Belonging to Lust

When Tuesday came around the corner and it was time for Zaiyia to head back to school, she hadn’t gotten in contact with either Alice or Alan about their requests to see her. To be honest, she had been dead on her feet the moment she and Heath returned to town because the man wouldn’t let her out from under him the minute they entered his house. Her body had been worked almost to death, and she’d paid for it by lying in bed for the rest of Monday, unable to move a muscle. Now that it was the next day, she was stressing hardcore over seeing Alice and Alan at the last minute and desperately needed to discuss everything with the McCoy sisters and Chasity beforehand.

Someone up in heaven had to be watching out for Zaiyia, because through half of the school day she hadn’t seen a hair of Alan or Alice out in the halls in between classes. It was almost too questionable to be classified as any form of a miracle bestowed upon her, but she took it that way anyway. Up until lunch she was safe, however the paranoia that one of them would find her soon never left her.

Fast-walking through the cafeteria to her table to rendezvous with the rest of her girls, Zaiyia dropped into her seat, ignored their warm greetings and abruptly confided in them. “Alan told me he wanted to get back with Alice again over the weekend…!” She watched all their jaws drop at once before concluding on what she said. “AND he wants my help to get them back together!”

Not a single word was spoken. Everyone was struck speechless by the disclosure she just dropped on them, and merely gaped at each other like a pack of fishes, unclear of what to say about it.

Desperate for their help in this, Zaiyia begged them with big brown imploring eyes overflowing with hysteria. “Well? Someone say something! I need some help here, I have no clue what the fuck I’m supposed to do anymore. My brain is practically mush right now!”

“Pause, please!” Monnique spoke up first, muzzling her with a raised hand. “Last I heard Alice didn’t even want his sorry ass no more. Or did I miss something since then?”

“No, you’re heard right. That is what she said. Many times, in fact.” Zaiyia conceded with a nod while fiddling with her fingers beneath the table. “So…what should I do then? I already agreed to meet up with him and talk about it when he rang up my phone all weekend long and pissed me off.”

“Tell him to fuck off.” Aishah recommended after some thought. “Unless you actually wanna see this little talk through with Alan. If that’s the case then you need to talk to Alice first, see how she really feels about him deep down inside her complicated little heart.”

“Yeah, talk to Alice. That’s what I’d do.” Chastity seconded, tapping a finger on her chin. “I know she has already said no a million times already, but…I’m still not convinced. A part of me wonders if she’s still in love with him as instinctively as she was before, and prays that they might get back together one day.”

Assata nodded along with her. “Now that’s easier to believe than her claims of ‘moving on’ from him. I’d bet my entire college savings she still wants to get with that fool.”

Zaiyia weighed their consultation quietly. She didn’t know what to believe sometimes when it came to Alan and Alice. At first, she thought the footballer was a cute heartbreaker, and that Alice was a vindictive broken-hearted banshee. Now, Alan was an IDIOT who made the biggest blunder of his life by dumping the girl he loved, and Alice is either still in love with him or has moved on. Zaiyia didn’t believe her when she first claimed she was over him, but overtime she took her word for it. But now that Chasity and Aishah both doubt Alice’s statements, it made Zaiyia feel better for doubting hers as well.

With a sigh, Zaiyia nodded to her group of friends awaiting her decision. “You’re all right. I should talk with Alice first before I go anywhere near Alan. If she still wants him, then I can help arrange that as best I can. If not…then I’ll have to back out of helping Alan. It wouldn’t be right to go along with his plan.”

Going back to their lunches, everyone agreed to change the subject on Alice and Alan just as the blond highschool sweetheart entered the cafeteria with a sizable group of friends. For the first time since she was dumped by Alan, she looked better than ever, even better than anyone had seen her when she was with Alan. Her many tables of friends waved her over, but Alice’s objective was to spend her lunch with Zaiyia, Chastity and the McCoy sisters today instead. Because she was so beloved she had to rotate who she sat with for lunch everyday, and so she went to the tables waiting on her to chat briefly among them before heading to Zaiyia’s table.

