Violet & Trinity: Chapter 04 - Out and About
Trin drove confidently in the Arizona traffic. The sky was overcast, highly unusual for mid-June. Violet was in the passenger seat and clinging to the dashboard for dear life.
During the half-hour trip from their northern suburban duplex to downtown, Trin had cut off six people, flipped off two of them and narrowly avoided being smacked by a bus. Violet did not care for Trin's driving and often closed her eyes.
Parking in the underground complex barely twenty minutes before her weekly appointment with Nancy, Trin extricated herself from the passenger's side of her battered old nova and lit a cigarette.
Violet raised an eyebrow.
"I thought you quit?" She poked.
"I have one pack a month, I just make it last," Trin said, while holding the smoke in her lungs. The Indonesian Clove Cigarettes gave off an odd, spicy smell.
"You don't have to work tonight, right?" Trin said, desperate to change the subject.
"Nope," Violet replied.
Trin smiled her catty smile.
"What are you up to?" Violet asked.
"Me?" Trin asked, putting her manicured hand to her chest.
"You," Violet said flatly, putting her hands on her hips.
"Oh, I thought we might go out after you met Nancy. I found this cool little place to hang out. James can watch after himself for the afternoon."
"Okay," Violet said. She hefted a Steven King novel and they headed for the elevator.
Nancy was waiting for them at the reception desk and she smiled as she was introduced. Violet felt somewhat uncomfortable, for she did not like therapists, and was thankful that Trin did not insist she go back.
"So there she is, my woman," Trin said happily.
Nancy smiled and was happy for Trin as she babbled along for quite some time about this and that, mostly about their ever widening sex life.
"And then," Trin said with a huff, "the kid found out."
"James, her son," Nancy affirmed.
"Yeah, he wigged out, ran off for a few hours. I was gonna go hunt his butt down, but she damn near tied me down. She put me on my knees for crying' out loud," She bellowed.
"You're complaining, why?" Nancy shot at her.
"I didn't say I was complaining," Trin said. "I'm not used to it. There's a lot of stim coming from her in a lot of ways, and when James ran, well I felt it was fucked."
"But he came back," Nancy pointed out.
Trin nodded.
"We talked a lot, laid down some ground rules. We're gonna be cleaning up the house a lot, and Vi and I are going to move into the back bedroom. Get a big bed and be a couple."
"Did you ask her to Pride?" Nancy's eyes flashed.
"Yeah we talked about it. She says she's not quite there yet. I think maybe she's kinda just settling into the whole lesbian thing. I'm gonna go, but just for the t-shirts." She said, smiling.
Nancy nodded, half a loaf was better than none.
"So do you feel comfortable with the relationship?" She asked.
"Yeah, real good. I mean it's still in the early stages, we'll need to roughen out some edges. Heck, that's what you have to do with any relationship," Trin replied, gesticulating.
Nancy nodded.
"So how would you like to delve a little deeper into your psychology?" She asked.
"Um, how do you mean?"
"I'd like to introduce into your care plan some discussions about your addiction."
"I don't smoke that much," Trin protested.
"I'm not talking about cigarettes," Nancy pierced. "I'm talking about food."
Trin's face went stone cold.
"What?" She gasped.
"You my friend, use food like others use pot, alcohol or meth," Nancy stated.
Trin's mouth went dry.
"What did you tell me you were going to do after you left today?" Nancy asked.
"Take Vi out for lunch, and we're gonna go out to this spa place I know."
"When did you have breakfast?" Nancy inquired.
Trin looked at the clock. Twenty minutes into the session. Damn.
She replied, "I had two, Bagels at eight, and Vi about ten, but I just teased her."
Nancy deftly avoided Trin's attempt to change the subject.
"Are you hungry?"
Trin swallowed.
Nancy waited patiently.
"No," Trin concluded.
"So why are you eating, then," Nancy asked softly. She sensed Trin's fear.
"I, uh, don't know. It's lunchtime. I'm taking her out, it's our one-month anniversary for Christ's sake," she defended herself.
"Has Violet ever said anything about your weight?"
"No," Trin stammered.
Nancy pinned her.
"Did Ravi?"
Trin's tears fell. She shivered, and could only nod in the affirmative.
She lowered her face to her hands and sobbed her long, gasping sobs.
She took in long, gasping lung fulls of air, trying to be able to speak.
"This is a big deal for you, huh?"
Trin nodded.
"They used to pick on me, in school. All the time," she voiced hollowly.
"So you just ate more. You ate to hide from your rapes, and you ate to curtail the pain from Ravi's death."
Trin nodded as the tear factory started up again.
"Trin," she called gently.
Trin returned to her deep breathing, to try and be able to reconcile herself.
"Are you in pain now?"
"Normal aches and pains. Hips, knees, back. Crap like that," Trin admitted.
"Do you think any of that might go away if you were packing a bit less weight?"
Trin shrugged.
"I guess," she admitted.
"I'll make you a little deal," Nancy said.
"I'm gonna cut you loose a little early so you can go diddle Vi. In return you're going to track what you eat," a food journal, so to speak.
Trin would have signed a deal with the devil to get out of that room.
"Every fucking crumb," Nancy looked into Trin's eyes.