Skin To Skin Ch 04

This is a dramatization of a true event.

Setting: Jamaica, Queens, New York. Saturday, October 5th at 3:44 AM

Me: (groggily) What? What is...? (reaches over to the nightstand and flicks on the lamp. Turns to face the foot of the bed. Spots a large figure at the bottom of the mattress. The figure is dress in black.)

Me: AAAAAAAHAHHHHHAAAAHHHHAAAAHHHH!!!!! (calms down. Identifies the figure as Muse #3.) What-in the-blue f-(bleep)-k are you doing in my room, looking like the Prince of f-(bleep)-king darkness?! (glances over at the alarm clock that is on the nightstand) It is 3:45 in the morning! Why are you here?

Muse #3: Here. (tosses lap top onto my lap) Let's go.

Me: (while staring incredulously) Now?! You want me to write now?!

Muse #3: (shrugs shoulders) Well, you ain't doing anything at the moment.

Me: I was sleeping, jackass!

Muse #3: Yeah, like I said, you were doing nothing.

Me: (dead-pan stare)

Muse #3: (stares from left to right and finally at me) What?

Me: (dead-pan stare)

Muse #3: So, are we going to get started?

Me: (blinks eyes and then sighs)

Muse #3: (smiles and then starts to clap fanatically) Goody-good-good! Now, wipe that drool off of your face and let's rock-and-roll!

Me: (groans and slips out of the bed. Trips on a bed sheet and lands on my knees. Hears Muse #3 giggle. Stands up. Then, limps out of the bedroom.)

Muse #3: (snickering while staring at me as I walk out of the room) Are you alright? (still snickering)I like your sleeping bonnet! Makes you look elegant!

------------------------

Hello readers!

I know! I know! I have been not fulfilling my obligations by keeping up to date with my stories.

I've been dealing with health issues, a nasty case of writer's block, some important people have been sick (including my toddler-niece), work (I have working overt-time) and some plain ole' laziness.

Speaking of my writer's block, it's somewhat cured, but I have encountered a new problem. I have a case of 'Muses Overload'. My mind has been coming with a lot of premises for new stories and it's driving me abso-freaking-lutely INSANE! LOL! It's like suffering from a clogged up sink: Water is filling up the sink, but I can't shut off the water valves.

Thanks to a friend's suggestion, I have been able to come up with a method to sate my creative palate. Using a old-fashioned daily planner, I have decided to focus on one story for each week. For one week, I focused on this story. Then I had taken a break because of the holidays. Next week, I am finally going to focus on another story. And so on and so on.

Now, without further ado....

----------------- ~oMRo~ ------------------

Seven weeks later

"Oooh, Chloe, look," Lynn chirped as she pointed over to a storefront window that was on the opposite side of the mall's second floor.

I looked in the direction of where she pointed and saw that her index finger was aimed towards a mannequin that was in the A/X Armani Exchange window. Lynn snatched up my left hand in her right one. She yanked on my hand as she broke out in a sprint.

"Let's go and take a look!" she squealed with excitement.

Her leather, riding boots-clad feet and my sneaker-clad ones barely touched the tiled floor as we trotted across the mall. We approached the storefront window and I saw Lynn's object of desire. It was a snakeskin-printed, wrap dress that held a pair of shoulder pads that could've been described as ostentatious. It was as black as the deep blue sea.

"This is a nice dress!" claimed Lynn as she ogled the expensive piece of fabric. "What do you think of it, Lo?"

I had taken another gander of the dress. "I, uh, I think that it is an expensive piece of fabric that you and your friends would like," I explained to her.

"Of course I like it, I mean, look at it! It just screams 'Me'!" she chuckled.

"So, are we going inside?"

"What?! God, no!" Lynn gave a stare that displayed her mortification. "Have you seen what I look like?!" At this point, Lynn tore her vision away from my face. She peered down at the lime green, cashmere sweater-covered, spherical bulge that was her stomach. She cupped her twenty-two week old, pregnant stomach with her hands. "I am a big fat cow! If I were to put that dress on, I would look like an idiot!"

'Ugh, here we go again,' I secretly fumed. I bit down the urge to roll my eyes.

"Lynn, you're not fat," I told her. "You're pregnant."

"And I am fat!" she proclaimed.

I sighed. I kind of hoped that my rising level of irritation would disappear after that exhalation.

"And you just sighed at me!" she accused, with a squeal to her tone of voice. "You're becoming annoyed with me!" she whined.

