he had settled on the floor now envelops us in the cool artificial night, the speckles of shining stars ever desirable. My fingers entwine through his ginger hair, tugging on each strand in high anticipation. His hands come alive, touching and caressing every patch of skin as the obtrusive clothing peels away, and we become one.

How do you do it, its better than I ever knew…

Several weeks after an overly but satisfyingly romantic birthday, life had, of course, gone on as usual. Work, cooking, bickering, sleep…Work, cooking bickering, sleep. The cycle had continued. To make matters worse, Tre’s schedule was completely booked with tour dates and guest appearances, leaving no time for us, and the ever-ignorant Jen had completely mended her skeptical relationship with the likes of Jack.

It’s an ordinary Saturday evening, the sky already turning its usual orange hue as the sun begins its submergence into the beyond, the silver moon begging to take its place. Curled comfortably into the sofa, a bowl of strawberry cheesecake ice cream from the one, the only, Ben & Jerry’s in hand, I turn up the volume with a flick of the remote. The inviting aroma of a lasagna dinner being prepared in the kitchen whiffs through my nose, my attention on Wheel of Future slowly dissipating.

‘I’d like to buy a vowel, O…’ the bald, sweating guy yells, followed by the perpetually smiling Vana White gliding along the floor to change the vibrant blue letters on the board.

“I know the answer,” Jennifer belts out. Plopping into the seat adjacent me, she scratches her dye-fried hair, cooking butter screening through her hair in the process, almost causing me to laugh.

“Yeah…,” I trail, spooning my mouth a dollop of the deliciously cold treat.
“Its gotta be ‘Annie The Orphan’ “

“Annie the orphan?” I reiterate skeptically, “That can’t be it. One of them already tried buying an I.”

“Ok sleeponthecouchwithicecreambitch, tell me what it is then. My brain is on ice since I’ve been cooking and cleaning the fucking kitchen,” she teases, even throwing a couch pillow into my face, resulting in a shit-looking glob decorating the once clean pillow.

"I don't know. This ice cream is invading my senses, I'll figure it out later."

At that moment, the puzzle is revealed, and it seems that Jennifer is correct.
"I told you, dumbass" she smiles pleasingly, legs cocked open like a man home from work, as she leans against the seat, tired from God knows what.

"You're finally right, and dont know how to act," I grin in return.
"I'm goin' out tonight by the way, Mr. Turner is taking me out tonight,"

I roll my eyes, the mere thought of Jack disgusts me.
"I dont know what you see in that jackass," I reply
"Well sorry, we can't all date celebrities" she teases

"I'm serious Jen. He's al--"
"Just drop it" she interrupts, standing from her seat. "I'm tired of hearing shit about my boyfriend. I'm sure yours isn't perfect either.

"Bu--"
"And before you begin. I'm not in the arguing mood, so just get your ass in the kitchen and lets eat."

After placing my ice cream in the freezer for further indulging tonight, we sit around the small dining area in the living and eat. Dinner was, as usual, tasty. But the conversation was somehwhat awkward this time.

"You ever think of marrying Jack?" I ask randomly, taking a medium sized bite out of my lasagna square.
She nods, then takes a sip of her coke. "You ever think about marrying Tre?"
"A little, but not really," I honestly reply.
"Why?"
"I don't know. I doubt he wants to be married a third time."

She snorts, sipping yet again from her can of coke.
"And that's funny how...?" I trail
"I just dont get people like him, the people who say 'Oh, my 5th wife was a tennis player'. How the hell can two marriages fail?" she says.
"Its too easy for a marriage to fail actaully, and it's not his fault alone. Dont blame him for--"

"Whoaa! I'm not blaming him for anything, I just dont understand."
"There's nothing TO understand," I reply bitterly.

"Clearly not," she says under her breath.
"Fuck you too," I grin, shoving a piece of broccoli into her plate.

After dinner, we were watching television yet again, my carton of Ben & Jerry's in hand.
“May—“

It had then occurred. The months of lying, betrayal, lies, and deception all finally hurdling through the door, literally. The front door had all but burst open, men in black and blue, like swarming roaches, filing into our home. Everything becomes a blur as Jen’s scream followed by the piercing yelling of angry policemen blazon throughout the apartment.

‘GET ON THE GROUND’ is their sinister chant, shotguns being cocked and pointed at the two innocent women gathered in the room.

The realization that a mob of police had entered MY home, and were pointing guns in MY face, had finally been captured. The scream that pelts through my lungs and mouth is nothing compared to Jennifer’s, whose body is now against the ground, hands folded above her head as a protective case, and angry wrenching sobs heaving through her body.
The Ben & Jerry’s ice cream carton is tipped the floor, the frozen treat melting into the carpet, mixing with our tears of terror.

‘Search the apartment,’ one of the men command, the obvious leader of the pack. Just then, I feel an unknown presence behind me, my cowering arms being tightly pulled around my back, gripped into a lock of death. The sensation of control blended with downright outrage quickly overpowers me.

“What the hell is going on?!” I scream, my own voice foreign to my own ears. After all, we had done nothing wrong, well, besides my ordeal with Billie, but this couldn’t possibly concern him, could it?

“I’m sorry ma’am, but there seems to be a drug trafficking operation running through here,” the officer firmly states, his grip around my arms slowly unfastening.

“WHAT?!” we shout simultaneously.

“Do you even have a search warrant?!” she shrieks, “GET YOUR PAWS OFF ME!” she further screams, wiggling out of the grasp of a stalky policeman on top of her back.

