Sleeping with My Enemy Pt. 01

"Hmmmm..." said Azia. "Nice place. What are we doing here?"

"You said you needed an outfit, to get out of that dress. Go ahead cuz...I got you." Replied Steven. "Just do me a favor, don't break my bank and don't take all day."

"Oh boy...it really has been a long time. You don't know me at all." His Cousin replied.

Azia looked through the wares with a discerning eye. In less time than it takes to make a pizza, she came away with an entire outfit from "Baby Bottom," a company franchised by the singer Candy Sikes. Jeans, a T-Shirt, a zip up hoodie, ankle length socks, and a pair of white and pink shoes. When she took the collection of clothes to the cash register, the cashier rang up her purchases which came to a minimal $110 bucks. "You know, if your purchase comes up to $150 or more, you get a 25% discount along with the normal 10%."

Azia's eyes lit up. "Hold on just a second." She said with a smile.

She zoomed around the store like a whirling dervish, she collected another outfit, this time from the males section. An oversized hoodie, pants, a belt, socks and a nice pair of boots, all made from the company "BrookLand," franchised by Candy's current fiancée Louis Rex.

"Here you go cuz."

"But...I really don't..."

"Steven listen...you look really nice in your suit and everything. But if you're going to hang out with me...I need you to lighten up a bit."

Steven just gave a half smile and paid for the clothing. Surprisingly, the final price didn't go over $200. Gathering their respective outfits, Azia and Steven changed in the dressing rooms. Steven was curious what his cousin would look like when she appeared. Once she did, his mouth dropped. Decked out in her street chic, Azia looked delicious. Especially the shoes, which dropped her down to her normal height of 5',6". The T-shirt fit snuggly, accentuating her round C-cup breasts. But when she spun around, he caught sight of her lovely, round behind. While it might not get her into a video shoot, it was definitely a sight that would appear in most black men's dreams.

"What do you think?" she asked comically.

"Uhhhhh...wow. You look...totally different."

"Is that a bad thing"

"Oh no...not at all." Steven said trying to play off his amazement. "I guess I should say you look very nice."

"Thanks." She smiled. " You look rather dashing yourself."

"Cool. Let's get out of here."

Taking the lead, Steven beat a quick pace back to his car. If only he would slow down a bit, thought Azia. He might see that his cousin was checking him out as well. Admiring his broad shoulders, the way his new jeans moved with his every step. Shaking her head, Azia had to take a step back. She wasn't sure why...but Steven looked...hot.

"Well...what now?" Steven asked once they got back in the car.

"Honestly?" Azia asked looking at her old nemesis. "I could REALLY use a drink. I talk better with one."

"I know just the place."

Hitting the highway again, Steven guided the vehicle to the "rougher" side of Loudes. Many of the buildings were old and worn down. Empty lots and boarded up businesses dotted the landscape, as they passed. The majority of businesses that thrived here were liquor stores, check cashing shops, and beauty supply stores.

Azia shivered a bit. She had heard of these kinds of places. But had never in her life been out here.

"Damn Steven, you trying to get us mugged or something?"

"Ha, Ha...relax. This place might be on the news almost every night. But contrary to what the media says, this place is fairly quiet. I come out here all the time when I need to get away. I think you'll like this place. Just chill."

Pulling into a lot that stood by itself, the building looked like it had been there forever. The red bricks faded and chipped all over. Graffiti, having taken up the majority of the outside space. The lot itself was sparsely taken up by cars of a long gone era. As they walked up, the heavy door to the place was accentuated by a large, blacked out window that advertised Cali Sunshine beer. The old painted letters above the doors had faded ages ago, but they were still slightly legible. "The Tipsy Pelican."

The inside of the Pelican was akin to taking a trip back through time. It was adorned with neon signs advertising even more alcoholic beverages. The walls showing pictures of black women in swim suits, sitting at a table with their men, boxing posters and mirrors.

The establishment was sparsely populated. Maybe a grand total of about 7-9 people. Spaced out in booths or watching a ball game at the bar. Conversations were masked by a jukebox situated at the end of a parquet dance floor that was completely empty. Steven led his cousin to a booth nestled in the corner of the bar. The pleather seating had seen better days. Cracked and torn in several places. Yet, the cushioning was soft and comfortable. The lighting around the establishment was minimal. Casting an almost intimate glow to the atmosphere.

