Be With Me

It was one of clock when it was time for lunch. Everyone would have an hour lunch break before coming back to the studio for another two hours. Normally, photo shoots didn’t have lunch breaks, Henri simply required one today. Since Henri was the photographer and in charge of the photo shoot, anything that he wanted was given to him.

When I told Vanessa about lunch, she immediately declined. She told me that she had to look her best for the shoot. Somehow going out to lunch would ruin that for her. I suggested that she at least come along, but she refused. She didn’t want to be tempted.

I had planned on staying at the studio with her. I didn’t feel comfortable going out with Maya, while my girlfriend was stuck here. I didn’t want to turn Maya down, but I didn’t feel comfortable with the entire thing.

Yet, Vanessa insisted that I go. No matter how much I told her that I was fine with staying, she insisted that I go. I was surprised that she was okay with me going to lunch with another girl. Normally she would have made me stay, but today was different. Today she was letting me go to lunch with Maya, no questions asked.

Maya didn’t seem affected by Vanessa’s absence. She simply shrugged the matter off as if it were nothing. I didn’t think about it much.

We took a taxi to a small café that I had never heard of. It wasn’t fancy, so I knew that Maya wasn’t going to call this a date. The atmosphere was a good place for friends to catch up. It wasn’t fast food, yet it wasn’t quite a restaurant.

We did in fact catch up while we were at the restaurant. I found out everything that had gone on with Maya over the past three years. She was taking a few courses so that she could become a photographer. She hoped that moving to New York would help her, and it did. Without moving here she wouldn’t have gotten the job with Henri. She was only working with him for the experience; she didn’t plan on staying forever.

She was living in New York with her roommate; her parents were still living in Atlanta. Her brother was living in Atlanta with his new wife. He had gotten married a few months ago.

We spent about half an hour at the café catching up. Soon we decided to head back to the studio. We split the bill before walking outside.

We started to hail a cab, until Maya realized that she had left something back at her apartment this morning. She said that it was something that she was going to need for the second half of the photo shoot.

I didn’t want her to get into any trouble, so I told her that it was fine if we went back to get it. Before I knew it we were in the can towards Maya’s apartment.

It only took us about 10 minutes to get to her apartment building. Maya paid for the cab before I could offer, and rushed me out of the cab. We took the elevator to the 12th floor; there were thirteen in the entire building.

I stood patiently as Maya rummaged through her purse for her keys. I ignored my thoughts about how girls never organize their purse, as Maya pulled out her keys. She put her key in the lock before turning around to face me.

“Sorry if it’s a little messy,” she spoke.

I shrugged my shoulder as I flipped my hair out of my eyes. “No problem,”

“It’s usually clean, but things come up once in a while,” she opened the door and stepped inside.

She moved to the side so that I could follow suit. I observed her apartment, noticing that it wasn’t as dirty as Maya had lead on. I couldn’t help but to be surprised at the size. New York apartments were usually smaller than this. As I surveyed the area I could help but to notice someone passed out on the couch.

She was lying face down into a couch with a pillow covering her head. I could see a small amount of blonde hair from under the pillow. The lower half of her body was lying off the couch. The middle of her back was covered in covers, the rest of them were lying on the floor. She was only wearing one shoe while the other one was in her hand, also hanging off the couch. I could tell that her red dress was shorter, but it appeared as if it had ridden up so that it was short. I could almost make out her ass.

I furrowed my brows as I stared at the girl. I was wondering if this was Maya’s roommate. Somehow, I knew that she wasn’t. Although I couldn’t see the girl’s face, she looks familiar.

Maya stood next to me, her eyes landing on the girl on the couch. She shook her head as she crossed her arms over her chest.

“On occasion we invite a local bum to come sleep on our couch,” she spoke. “Charity work is just wonderful now a days,”

I raised my brow as a smile formed on my lips. I could hear the playfulness in her voice. I knew that she was only kidding.