"No, I am not annoyed with you..."

'Yeah, I am.'

"...Lynn. I'm just trying to explain to you that you're not fat. You're pregnant and in order to have a healthy baby, you're going to have to gain weight," I explained to her.

'Please Lord, please, let her take that one and not go into—

"Oh my God, I'm horrible!" she whined. Her usually beautiful, porcelain skinned face morphed into a mask of grief. Her ruby eyebrows wrinkled while her hazel eyes narrowed. I saw the tears in them. "I am going to be a horrible mother!"

'Oh. Shit.'

"All I am worried about is my weight and I am not thinking about my baby," she cried. Then she proceeded to stand there and cry in front of the A/X Armani Exchange store. Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw passersby giving the both of us curious glances.

I sighed again before I walked over to where Lynn was standing. I placed each of my hands on her slender shoulders. I stared at the crown of her head. "Lynn," I said softly, but loud enough for my friend to hear me. "I'm sorry for insulting you. It wasn't my intention. What I was trying to say was that you do not have anything to worry about. You're pregnant, Lynn. You are carrying another human being inside of your womb. It is one of those beautiful things that only a woman could do. You're lucky, babe."

Inside of my head, I had gone over what I had said to Lynn and I cringed. I was slightly embarrassed at how stupid I had sounded. I was definitely talking out of my ass, when I said it. I hoped that Lynn would believe that it was sincere because it was, from my end.

Lynn used the sleeves of her sweater to dry her wet cheeks. She stared up at me and smiled. Then she suddenly pulled my body into her embrace. She hugged me with an intensive strength that I didn't know she possessed. "Thank you," she whispered into my ear.

"You're welcome, Lynn."

We stood in front of the store, in the mall and we hugged for about a minute. After we parted, we turned our attentions to the dress again.

"So, are you going to buy the dress?" I asked her.

Lynn sighed and then said, "Yeah, why not?"

I giggled. "Good. Afterwards, we can go and get something to eat."

Once we exited the commercial Armani store, we had traveled to the Food Court that was held in the Queens Center Mall. Lynn wasn't in the mood to patron one of the fast food, 'Take-out' spots and I wasn't in the mood to digest lard and MSG. So, we went to Applebee's on the first level.

Once we entered the restaurant, a server had shown Lynn and me to our seating arrangement, which was a booth that was next to a window. She handed each of us a menu and then wished each of us a successful meal. She left us as we were perusing the menus. There was silence between Lynn and myself as we figured out what we wanted to eat. After a few minutes of silence, she was the first person to speak.

"So what are you getting?"

I shrugged my shoulders as my eyes were staring at a picture of a cheeseburger. "I don't know. I'll probably end up getting—

"A steak," both Lynn and I said at the same time.

I tore my attention away from the menu and peered over the paper to stare at my best friend. Her bright, golden eyes were gazing at me. We ended up giggling.

"You always get the steak!" she said to me after her laughter ceased.

"I know," I said to her as I gazed down at the menu's appetizer list. "But why fix something that is not broken?"

"So, you're getting the steak?" she asked me. I heard the amusement in the tone of her voice.

"Yup," I announced. "What are you getting?"

"Ummm," she hummed. "I think that I am going to order a salad. I don't think that my stomach will handle anything else."

"Oooh," I grunted. I placed my menu on the tabletop, so I could gaze at Lynn. She was reading the menu's contents. "So how is everything? How's the nausea and the 'morning sickness'?"

Lynn chuckled and then she glanced at me. "Ugh, it's comes and goes. It's never ongoing. There are days where I am fine and I can eat anything and everything. The only thing that's consistent is the lower back pain, the swollen tits with the achy nipples and the hurting ankles. I swear, I am starting to believe that a woman has to be absolutely nuts to do this shit on purpose!" We both laughed.

"It can't be all bad," I reasoned.

"No, it is! I am sensitive as hell, as you know from firsthand experience. My body aches and..." She leaned closer to the table. "I am always horny!" she whispered harshly before she erupted into a fit of giggles.

"So, why don't you call up your baby-daddy and have him 'do you a solid'? Or should I say, 'have him do you with a solid'?" I told her while chuckling.

Lynn laughed. "You are so perverted!"

"Well apparently, I am not the only perverted person that is sitting at this table," I informed her. "So, I advise you to call him."

"Well, I will admit to you that I have tried getting into contact with him, but he is busy—

"With another woman?" I asked.

