Mad Maxine

She continued to plead with me the whole time I was packing. She pleaded with my road dogg, who just kept hauling my things out the door. She even tried to unpack what I packed and hold it for ransom, so to speak. Finally, we started to roll my big screen out, only to have her block the front door. By this time I'd had enough. I again gently, but firmly, moved her out of the way I closed the door to her apartment and our relationship, leaving her sobbing in the middle of the floor.

Things moved slowly for a while. LaQueisha called every day for a month. Most of her calls I let the voicemail catch. I still see her every now and then at various clubs. She tries to talk to me, but I basically blow her off. I heard from her friends that, for a long time, Maxine kept her almost totally under her influence. Max stayed over at LaQuiesha's in the beginning to comfort her, but two months later LaQuiesha put most of her furniture in storage and moved into Max's apartment. Those friends that did get to associate with her usually understood that Maxine ran the show ... and some of them too. I was right: they stayed together for about 6 months before Mad Max put her out for younger, less-used territory.

I pressed on, pouring my attention into work, and was rewarded by another promotion. I have been made lead on a special project. At almost the same time, LaShelle returned to the company. They've placed her in a new job, and I requested and got her on the project I am working on. It seems that she and Maxine had begun having problems after LaShelle left the company, and soon they parted. Good for her; bad for me and LaQueisha! Now, without Maxine in the mix, LaShelle's enthusiasm, joy for life and charm come bursting through. She's asked me out several times, but after what I've been through and remembering LaShelle's part in it, I have decided to just chill for a while.

Well that's my story. I guess if I learned anything from all this, it's this: it doesn't matter if you're straight or gay; in matters of the heart you still got to deal with the same problems.

EPILOGUE

Andrew has said his farewells, paid his tab, and departed into the night. As the writer sits and reviews his notes, a young woman cautiously approaches the table. Apparently she has been sitting off in one of the darker corners, listening to the conversation. She's impressive. A little short at about 5' 2", she has long hair and a dark complexion. What impress him though are her full round hips and legs.

As he spies her, the writer thinks, "Daaammmn. She does favor Rudi Huxtable."

"Umm, excuse me. Uhh, you don't know me. My name's LaShelle Gleason. I heard you and Andrew talking, and I just thought you might like a little more information.

She pauses as she collects herself. "I – I was the one that sent the e-mails and pictures to Andrew.

"I know you're wondering what the deal is, and hopefully I can explain."

The writer clicks the recorder on and motions for her to continue.

Like Andrew said, we met when he came to work for the company I was at. I'm really good at figuring out technical stuff about programs. Drew is good, too, and that made it fun to have someone to work with and against. While I thought Drew was attractive, I didn't want any male companionship at the time - for two reasons. Reason 1: two years prior I had been in an abusive relationship with a man. I don't know what would have happened to me if not for reason number 2: Maxine. Max became my friend, confidante and finally my defender, and I got out of one relationship and into another. Max is a smooth operator; before I realized it; she was taking me to gay clubs and calling me her new girlfriend. By that time I didn't mind because Max had shown me my bi side; and I just couldn't get enough of her tongue and toys. Even when Drew came into the picture, I would have been happy to continue with life as it was.

Like I said, I had fun with Andrew; the fact that he was loyal to LaQueisha impressed me even more. I began to like Andrew as a person. Max, however, saw things differently. I realize now that Max is a control and dominance freak. She had to know and approve of everything I was doing; she had to have approval over all my friendships, and that ruled out any with the male sex. I've seen her cow a number of guys and just humiliate them. But Andrew was different. He didn't cow or cave, but he didn't go out of his way to provoke her either. She just couldn't handle his quiet self-confidence in his manhood. I'd never seen her act that way before. It's strange; I got the feeling sometimes that he upset Max's weird sense of machismo to the point that she might have had an itch inher pussy. Whatever it was, towards the end of our relationship just the mention of his name started steam to rising from her.

The time in her truck made me so mad at her. I like to get freaky, and we'd done the public sex thing before; but I had no idea that Max had a hidden agenda that night. It didn't hit me until he had already left that that was Andrew's car and that Max was showing off or 'marking her territory.' After that night, things were never quite the same between Max and me. I was embarrassed to face Drew the next work-day, even after an extended weekend. Max made sure to mark me with a hickey on my neck the night before I returned to work. I wore a scarf around my neck that day to avoid the stares and smirks. Andrew didn't say anything about it, and neither did I. I think that surprised Max, too. Most men would have at least been talking about it, but he never said a word.

The beginning of the end, though, was when Max keyed Andrew's car. Her antics embarrassed me and nearly cost me my job. In the end, I quit because of all the stares and whispers. Max, by this time, was bordering on obsession when it came to Andrew. She blamed him for every thing bad that happened. She just knew that he had gotten her fired, even though they showed her the security tape of her doing the deed. She blamed Andrew when I quit my job; she blamed Andrew for a hangnail; she blamed Andrew if she just bit her lip. By this time, there was no loving or even lust between us; and of course she blamed that on Andrew, claiming that he had somehow seduced me. It was bizarre. Then it got worse.

I had set up an evening with some mutual friends, hoping to begin to mend our relationship. It was a Friday night, and we were celebrating both Max and I landing new jobs. We were out going from club to club, and at one straight club I spotted Andrew's girlfriend LaQueisha with a group of her friends. It was then that I made the mistake that changed so many relationships. I stopped by her table and introduced myself. I told her that I used to work with Andrew and how good he was to work with. I also mentioned how he kept her picture prominently displayed on his desk and that that was how I recognized her. After giving her my best wishes and telling her to say hi to Andrew for me, I left.

