The Sisters of APF

  I had on a white blouse, red sweater, and black tweed skirt. There was nothing spectacular about what I had on but it was a lot different from the way he was used to seeing me.

  “Um, Clarence, what are you doing here?”

  “I came to see you.” He reached me and flung his arms around me, almost taking the wind out of me. “What do you think I’m doing here?”

  “But, but why?” I asked, pushing him away from me. “We haven’t even talked lately.”

  “I know and I felt really bad about that.” Clarence put his hands in his overall pockets and eyed the floor. “I decided to hop in my truck and come see you.”

  “You drove all the way here?”

  “Yeah, I was scared shitless though. You know my truck isn’t in the best shape but I just had to see you.”

  I laughed. His truck was on its last legs. I was shocked it even made it out of the state.

  I eyed him up and down. Clarence did still look good, or maybe I was just so used to the way he looked. Some of the feelings for him came flooding back but I had not forgotten the day I called and Jessica answered, throwing the fact that she was sleeping with him up in my face.

  “What about Jessica?” I asked angrily.

  He shrugged but kept his eyes on the floor. “What about her?”

  “Oh, so now you’re going to play dumb? You know exactly what I’m talking about.”

  “Jessica was just something that happened. I was kind of bitter when you picked law school over me.”

  I shook my head in disgust. “It wasn’t even like that.”

  “Well, whatever it was like, it wasn’t fair.”

  “Clarence, that’s selfish. I made a choice to pursue a dream and it had absolutely nothing to do with choosing one thing over the other.”

  “If you say so.”

  “Anyway, that’s all a moot point now because we’re history.”

  “Mary Ann, I came all the way here. Can we at least sit down somewhere and have a heart-to-heart talk?”

  I pointed to a nearby sofa in the lobby sitting area. “We can sit right here.”

  “What about someplace more private?” He looked around. It was rather crowded. A lot of people were heading out for a Friday night on the town. “Why don’t we grab a bite to eat? Wherever you want. My treat.”

  I really didn’t want to go anywhere with Clarence but taking him up to my room wasn’t an option. On second thought, sitting in the lobby wasn’t such a good idea either. All I needed was for Trevor to show up to make the drama in my day even thicker.

  “Okay. We can go someplace to eat.” I started walking toward the front entrance. “You still like ribs?”

  “Yeah, I love ribs. You know that.”

  “I thought I knew everything about you, Clarence. Apparently, a lot of things changed the moment I left town.”

  He put his arm around my waist and kissed me on the cheek. “Some things never change, Mary Ann. Even if we want them to.”

  “Hmph!” I pulled away from him and pushed the door open. “Please refrain from touching me,” I said nastily.

  Clarence shook his head. “Oh, so it’s like that?”

  “Absolutely.”

  About thirty minutes later, we arrived at the Capital City Brewing Company. I had been there one other time with Trevor and I knew the ribs were slamming. They slow-roasted ribs over an open flame for hours, they didn’t come any tenderer. I also knew that Clarence liked to down beers and they had a special selection on tap. I really don’t know why I was even trying to accommodate his likes; catering to people was a habit and I needed to stop.

  Five minutes later we had a table. We ordered and our food came quickly.

  “Umph, umph, umph!” Clarence said, washing down a mouthful of ribs with a German beer. “You weren’t lying when you said the ribs were delicious here.”

  “I’m glad you like them. But, we really need to talk. After all, that was our main purpose in coming. Right?” I said.

  “Yeah.” Clarence belched, and didn’t even bother to say “excuse me.” Disgusting. I guess once men feel comfortable around a woman, belching, farting, and other bodily noises don’t even warrant an “excuse me.”

  “So what exactly did you want to talk about, Clarence?” I asked, trying to get the evening over as soon as possible.

  He flashed the grin that used to make me melt. “Us, of course.”

  “There is no us. Like I said back at my dorm, we’re history.”