She shook her head before walking over to the couch. “Wake up bum; it’s after one o’clock,”

She took the pillow off of her head as she grabbed one of the girl’s legs before rolling her off the couch. The girl landed on the floor with a loud thud. Her legs and her hair tangled. I still couldn’t see her face from where I was standing. She held her forehead as she let out a loud groan. Maya playfully rolled her eyes as she nudged the girl with her foot.

“Ow,” the girl spoke.

It was then that I recognized her voice. I was surprised that I hadn’t recognized her from the blonde hair. I immediately laughed at the sight of her.

“What the hell are you doing Sabrina?” I laughed.

I should have been able to recognize Sabrina the moment I saw her. I saw her almost every day. Sabrina was my permanent back up dancer. She had been my dancer since she started. She was the only female dancer that I had anymore. We had grown close over the years. She was my best friend, she knew everything about me.

“Lying on the floor,” she answered, before another groan escaped her lips. “In pain, lying on the floor in pain,”

“Oh whatever,” Maya muttered.

I chuckled as I shook my head. “Is this something that I’m going to have to tell Ryan,”

This was another reason why Sabrina and I were so close; she was dating my best friend. They had been flirting with each other ever since they met. They hadn’t started dating until a little over a year ago. Ever since then, they were constantly talking to each other. I would have never thought that Ryan was one for long distance relationships, but he proved me wrong.

“Fuck you!!” she yelled as she sat up. She quickly held her head again before laying back down on the floor. She giggled as she closed her eyes in pain.

“See you shouldn’t have gone out clubbing last night,” Maya scolded. “You know that you can’t keep up with her anymore,”

“Shut-up” Sabrina groaned in response. “I can…just not last night,”

“It was her first time off in forever…I could have told you that you wouldn’t have been able to keep up with her last night,”

“Can we just stop talking…I’m too hung over for this,”

Maya and I laughed in response. The sound of a door slamming upstairs caused Maya to immediately stop laughing. Color seemed to drain from her face as she froze. She noticeably tensed up as she stared at me. I simply furrowed my brows as I stared at her. She looked down at Sabrina, fear present on her face.

“Why didn’t you tell me that she was here?” she whispered yelled.

“I. Was. Sleep” Sabrina responded. Maya opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted by someone else’s voice.

“You know, for someone who’s supposed to be hung over and someone who’s supposed to be at work, you sure do talk a lot,”

This time I tensed up at the sound of her voice. My heart stopped beating, as my hands began to sweat. My chest began to tighten, as I took a sharp intake of breath. My skin went cold, as my face contorted in disbelief.

This couldn’t be happening. This was the unthinkable, the unimaginable. There was no way that this was happening to me. This felt like a bad dream. This felt like a dream where you were falling and trying to wake yourself up before you hit the ground, only it wasn’t in your control. That’s what was happing to me. I was currently in a situation that I couldn’t control. There wasn’t anything that I could do to prevent this from happening.

I could run. I could run out of the apartment, hail a cab and never have to deal with this situation again. I could give myself control of the situation. I could wake up before I hit the ground. I could end this nightmare before it becomes worse.

The only problem was, getting up the courage to do it. I was looking for the courage to become a coward. If I ran, there was no turning back. Everyone would know how frightened, shocked and affected I was by everything that was going on.

I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t run. I couldn’t let everyone know how this was fazing me. Instead I took a deep breath as I shoved my hands into my pockets. I acted as if I didn’t care. As if I hadn’t just heard her voice.

Acting as if I didn’t care was easier than I thought it would be. I heard footsteps coming down the stairs, yet I remained in the same position. I could see the worried expression on Maya’s face, yet I didn’t care. Or at least I pretended as if I didn’t care. Everything was going smoothly.

I wasn’t fazed until the footsteps came to a halt. I made the mistake of turning my head to look at the stairs. Once I did, I immediately regretted it.

My nightmares had been confirmed once I did so. I could no longer lie to myself. I could no longer deny that this wasn’t happening. I had hit the ground. I knew that I had once I saw her.

Natalie May Brown.