"Wow...nice place. How in the world did you find it in the middle of this war zone?"

"It's NOT a war zone. It is just a staple of this community. There isn't a lot of money here. But I found it because the owner Reggie came to my old job looking to get his accounting books straight. This is my hideaway when I get stressed out and just need a break from the world for a while."

"I hope I didn't stress you to drinking. Remember, we were so..."

Before she could finish her statement, a large bodied woman walked over. Her salt and pepper hair brushed back into a pony tail. Her apron wrapped around her slightly bulging stomach. But her demeanor was soft and kindly, even if it was packaged in a slightly louder tone.

"Steven? Hey baby I thought that was you! How you doin' honey?"

"Hey Dawn. It's nice to see you too. It's been a minute."

"Um hum...how you been baby? I hope you are better than the last time I saw you."

"I'm doing a little better Ma'am. Just another "ghetto child" trying to make it. How's Reggie?"

"Oh, he's limpin' around these days. You know he got "The Sugar," and he don't like takin all them pills the doctor gives him. Hard headed as ever. He had to leave early to go lay down. You know I almost had to hit him up side his head with "Ole' Bertha" to get his ass to go home. But he good. I know he gone be upset he missed you. But I'll tell him you came by and asked 'bout him. And where are your manners? Who is this doll you done brought up in here? She's a lot better looking than that other thing you used to come in here cryin' about." Dawn looked directly at Azia and held out her hand. "Hey baby...I'm Dawn. You goin' to take care of my little side boyfriend?" she asked comically.

"Hi. I'm Azia." She replied. "I don't know...this is our first date. I'm tryin' to get to know him better."

Steven chuckled. "Dawn...this is my..."

Azia kicked Steven's leg to get his attention. "Don't pay him no mind. He's been chasing me around since we were in grade school. I finally decided to give him a chance and see what he's working with. You know how it is."

"Girl you better take care of "boo." Other wise I'll have to come after you." Dawn replied. "I done fixed him and put him back together once already. I ain't in the habit of doing things over again. Anyway...what y'all having?"

"I guess I'll have my usual..." Steven said.

"What's that?" Azia asked

"Oh...he wants a Mud Slide."

"Oh no...we have to do better than that. Do you have Cali Sunshine?"

"Yeah...bottles and on tap."

"How about Sunny Dew vodka?"

"Of course...it's made only about 100 miles from here."

"Good. We'll have a pitcher of Cali and 2 shots of Sunny, and please bring a couple beer steins."

"Coming up."

Dawn walked away to fetch the order. When Steven looked at his cousin, she looked absolutely spent. Whatever stress she was dealing with, was destroying her. Touching her hands, he found that she was shaking. On the verge of losing whatever composure she had. The façade was failing.

"Hey Azia...talk to me. This is too much. What is wrong with you?"

Azia was silent for a moment. She clutched his fingers. "Thanks Steven." She replied.

Moments later, Dawn came back with the drinks. After thanking her, Azia swiftly filled the frosty steins with the beer. When she was satisfied, she stopped Steven from drinking his. Taking the orange flavored vodka and dropped them in the beer. "Bottoms up." She said. In one fell swoop, she guzzled the glass empty and took a moment to compose herself after. Just as she was reaching to fill her glass again, Steven stopped her.

"Enough Azia. Talk to me. I won't sit here and pay for you to get fucked up without knowing why. As you said...I have earned the right to this knowledge."

"I...I...guess you hated me as a kid huh?" Azia began.

"You were definitely NOT my favorite person...no."

"Well...according to my therapist...I was projecting my hurt. It all started after my Dad died. His death took a toll on my mother. She was so nice and sweet when I was growing up. But after he passed, she just couldn't take it. She became distant, erratic, and OVERLY religious. I mean...we went to church like everyone else. But after he died...we were there ALL THE TIME!! And since she went, I had to go too. It was all we knew. If I wasn't at school, I was at church. If not church, I was at school. All I knew was church and school, she made it so I was a robot. Studying and spouting nothing but the Bible without having any context or differing opinions. All my friends I had outside church, I had to eventually get rid of; if they didn't run away before. Then she found out a bomb shell. My Dad had a short-lived affair with another woman at his job. It was at a bad time in their marriage. So then she began to do nothing but bash men. Guess what; she spoiled my mind with the same stuff about boys. How bad they were, how they smelled funny. How they weren't faithful or strong. How they only wanted ONE THING. That anyone that wasn't interested in God, they were essentially evil."

