Bad as in Good (37 page)

I blinked a few times in hopes that I could blink away my bad dream. “I dunno what you're talkin' about. Can I go to sleep?”

Loraine stood over me for a while. Soon, the area around her faded to black. The last thing I saw was Loraine rolling her eyes as everything went dark. Suddenly, the two-headed lion reappeared in my bedroom and asked me to join in.

•  •  •

When I heard my shower running, I shot up from my couch. The sunlight raked through my blinds, almost blinding me. I threw the back of my wrist over my face to block the searing sunlight from burning my retinas. As I sat up, I massaged my scalp, tryna bore out the sound of chirping in my skull. The more conscious I became, the more rapidly the chirping upgraded to loud chiming. I squeezed my eyes shut as I shunned the effects of a hung-over morning. When I looked down and realized I was dressed in my Victoria's Secret pajama pants and Old Navy sweatshirt, it became clearer that my night last night was more hectic than I hoped. The sound of the shower increased as it jammed its presence into my earlobes, banging against my eardrums and compelling me to pay attention.

Finding my BlackBerry on the floor, I picked it up and hoped I
could make sense of everything. As I scrolled through my text messages, my post-drunken binge evolved into a horror film. The last text I got from Tariq was,
“I'm 'bout to roll through.”
The text wouldn't have freaked me out as much if the text seven minutes after it from Louis hadn't read,
“I have some things to discuss with you. I'm coming over.”

The fight scene from Tariq's condo flashed through my mind. I jumped off my couch and rushed toward the sound of my bathroom shower. There was no sign of Loraine, and I didn't know who was in my bathroom. I rushed into my bedroom, hoping I'd see the scattered clothes of the intruder showering in my bathroom. I dropped my phone on my bed and set my sights on my bathroom door. I stormed through the door and stopped when I realized who had been showering.

“What the hell!” Loraine shrieked as I stood in the bathroom door more confused than I was before I walked in there. She promptly turned the shower off and grabbed her towel from my towel rack. Having wrapped herself in my guest towel, she walked out and asked, “Are you okay?” Her question sounded more like,
“Are you crazy?”

I felt crazy. There was no sign of Louis or Tariq, and I didn't know what happened after getting those two messages.

Tired of being confused, I sat on my toilet seat and dropped my thumping head between my thighs. “What happened last night?” My words were muddled through clenched teeth and dry lips.

Loraine took a deep breath as she finished drying off. “You were drunk last night.”

“How much did I have to drink?”

“I had to pretty much carry you out the club.”

I sat back up and leaned on my bathroom sink. Loraine stood in
the doorway, blocking the rays of sunlight that tried to barge into our conversation. I had to know. “Did anyone come over?”

“You mean, did Louis come over?” I nodded my head and hoped that's all she knew. She smiled and asked, “Or are you wondering if Tariq came by, too?”

I put my head back between my thighs and tried not to hyperventilate. “What happened last night, Loraine? I can't remember anything.”

“I didn't think you would.” Loraine walked into my bedroom closet and searched for some old clothes to throw on while she let me sit literally on the edge of my seat. I sat in the steamy bathroom catching my breath until I finally followed her into my bedroom. I collapsed atop my mattress and stared at my ceiling. When she walked out of my closet, I watched as she threw on an old pair of sweats. She tied her dreads up and sat next to me. “I should've been the one drunk last night. I'm mad you stole my thunder.”

“Girl, Louis and Tariq kept blowing me up last night. I needed to drown my frustrations. What happened with Louis and Tariq, though? Did they come over?”

“No. I texted them and told them you were takin' care of me 'cause I was too drunk to take care of myself. They were both pretty understanding.” She lay back and sighed, rubbing her forehead.

“Why didn't I see those texts? The last text messages in my phone said they were coming over.”

“I deleted the ones I sent. Wanted to scare you. I was really mad that you stole my thunder.” She giggled.

“What do you mean?” I closed my eyes and gasped when I realized that I hadn't spoken to Loraine since she went to confront Julian. When I stared at her, her face was pale and lifeless, almost as if I already knew the outcome of their confrontation. “What happened when you saw Julian?”

