Hope, Charity & Faith Ch. 10

"Charity I would say yes if it weren't for her being a raging cunt; seriously that bitch just fucked me to get back at Jay Stello, man. Honestly, she fucked the shit out of me, and it meant nothing to her. I was playing checkers while she played chess, but I didn't know it at the time. She kind of told me before we did it."

"I get that, but how in the fuck can you justify smashing Charmaine Belle?"

"Ricky, I gotta tell you something really shitty; we good, right?"

"Bro, you scaring me; did you-do something?" I glanced at him incredulous before continuing.

"Charmaine was doing all that shit because she had some sort of toxic crush on me; said she'd liked me since we were in homeroom back in the day. I thought we were gonna throw hands when she ran up on me behind the school."

"You were actually gonna fight her, Jaleel?"

"Yeah, she was running at me with her hand cocked like she was gonna steal on me; but it went sideways when I turned around. She started feigning and shaking looking like a crackhead. Then she just started spilling all this shit about how she was in love with me since homeroom. I didn't want any part of her, but we ended up fooling around right there on the spot."

"Stop it."

"No really, we sort of got into it a block down from the school store between these houses and well, later at her place. Ricky, she said she had a crush on me from the jump, then she jumped my bones. Gave me everything too, and I mean everything!!"

"I hate you."

"I'd hate to say it, but I wish I'd never hooked up with Charmaine. Found some shit out about her that put everything in perspective. Her fucking body is crazy, all tits and one big fucking ass, too; but I still wished it didn't happen anyway."

"You're full of it Jaleel; you think I'd say some shit like that if we could change places? You're four deep and I haven't even had my first...one of them is my fucking sister, too!!" Ricky gave me a punch to the shoulder that I ignored though it smarted a bit.

"Damn Ricky, I never would've slept with Hope if I'd known she was going through drama at college with her fucking professor!! You should be kicking that asshole in the balls instead of me!!"

"WHAT?!!" I instantly realized that I'd let the cat out of the bag as we exchanged glances.

"Forget about it." My words hung in the air, empty.

"Jaleel."

"She had an affair with her professor; motherfucker treated her like garbage, man."

"Why didn't she tell me? I knew something was up with her because I was getting smothered the whole time she was here. WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME, HUH?!!"

"SHE DIDN'T WANT YOU TO KNOW!!"

"SOMEBODY MESSING WITH MY SISTER AND YOU DIDN'T TELL ME?!!" It felt like we were about to come to blows, but I couldn't deny the raw emotion and concern in his eyes.

"Ricky, she was really going through some shit that I'm not at liberty to tell you. Honestly, I was shocked when she told me to do her in the basement. Hope kept saying that if I didn't sleep with another girl right away, Kimberly was going to mess me up, have an unfair emotional advantage. I don't know why I did it-Uhm, well, the visual wasn't helping but later I found out she was doing it to dull her own pain."

"Who's this guy, this motherfucker messing with my sister?" He sounded calmer than before.

"I think you should talk to Hope about that Ricky."

"RIGHT!!" Ricky got up leaving slamming the door as he went back into his home.

I sat on the steps weighing what was talked about and beginning the mourning stages of a friendship lost when he reappeared again stomping halfway down the stair before turning to me, brows furrowed.

"You coming or what?"

"Huh?"

Thirty minutes later we were on the road speeding down to Hope's college neither of us knowing what would happen or what we'd find. Ricky was adamant about getting answers from his sister due to my refusal to spill the entire details of Hope's situation. I felt swept up in his wake sitting there intermittently staring between his face and my phone.

I couldn't bring myself to tell him that his older sister had an abortion and wasn't strong enough to resist her emotional abuser a second time. I was honestly scared that Hope had given up and was doing whatever she could to smother the pain. She'd gone no contact with me after my assault. I'd awoken from that assault to find myself blocked on her social media after receiving an explanation from Faith.

I still felt pangs of emotional discomfort whenever I thought about Faith and the fleeting moments we'd shared before she began her theoretical exile in the East.

We'd become fast friends during my period of incapacitation. Sitting here next to Ricky brought home just how much of a void she filled in that interim. Now that she was gone, a bigger hole had been left that couldn't possibly be plugged with the imminent departure of my renewed best friend. Charmaine Belle wouldn't have had a chance given a choice between her and Faith. Knowing what she'd gone through in the aftermath of urban teen toxicity, left a bitter aftertaste in my mouth.