Steven was stunned. He had no idea these were the things Azia had to deal with. He just saw the things that were on the surface. Just how she treated him. Picking up the pitcher, Steven filled her glass again. Azia lifted the stein to her lips. A droplet spilled. He watched it almost in slow motion, run a trail from her luscious lips down the front of her neck, to disappear under her shirt. Steven immediately felt a tingle in his pants.

"Then I began to hang out with you. All the things she filled my head with about boys, you exemplified. I didn't know how to take you. That you were different for a reason. That you weren't my father. You weren't responsible for the hurt she felt, by the hurt I felt. You were just there. Everything I was supposed to hate. But didn't really know why. I felt this way all the way through High School. I didn't give boys a chance to hurt me or please me. I didn't know they could make me feel good. Not sexually...but by just being themselves. Then I went to USC Moreland. I joined this Christian group. We sang together, studied together, hung out together. Always together...but that's when things started going wrong."

Azia went silent. Her gaze glossed over, yet her eyes became wet. Here was her Rubicon. Her wall that sheltered her. The area of her countenance that was bare and painful. So...he waited.

"My friends started to change. We still held Bible study, but some of the guys and even the girls started to bring a little alcohol. At first...I was appalled. How many times had we studied the Bible saying we should live sober lives? How many times had we heard that men and women shouldn't drink together? Weren't we doing the same things everyone else was? I had to leave. A couple days later, I was still in shock. I didn't know what to do. That's when I went to see one of my closest girlfriends Mya. She acted differently when she was with us. I THOUGHT she was different. She was. She seduced me. My first sexual activity came with her, when I was at my lowest. But she accepted me. Acted as if I was the most important thing in the world. So, we started hanging out more. Then she betrayed me. She wanted to bring another girl in with us one night. I was so hurt and confused. That's when I met Curtis. Curtis came to SOME of the groups. I remembered talking bad to Curtis many times even when all he wanted to do was be nice to me. But he talked to me. Comforted me. Prayed with me. He even called Mya out in front of EVERYBODY! I had never felt like I did with Curtis. He gave me feelings I had never had the opportunity to feel before. Steven...I fell in love! I called my Mom to tell her about Curtis. Do you know what she said to me?!!"

Steven held his head in his hands. He already knew. But he braced himself for the inevitable.

"That he was EVIL!! No different than my daddy or any other man! She got angry at me for going off to college and becoming a slut! For falling for the traps of the devil, yadda, yadda, yadda."

Steven was at a loss for words. There was no further doubt in his mind that his family was highly dysfunctional. Both his mother and her sister lacked the character to really help their children in the face of adversity.

Picking up the pitcher, Azia filled her glass half way with beer, and then flushed it all down in one gulp.

"Then he proved her right." She said.

Steven's eyes darted back to his cousin's face. He was at rapped attention to see where this would go.

"I loved him Steven. I loved everything about him. I loved his smell, his intelligence, his face, his charm. I would've done anything for him. You have to understand...he was my first; and only...for a while. He needed my help for homework, I stayed up late doing his notes. He needed clean clothes so he could have a couple dollars to hang with his boys, I did all his laundry and THEN gave him cash. He would sneak into my dorm to get some head...I would wake up and give it to him. Even if his dick smelled weird. Then..." her eyes filling with tears. "He invited me over to his frat house for a party. I met all his brothers. We drank and had a good time. All of a sudden, they decided to have a wet t-shirt contest. A lot of the girls there stripped down to their panties and put on t-shirts. I didn't want to do it...it felt dirty to me. Wrong. I cried when he asked me to do it. But he got angry. He wanted to show me off to all his friends. So, he-he-he gave me a pill. I trusted him. I did the contest. I began to feel weird, but good. I didn't care anymore. I wasn't self-conscious anymore. I danced, spun around...I can't even remember if I won the contest or not. I just know I blacked out. When I woke up...or came to...whatever...I had his dick in my mouth. But someone was in me. I was forced to have sex with someone I didn't even know. I had just recently lost my virginity, and I was knee deep in a gangbang without my consent."

