White Lines (35 page)

Once they arrived, Jada got Ava situated in her guest room. Ava was anxious to meet Sunny, whom she’d heard so much about. They changed clothes, and got ready to meet her in Manhattan for dinner and drinks. Dressed to impress, they headed for BeeBee’s Soul Food on Forty-ninth Street. When they got there, Sunny was already seated with a glass of chardonnay in front of her. She stood to greet Jada and her gorgeous sister as they came near.

“Oh my God, you’re even prettier than Jada!” Sunny hugged Ava before they were even formally introduced. She was high, though she was managing to maintain her composure, for the most part. Jada smiled, recognizing that her friend was high. But Ava was oblivious, thinking Sunny was just excited and outgoing.

Jada laughed, and pretended to be offended. “Thanks, bitch.”

Ava was laughing, as Sunny finally released her. Jada shook her head, smiling. “Anyway, Ava, this is Sunny as you can see.”

Sunny sat back down, and the sisters joined her. Jada and Ava ordered their drinks, and Ava took in the ambiance of the restaurant until their drinks arrived. Sunny looked at Ava, with her long hair and chiseled face, and smiled. “So, you’re Jada’s sister, home from college, and you want to have fun, right?”

Ava grinned, as if Sunny had read her mind. “Exactly!”

Jada shook her head, wondering if Ava was prepared for Sunny’s version of fun. “Tell Sunny what you do for fun at college, Ava.”

Ava shrugged. “Go to the movies, read, exercise, or watch TV. Either that or mess around with the few guys worth being bothered with.” She sipped her Bacardi and Coke.

Sunny waved her hand, dismissively. “We ain’t doin’
none
of that shit!” Ava almost spit out her drink from laughter. “That don’t sound like fun at all!” Sunny frowned.

Ava shook her head. “I don’t have much fun out there. It’s all work, and very little play. That’s why I couldn’t wait to come back to New York.” She looked at Sunny. “Jada kept telling me how much fun you are, and I wanted to see for myself. You two go to clubs all the time, from what she tells me. I’m surprised the men in your life don’t complain.”

Jada waved her off. “Please. Born is so busy himself that he probably don’t even notice that I’m in the clubs that much.”

Ava looked doubtful. “What about you, Sunny? Do you have a man? Does he mind you going out all the time?”

Sunny grinned slyly at the pretty young girl. “My baby likes for me to go out and be seen. I make him look good.”

Ava laughed. She could tell that Sunny was a handful. She held her glass up in a toast. “To spring break!”

Jada and Sunny leaned forward and clinked glasses with Ava to celebrate her quest for fun in the city. They ordered, Sunny opting for only a salad, while the sisters went all out with soul food entrees.

Sunny looked at Jada and her sister, and saw two very different people.

One—Jada—was a street savvy sex kitten with an edge to her, courtesy of her status as a bailer’s bitch. Jada had style, and a way about her that made her seem tough and in control. Sunny suspected that there was one hell of a story behind her good friend. In Ava, she saw a young lady with unmistakable beauty who seemed to have an innocence about her that Jada didn’t possess. Sunny’s first impression of Ava was that she was a little naive, and was quite amazed by how well her older sister had done for herself.

Over dinner the ladies conversed about the things ladies love: clothes, shoes, and men. It was the last topic that caused the conversation to take an interesting shift.

Sunny had just finished a tirade, something about men not being shit. “So, speaking of men,” Ava began. “It has to be nice having men who are so powerful and so wealthy. But do they complain that you two don’t do anything all day?”

Silence.

Jada wondered where the hell that remark had come from. “I do something all day, Ava. It’s a job taking care of the house, and making sure Born’s happy when he comes home. Don’t you think so?” Jada looked at Sunny.

Sunny looked bored with Ava. “I don’t think Dorian cares whether or not I do something all day. He loves me. Have you ever been in love, Ava?”

Ava considered the question. “Yeah. Well, I thought I was at the time. But that’s irrelevant.”

Sunny rolled her eyes again.

Ava figured that Sunny wasn’t enjoying her use of big words like
irrelevant.
She tried to dumb down her lingo for her audience. “All I’m saying is, your lifestyle seems really nice. It looks and sounds real glamorous. But I think it’s so much better to get your own, to pursue academics or learn a trade until you make your own money. That’s all I’m saying.”

Jada shook her head as if Ava had it all wrong. “So you think we’re lazy?”