"Which one are you thinking about?" Ricky said out of nowhere.

"Faith."

"Don't have any vids of her, do you?"

"Wouldn't show you if I did; no disrespect." Ricky surprised me by snickering a little.

"So, you found the one you like."

"Doesn't matter, she's gone halfway around the world."

"You can get on a plane too, dumbass." We both laughed for a while before Ricky leaned over turning up his music.

I got a bit antsy as the college appeared two and a half hours later on the horizon line. Ricky visibly tightened up probably wondering what he'd do when he found Hope. This guy only had cliffs notes and I was extremely glad for that, but knew I'd probably be on permanent outs with his older sister. In hindsight, I was passive aggressive about the whole thing knowing she'd also used me for her emotional needs. I'd never be able to talk about it with Ricky fully without earning another kick in the balls.

"Yeah, her dorm is somewhere up ahead; I'm tracking her phone." Ricky was staring at the face of his phone. He was using the Find My Friends app on his iPhone. It was just after dusk on a weekend as I peered out the window at some of the students sporadically walking the sidewalks.

"Maybe you might wanna think about this." I offered.

"What do you think I've been doing the whole time we driving up here? Jaleel, I'm just going with ripping the band aid off on this situation." We pulled into a slot in front of the dorm building. They were similar to apartment buildings half meeting my expectations.

"So what, you gonna beat up the guy or something?" Ricky was different, more confident and take charge as we strolled up a walkway neither of us had before.

He'd emptied out Hope's "Bad Sister" fund to make the trip.

"You don't have to come man; wanna wait in the fucking car, nigga?" He offered the keys still staring at the face of his phone.

"Fuck you man, I'm going with you, okay?"

Both of us got some errant stares from other pedestrians and students as we walked up to the building entrance. My heart was thumping like crazy as Ricky tracked his sister's phone taking the stairs instead of the elevator.

"If you were with me; we wouldn't be here Jaleel. You're supposed to tell me when somebody messing with my sister. That's what friends do homie; get the memo."

"Oh, so we ain't cool now; is that what you're telling me?"

"No, I'm admonishing your past behavior and simultaneously excusing it due to a bad case of being pussy whipped." A group of plain looking girls of varying weights and hair colors hung close to the brick walls as they passed us on the stairs.

I knew I could probably pass for a college student, but Ricky still looked decidedly juvenile despite a noticeable weight loss. We reached the third floor and I had to grab Ricky to keep him from bumping into a group of guys, who shot us looks. He was laser focused on his phone reminding me of this old movie Aliens. A group of marines in that film used a similar method to find what they believed were hostages. Both of us found ourselves outside what we believed was Hope's door. Ricky stopped glancing at me apprehensively.

"Open it." He ordered.

"You open it; besides it's your sister." Strains of Soul Searching by Me' Shell NdegeOcello emanated from the other side of the door making us both antsy.

"Man, just open the damn door." We were probably thinking she was there with that professor "getting it in" with the offending party as Ricky tensed up looking as if he were ready for war.

"Ricky, maybe we should come back later."

"Are you serious; you chickening out on me Jaleel?"

"No, I'm not chickening out; I'm just saying you don't wanna be in jail over some stupid shit that could've been avoided. That's fucking hookup music and you know it."

"Jaleel, I-don't-give-a-fuck about no jail, nigga."

"Well you open it then, stupid." Ricky got pissed, bumping chests with me.

Both of us pushed into one another chest first as I considered fighting him to alert Hope on the other side of the door. It became this comical test of youthful masculinity as we swayed back and forth each erratically point to the door knob, both afraid to try it for fear of what might lay on the opposite side.

"HEY BOYS, EXCUSE ME FOR A SECOND, OKAAAY?!!" A female's hand got between us incessantly snapping fingers until we stopped regarding her.

"Oh, uhm shit." My mouth hung open.

I recognized her instantly remembering how she's been goaded into entertaining me by Hope over a month ago. She was beautiful, intense looking with a formal medium length bob hairstyle framing her annoyed features. Her chest was covered with a maroon Benetton t-shirt with a large faded looking CLASS of 96 emblazoned on the material and grey form fitting yoga pants that needlessly accentuated ridiculous ample hips and long legs. I suddenly got the meaning of the oft-said "ASS so BIG you can see it from the FRONT." Ricky looked like he'd been time-frozen as I glanced down at her bare feet.

