Authors: Skyy
Consequences (23 page)
Chapter 27
“Tammy?” Cooley looked at the frail woman standing at her door. She almost didn't recognize Denise's mother. She noticed the big purple lesion on her forehead and a smaller one on her neck. She realized instantly they were the same kind of spots that Mystque, a famous drag queen, had before she died from AIDS.
“Come in,” Cooley opened the door for Tammy.
“Hi. Um, Carla, is Denise here?” she said, looking around the nice apartment.
“Um, no,” Cooley responded. She couldn't believe the state Tammy was in. “She should be home soon. Tammy, can I get you something to drink? Please have a seat.”
Tammy hesitated, but sat down anyway. “Um, I guess I can come back if I need to.”
“No!” Cooley exclaimed. “Um, no, she will be home real soon. I think you two really, really need to talk. I'm gon' fix you somethin' to eat, OK?” Cooley headed into the kitchen and snatched the phone to call Carmen.
“Carmen, get over here now. Tammy is here, and I think she hasâ”
“AIDS.” Carmen finished Cooley's sentence. “I know. I saw her at the last Life Support meeting before I left for break.”
“Why didn't you tell me and Dee?” Cooley snapped.
“Because she needed to be the one to tell Dee, but I am on my way. I know Dee is going to need us.”
Cooley hung up the phone and brought a plate of Lynn's most recent leftovers to Tammy. “Tammy, how long you had the package?”
“Carmen told you?” Tammy said as she took a huge bite of the food.
“No. I'm not a dumb ass though. The lesions told me. How could you keep this from Dee?”
“I didn't want to complicate her life.” She paused as Denise walked in the door.
Denise took one look at Tammy and laid into Cooley.
“What the hell is this woman doing in our house?” Denise yelled.
“Dee, you need to chill out!” Cooley yelled back.
“Fuck that! Get the fuck out!” Denise said as she opened the door.
Tammy stood up, but Cooley grabbed her arm.
“Bruh, close the door and sit down. Look at her. She's sick.”
“I don't give a fuck if she's sick,” Denise spat but instantly felt bad for saying it. She turned and looked at Tammy. She saw the spots on her face and neck. “What the hell do you have?”
“The package,” Tammy said as tears rolled down her eyes. “I don't expect you to do anything. I just needed to give you these papers.” She handed Denise a thick envelope. “It's my insurance papers. Mama took out a few policies on me a long time ago. She wanted to make sure I was covered.”
“Mema knew you had it and didn't tell me?” Denise said as she sat down in the chair. She couldn't believe what she was hearing.
“Yes, baby, she didn't want to worry you.” Tammy sank back down on the couch.
The door opened, and Carmen walked in. She could feel the tension in the air. “Is everything going OK?” Carmen glanced nervously at Denise.
“No, Carmen, everything is not all right. This woman, who has done nothing for me my whole life, walks in and tells me she is dying.”
“Dee.” Carmen didn't expect Denise to be so cold. Cooley was shocked as well.
“What!” Denise jumped up. “Look, you didn't want to tell me because you knew I was busy. Well, I'm still busy. I told you the business after what you did to Mema's house.”
“Bruh!” Cooley tried to interject, but Denise cut her off.
“No, Cool! Nothing has changed. Why the hell should I have to deal with this? You know I realized a long time ago that I couldn't worry about you anymore. I used to wake up in cold sweats in the middle of the night as a child after having a dream about you dying. I dealt with the thought of you coming up dead every day when I was younger. You have never been a mother to me. Hell, you've never been anything to me. I don't even know your middle name!”
“Dee, she's your mother!” Carmen yelled. She felt herself becoming upset by Dee's attitude.
“No, C, my mother died last year. I'm out.” Denise stormed out of the apartment before anyone else could say anything.
Tammy sat on the couch. Her face was covered in tears. She got up, but Cooley stopped her. “Tammy, where are you gonna go? Give her some time. She'll come around.”
Tammy smiled. “Carla, everything she said is right. I dug my grave a long time ago. I just wanted to tell her I was sorry and give her these papers. When I die I don't want nothing fancy. I just want to make sure that Denise gets to keep as much money as she can.”
“Will you be at Life Support this week?” Carmen asked Tammy.
“I'll try to make it. She is real lucky to have you all for friends.” Tammy hugged Carmen and walked out of the apartment.
Carmen and Cooley looked at each other. Cooley sat down on the couch and looked at the spot where Tammy just sat. “You know something, Carmen? I can't blame Dee for her reaction.”
Carmen looked at Cooley. “How can you say that? She was...”
“Carmen, when my dad died, I wouldn't go see him in the hospital up until his final days. I was so angry with him. For years he always put women in front of me. He would leave me at home with random bitches so he could go off with other girls. One of his women was my first. We had a big argument about him never being there for me when he started getting sicker. We were able to make up, but I do regret not being there during the beginning of the end. But, honestly, if my father had never been around, if my father had picked crack over me, if my mother did what Dee's mother did to that house, I don't think I would have given a fuck either.” Cooley looked up at Carmen. “I'm gonna go work out.” She kissed Carmen on her head.
Carmen was speechless. She sat there and absorbed everything that happened. She wondered what her reaction would have been if she was in the same situation.
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Cooley knew the main reason she would never be with Lynn was because of her horrible sexual performance. Cooley had a lot on her mind after the incident with Tammy. She wanted to take all her emotions out on Lynn. Cooley still hadn't been able to get more than forty-five minutes out of her before she was tired. No matter how much she tried to spice it up, sex with Lynn was boring. Cooley felt herself becoming very restless.