Sunny’s eyes narrowed. She was five seconds from being turned off by Jada’s little sister.

Ava shook her head. “Nah. I’m not saying that at all. That’s what makes you happy. But for me, I think it would be weird. No disrespect, but it seems like y’all get dressed up and go to parties out of sheer boredom. And that would drive me crazy—”

Sunny held up her hand as if she wanted Ava to stop talking. “Enough,” Sunny said in a low voice. She sighed, heavily. “You have a lot to learn, Ava. Let me teach you. First of all it
seems
to be an enchanting lifestyle because it is. To me it’s like waking up in a fairy tale every day. I have the man that I want, the house that we earned together, and the fruits of his labor and mine to show for it. If I wanted to do for myself, I could. And I will. When I’m ready. But for now, it works for me just fine the way it is.” Sunny smiled, and her previously icy demeanor melted to reveal a soft, beautiful face. “I’m gonna show you what I mean. By the time you leave to go back to your Ivy League campus, you’re gonna see that it can be nice to live the way the other half lives every now and then.”

Ava looked skeptical, and Jada smiled in anticipation.

For the next four nights, the three of them partied at all of New York’s hot spots. Sunny took joy in letting Ava wear some of the outfits that Sunny herself felt were old, even though they weren’t. These were the clothes she felt she could only be seen in once a year, at most. Ava filled them all out beautifully, and everywhere the ladies went they turned heads and stopped traffic. Ava, being the youngest and the most unfamiliar face in Jada and Sunny’s circle of friends and associates, was the center of attention most often. She soaked it all up humbly, truly enjoying her sister’s company, and having fun getting to know Sunny. She drank very little at first. But by the second and third evenings, Ava was drinking more, and more. She was tipsy by the time they got home most nights, and Jada loved seeing her let loose for once. Ava was having fun, and she almost dreaded having to go back to school eventually. It had been so long since Ava had lived a life of
excess.
Her drinking and weed-smoking days were long behind her. Watching Jada battle crack addiction
had been a huge wake-up call for Ava. But now, soaking up her sister’s extravagant lifestyle, Ava was beginning to see what she’d been missing.

Jada and Sunny managed to get high without Ava knowing what was going on. One of them would chill with Ava on the dance floor or at the bar, while the other went to the bathroom and got high. Ava was letting her hair down, meeting men, and enjoying the lifestyle of the rich and ghetto fabulous.

By day four, the ladies had been partying like crazy, nonstop. Ava was amazed that she found it hard to keep up with her sister, who was older than her by two years! She wondered where the hell Jada got all that energy. It seemed like she never slept. She never got tired. And Sunny, being the social butterfly that she was, knew all kinds of people from all walks of life. They hadn’t stood on line at one event the entire time. Night after night they walked through the velvet ropes with all eyes on them.

One night, as they came in exhausted, Jada staggered upstairs to crash in her king-size bed. Born wasn’t home yet, and without undressing, she climbed into bed and passed out in a comalike sleep. Ava went to her own room, and gathered her pajamas. Then she headed for the guest bathroom downstairs to take a shower. She washed her hair, cleansed her body, and shut the water off when she was done. The house was quiet as she stepped out of the shower into the cool air, letting her body dry naturally as she wrapped her hair up in a towel like a turban.

Meanwhile, Born had come home, tired from a long night spent chilling with Dorian, and making moves as usual. He had been hanging with Dorian and his crew more than ever, and soaking up the crazy lives they lived. Dorian had many women, aside from Sunny. Each one was more beautiful than the next. Most of the guys in their crew cheated on their women, since pussy was something so readily available to hustlers of their caliber. Born kept quiet about it, and didn’t knock them for what they chose to do. But the love he had for Jada prevented him from stepping out on her. He was faithful to her, loved her completely, and didn’t indulge in the infidelities that Dorian did. The allure of cheating, and
sex with dozens of women, had long ago dissipated for Born, and he was happy with the love he shared with Jada alone.

He went upstairs, and saw that Jada was knocked out, still fully dressed. Hanging his jacket on the doorknob, he went into the master bathroom off of their bedroom to take a piss—only to find that the toilet wasn’t working, yet again. He cursed himself for not listening to Jada when she told him to get the damn toilet fixed in that bathroom. Always the master procrastinator, Born had kept putting it off. He made a mental note to call the plumber later that day. He quietly walked downstairs, walking lightly so as not to wake Ava, whose guest room was on the first floor. Reaching the bathroom door, he turned the knob and walked in. Then his chin hit the floor.