For some reason the cafeteria still went dead quiet anytime she came near Zaiyia as if they were still waiting for a scuffle to go down between them. But that was so yesterday, they’d moved on and mended their friendship. Zaiyia and her table looked up as she stopped before them to politely ask. “Hi, you guys. Is it okay if I sit with you for lunch?”

“Sure.” Chastity was the only one to accept with a positive smile while the others merely stared at the blonde, flabbergasted.

Happily sitting herself down in a chair, Alice assured her other friends of her safety by cheerfully waving at them like the Queen of England. Thankfully, none of them appeared indignant, just stunned.

Because the table had just been talking about Alice and Alan's plight, and she just so happened to sit down with them today when Zaiyia needed to speak with her the most about it, Assata grinned at the blond and announced to the rest of the table, trying to emphasize the opportunity handed to them. “Well, holy shit. Alice is here now, y’all!”

“I sure am!” Alice approved, looking like a glowing angel as she produced her own lunch from her backpack. “This is so crazy, isn’t it? I’m actually here sitting with you guys for the first time in front of the whole school having lunch! It’s wild and amazing all at the same time like a movie!”

“And you’re looking fabulous while starring in the movie.” Chastity complimented her with a laugh as she toasted her with her small milk carton. “I’m serious, you’re looking much better, Miss White.”

“Thank you, Chastity! That means so much.” Alice replied, grinning widely as she opened up her sandwich container. “I’ve been working really hard lately to get back to the old Alice again, you know? For too long I’ve been stuck in a rut, but no more, I say! I’m gonna live my life to the fullest and no one's gonna stop me from doing so!”

“Well, you’re old self is looking mighty fine, girl!” Monnique supported, commending her sudden growth and love for life. It was an entirely different girl from the one they first met, and it was about damn time.

“I’m curious, though. I’ve never met the old Alice before. What was she like before all this bullshit went down?” Aishah inquired, spearing a steamed broccoli from her lunch tray with her fork.

“I never met her either.” Zaiyia seconded, finally speaking up since Alice sat down, treasuring the interference from the feud in her own mind. “Tell us who this Alice White was before you and I had our little tiff back in the day?”

Alice prolonged on speaking a word as she thought upon their query of who the old Alice White was. The more she thought of it, the bigger the smile on her face became. “Alice White was…a happy person who was fiercely devoted to her friends. She loved her family despite the darkness living within their home along with them. She was kind to strangers of every sort and background, and was always the type of person you could go to that would listen to all of your problems with great patience and understanding.”

“Wow, she sounds like an extraordinary person. What happened to that girl?” Chastity inquired with an ulterior motive. She wanted to dig for more answers, specifically answers relating to her and Alan. Zaiyia had begged for their aid earlier before Alice showed up, and so Chasity was determined to get them for her friend. “Did the breakup with Alan do something to the old Alice?”

Sorrow blanketed across Alice’s face like thick snow, making her avert her face too late in hopes they wouldn’t see it.

But they did. All of them.

Stilling in her seat, Zaiyia realized what Chasity was doing. No, she realized what all her friends were doing for her by asking Alice all these difficult questions. They were trying to needle out if the blond was still in love with Alan! It was an ingenious scheme, a strategy she hadn’t figured out at first herself. And according to Alice, she hadn’t yet either. This was brilliant, absolutely brilliant! Sure, it meant putting poor Alice in an uncomfortable light in order to ransack her old excruciating memories of her ex-boyfriend, but Zaiyia had to do what she had to do.

Deciding to go along with friend’s outstanding ploy, Zaiyia reached out to take Alice’s hand in hers to get her attention and grinned at her the second she had it. “Oh, no, honey! Say it isn’t so! You didn’t let the heartbreaking loser kidnap your happiness away, or that remarkable smile off your face, did you?”