"No, he's busy working at the hospital. He's been working twenty-four hour shifts since I told him about the pregnancy. But, that's how he is; Kenny has always been a very hard worker. I'm surprised that he was able to stay still long enough to knock me up."

"Speaking of which, how's your mother?" I asked as I stared at the pictures of the desserts that were on the back of the menu. I returned my attention to Lynn. "I know that Mama Patrick was P.I.S.S.E.D. when you told her that you were pregnant. She told my mother, who then gave me the 'third degree' about you. Then, there was the whole 'Malachi-Kenny fight' thing that happened."

"My mom is still P.I.S.S.E.D. off. Now, I don't know who she is pissed off at: it's either me or Malachi. Strangely enough, the only person that she is not angry with is Kenny. I think it has something to do with the fact that he runs errands for her and checks up on her every day," she explained.

"Aw, that is sweet of him," I said to her.

"Yeah, whatever," she groaned. "I called him a 'traitor' just the other day."

I laughed. "I think my Ma is upset that I am not married to him."

"But, wait, your mom isn't married either—

"Exactly," Lynn muttered. "I guess she doesn't realize how much of a hypocrite she is."

"I understand where..."

Lynn leveled me an angry glare.

"...Your mother is coming from," I said softly. "She doesn't want to see you struggle like she did with you and Malachi. I'm sure she hoped that you would be different from her."

"Yeah, whatever," she groaned as she flipped a page. "I should've just told her the truth: I ended up getting knocked up by one of my close friends after we had one too many shots of Patron. I'm sure she wouldn't have pried too much."

"I think she would've tried to drown you in a tub of holy water instead," I stated jokingly.

"You're right." I watched the tip of her right index finger tap a rhythm on a photo of a salad that was posted in the menu. I had a hunch that she was going to order that salad for lunch. "I once told her that you and Malachi were more likely to get married than me and Kenny."

'WHAT?!' I began to choke on the saliva that was being held inside of my mouth. I gasped and then began to cough.

"Oh my... Lo, are you okay?"

I nodded my head frantically while I tried to calm myself. Eventually, my air passageway cleared. I pressed my hand to my throat and said a short prayer of gratitude to God.

"I am..." I gasped. "I am fine. The spit had gone down the wrong way," I sighed. I took a few more breaths. "You are an asshole for scaring me like that!" I proclaimed. Lynn just laughed.

"What?" she said with a chuckle.

"Me and Malachi, Lynn? What on Earth possessed you to think that me and Malachi could--?

"Good afternoon, my name is Lisa and I will be your server."

I didn't even notice the waitress as she approached the table. Lynn and put our conversation on hold while we spoke to Lisa. Lynn ordered first, an overpriced salad that consisted of spinach, romaine lettuce, cashews and bits of grilled chicken breasts. I ended up ordering a medium rare steak with side orders of mashed potatoes and steamed mixed vegetables. Both of us ordered the same drink: a glass of ginger ale. After Lisa wrote down our drink orders, making a promise to return shortly with our drinks; she left us alone.

"Malachi, really?" I said to her with a laugh.

"Yes, really," my best friend said with a smile. "It is possible for the two of you to—

"Here you go: one glass of ginger ale for you..." Lisa placed one glass of soda in front of Lynn. "And one glass of ginger ale for you..." She placed the second glass in front of me. She threw each of us a smile. "I'll be back with your orders soon."

"Thank you," both Lynn and I said to our server before she walked away.

"So, me and Malachi?"

"Yes, you and my brother. Like I said before, it is possible that you two could hook up. But wait..." Lynn tilted her head up slightly, so she could stare at the ceiling. She pressed the tip of her finger against her chin while displaying a look of feigned concentration on her face. "...You did hook up with my dear ole' brother already..."

'WHAT-IN THE-HELL?! HOW DOES SHE KNOW...?'

I gazed at my friend with disbelief as a sense of mortification spilled down into my soul. She had just told me she knew I had sex with her brother. Her Neo-Nazi, skin head older brother.

"And please don't deny it, Lo" she said to me with a smirk on her face.

I wanted to deny and lie to her, but I couldn't. I couldn't speak. Hell, I couldn't even breathe properly. I just sat there.

"What's the matter, cat gotcha tongue?" she teased. In response, my mouth had managed to form a few whimpers.

Eventually, the cat had returned my tongue to me. "How... How did you--?"