  “We’re not history. We have a lot of history behind us and that’s why we can’t just let it go.”

  “Is that what you were thinking when you were fucking Jessica?”

  Clarence almost choked on a rib. “I’ve never heard you talk like that before. City life must be dirtying up your mouth.”

  I felt myself getting angrier. “Clarence, I’m grown and I have been for a long time. If I want to use the word fuck and any other curse word, that’s my damn business.”

  Clarence threw his hands up in the air and pushed his palms toward me. “Whoa, no need to get nasty. I just meant that I’ve never heard you curse before.”

  “Well, now you have. Mark the date down in your calendar.” Clarence sighed and took another sip of his beer. He must have realized that talking to me wasn’t going to be as easy as he thought. “I drove all this way to see you because I want to set things straight. It took me what seemed like an eternity and three tanks of gas to get here. Can we at least be civil?”

  I rolled my eyes. Maybe he had a point. I should at least hear him out, even though I knew there wasn’t a snowball’s chance in hell that he would make me view him any differently.

  “Clarence, I apologize for being nasty. I just wasn’t expecting to see you today. This came out of the clear blue. You sent my stuff back to me, what little there was of it, and made it obvious that you were the one done with me.”

  “What if I’m not done?” he asked. “What if I’m still madly in love with you?”

  “That would be unfortunate.” I took a deep breath and decided to come clean. “I’ve moved on. I have someone new in my life.”

  The expression on Clarence’s face was indescribable. You would have thought someone slapped him. “What do you mean, you have someone new in your life?”

  “His name’s Trevor. Trevor Ames. I’m planning on moving in with him next semester.”

  “Moving in with him?” Clarence slammed his fist down on the table, causing our plates to jump a little. “I asked you to move in with me at least fifty times and you said it would be inappropriate. Now you’ve been here less than six months and you’re about to shack up with a fool you barely know.”

  “First off, Trevor is not a fool. He’s in his third year of law school and he’s one of the smartest students in the entire school. Secondly, it would have been inappropriate for me to move in with you when my parents were so close by and needed my help with the kids.”

  “Oh please, that’s just a bunch of baloney. Why are you doing this, Mary Ann?”

  I couldn’t help but laugh. “Clarence, you’re acting like some innocent victim. I wasn’t even planning on seriously dating Trevor until I called you that day and Jessica was playing house with you.”

  “I already explained that Jessica was a mistake. I was upset.”

  “Poor baby, but that’s not an excuse.”

  Suddenly, I wanted Clarence to feel pain. Maybe pain he didn’t deserve, considering my sexual escapades of late, but I wanted him to feel it just the same.

  “Clarence, Trevor has made me realize just what I was missing sexually,” I lied. “He has taken me to heights I never knew existed and I feel like a new woman.”

  Clarence looked like he was on the brink of tears. “Are you saying that I’m a lousy lay?”

  “I’m saying that until recently, you were my only lay and now I realize what else is out there. I’ve gone through a sexual transformation, so to speak.”

  “And this Trevor fool is responsible fo
r it?”

  “In some ways, yes. In many ways, no.”

  “You’re not making any sense.”

  “How is everything?” our waitress asked, appearing out of nowhere. “Can I get you another beer?” she asked Clarence.

  He was too shocked to respond so I said, “Everything’s fine. Thank you.”

  “Just answer me one thing,” Clarence said after the waitress had walked away. “How long did it take you to give it up to him?”

  “Why does that matter?”

  “It just does.”

  “Quite honestly, I didn’t sleep with Trevor right away. I wasn’t even sure I liked him. But he grew on me.”

  “He grew on you?”

  “Yes.” I cleared my throat. “And then there were the others. Now them I did give it up to quickly. Basically on sight.”

  “What the fuck are you talking about?” Clarence yelled at me.

  People started looking in our direction and I just grinned toward the bar and winked at one man sitting there alone. He turned his head, not knowing how to react.

  “Mary Ann, answer me, dammit!”

