Turned Out Saga (25 page)

Champagne and Alexis were seated at a table in The Red Oak sipping on Martinis once again.

“So,” Champagne started, “what's up with you not returning a sister's phone call, making me stress out? I was worried about your ass.”

Alexis didn't answer right away, she continued to sip on her drink and glance around the room.

“What's up? You keep looking around? Are you looking for anyone in particular?”

Alexis turned to focus on Champagne. “I'm sorry. It's just that while I was running my errands today, I just had this weird ass vibe. Like someone was following me. And, it's not the first time.”

“For real? Who?”

“That's just it. I don't know.” Alexis shook her head. “You know what, maybe I'm bugging. Maybe I'm just on edge.”

“Girl, you need to go with your instinct. If you think someone is stalking you–”

Alexis threw up her hands, “Whoa . . . I didn't say all that.” The thought of a stalker was scary to her. She did not want to put that in the universe.

“Well, that's what someone following you means.”

“You know what,” Alexis requested, “let's change the topic.”

“All right, how about giving me the dirt.” Champagne was ready to find out if it was Alexis' voice Zyair heard.

“The dirt on what?”

“You know, you and Thomas.”

“There's nothing to tell.”

Champagne could tell that Alexis was holding back. They'd known each other long enough to be able to read tone, mannerisms, and inflections. Honestly, it kind of pissed her off that Alexis wasn't sharing.

Normally, they told one another everything, but ever since the incident with Khalil, it seemed like their friendship was changing. Alexis still hadn't said anything about the apology she made to her. Champagne wondered if that meant she didn't forgive her. That she was holding onto the hurt. They weren't communicating as much as they used to and she really needed to talk out this whole bisexuality issue. She would have preferred to do it with her best friend, but if that couldn't happen, she'd talk to Sharon.

Champagne and Alexis being distant with one another had happened before. This time it felt different. They were definitely going to have to talk it out.

Champagne knew they were grown women and that life often took over but she still felt somewhat abandoned. Especially since she thought that the whole fiasco with Khalil was going to leave Alexis in need of her best friend. Well, it was obvious she guessed wrong.

“There's really nothing to tell. We hung out, I stayed the night, and we're friends.”

Champagne caught the “I stayed the night” part immediately. “Excuse me? Did you just say you stayed the night?”

Alexis kept a straight face, not wanting to give anything away. “Yes.”

“Stayed the night as in slept over? Slept in the same bed and didn't leave until the morning?” Champagne couldn't believe what she was hearing. Alexis having a one night stand, those words didn't even sound right in a sentence. She wondered if her mouth was wide open from the shock.

“Yes.”

“So, did y'all do the do?”

Alexis started laughing. “Listen to you.” She mocked Champagne. “Did y'all do the do?”

“Well, did you?”

Alexis smirked and if Champagne wasn't mistaken, it even looked like she blushed when she replied, “That we did.”

“Get out of here. You did not. I don't know what to say.” Champagne was at a complete loss of words. She just knew Zyair was wrong when he said it was Alexis' voice.

Alexis motioned for the waiter to come back over. “There is nothing to say.”

“How was it?” Champagne asked. On several occasions Champagne would overhear Thomas brag on his sexual skills and Champagne had to admit she wondered if it was just words or if he could back it up.

Alexis leaned across the table. “Girl, it was so good. I couldn't believe it myself.”

“Get out of here.”

“I'm telling you, Thomas put it down and quite well.”

“Details girl, you know I want details.”

Alexis' gaze looked like she was taking herself back to the moment and she was.

She was thinking about the way he turned her over and ran his hands over her ass. She thought about the way she spread her legs wider and waited for him to enter her. What he did instead took her by surprise.

“Come on, girl, details.” Champagne could tell by the look on Alexis' face that whatever took place was beyond words.

“Girl, he was gentle and rough at the same time. It's like he wanted me to remember every touch and every inch of him.” She shook her head, “and his coochie eating skills were out of this world. I came so hard, I thought I was going to have a heart attack.”

Champagne laughed and asked, “So what does this mean?”

“What does what mean?”

“Is this the beginning of something serious for you and him?”

“Girl, please no. I'm just having fun right now. As a matter of fact, remember Shamel?”

“The guy we met at the club?”

“Yes, the one and only. We're having a late dinner together Friday night.”

Champagne didn't know what to say. She just wasn't used to Alexis acting this way. She also didn't know if she should say anything at all because Alexis was grown and she could do what she wanted to do.

“Really?” Champagne asked, not really sure what else to say.

“Yes, really.” Alexis looked Champagne in the eyes and could tell she was holding something back. “Why are you looking like that?”

“Like what?” Champagne didn't think she was looking any kind of way. Yes, she was holding her tongue, but she didn't think that was being relayed on her face.

“Tight.”

“I apologize, girl. It's just that I'm surprised that's all. I just want you to be careful. I mean you don't know this man at all.”