She pulled a loc from her ponytail and pursed her lips. “He didn't say shit.” She sat up and slouched her shoulders forward. “I told him I needed to see him. We met up at Chili's. I told him what Lorenz told me. He didn't even look surprised. He kept his mouth shut. Like…” She sighed. “I asked him would he have told me if I did agree to have sex with him, and the nigga shrugged his shoulders.”

I raised my eyebrows in disbelief. Loraine kept playing in her hair as she spoke softly and slowly.

“The man I met before wasn't there. He was a completely different person. He was heartless and showed no regard for my well-being. He could've killed me, literally, and he didn't care.”

“Why didn't you tell me this last night?”

“I didn't expect you to get so drunk.” She smiled as if to tell me she didn't blame me. I still felt bad. She obviously needed a friend, and I turned last night into her taking care of me. She inhaled and wiped her cheeks as a few tears trickled down. “I dunno what to think.”

“Have you spoken to Lorenz?”

“And say what? That I left him to be with a man who wanted to kill me?”

“You dodged a bullet. I know what he did was messed up, but this could've been really bad. The worst that came out of this is a broken heart.”

“Somehow, I still don't feel better. I would've protected myself. I carry my own condoms in case something happens. But, I thought he was the one, or real close to it. He fooled me. How the fuck could I be so stupid that I'd fall for a man who…a man like that?”

“You're not stupid, Loraine. Men are good at their game when they need to be.”

“You know what he did tell me?” Loraine dug her fingernails into her palms and tightened her jaw as she stared aimlessly at my
bedroom wall. “He's not sorry. He had real feelings for me, and he knew I wouldn't have felt the way I did had I known. He said he was happy for the time we spent and was hurt by the fact that I was ending things.
He
was fucking hurt.”

I felt my phone vibrating on the bed behind us. I grabbed it and frowned at Tariq's interruption. His text read,
“Good morning. Hope
you slept well. Breakfast?”
I wasn't in the mood.

“Are you gonna see Lorenz?”

Loraine shook her head and sucked in her bottom lip. “I'm too embarrassed to face him.”

“You know he's gonna call, asking if you spoke to Julian.”

“I know.” Loraine shrugged her shoulders and twisted her dreads. “Erin, what am I gonna tell this man? What if he laughs in my face?”

“He's not gonna laugh in your face.”

“I would. I threw him aside. I was ready and willing to throw him to the curb for one of his oldest friends, only to find out that I was the idiot. I don't know when I'm gonna be able to face him. I know it won't be soon, though.”

Another text came through.
“Is your friend still there? Can we talk?”
asked Louis. I sighed and felt it was time to turn my phone off and put on some regular clothes. “Let's go somewhere.”

Loraine lay back and threw her arm over her eyes, shielding her tears from me. “Where?”

“Anywhere. You can cry on my shoulder. We can watch old movies and can contemplate spray-painting Julian's car with the word ‘Murderer' in scarlet-red lettering.”

Loraine smiled a quick smirk that I almost mistook for a face spasm. “If I was the one who got drunk last night, we'd be over there right now spray-painting. Hell, I considered hacking into his online account and plastering his sexually transmitted disease status all over his profile to ward off other unsuspecting women.”

“I know a guy at work.”

Loraine paused. Reluctantly, she whispered, “No. Not now at least. Talk to me after you carry my drunk butt up my driveway, and I might be more inclined.”

In an effort to lighten the mood, I went back to my previous suggestion. “Let's get a hotel room and get away from the drama in our lives.”

Loraine sat up and stared at her feet. After a long and hard sigh, she sniffled and dropped her shoulders. “I need somethin' like that.”

“Let's go—right now. Leave your phone here and we'll get away.”

Loraine picked up her phone. We both noticed the flashing red indicator. “Julian has been callin' me all night. No texts. But my phone is flooded with his empty calls every ten minutes.” She shot up and headed for my bathroom. When I heard the toilet flush, I shot up, too. We both stood at my toilet as the water rose to the top, Loraine's phone stuck at the bottom.