"For the rest of the semester, I was damn near suicidal. My grades fell off, I stopped going to classes. I didn't answer anyone's phone calls. I stayed in my room, I lost weight because I wasn't eating. It took my roommate going to one of my professors to get me help. She came to my room with the school Psychologist and school Therapist just to get me out. They put me in a psych ward for 2 months. During which time I had to talk to the police about the incident. Almost everyday I had to recount and relive what I had gone through. Curtis, the man I still had feelings for was arrested, along with several of his friends. Many of whom were popular, influential members of the student body. I had to give a deposition in closed court. At this point, I'm not even sure what has become of the case."

Azia poured the last of the beer into her glass and gulped it down. With her other hand, she got Dawn's attention for a refill.

"My God Azia...I really didn't know." Steven said. His voice filled with concern.

"Steven...you've only heard the half of it." Azia continued. Tears misting the corners of her eyes. "Because of all the folks I had to dime out, most of my professors understood and were willing to let me try and make all my work back up. The staff were even willing to scratch the entire semester and start all over again. But the girls on campus, especially those whose boyfriends got caught up in the drag net, couldn't stand me. They circulated my name all over campus as "that ho," "that freak," "that lying bitch," etc. I couldn't go anywhere on campus. I eventually had to stop going to classes again. None of the girls wanted to partner with me, even when the professors threatened to give them failing grades. They all thought I brought the whole situation on myself, or I wanted it and then changed my mind. I wanted to become a gold digger, and let's not forget my former classmates in the Christian group. They went in even harder. They called me a Jezebel, a sinner even God might have issue with forgiving. They even overlooked Mya's OBVIOUS lesbianism just to attack me for what Curtis said about them in public, even if their actions proved him to be true."

Dawn arrived at that moment with a new pitcher of beer. "How y'all doing over here...girl you ok? Steven what have you done to this poor..."

"Nothing Dawn! She has just been telling me about..."

"My ex!" Azia interrupted. "He's such an asshole. All the stuff he put me through. Steven is being a true gentleman listening to all my woes."

"Baby...you got a good one now. If I weren't married...ooooh...the things I'd do for this one right here!" Dawn replied, moving her hips as sexy as she could. "Y'all gone and continue. I'll stop back by in a few." With that, Dawn sauntered back to the bar in order to service the rest of the customers.

"Thanks." Steven said.

Azia looked at Steven in his eyes. For the first time ever, she looked at her cousin differently. She saw how handsome he had grown to be. His goatee was meticulously done, his eyes were so clear and dare she even admit...beautiful. A deep shade of brown that reminded her of the time just after dusk. When the last light of the sun cast shadows everywhere. Calm, peaceful, serene, caring. Azia had to shake her head. What was she thinking? This is Steven...her cousin. A man she had treated so badly. She had been sharing all her terrible secrets. He must certainly think she is a ho. But...he's been so supportive up to this point. Could she continue?

"Don't mention it...I just didn't want her to think you were being disrespectful. I have destroyed enough people's lives..."

"Stop that." Steven corrected. "You haven't done anything wrong. All that's happened to you isn't your fault. If people got hurt by you, it's because they deserve it." Steven then took a huge gulp of his own lukewarm glass. He then refilled the glass again. Raising the new batch to his lips, he began to gulp it all down in one pull.

"Steven...what are you..." He held up a finger to stop her. When he finished, he wiped the excess from his lips on his bare arm. "I wanted to catch up. No sense in you drinking alone." He laughed.

Azia smiled. Picking up the pitcher, she refilled both glasses again then picked it up, so they could toast one another. Taking quick sips of the beverage, Steven asked: "So, why did you attack your mother and step dad then?"

Azia's eyes grew dark again.

"When I couldn't take anymore abuse at school, I asked to come back home. When I did get home, you can imagine the look on my mother's face. I had to explain why I wanted to come back home. Why I couldn't stay in school. Why my grades had dropped off so much. When I told her, she flipped! She made it out to be all my fault. She refused to believe me when I told her that a bunch of Christians did me like that. But more than anything...she blamed me for not listening to her about Curtis. She told me I should have just listened to her from the get-go. That I was a wicked little girl that just set out to make her hurt. That's when Deacon Moore showed up. He was constantly coming over to the house. Constantly wanting to come over and hold prayer vigils over me. But more importantly, he wanted to get closer to my momma."