"How did I find out that you and my brother have committed the ultimate sin of incest?" she chirped. "Simple: when Kenny, Ma and I were cleaning out the basement—

"You? Cleaning out the basement?" I said to her, with my left eyebrow raised.

Her top lip snarled slightly. "You're such an asshole. Anyway, we were cleaning out the basement because Ma had gotten 'a bug in her ass' about something and she wanted Malachi's stuff out of her house. So Kenny's over-compensating ass had volunteered me and himself to help pack up Malachi's things. So, we're packing and cleaning stuff. Then it comes time to dismantle the bed. Kenny did that while Ma cleaned out the bathroom. When Kenny lifted up the box bed, I saw your robe underneath the bed. And I knew that it was your robe, because I bought that hideous thing for Christmas, last year. Plus your initials are monogrammed on the front of it, so you really can't deny it."

I rolled my eyes and then covered my face with my hands. If it was possible, I would've smothered myself until I lost consciousness. I didn't want to deal with the extreme dose of embarrassment that I was enduring at the moment.

"It's not that bad," I heard Lynn giggled.

"Please don't ask me for any details—

"Uh-oooohhh, no, no, no" Lynn said to me as she raised her hands up. She shook her head while giggling. "Trust me when I say this to you: I don't want to know anything about my brother and you. All I want to know is about the condoms you used, because Malachi has definitely had his fair share of skanks—

"We didn't use anything," I confessed.

Lynn's eyes bulged and her mouth formed a perfect 'o'. Then she unleashed her wrath on me. "Are you insane? Do you know how many women are infected with all types of diseases?! Are you insane?! Do you have a death wish?!"

Several of the other patrons had glanced at our table due to Lynn's outburst. I made glimpses at a few of them and mouthed an apology. Then I glared at my crazy ass friend. She disregarded my icy stare and proceeded to verbally lay into my ass.

"Lo, you could be carry a baby right now and you wouldn't even know it!" she stated in the form of a harsh whisper. "You could have a case of syphilis right now! Knowing my brother's history, you probably have some new type of venereal disease. For all you know, your ovaries are baking like a loaf of raisin bread!"

I guffawed and then I fell into a laughter fit.

Lynn allowed me to continue to laugh for a minute before she resumed. "Stop laughing at me! It is not funny, Lo! Your health could be at risk right now—

"I am fine, Lenora! I am fine! Two days after I slept with your brother...

Lynn grimaced. I tossed a napkin at her.

"...I had gone to my OB-GYN and was tested for every disease that is known to man. In regards to being pregnant, I am not 'with child'. I am on that birth control pill where I'll get my period four times a year. In fact, three days later, I had received my little red friend. It was the worse one ever! I think it had to do with your brother's big dic—

"Ewww," she squealed while her face held an expression of disgust.

I found her reaction to be hilarious.

As I laughed, I turned my attention to the window. I stared at the passersby as they walked past the restaurant's window. I watched a few people walk by, then I saw them. 'Them' happened to be a small group of four teenaged boys. They were at least twenty-five feet away from where the restaurant stood. They were dressed in all black: each kid wore a denim jacket with patches, black jeans, black shirts and pairs of black boots. All four kids were sporting bald heads and pale white skin. They were hanging around a small kiosk which was being handled by two Middle-Eastern looking gentlemen. There was a teenaged girl that stood behind the men. She looked young enough to be one of the men's daughter. She looked afraid. The four teenagers were behaving like assholes towards the clerks. The behavior was on the borderline of being aggressive and scary. The clerks were feeling irritated, but they remained respectful.

My body grew tensed while my nerves were slowly becoming frazzled. I felt as if I was waiting for the first blow to strike. Thankfully, before these teens' 'horse-playing' could escalate into something that was more violent, three security guards approached the kiosk.

I saw one guard step forward and speak some words. He must've told them to leave the premises; one of the teens tried to act like a 'tough guy'. He mimicked the guard's strut and strolled up to the guard, invading the guard's personal space. He uttered some words to the security officer. The officer, who appeared to be over six-feet-tall and about a foot taller than the teen, said a few statements to the kid. Whatever he said to the kid, must've scared the teen. The twerp turned away from the guard with a look of fear on his pimply face. He said something to his friends and they walked away from the guards. Hopefully, they left the premises.

The image of Malachi's face entered my mind as I watched the teen talk to the security guard. Looking away from the window, I groaned and buried my face in my hands again. Suddenly, I felt upset and embarrassed. I had sex with a man, who probably would've done the same things as those four knuckle-heads. Or he would've done something far worse.