Whenever we got back from our hotel getaway, I was gonna be pissed as I spent the next three hours on the phone with my maintenance man tryna explain why there was a phone in my toilet. But right then, I chuckled as Loraine's first smile in days finally peeked through.

“Good work on Exposé Cosmetics.”

Eric's compliment caught me off-guard. We stared at each other. He was waiting on my gratitude, and I was waiting for the other shoe to drop. “Thanks.”

My weekend away was a necessary luxury. Loraine and I splurged on a deluxe suite that we couldn't afford and gorged on overpriced room service. It was three days and two nights of uninterrupted girl talking, junk-food binging, and expensive wine slurping. I didn't even go home once our getaway was over.

I squeezed into Loraine's work clothes and jetted off to work in time to receive the reviews on my work from Surreptitious, now Exposé, Cosmetics. My work was good, but I hadn't expected a pat on the back from Eric. “I don't say this often, but I really value your work here.”

Two compliments in a row. I had to keep myself from lookin' out the window in search of flying pigs. Takin' another look at Eric's tamed mane, I had to attribute part of his good mood to the fact that he finally met a stylist that his salt-and-pepper curls could agree with. He even dressed relaxed in his cool gray dress shirt and pleated slacks. “That's good to hear.”

“When Vivian came to me with the hopes of revamping her ad campaigns, the only person I knew who could take on a project of
that magnitude was you.” Three compliments. He was going for a record. “I trust your work here, and that's why I recommended you for a promotion.”

Eric was definitely going for a record. “What do you mean?”

“Our sister company is looking for a PR director. They asked me for a recommendation, and I recommended you. Even though you're not as experienced as many of their current candidates, you're the best for the job.”

“Why didn't you recommend yourself?”

He chuckled. I'd never saw him chuckle in the four years I'd worked there. “This company wouldn't survive without me. I'm satisfied here, but I know you want more. Here's your shot.” I finally smiled. He was serious. Eric wasn't tryna trick me into a forced heart-to-heart. He had genuine good news for me. “Do you need time to think about things?”

“Hell no!” I slapped my palm over my lips and swallowed the air in my throat. Eric laughed at my lack of control. It was hard containing my excitement. “I mean, I want this.”

“I knew you would. Two things, though. You don't have the job yet. I could only recommend you. You still have to interview. But if you do get the job, you will have to move.”

In my excitement, I forgot that our sister company was located in North Carolina. My initial zeal faded. I wasn't sure I was ready to move that far away. “If I got it, when would I have to move?”

“They'd give you two weeks to a month, and they'd also pay for your moving expenses. They need somebody as soon as possible. It's a great opportunity. I know you've been in Orlando for quite some time, but it might be time for a change.”

“When's the interview?”

“Today.”

The night before, I was recovering from a serious, hotel-candy sugar high and wondering how I was going to get through the messes in my life. Right then, I had an interview in tight clothes for a job that they'd ask me to uproot myself for two weeks. However, as I glanced around my cubicle, I quickly realized the opportunity my boss had put before me. “When do I go in?”

•  •  •

“You hidin' from me.”

I stopped when I noticed Tariq outside my job in a royal-blue, two-door Chevy. It was a '75 Chevy Corvette, with shiny chrome rims that showed my reflection. It had plush, royal-blue leather interior that looked like it'd hug my skin as soon as I sat inside. It was a change from the G he threw me out of once. “I see you fixed up yo' daddy's Chevy.”

A smile of accomplishment peeled across his face as he nodded and opened his passenger door. “Come take a ride wit' me.”

I shook my head and waved to my coworkers as they rushed to their cars in an attempt to beat the five o'clock traffic. “I have to get home. I haven't been home in a few days.”

“I know. I went by to see you a couple times.”

“You stalkin' me now?”

“I gotta do what I gotta do.”

“How do you even know where I work?”

“You told me you worked here on our first date. I remembered.”

I nodded. “Apparently.” A few guys stood around Tariq's car, eyeing the royal-blue masterpiece that sat before their eyes. I brushed past them as I walked toward my car. I could hear Tariq turning off the engine. The sound of his doors slammin' shut quickly followed.