“Lieutenant Reed, we got something!” a fellow officer states.
“Lets have a look ladies,” the burly lieutenant answers, finally lifting his weight from my back, my body finally free. Both of us quickly stand, already wiping away the angry and most of all, confusing tears.

“Can you ladies explain how this got into your apartment?” he skeptically asks, brows furrowed in accusation. He then thrusts not one, not two, but three sandwich bags filled with anything BUT sandwiches in our faces. Inside the clear bags contains white chalky powder, cocaine.

Co-fucking-caine

“We don’t know,” I mumble honestly. “You can even give us drug tests, we honestly don’t know where it came from,”

“So,” he states tauntingly, “nearly twenty pounds of blow just strolled into your closet on its invisible legs?”

At that moment, more men come strolling into our living room, hopping over the couch towards us, more bags of cocaine in their heavy hands. The lieutenant strides away from us, discussing the information with his crew of devils.

“How the hell did drugs get into our closet Serenity?!” Jen whispers angrily into my ear, her fingernails digging into my forearm in frustration.
“How the hell should I know?” I bark in return, tearing my arms from her grasp.
“I bet money Mark stored it in there without telling us, that fuc—“
“Are you serious?! Mark would never do that to us, and he doesn’t even sell that shit to begin with!”

“Well who else coulda put it in there, the boogeyman?!”

My cell phone begins chirping from somewhere nearby, the entire room spewing into silence. The lieutenant finishes his discussion and appears between us, eyes staring with conviction.

“Do you two live here?”

We nod.
“No one else?”
We shake our heads.

“Is there anyone who comes often, a boyfriend, cousin, anyone? Because if not, I’m going to have to charge you two with drug possession until further notice.”

“What?!” I almost yell, “How can you—“
“Its your apartment ma’am, with countless pounds of a controlled substance in storage with the intent for distribution, which I mind you is a major felony.”

The tears spring to my eyes yet again, my hands quickly covering my face in rage and gloom. I feel Jen’s hands patting my back, trying to calm her best friend down, but how? It isn’t often that a pilgrimage of policemen with loaded pistols come inside your home, which is unknowingly bombarded with drugs, and then have the audacity to blame you.

“Um,” I hear her murmur. “We both have boyfriends that visit here, mines is more frequent than hers,”

Oh God, now Tre was probably going to get involved in this.

“Names and occupation?” the officer asks.
“Jack Turner,” she mumbles, weak sobs protruding through her throat. “He works at the post office I th—“

“He does!” two officers chant simultaneously, evil glee sparkling in their eyes. “We’ve got a lead guys.”

“What are you talking abou—“
“Oh shit, its Jack!” I declare, finally remembering the fiend and his sneaky ways around our home, specifically the day I found him fumbling in the closet, but never bothered to check it out.

“Don’t blame him just because you don’t like him!” Jennifer snarls
“I’m not! I saw him a couple weeks ago, when I was on the phone with Tre, he was fumbling out of the closet and looked nervous,”

“You weren’t home ma’am?” the officer asks Jen.
“Clearly not” she bites back, angry that her boyfriend would be accused of such a thing, although she really wasn’t all THAT surprised. He had been acting conveniently suspicious since she met him.

“Jennifer wasn’t home, he said some sh-shit that you were to meet him home or something, I don’t e-even remember,” I sniffle.

Her face drops and turns into a crestfallen frown, head in her hands as she takes a seat on the couch. It really all had added up, the strangers coming at our door, the hordes of mail and boxes that couldn’t be delivered to his house, his sneaky behavior, everything.

“Ma’am, I need your boyfriend’s name and occupation please?” an officer sternly approaches me.
“Why? He hasn’t got anything to do with it,” I bite, folding my arms across my chest.
“That maybe so, but we’re still going to need the names of frequent visitors and s—“

“He doesn’t even visit frequently, he came only about three of four times, IN A MATTER OF MONTHS!” I state, nearly growling the last part.

“Look, we need your cooperation. We need his name, he maybe involved,”
“All you’re gonna do is involve him in this, and then he’s gonna be pissed at me!”

“Is there a problem Harrison?” the lieutenant approaches us, just finished with talking with a now whimpering Jennifer.
“No sir, but Ms. Reynolds here wont inform us about her boyfriend,”
“Doesn’t matter now, whoever is involved is going to be figured out, we’ll make Ms. Colye’s pal inform us about the rest.”

With a nod of his head, the lieutenant and lesser officer pass by me, already heading outside with walkies to their mouths. I watch helplessly as they salvage whatever they could in our closet, until they were done.

A kinder officer had spoken to us, informing us that we would most likely be called down to the police station for various amounts of interrogations and questions, and even more alarming, we would probably have to be at the court hearing for Jack and other offenders.

Joy.

With bath towels, cloths, toilet rolls, and tissues scattered defiantly to the floor, they finally exit our home, leaving two innocent victims in a violent spill of turmoil.

“Are you o.k?” I ask Jen after she finally emerges from the bathroom, kicking a box of tampons on her way out.
“Don’t say shit to me, all right?” she barks, already going into the kitchen, leaving me stunned on the sofa, mouth agape. Her shoulder length hair nearly tears from the scalp as she violently snatches her car keys from the wall, feet stomping in rage.

“What the hell did I do?”

Her only response is the savage jingling of her car keys as she slams the door shut behind her.

The one and only thing I wanted, no, NEEDED, was to feel Tre's arms around me, holding me near and dear, to tell me that things would be o.k.

But his arms were never there.