  “Now look who’s cursing like a sailor,” I said jokingly. “What do you think I’m talking about? Trevor is not the only man I’ve been with since I moved to D.C.”

  “How many of them have there been?”

  “I don’t remember.” That was partially true because I wasn’t sure how many men I’d allowed to penetrate me at Heaven. “But all of them have taught me something.”

  “Mary Ann, you disgust me. Do your parents know you moved here to become a common whore?”

  “I’m not a whore. I’m sexually liberated and it’s about time too.”

  “You are a whore and if your parents don’t know it, then someone should tell them. Maybe it’ll be me.”

  “And maybe you’ll end up with my foot up your ass,” I said with disdain. “You are not my overseer and I don’t owe you a damn thing. Not another chance, not an explanation, nothing. I didn’t ask you to come see me. In fact, you make me sick and I don’t even want you here.”

  Clarence stood up and looked down at me. “I’ll tell you what. No one needs your ass anyway. I’m in D.C. and I didn’t come all this way to hear this bullshit. I’m going to find me a booty club, I know they have a ton of them here, and find me a freak to get with tonight. I’m going to get laid, even if I have to pay for it.”

  I chuckled. “As sorry as you are in bed, you’re going to have to pay for it.”

  “Bitch, pay for your own dinner!”

  Clarence stormed out the door without even looking back in my direction. I waved the waitress over to get the check and she was visibly nervous. After paying her, I got up to leave and was halfway out the door when something came over me.

  I glanced at the bar and the same man I’d winked at earlier was still sitting there. I had barely noticed it before but he was strikingly handsome. He was much older than me, probably in his late forties, but time had obviously been kind to him. He was a deep chocolate with dark bedroom eyes and a bald head.

  There was a vacant stool beside him at the bar so I snatched it up. “Excuse me, but can I ask you a question?”

  He looked me up and down before replying, “Sure, shoot.”

  “Did you witness that little episode that just took place over there?”

  He chortled. “It would have been kind of hard not to notice it. The two of you were rather loud.”

  “Did you hear what he called me?”

  “I heard him call you a bitch before he ran out of here.”

  “Hmm, what about the other thing he called me?”

  He looked down at his beer. “Can I buy you a drink?”

  “Sure, as soon as you give me an honest answer.”

  “I heard the word whore being thrown around once or twice.”

  “Do I look like a whore to you?”

  He laughed. “I’ve been around the block a time or two and I couldn’t tell you what a whore looks like. Some women are perceived as whores that aren’t and others that look like pure innocence are banging everybody.”

  I gently caressed his arm. “You’re a wise man.”

  “I don’t know about wisdom. It’s more like experience. I was once married to a woman that played that innocent role.”

  “But she wasn’t innocent?”

  “Ha, that’s the understatement of the century. She was pretending to go out every night to work as a home aide and she was really strolling street corners.”

  I was stunned. “You mean she was a hooker?”

  “The hooker of all hookers.”

  “That’s amazing.”

  He stared at me strangely. “You almost say that like you admire it.”

  “No, not at all. I don’t think exchanging money for sex is a good thing. Although there is something to be said for sex with strangers. But only if the chemistry is mutual.”

  “You’re a tough one to figure out.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “You walk in here with someone who looks like he just got off a tractor, yet you seem sophisticated and intelligent. He lays you out, walks out on you, and now you’re sitting here doing something that seems like flirting with me.”

  He was right about one thing. I could barely figure out what was going through my head myself. The earlier lengthy conversation with Patricia and Olive about APF was still messing with me, and then there was Clarence’s appearance. I should have gotten up and taken my behind back to school to study or, better yet, called Trevor to come get me so he and I could try to sort out some things. Instead, I was sitting there contemplating fucking the shit out of an older stranger who was probably just trying to enjoy a few beers and go home.

  “Is that offer for a drink still on the table?” I asked.