“The only way I can get to know him is to go out with him.”

“I know, I know.”

“What else is on your mind?” Alexis asked.

Might as well come out with it,
Champagne thought. “Our friendship.”

“What about our friendship?”

“I feel like its changing. I feel like you haven't forgiven me for interfering in your love life.”

Champagne watched as Alexis took a deep breath before speaking. She watched as Alexis reached her hand across the table and placed it on top of hers.

“It's not that I haven't forgiven you. It's just that I don't understand why Khalil's betrayal had to come out the way it did, at the airport around a ton of people. I don't understand why you would want to humiliate me that way.”

“I'm so sorry about that Alexis. I wasn't thinking. I just knew that I didn't want you to be made a fool out of and I would do anything to keep that from happening. I do wish I would have handled it different and if I could go back and do it again, I would. I just hope that this doesn't put a strain on our friendship. You mean so much to me.”

“You mean a lot to me as well and it won't affect our friendship. You're still my sister in spirit. I just needed time.”

They both stood up and hugged one another and told each other, “I love you.”

When they sat down, Alexis looked at her watch and said, “You know I can't stay too long. I've got to go shopping for my date Friday night.”

Alexis brought her attention back to Champagne, “Enough about me, let's talk about you and the wedding we need to start planning.”

Now, that was a topic Champagne had been procrastinating on for quite some time. Yes, she wanted to marry Zyair and yes, she knew they had set a tentative date six months away but something was holding her back.

“What's up with the look?” Alexis asked.

“What look?”

“The tight-faced look,” Alexis observed.

Champagne hadn't realized she was tight faced as Alexis so eloquently put it, but she told her, “Girl, I'm scared.”

“Of what?” Suddenly, it hit Alexis, “Are you scared to get married? You and Zyair have been together forever and I thought this is what you wanted. Shit at one time, you were stressed the hell out because you didn't think it was ever going to happen.”

“I know, right?” Champagne shook her head. “I don't know what's up with me and this fear I have all of a sudden.”

“Don't tell me you're having second thoughts.”

Was this the time to tell Alexis what went down with her and Sharon? Was this the time to tell Alexis that she believed she was bisexual?

Champagne wanted to tell someone and who better than Alexis? She was keeping a secret from her best friend and wanted to share it. She needed to talk about the mixture of emotions. Her only fear was what Alexis would think. She recalled that at one time Alexis thought homosexuality was a sin, but that was when she was an avid churchgoer. She also knew that although she thought this, Alexis had become more tolerant since learning that a couple of the teachers in her school were gay and even a few church members.

“I have something to tell you and I'm nervous about telling you. I'm afraid of your reaction.”

“What could you possibly have to tell me that would make you nervous?”

Champagne opened her mouth to say the words and closed it. She wasn't sure whether to blurt it out or build up to it.

“Girl, now you're making me nervous, just say whatever the hell it is you have to say.”

Champagne took a deep breath. “Remember when Zyair and I went to Hedonism, the all nude resort in Jamaica a few months ago?”

“Yes.”

“And prior to me leaving, we joked about me and Zyair hooking up with other people?”

Alexis hoped Champagne wasn't going where she thought she was going with this. “What? You got with another man and now you want to leave Zyair?”

“That's not it.”

“Then what is it?”

“I slept with a woman in Hedonism and I've been with someone since I've been home and I think I'm bisexual.”

Alexis almost choked on her drink. “What the . . . What the hell are you talking about?”

“I've slept with a couple of women.”

“I heard that part, I'm talking about the bisexual part. You need to explain that part to me!”

“What's there to explain? I'm attracted to women and men.”

Alexis didn't know how she was supposed to react. This was not something she expected to hear. Hell, Champagne was her best friend and she would have thought that if Champagne had been feeling this way, she would have told her a long time ago.

Curious to know, Alexis asked, “How did this all happen? Are you sure you haven't just been experimenting?”

“Girl, you know I'm in my thirties. I'm too old to experiment.”

“What about Zyair? Does he know about the women?”

“Yes.”

Alexis' eyes opened wide, “He does?”

“He does.”

“Wow.” Alexis looked at Champagne stunned. “I don't know what to say. I don't even know if I should ask you any questions.”

Champagne didn't say a word. She figured Alexis needed a second or two to adjust to what she just told her.

“Is this something new? How long have you been feeling this way?”

“I don't know girl. I'm wondering if it was always in me.” Champagne paused. She was about to bring up something and she had no idea how Alexis would react. “Remember when we were younger and we used to mess around with each other?”

It was a memory Alexis tried to forget as she got older. So she said nothing, she just listened.

“Well, maybe I was bisexual back then.”

Alexis had to laugh at that one. “All kids experiment, it doesn't mean anything.”

“How do you know?” Champagne asked.

“You don't see me interested in women, do you?”