** "Be still. I'm never going to get this right if you keep moving your head." Jackie turned her head to the right side again, allowing Eve to get a better grip on her hair. Eve had been dying to braid Jackie's hair for the past 3 months. Every since she had seen the way Alicia Keys had her hair, she had wanted to do the same thing with Jackie's. So finally, after being nagged for so long, Jackie had given in and allowed Eve to braid her hair. And now that she was sitting in this chair for the second hour, she wished that she had never agreed to it. She tried to distract herself, by looking at the view outside of Eve's wall size window.
"I love the view from here. It's like a whole new world when you look out this window. It's amazing."
Eve looked up from Jackie's hair for a moment to look out of the window too.
"Yeah, I love it too. The only problem is that when I look out there, everyone is looking back. It's kind of spooky at times, because they can see everything I do when the blinds aren't drawn." Eve had just finished the last braid with Jackie's hair, when there was a knock on her door.
"Don't move. Stay just like that. I don't want you to see it yet."
Eve placed a kissed on Jackie's neck and went to the door. Jackie, of course being curious about her hair, ran to the bathroom as soon as Eve walked behind the Chinese curtains.
Eve opened the door and couldn't believe who stood there.
"What in the hell are you doing here?"
"I came to see my baby." Joyce Taylor walked into Eve's apartment with a satisfied look on her face. She stood at 5'6" even, about 135 lbs, short black hair, dark brown eyes, dark brown skin.
"I think I looked all over Florida for you and now I've finally found you." Eve couldn't believe that Joyce was actually standing in her apartment. After all the things she had put her through, she couldn't believe she had the nerve to even show her face.
"Well now that you've found me, forget where I am and go back to Missouri."
"Now why would I want to do that? You know they say home is where the heart is."
"Well I guess you don't have a home, because you definitely don't have a heart." Joyce gave a small laugh and began to walk around in Eve's living room.
"There's that humor I missed so much. You're so funny."
"Who's trying to be funny? I'm just telling the truth." Joyce sat down on Eve's couch when Jackie called from the bedroom.
"Baby it looks wonderful. You did a great job."
"Now who can that be?" Joyce asked. She didn't have to wait long because Jackie come down from the bedroom a second later and stopped dead in her tracks.
"Oh, you still have company."
"Yes she does." Joyce said as she rose from the couch and walked toward Eve and Jackie.
"I'm Joyce Taylor and you are?"
"Jackie this is an old friend of mine Joyce, and Joyce this is my girlfriend Jackie." Her statement got the reaction she was hoping for. When she said girlfriend Joyce kind of stepped back like she had been slapped in the face.
"Girlfriend?"
"Yes, girlfriend." Eve said as she reached for Jackie's hand.
"Well, it seems we have something in common Jackie. You're her new girlfriend and I'm her old one." Jackie didn't remember Eve ever saying anything about a woman named Joyce and she was suddenly curious as to the reason why.
"Well, it seems like you two have some catching up to do. I'll just let myself out." Jackie moved to get her things off of the dining room table.
"No! I don't want you to go." Already Joyce was messing things up. Tonight was supposed to be a special night for them. They had set everything up. First Eve was to do Jackie's hair, and then they were going to cook dinner together, and dessert was whatever they decided would come next. But even if they didn't do anything tonight, Eve still wanted Jackie to stay. She slept so much better when they were holding each other.
"Baby, I'll see you in the morning, first thing. We can have breakfast together."
"But I want you to stay."
"Eveie, don't you think we need to talk?"
She turned back to Joyce and glared at her.
"No I think you need to leave. No one asked you to come here."
Eve turned back to Jackie trying to think of something good to say.
"Look obviously you two need to resolve some things and I'll just be in the way. I'll see you in the morning." Jackie gave Eve a kiss and walked out the door.
"What do you want, Joyce? I thought I made myself clear before I left Missouri."
"But I know you didn't mean it." Joyce walked over to Eve and began to rub her arm.
"You were upset and when you're upset you say things you don't mean. I know you still love me and we can work this out." Eve snatched her arm away from Joyce and moved toward the door.
"Love you? I can't stand you. You made my life hell before I left and now you think everything's okay. Have you lost your mind? There is only one person I love and it sure as hell isn't you. It's that beautiful young woman that just walked out that door."
"You've been here all of 10 months and you love her. Please, we were together for 2 years, there's no way you love her more than you love me." Joyce once again sat down on the couch and stared at Eve.
"I don't know what I felt for you, Joyce but it couldn't have been love, maybe lust. And you couldn't have loved me or else you wouldn't have done the stupid things you did. Look I don't have time for this. Stay away from me. Don't come back to my apartment or anything else. Forget that I even exist, because I forgot all about you. I don't want to talk to you, see you, know you, or anything else. You are dead to me and I plan to keep it that way. Don't start any mess here Joyce, because I promise you that you will regret it."
They looked at each other for a moment, when Joyce smiled a little and rose from the couch. She walked toward the door and opened it.
"Strong words, but I don't believe you."
"I could care less what you believe."
"Before it's all over, we will be back together, because like the old saying goes, if I can't have you, no one will." Eve knew exactly what Joyce meant by that statement. Looking around Eve's apartment one last time, Joyce smiled and closed the down behind her. As soon as Eve was sure that she was gone she grabbed her bag and keys and headed for Jackie's apartment.