Leanne’s mind churned like the ocean during a storm as she walked through the cool, crisp night air. She walked with her head down, unaware of her surroundings. She knew she should be on the lookout for any potential evildoers, but she was too pissed to care. If anything, a part of her wished someone would mess with her just so she could have a reason to let her temper – and fists – go.
As one who didn’t know Leanne might be surprised to find, Leanne was actually a very calm and stable person most of the time. But when one is told by her girlfriend of two years that she’s “lost her shine” after confronting her about the way she’d been cheating on her like crazy, it has a way of turning calm and stable into furious and potentially dangerous, given the right circumstances. Not wanting to forever imprint Kelli’s head within the living room wall of their apartment – although she did want to – Leanne had stormed off in a rage.
Leanne knew she was no beauty queen, but what “shine” could she have possibly lost? She wasn’t fat, she wasn’t ugly, so what was the problem? Was it her personality that had become boring for Kelli? Or had she simply become like a good song played one too many times, and Kelli just needed a change of playlist?
Another quality that Leanne possessed most of the time was optimism. In most cases, she would believe that things would work out. However, this was not one of those cases. Leanne felt certain that Kelli really meant it when she said she wanted to break up with her. Since the apartment was technically Kelli’s, that meant that she would be the one to have to move out. But where would she go? Life as a waitress didn’t exactly leave you with many options. She could probably stay with her brother and his wife in the house they recently bought together, but she hated to impose on them. Didn’t most newlyweds want to enjoy their new lives together alone, save for any kids they might’ve had in previous relationships?
Leanne’s anger turned inward. If only she’d been smart enough to push for a better-paying career than staying at Denny’s simply because it was familiar to her and what she was used to. Life beyond Denny’s really did exist, and if she’d just opened her eyes and her mind to that life, she just may have more money by now and the ability to find housing a lot faster than she was going to in her predicament.
She flung her straight, honey-blond hair over her shoulder and kept walking. But where was she walking to? This question suddenly occurred to her and she simply shrugged in her mind in answer to that question and kept on walking. Who cared? She just needed to walk. Walk, walk, and walk some more. The steam within her was fierce and she needed an outlet for it or else she would explode and quite possibly make a great candidate for the local loony bin.
She was vaguely aware of her reflection in the closed store windows, which looked rather ghostly in the dimness of the night. She thought of her two years with Kelli. She really thought this one was it and that after two failed relationships, the third time really was the charm. But the young fitness instructor just wasn’t ready to settle down after all. Instead, she’d found herself a new boyfriend after deciding she’d “lost her shine.” Besides losing her shine, Kelli said she’d come to miss the variety of having both genders at hand, and the way to do that, she had told her, was to break free of all commitments.
Leanne had been more than furious. Where had this come from? Sure, she knew Kelli was bisexual and not just a lesbian, but she’d always seemed devoted to her and her only until the last month or so, when Kelli started coming home from work later and later. Still, she wished she’d seen the signs. Then again, she’d seen them, all right. She just didn’t want to question things for a while, for to question them would make it real. As time went on, though, there was no avoiding reality. She’d had to face it, and that’s when she came right out and asked Kelli if she’d been seeing someone else.
The attractive black girl had seemed surprised at first, and then a look of guilt crossed her ebony eyes, but only for a second. A determination then took over Kelli and she willingly laid all the cards on the table and admitted to seeing a guy who trained at the gym she worked at.
“What do you want me to do, Kel?” Leanne had cried, though knowing it was useless. “Start training myself? Would a better body do it for you?”
“No,” Kelli said, guilt seeping into her voice.
But Leanne wasn’t ready to give up that easily. “I’m just skin and bones. Maybe if I pack some muscle between the two, I’ll start shining again for you, right?”
“It’s not just that, Lee. I want someone I can naturally have kids with. I don’t want to have to adopt, and I don’t want no artificial insemination or whatever the hell it’s called.”
“Insemination!” Leanne screamed.
“You told me when we met that you never wanted kids.”
Kelli was right. She had said that, and she still had no desire for the expensive, uncivilized, pesky little brats. She may not have been a player, but she valued her freedom just the same.
But where did Kelli’s desire to have kids suddenly come from? Why did she bother to get with her if she knew she wanted to have kids with a man?
Leanne was sometimes attracted to men, but definitely preferred women. Women could get more emotional and they had periods, but they were usually smarter, more sensitive and understanding, and a better deal in bed. Women could still function sexually when tired, unlike men.
Head down, arms folded across her chest against the autumn chill, Leanne trudged on. Unlike Kelli’s family, her parents and brother had been supportive of her relationship. Their attitude was that as long as she was happy, it didn’t matter who she was with. Leanne often wished all parents had that attitude. It had always bothered her to be at Kelli’s parents’ house and have to play down their relationship like it was some dirty little secret of theirs to be ashamed of, and not a relationship like any other relationship.
A vehicle slowing down behind her slowly crept into her awareness. She glanced toward the street where a black F-150 slowed to a crawl. The tinted passenger window slowly lowered. “Hey, babe,” a man said with a Spanish accent. “What’s up?”
Should she be a bitch or play it nice? Leanne decided to try nice first. “Just blowing off some steam.”
“Oh, yeah? You blow? You can blow me if you’d like.”
Leanne’s heartbeat quickened. Time to be a bitch. “Forget it, buddy. I’m not interested.”
Flashing lights behind her.
Leanne nervously glanced behind the F-150 to find a cop car approaching and breathed a sigh of relief as the tinted window rolled back up and the vehicle sped ahead.
The cruiser stopped and a burly-looking cop asked if she was ok. “Yeah, I’m ok. Just had a bad night and came out to walk it off.”
“Well, be careful,” the cop advised. “This isn’t exactly the time or place to go for a stroll.”
“I suppose it isn’t,” Leanne said. “I’ll be heading home soon.”
With that, the officer pulled away.
Not wanting the F-150 to return in hopes of the blowjob she wasn’t at all willing to give, she turned and wove through some side streets, figuring she’d be less likely to be found that way. She knew she couldn’t stay out all night, though, and that she had to start forming some kind of plan in her mind. It had to be getting late. Certainly, Kelli wasn’t that heartless that she wouldn’t expect her to move out that night with no place to go. Therefore, her best bet would probably be to return to the apartment and crash on the couch. She didn’t have to work till three in the afternoon. That would leave her most of the day to see if she could either stay with her brother or head for her parents’ place.
The sound of an approaching vehicle made her turn her head. The F-150 had returned. Leanne’s nervousness was turning into downright fear. Her mind suddenly pinged in various directions and she tried to think of the best possible action to take. Ignoring them wouldn’t make them go away. They weren’t going to give up and she knew it. She also knew the cops might not happen to come by again. Leanne weighed her options. She could run places the vehicle couldn’t go, but the guys themselves could go. If they could run faster than she could, then she was screwed. In a very bad way.
Again, the tinted window rolled down. “You still in the mood to blow?”
“I’m not in the mood for anything,” Leanne said, trying to keep the tremor out of her voice. “Please just leave me alone.”
“How can I leave a girl as hot as you?” came the reply.
About as easily as my so-called girlfriend could leave me, Leanne thought bitterly as she began to run. She quickly dodged into an alleyway between two stores and suddenly wished she were as fit as Kelli. Without looking back, she heard the vehicle stop and then a door slam a second later. Her fear turned to panic, and she ran blindly toward an intersection. Please, oh please, let the cops return! she thought desperately as her heart pumped fiercely.
But instead of hearing the sirens she hoped to hear, all she heard was the sound of tires skidding over the pavement and a horn blaring loudly.
Then everything went black.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkh9gyjMHyM