"Chrystal." I Freudian mumbled.

"So what; get out my way fools!!" The fact that she was an uber bitch was lost on two visually smitten eighteen year old's as she shoved us in opposite directions angrily turning the door knob with authority.

"FUCK IT HOPE, I'M SO TIRED OF YOUR SHIT!!" Chrystal scolded into the deep inky darkness of the room reaching inside for the light switch.

"Hold up, don't turn that on bitch." Hope's voice got our attention from the darkness, but Chrystal pounded the switch bathing the room in cleansing light.

"Oh fuck." I mumbled.

"Shit." Ricky followed suite with an explicative of his choice.

Hope wasn't alone in the darkened room and she was indeed hooking up. The humidity was stifling along with the meaty odor of two bodies rubbing and grinding into one another. It actually took a few seconds before they realized we were there. Her lush nudity was partially displayed for all to see pinned under the body of her partner.

Hope was hooking up with a woman.

Both of them were similar in coloring, olive pallor akin to pecan with the women of lesser build with noticeable curves. One glance at the two of them would've left you with the impression they were related albeit distantly. Facially this other woman reminded me of a retired actress named Rae Dong Chong in her youth. Both women had similar bushy manes of hair the color of sand. Time stopped for the second time allowing me to take in everything.

Both of them were literally entangled in one another, Hope's more beefy arms were wrapped around the woman's back, fingers interlocked. Her lover's arms followed suite wrapped in what appeared to be a chokehold about Hope's neck. Her narrow form was elegant and heavenly looking as I found Hope's knee rising up between her thighs. This female's legs were locking it in place allowing her to grind that knee while her right knee was embedded between Hope's luscious thighs. Both women had been grinding the shit out of one another as they made out. I was blown away as time resumed.

"TURN THIS FUCKING SHIT DOWN; YOU'RE GETTING ON EVERYBODY'S NERVES WITH THE THOT OLYMPICS, SLUT!!" Chrystal obviously didn't have any fucks left to give as she stormed by the compromised women turning down Hope's music.

"You couldn't text bitch?" Hope didn't seem fazed in the least as Chrystal stormed back out of the room giving her a no look middle finger.

"IS THIS WHAT YOU'RE FUCKING DOING, OUT HERE HOPE?!!" Ricky was so shocked; the tone of his voice went falsetto.

"OH MY FUCKING GAAAWD RICKY, WHAT-THE-FUCK ARE YOU DOING HERE?!!" Hope's lover was nearly tossed onto the dorm room floor as Hope recoiled hiding behind her bed sheets in the far corner of the bunk style bed.

"I CAME UP HERE TO DEAL WITH THAT ASSHOLE WHO'S BEEN USING YOU!!" Ricky shouted back exposing my breach of confidence. Hope's gaze shot over directly at me as she began to ugly cry. Before any of us could react, she rushed at us from the bed, distraught.

"FUCK YOU JALEEL, FUCK YOU FOR TELLING!!" Hope shoved me so hard, I stumbled back into the corridor. I noticed some scratches on her cheek and a puffy right eye that looked like the result of a sucker punch.

"THAT'S WHAT HE SUPPOSED TO DO; HE'S MY BOY!!" Ricky and Hope were starting to grapple with one another as the sheets slipped away. The woman was watching with a weird expression on her face that pissed off Ricky. She barely had time to snatch up the flimsy dress she was wearing when my bud tossed her in the corridor nude.

"GET THE FUCK OUTTA HERE BITCH!!"

The door slammed in both of our faces as I experienced a mental break. It was akin to an out of body experience leaving me floating back down the corridor to the stairs. Bridges were burned, napalmed in extravagant fashion as my head bobbed and dipped before someone snagged my arm.

"Hey." The nude woman followed me into the stairwell as the floor started to fill with students attracted by the commotion.

"Uhm, what?" Again I noticed the weird uneven expression on her face and the odd sort of smirk on her thin lips. I wondered if both of them had been doing drugs as well before the woman spoke.

"Could you cover me while I put my dress on, please?" Her tone was calm and measured.

"Uh sure, yeah ma'am."

I was afforded another good look at her nude body in the sterile lighting of the stairwell. She was about five seven, slender with modest breasts and prominent hips for a woman of her build. Hard tan lines detailed the conservative underwear she usually wore as I glanced at the modest nappy bush covering her mound.