When I got back to Max, I ran into the third degree about 'who was that.' I remember frowning as I told Max, "Oh for God's sake, Max, get a grip. That was LaQueisha Thompson and she's spoken for, alright? She's Andrew's lady, the one I told you about. The one whose picture is right there on his desk at work. So much for having a good time tonight."

Maxine spent the rest of the night apologizing, and later we had some of the most intense sex two women could have. I thought we had gotten things back on track; it wasn't until weeks later that I realized what I had set in motion.

I had heard the joke on TV or radio somewhere: Same Sex, Same Problems. Things started happening that seemed like one of those Black Romance Stories. Our relationship had been semi-open with Max seducing a new girl every now and then. Hell, I've been in more all-girl bangs than you could count, but I always knew I was her main squeeze. Suddenly, I got the feeling that Maxine was occupied with other things. Intimacy dropped to next to nothing, which was a real shock since I was used to getting loved by Max 4 to 5 nights a week. When I asked her about it she'd mumble something about the long hours on her new job wearing her out. Yeah, right; like I didn't already know that she worked less hours for more pay on that gig than the one she got fired from.

Then the irrefutable evidence started showing up. Lipstick that ain't my color on her collar, perfume that wasn't hers on her clothes, damp panties in the dirty clothes hamper. When I confronted her about it, she admitted she had been after this one woman but she wouldn't say who. She said she had to be extremely careful, but that she would tell me soon. She got one of those dangerous smiles on her face when she said a lot of people including me would be rocked by who it was. For the first time since I knew her, I didn't trust her. It was a simple matter to set up surveillance. I was the computer geek of the couple, remember. We had sent pics and clips to lesbian sites of us doing the nasty before, and most of the cameras were still in place.

To say I was surprised is not the word I would use. STUNNED is more like it when I saw Andrew's then-girlfriend LaQueisha being freaked by Max. I felt so bad for Drew. I knew that the only reason she was doing this was to get back at him. So I e-mailed him a bunch of the pictures.

I wasn't there when LaQueisha told Max that she couldn't see her anymore, but I caught the aftermath. Max was livid. She kept swearing that the bitch wasn't going to get away from her that easily. I should have kept my mouth shut, but I had to ask why was she so pissed when I'm suppose to be the woman in her life? Her response told everything and sparked the argument that basically ended our relationship. I sat there in horror as I realized that she was so filled with hatred for Andrew that she couldn't see straight. She wanted to fuck up his relationship with his lady; she wanted to prove that she was a better MAN than he was by stealing away LaQueisha. That was one of the worst nights of my life. I saw how little I really knew about the inner Max, and what I saw now was not pretty - in fact it scared me! I cried and Max cried and cursed, but I packed my things and left that night. I told her I would be back for the few things I left and would leave the key.

Everyday for the next week, Max called and tried to apologize for what she said; but never for her actions, which, to me, meant that she was still out to destroy Andrew's relationship. I went over to the apartment Monday of the following week, and I noticed that Max's suitcases were gone and that she had the phone forwarded to her cell phone. On intuition, I reset the cameras and also set the PC for remote access. Max didn't have the expertise to delete me from her system, but still I set up a backdoor just in case, so I could access her PC anytime I wanted. I left the apartment key this time.

Times were hectic for me, what with finding a new place and getting settled in. Max, I guess, had another computer literate friend come in and delete my main access, but they missed the backdoor. Even so, it was some months before I used it. By this time, I had myself set up pretty good on my own and was even back to talking to Maxine on occasion. Then one night when I was lonely and hot, I decided to call Max. I got no answer on her home phone or her cell. Just on a humbug, I decided to see if I could still access the cameras. There, in all their womanhood, lay Max and LaQueisha with their mouths locked on each other's cunts!

I first sat there in shock. Then I decided I wanted to get Max caught – not out of revenge, but to at least give Andrew a fighting chance. It didn't take much to make like one of "Cheaters" detectives and catch them going into LaQueisha's apartment a couple days later. Knowing how Max rolls, I figured they'd be there for a good three hours, so I went and ate lunch and came back in time to catch their passionate farewell on digital video as well..

Now some people may say that I did it to get back at Max, and they'd be partly right. I felt betrayed and abandoned by the one to whom I had committed myself totally. Some might say that I did it to make room for me to make a play for Andrew. While the results may one day be Andrew and I getting together, at the time I just wanted Andrew to know. By this time, I had found out some other little tidbits. Like for example: when I went to the apartment that last time, the reason Max's suitcases were gone was that she was out of town for two weeks – with LaQueisha. It was obvious that Maxine had freaked LaQueisha the whole time they were out of town; when they returned LaQueisha was all hers.

So when I gathered my evidence and when Max and LaQueisha were again at her apartment for an afternoon delight, I again sent it to Andrew. I heard thru the grapevine about the break up. LaQueisha, trying to save face, came out trying to put her own spin on things, but I'm sure after people saw her with Max that the truth came out. As for me, I just kept to myself.

Then, I got an offer from my old employer. A better job and more pay. And there was Andrew. Maxine may have been right in fearing my attraction to him, because when I saw him again, I wanted to eat him alive. I know he's scared and concerned, especially about things in the past, but I think with time and a little gentle persuasion, I can win him over. You may think I'm the one who's obsessed now, but, you know, after all I've been through, I think I deserve a shot at true happiness. Iknow Andrew does.

END