Cutting Loose (5 page)

A fake smile crept across Camille’s
face. “Okay, you won this time, sis. I’m sorry for getting pissed but you
always make me look bad. It’s always been this way since we were little.”

Sabrina nearly blurted out, “And you
still haven’t gotten your shit together,” but held her tongue. Just as good at
putting on a fake smile, Sabrina said, “I hate when we fight. Let’s call this
one a truce and get back to work.”

Camille waited a moment. “Agreed.”

As far as Sabrina was concerned, Camille
was a snake and she was never ever going to let guard down around her. Maybe
she just being paranoid, but she could feel something in the air. A change was
coming. With no relationship taking up precious time, she could now focus on
work better than ever. If Camille wasn’t worried before, she had better get
prepared.

Chapter Five:

Girlfriends

In one swift motion, Sabrina threw her
long legs out of the car and ran to her front door before the rain had a chance
to ruin her hair. She spent a fortune getting it done and all week the weather
guy on TV kept making announcements about the weather being cloudy but he never
said anything about it actually pouring down. And what a helluva storm she had
been through at work.

Once out of the shower, Sabrina wrapped
her body in a towel and ran to the phone to see who was calling her. “Hey,
Rina, it’s me, Larissa. Are you still coming over here?”

“Yeah. I just got out of the shower and
I’m about to get dressed.”

“Okay. Well make sure you put on
something good, in that case.”

Sabrina waited a beat and curiously
quizzed, “Why?”

“Because you’re coming to the club with
us tonight.”

 “Just exactly who does ‘us’ consist
of?”

“Me, you and Cassandra. She just got
back in town. Are you up for it?”

Sabrina thought it about it. She really
wasn’t the type to like the club scene and it had been a while since she had
been out of the house to have a little fun. “Yeah, I’m up for it.”

“Cool,” said Larissa. “Make sure you
wear black and white so we can all look like we match like we used to in high
school. Find some tight jeans—I know you have some.”

Sabrina laughed and replied, “Hey, I
know it’s been a minute since I’ve been out but come on now—I work at a fashion
magazine for goodness sakes.”

Larissa chucked and added, “Yeah and I
work at a modeling agency but you don’t see me slipping in the wardrobe
department.”

“Uh-huh. I’ll see you in about twenty
minutes. Bye.”

Once off the phone with Larissa, Sabrina
scavenged through her closet for something that was club-worthy. She had plenty
to choose from.

Though her closet was neatly organized
in groups like colors, outerwear, and ready wear, tennis shoes, heels, and
pumps—she still found it nearly impossible to find anything to wear. She didn’t
want to look like the next girl who was desperately seeking the attention of
the most eligible bachelor in the club with her whore-like tendencies and an
outfit that said “just fuck me already” written all over it. Truth be told she
hadn’t had any sex since Carl and she never knew she could withhold several
months without sex. Even thinking about the past three months of no
sweat-drenching love making sex made her heart swell and yearn to be touched
and caressed by a man with strong hands, strong muscles like he had been
chiseled from marble and a boner that would make her lose her damn mind. If
only it was that easy to find such a man in this world.

She went through her closet for a good
while until she came across the perfect outfit that wasn’t desperate for
attention and gave some back; it was a white halter top with a black mini denim
jacket over it to cover her arms and a pair of matching jeans that accentuated
her slim, curvy figure. After throwing a pair of black boots, some perfume, she
grabbed her purse and headed out of the door.

It only took about twenty minutes to
reach Larissa’s place over in Coral Gables. She got out her car with the
autographed copy of
Fabulous
for Larissa and stared at the stars for a
moment. She wondered what it would be like to make love on the beach under a
sky full of stars like they do in the movies. That was one of her many
fantasies she had with her ideal man—if she ever found him. She once thought
Carl was but once he started cheating on her and lying about stupid shit, the
realization that he was nowhere near her ideal man came and bit her right on
the ass. Hell, she would probably have more luck if she became a slut like
Camille and lost all her self-respect. But then again, she had more sense than
Camille to let herself get
that
desperate.

She walked up the driveway and saw a car
that she didn’t recognize and figured Larissa was having company over or she
had bought another car for no good reason. She knocked on the door a couple
times and a moment later Larissa appeared at the doorstep wearing a big smile
as always and just the right amount of foundation on her already pretty round
face.

She opened the door fully and damn near
screamed her lungs off. “Oh, my God, Sabrina! You actually came!” She pulled
her into a tight embrace. She looked over her outfit and said, “Damn, and you
actually followed my directions and dressed flawlessly in black and white. I’m
so proud of you.”

Sabrina chuckled and waved her off.
“Yeah, yeah.” She gave the magazine to Larissa and watched her go crazy.

“Holy shit, you actually got an
autographed copy?” her eyes looked like they were going pop out of their
sockets. She scanned through the magazine and got excited all over again.

“It was nothing,” boasted Sabrina. “All
I had to do was make a few calls and that’s about it.”

“Thank you, Rina,” said Larissa, hugging
her all over again and dragging her into her beautifully decorated abode. Larissa
led her through the grand entrance and into the living area where her lavish
furniture sat in front of a blazing fireplace.

Cassandra jumped up from one of the
couches and ran into Sabrina’s arms. “Hey, girl! It’s so good to see you.”

“You, too, Cassandra. You look good.”

“I try, I try,” she said coolly. “It’s
hard hitting the gym two times a day four times a week in the middle of my busy
schedule, but it is well worth the prize.”

“It sure is.” She paused and said, “It’s
been a while though since I last saw you. Tell me you’re not still playing
matchmaker?”

“You know she is,” interjected Larissa.
She plopped down on the arm of the couch and said, “Her crazy behind tried to
hook me up with some ugly-ass dude from Alabama with stank-ass breath that made
the hair in my nostrils burn!”