"Thanks." She got behind me as a few bystanders passed in the stairwell giving us looks. One bespectacled white girl was already on her cell phone as she went by with friends.

"I'm decent now." I peered over my shoulder noticing similar scratches on this woman's face as well. She was visibly older than me, looking facially to be in her thirties as she scratched her bushy mane averting her eyes.

"I'm going down now." I said flatly already walking down the stairs.

"Well, me too I guess." She nervously chuckled following me down the rest of the way.

I found myself glancing back at her noticing her bare feet and the half smirk on her face. There was a lightness to her that I couldn't explain. Something in her appearance and the way she moved that demonstrated little care in the world around her. The situation struck humorous with this woman as she covered her mouth hiding little chortles born of inherent embarrassment. I cleared the building wishing I'd taken Ricky's keys, but found a seat on a bench at the edge of the walk instead.

"Excuse me, do you mind if I have a seat here." I glanced up from my palms finding her standing there staring, barefoot.

"I don't care." I scoffed serendipitous reminded of the same line used by one of the architects of my misery.

She gingerly took a seat at the very edge of the bench staring forward beyond the parking lot towards the opposite end of the campus. There was something a little regal in the way she straightened her back leveling her gaze to parts unknown as I took stock of her person. Her frock hung loose about her body as I noticed a pert exposed breast topped with an erect nipple. This woman felt my eyes gradually looking in my direction with a smile.

"Uhm, your tit is showing ma'am."

"So it is, would you like me to cover it?" she replied breezily giving me pause as she glanced down at the exposed boob. There were some tears in the material affording me a glance at her side.

"Miss, are you okay?" I was sincere.

"Funny, I was thinking of asking you the same thing. What is your name, good sir?"

"Jaleel."

"Ah yes, it fits you quite nicely my friend; you are definitely a Jaleel. The name refers to one who is great, exalted and is of Arabic and Persian origin. I love the sound of it, regal refined full of character and flair. I'm well versed in the field of onomatology. Actually I'm accredited in multiple subjects."

"Are you a teacher, professor ma'am?" My curiosity was piqued.

"Housewife, confidant and sometimes therapist, Jaleel. You know I'm also a licensed therapist as well." She turned peering into my eyes giving up a bit of vulnerability.

"Hell, I could use a therapist myself." She stood up unintentionally revealing more tears in the material of her rayon sundress.

"I've got a few minutes, free of charge." Her hand hovered in front of my face in open invitation.

I looked about the area taking in the sparse scene of students and other pedestrians walking about before taking this strange woman's hand. We walked together away from Hope's dorm against my better judgement. There was no doubt my best friend and his older sister were having it out and I didn't want to be part of that noise. Hope probably hated my guts for outing her to Ricky. We strolled into an open pavilion that was sort of a mini park area inside the campus near the school buildings.

"What happened to you, ma'am?"

"I didn't expect that Jaleel; but obviously I allowed myself a fleeting moment of humanity."

"Huh?"

"Most people don't know this, but I was a child prodigy with an extremely high I.Q at an early age. Just became this sort of educational sponge soaking up information to the exclusion of all else. My late mother used to say that I was reading an encyclopedia before I was potty trained."

"What happened?"

"I happened Jaleel; became this educational freak show and a minor child celebrity in certain circles. Just got smarter and smarter until the light bulb burst. A phalanx of therapists said I needed rest and a proper childhood, but my parents thought otherwise until my umpteenth bout of self-harm. The pressure was a little bit too much for a girl who hadn't even had her first kiss yet."

"Sorry to hear that; how long have you and Hope been...together?" She burst into slightly manic laughter, facepalming. We stopped under a tree as she casually leaned against it regarding me.

"Excuse me for the misunderstanding; Ms. Arias is my current nemesis of sorts. We've desperately hated one another before we even knew the other existed, but I thought I had the edge with a marriage license."

"I don't understand."

"I hope you never do Jaleel; you seem like an affable, handsome young man with a life to find out here in the real world. Don't ruin it with a relationship; find yourself first. I honestly wish someone would've told Hope this before things got out of hand between us." The hairs stood up on the back of my neck as I realized who I might be speaking with.

"Miss, what is your name?"

"Ashwani- Ashwani Tyrell."

"Shit."

"Oh, so you are aware of my husband's egregious activities about campus, aren't you?" The scratches on her cheek along with three claw marks on the visible boob spoke the unspoken of tonight's story.