She looked over at Lynn. “I'm heading on campus for a while.”
Lynn turned over in the bed. “Cool, it's four in the morning.”
“Yeah, I know. I got a lot of things on my mind. I want to check if Dee is in the gym, and I got a paper to finish. You know I prefer to go to the lab in the wee hours of the morning. I need to finish my paper, and I'm not sleepy. I'll be back in a few hours.”
Cooley soon found herself standing in front of Misha's room. She thought about calling one of her old random pieces of ass, but she was actually glad that she had weeded them all out of her life. She knocked on the door and right away heard Misha swearing.
“What the hell do youâ” Misha looked at Cooley standing at her door. “Oh, something better be seriously wrong.”
“Misha, I don't know what's wrong with me. I was driving and just ended up here. Can I come in?”
Misha reluctantly let Cooley enter her room. Cooley looked around the small room. They had a lot of memories there. Misha was in the same room that she had last year. Cooley noticed she hadn't put her rainbow flag back up, and the pictures of them were missing, but she figured they would be gone.
“Misha, I have a problem.”
Misha sat down on her bed and tried to wake up more. “What's going on?”
Cooley looked at Misha. She realized how beautiful she was, even in a bandana and old shirt. “Denise's ma is dying of AIDS.”
“Oh my God. How is she doing?” Misha said and scooted next to Cooley.
“Dee isn't doing anything. She isn't dealing with it. After all the things her mother has done to her, she can't seem to forgive her right now.”
“Cooley, I'm sorry. Is there anything I can do?”
“No, the shit just got me thinking about things. You know I've slowed down so much, and I have you to thank for that. But that brings me to my other problem: you. I'm still a little gon' over you, and I don't know what to do about it.”
Misha looked up at Cooley. She still had feelings for her, but her feelings for Patrick seemed to be just as strong. “Cooley, I care about you too, but that doesn't mean we need to be together again.”
Cooley shook her head. “I don't think I want to be in a relationship anymore. That shit is for the birds. But I don't want to be just your friend, and I don't want to be your woman.”
Misha stood up. “Oh, I get it. You want to be a fuck buddy. A homie lover friend. Fuck you, Cooley, I ain't about to be one of your precious pieces of ass!” Misha started to let Cooley out her door when Cooley grabbed her arm.
“Misha, you should know me better than that. For your information, I have not been fucking around. I had more ass thrown at me during Christmas break than ever, but I didn't jump at it. Misha, I'm out of that stage in my life. I owe that to you.”
“Cooley, you fucked a girl the day after we broke up. You aren't out of the stage. You're just taking a break.” Misha could feel her heart pounding. She couldn't bear being so close to Cooley. She knew that she still loved her.
“Misha, what do you want from me? Don't you know I would have done anything for you? Hell, I did.”
Misha sighed. “Yes, Cooley, you did a lot, and I do admit that you tried. But it just wasn't enough. I don't want a complicated relationship. I don't want drama. I still have bitches looking at me crazy from last year.”
“Misha, that was your problem, not mine.” Cooley countered. “You let them bitches run our relationship. I let the shit go. I was like, fuck all of them, but what everyone else thought was too damn important to you.”
Misha looked at Cooley. “Cooley, I admit that I let the women enter my head. Maybe I wasn't secure enough in our relationship. But, truth be told, if we were to be together again, I still wouldn't be secure enough in our relationship. Being with you is too much work, work I don't necessarily have time to do.”
Misha's words hit Cooley like a blow to the chest. “Damn, kid, I never looked at it like that.”
“Plus, Cooley, you're headed to Miami after this semester. I'm headed to Atlanta. If we have problems dealing with this local, we surely can't do a long-distance thing. So, we should just be friends and call it a day.” Misha looked down at Cooley. She knew that wasn't the whole truth. The truth was that she had a relationship already. She had Patrick waiting on her in Atlanta.
“I guess you're right. Man, you know that girl Lynn. She really is digging me, but I can't even get down like that. Plus, she is not good in bed.”
Misha laughed. “What? A girl not living up to your standards?”
Cooley grinned at Misha. “Well, after you, my standards have gotten pretty high. The girl can't even last an hour.”
Misha looked at Cooley. She knew Lynn was crazy about Cooley. “Carla, that girl Lynn, I know she really likes you. I'm warning you in advance. She is in love. If you know that she is someone that you are not going to keep around, let her go. Unlike your random bitches, she seems pretty nice, and you don't need to dog her out.”
Cooley stood up. “I ain't dogging her out. I have only fucked two other girls since I've been messing with her, one being you. And, besides, I told her from the beginning that I ain't looking for anything serious.”
Misha frowned at Cooley. “Cooley, remember that actions speak louder than words. Now, I have a class in the morning, so you gotta go.”
“Can't I stay here with you?” Cooley read Misha's expression that clearly said no. “For old times' sake?”
Misha knew it wasn't a good idea, but she decided to let Cooley stay.
As soon as they got in the bed, it was on. Cooley had her head in between Misha's legs licking her clit like a lollipop.
Misha didn't realize how much she missed lesbian sex. She lay back and let Cooley go at it. Cooley knew her body well. Every touch had meaning. Every stroke had purpose. She knew where all of her spots were.
Misha pulled on Cooley's head as she arched her back up and pushed Cooley farther into her bush. Cooley went to town. She slid her long tongue in and out of the narrow opening while she pulled on Misha's ass cheeks. She wrapped her lips around Misha's throbbing clit and sucked as she flicked the tip with her tongue.
Misha purred, “Yes, baby.” She'd forgotten the feeling of having such an accomplished female lover between her legs. Cooley continued to remind her.
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