Sabrina and Cassandra exploded with
laughter.

“Whatever happened to you and that
Freddie guy that you were dating a few months ago?” asked Cassandra.

 Larissa scoffed. “I had to drop that
bad habit. He was lying and cheating and I got tired of playing around with
him. Shit, I deserve better than that sorry excuse for a man—he was a punk ass
momma’s boy with no spine.”

Cassandra turned to Sabrina and asked,
“Speaking of momma’s boys, what’s going on with you and Carl?”

“That relationship ended a long time
ago—didn’t I tell you?”

“What?” exclaimed Cassandra in
disbelief. “Why, what happened?”

“In short, he ran off with Jasmine
Phispatrick on our two-year anniversary and now they’re getting married.”

“Oh, you poor thing,” exclaimed
Cassandra, giving her a tight squeeze. “That sucks. But don’t worry, your girls
are here for you and we got your back.”

Sabrina laughed. “Actually, I’m fine.”

Cassandra and Larissa exchanged empty
looks and stared back at Sabrina. Larissa said, “Last time you said that you
were in a jail cell with a DUI.”

Sabrina sighed heavily, shaking off the
memory. “In my defense, that wasn’t really my fault. I wasn’t even drunk.”

“Right,” said Larissa sarcastically.
“Nobody told you to drown your sorrows in a bottle of wine in the middle of the
night for Carl’s lame ass.”

“That’s not even the whole story.”

“You don’t have to tell a lie, Rina,”
said Cassandra. “We are your girls and you can tell us anything. But anyways,
that’s in the past now just like college. Time to move on to the next one.”

“Yes it is,” said Sabrina. “Speaking of
moving on, who are you dating these days?”

“Sadly, nobody yet. I was getting hot
and heavy with this one guy I met at a wedding but he claimed things weren’t
working out because I spent too much time at work and not enough time with him
and I wouldn’t give up my golden egg to him.”

Cassandra and her crazy ass celibacy
thingy. One minute she was banning any man from her life and in the next she
was back in the sack after only a couple of weeks. The girl was a mess and
Sabrina loved her anyway.

Sabrina stood and announced, “It’s been
a long week and I’m ready to get wasted like my name is Paris Hilton!”

***

“See, I told you this place was dead,”
Sabrina complained to Larissa after they had went to a hip-hop nightclub on the
beach. They had been seated at the bar for the last fifteen minutes to see if
anything might change, but to no avail, the vibe in the club was nothing
spectacular as Larissa claimed it would be. It was worse than showing up at a
high school party before all the cool kids showed up; no one was dancing and
the music was mediocre at best. And the over-priced, watered-down drinks?
Laughable.

“Just wait a while and it’ll get
better.”

“That’s what you’ve been saying and I’m
ready to call it a night.”

“I second that notion,” Cassandra said,
sipping on her apple martini in small gulps. “This place sucks.”

“Juts trust me. It will liven up in a
little while. Have a drink and unwind a little. I know it is boring now but
once the DJ puts on some good music, it’s going to be on and poppin’ in this
bitch.”

“Let’s hope so.”

Sabrina took Larissa’s advice and
ordered several lemon drops to mellow her nerves so she wouldn’t be so anxious
to leave without doing much of anything.

By the time she finished her fourth
drink she was feeling a little buzz from the liquor but she wasn’t drunk and
was far from it. Too bad she couldn’t say the same for Larissa as she downed
her forth shot of Patron and hit the dance floor. That’s when the music quality
became more enhanced and the crowd began to get bigger and more restless thanks
to the music being blasted over the speakers and the lights changing colors.

“Ooh, Rina this is my favorite song!
Come dance with me,” chided Cassandra as she slid out of the chair and almost
stumbled on her skinny legs.

“Nah, you can go ahead. I’ll wait until
they play something better.”

Cassandra was determined not to hit the
floor with someone other than herself and out of nowhere some guy walked up to
her and asked her to dance and of course she took the bait and joined him.

That was unfortunate because just as
soon as she left Sabrina’s bladder started going haywire and she had to use the
bathroom really bad. But she was not feeling that idea too much because she was
not about to lose her seat and have to stand up all night against the wall. So
she figured she would wait until the song ended and Larissa or Cassandra would
come back and take a break. She was sadly mistaken as five minutes turned into
thirty minutes of eternity with a throbbing bladder ready to explode in any
given second.

 She tried to cross her legs. Nope.

“Fuck it,” she said aloud as she jumped
up from her seat and made a dash for the restroom. All the stalls were occupied
except one and she pushed and shoved her way to the stall, not even giving a
damn how many females were cussing her out along the way.

Once she was finished, she washed her
hands and checked herself out in the mirror and made sure her outfit was still
on point before going back to the action. She was about to dance but she
changed her mind when they played some slow song that just didn’t appeal to
her. So she went over to the bar to reclaim her seat only to find some
bony-looking chick had taken over her seat jut as she figured would happen.

She tried to be polite when she said,
“Excuse me, but you are in my seat.”

The bony chick spun around and snapped,
“Well, I guess that’s too bad isn’t it?”

Sabrina was about to lose her cool and
when the chick spun back around as if Sabrina wasn’t standing there, that set
her off. Sabrina tapped her on the shoulder and said, “I’m only going to say
this to you one last time—you are in my seat, now raise up!”

She smirked and said, “Oh, really,
bitch? Make me!”

“Ladies, ladies calm down,” interjected
some random guy who was making his way to the dance floor but stopped in route
when he saw them. “It’s just a chair. Matter of fact, you can use mine,” he
said to Sabrina coolly, pointing to an unoccupied chair a few feet from where
they were standing.