  He grinned and looked quite sexy while doing it. “Sure. What will it be?”

  I leaned over and whispered in his ear. “How about an orgasm?”

  He waved the bartender over and that began a two-hour flirt session.

  20

  Olive

  Patricia left shortly after Mary Ann, claiming she had to go study. On a Friday night? I knew her ass better than that but it was cool. Hakim’s plane had just landed from Hong Kong and I was anxious to see him. So much so that I called him on his cell phone and told him to wait for me at National Airport.

  After I met him at baggage claim, we snuck into a stall of one of the restrooms with a Closed for Cleaning sign out front and did each other in one of the stalls. Certain people have one thing that turns them on more than anything else. Having sex in public places had always been mine. I guess that’s why they called me Soror Unrestricted. Patricia’s thing was threesomes, foursomes, or the more the merrier. That’s why we called her Soror Ménage à Trois. Then there was Soror Cum Hard who had more orgasms than seemed humanly possible, Soror Cheeks who loved to go down on men, and Soror Three Input who loved the hell out of anal sex. We were quite the eclectic mix.

  Hakim and I ended up having dinner at a cozy spot in Georgetown. It was well-known around the area for its crab cakes. I enjoyed the atmosphere just as much as the food.

  “So Olive, were you a good girl while I was gone?” Hakim asked me over dessert.

  I batted my eyelashes and smiled at him. “I’m always a good girl when you’re gone. What would make you think otherwise?”

  He waved his finger at me. “Uh-huh, I know you. I love you. I worship the ground you walk on. I also know that you’re an undercover freak.”

  I laughed. “An undercover freak?”

  “Yes, you have a sex appetite out of this world. Sometimes I wonder how you go so long without sex while I’m away.”

  Hakim was looking especially fine that night. He was wearing a tailored black designer suit with a cream shirt and paisley tie.

  I took his hand. “Baby, when you’re away, I simply satisfy myself. You know I masturbate all the time.”

  He grinned at me. “Boy, do
n’t I know it. I love it when you do it in front of me. Often, I feel like you love your toys more than me.”

  “No, that’ll never happen. Not in a million years.”

  He lifted my hand to his mouth and kissed my fingers. “If you say so.”

  The white linen tablecloth reached down to the floor so I slipped off my shoe, found his dick, and started giving him a foot job. No sooner had he started moaning than I spotted Drayton walking in the door with two other men.

  “Oh shit,” I whispered.

  “What’s wrong?” Hakim asked.

  “Um, nothing.” I took my foot down and put it back in my shoe.

  “Why’d you stop? I was getting off on that.”

  “I know but I just had this sudden pain in my stomach. I hope I’m not getting ulcers.”

  “Damn, baby, I hope not either,” Hakim said in a panic. “Has work been stressing you out lately?”

  “No, not really.” I kept my eye on Drayton and his party. Luckily, all the tables were taken and they were ushered to the bar to wait for one. “I’ve had a little trouble sleeping though. My parents are going at it again and Mom is always calling me to tell her side of the story.”

  “You want to catch a flight to San Francisco to check on her? I’ll go with you.”

  “I can’t. My schedule is too tight right now. Christmas is coming up and everyone wants to look their best for the holidays.”

  “Olive, your sanity is more important than tummy tucks, nose jobs, and all that other nonsense. People need to be happy with what nature gave them.”

  “Shh,” I said, putting my fingertip to my lips. “Don’t say that too loud. I might have to go out of business.”

  We both laughed.

  “Listen, baby,” I said, getting up from the table. “Why don’t I go get the car while you pay the bill? Sometimes the valet can take forever.”

  “Won’t you be too cold out there?” Hakim asked.

  “No, I have a heavy overcoat.” I quickly grabbed my coat. “See you in a few.” I pulled my wool scarf over my head in an attempt to hide my face.

  “Okay, baby,” Hakim said. He grabbed my hand. “I can’t wait to get you home so we can do it the right way.”