Ava stood there naked, with her back turned. Her ass was the closest thing to perfect he’d ever seen. It was beautiful. He stood dumbfounded and motionless, as she turned around and saw him standing there. She was startled seeing him, and she jumped. She gasped, and saw the stunned expression on Born’s face. But neither of them moved, despite the alarm that was evident in their facial expressions. Her C-cup breasts stood out, with her brown nipples rock hard from the draft of the open door. His gaze fell to her bush, her soft hair so neatly trimmed down there.

Born stared a little too long, his mouth hanging open in shock. Ava’s body was superb, so delicate and perfectly proportioned. Ava had no idea why she felt no urge to cover herself, as she stood before her sister’s man in the nude. She wasn’t drunk, but she sure as hell wasn’t sober, and in her tipsy state of mind, she chose not to cover herself. She could tell that Born didn’t mind. She was clearly surprised, as evidenced by the look on her face, and yet she hadn’t screamed or cried out. Strangely, she found herself comfortable with Born looking at her this way. Jada had no idea how lucky she was to have a man as fine as him. Slowly, Born shut the door, and left her standing there. Not a word was spoken between them.

Born closed his eyes and leaned against the wall for support. Damn! The girl had a body like a Coke bottle. With his dick harder than a brick wall, he headed upstairs to Jada, planning to wake her ass up. He needed
to bust a nut terribly. To his dismay, he couldn’t wake her from her sleep, and he tried everything he could to arouse his sleeping beauty. Jada was gone, and for a moment he contemplated taking it while she was asleep. But he couldn’t bring himself to do that, feeling it wasn’t worth it if she wasn’t into it. He was reduced to jerking off beside her. He tried to get the image of Ava’s body out of his mind, as he masturbated. But it was her name that fell softly from his lips in an impassioned whisper as he came in torrents. He cleaned himself up, dreading the next day when he would have to tell Jada what had happened. He knew she wouldn’t like it one bit.

Ava woke up first thing the next morning, and went to the kitchen to fix herself some juice to get the dryness out of her mouth. Her body was dehydrated from the previous night’s alcohol consumption, and she felt like hell. She entered the kitchen to find Born sitting at the table in a wife beater and sweatpants, eating a bowl of Rice Krispies.

Ava quickly contemplated going back to her room. But Born greeted her, as he slurped his cereal. “Good morning,” he said. “Come here for a second. I want to apologize for last night.”

Ava smiled awkwardly, opened the refrigerator, and reached for some much needed water. She gulped down the Poland Spring, as Born watched the muscles in her neck expand and contract as she swallowed. He turned away in time to avoid detection, and Ava sat down across from him at the table.

“Don’t tell Jada about it,” Ava advised. “It’ll be weird if she knows you saw me like that.” Ava looked at Born, wondering if he could tell that she wanted him. She wondered if last night he could tell from the look on her face, even though she knew it was wrong.

Born was relieved that Ava wouldn’t tell about last night, knowing that Jada would have been unhappy, to say the least. He nodded. In his head he was thinking about how much he would love to see Ava naked again. He quickly changed the subject. “I guess y’all had fun last night,” he said. “My baby is still up there sleeping.”

Ava rolled her eyes. “They took me to Nipsy’s. It was crazy in there. People of all cultures come in there, dressed all kinds of ways. We felt
like the only normal ones there. But everybody was dancing, and having fun, so we did, too. Sunny knows everybody, so we went around and met lots of people. Then we went to breakfast, and came home after that. I don’t think I could keep up with those two night after night.”

Born looked at Ava’s face, realizing that she spoke so differently from her sister. She sounded like she was seeing a different world, and he wasn’t sure if she liked what she saw. “So, you’re tired of all the parties and all that?”

“Born, I can do this for a week with no problem. But not every day. This is okay for Jada, because she likes living in the fast lane. That’s not really where I feel most comfortable.”

Born looked at Ava for signs of things she wasn’t telling him. He wondered if she had seen Jada stray from him in any way. Lately, Jada had seemed distant, almost cold when Born came around. He noticed her having mood swings more often, and being antsy. He wondered if it had anything to do with men she met while she partied with Sunny. He hoped not, and gave Jada the benefit of the doubt. He knew that she loved him. He wanted to trust her.