Resentment
“So bro, you sounded kind of agitated over the phone, is everything okay?” Simo asks Mlu who is sitting down quietly in the sofa, staring at the TV but not really paying attention to what’s playing Simo gives him a beer and then sits on the other sofa, waiting for his friend to respond. But Mlu takes the beer and has a sip but still not saying anything.“Hey man,” Simo says to him as he snaps fingers to get his attention. “What’s going on?” at that, Mlu snaps back to earth and looks at Simo. He sighs and puts his beer on the table. He looks at the ceiling as if he’s wondering how to begin. But Simo is just looking at him and waiting because, more the silence the more he’s curious about what happened to his friend. But Simo gets up and goes by the window and looks outside.
“Hey man,” Mlu says while still looking through the window, “I think I am developing or have developed feelings for Julie,” he says as he comes back to sit down. At that he is expecting his friend to say something but Simo listens on quietly. “I think this morning we had a very intense moment that felt very good,” Simo cuts him of, “Whoa buddy, I don’t think I need the details of what you guys really did okay,” he says as he burst out laughing. Mlu joins him in the laughter. “Hahaha, no man. Don’t be like that. That’s not what you’re thinking,” Mlu says as he laughs. “I mean, I think she’s also developing something as well you know,” he says as he takes another sip at the beer.
“Well, so what’s the problem then?” Simo asks, “Is that a good or a bad thing for you?” he looks at Mlu who looks wrecked. There’s a moment of silence as the nervous Mlu takes another sip. The beer is almost finished. Damn it went so fast, he thinks to himself as he looks at the bottle.
“No man, I don’t really know if this is a good thing or bad thing,” he says. “I mean, before that intense moment,” he shrugs his shoulders and rolls his eyes, “I had asked her what exactly is going on between us, you know…what are we? But she blew me of and said we shouldn’t complicate anything, she prefers things this way.” But Simo cuts him of, “What way?” he asks. “Exactly,” Mlu shouts as he points at historical friend, “That’s exactly what I asked her. But I suppose it means we hook up whenever and whatever you know,” he looks down. “We are friends with benefits I guess.” He stands up and goes by the window again and looks through it. But Simo doesn’t follow him.
“Okay let me ask you this man,” Simo says as he goes to the kitchen and comes back with another beer and puts it on the table, “Do you actually want more than being…friends with benefits?” he asks as he shrugs his shoulders. Mlu comes back and sits down. He downs whatever was left from his bottle. He opens the next one immediately after, much to Simo’s amazement “I don’t know man. I think we connect. We’re good together. There’s energy and chemistry when we’re together. And lately I think about her and…” but Simo cuts him of, “Whoa, I think I get the picture man,
I really do,” he says. “But if she doesn’t feel the same, I gotta say man, you’ll end up getting hurt over this. Just slow down man.” At that Mlu takes another strong sip while looking at his friend. He puts the beer down. “Look who’s talking,” he says. But that just makes Simo laughs loud, “hahaha, no man. Don’t compare my situation with yours okay. Me and Lee-Ann are on the same page. We want the same thing, okay?” he takes a sip of his beer, “In your case, you’re more vested in this than Julie is” Mlu listens quietly.
“I just think you must keep those feelings in check buddy. Because clearly tomorrow she couple be ignoring your calls because she thinks you two are on the same page while you on the other hand are busy drooling over her pics on your phone, hahaha” Simo bursts out laughing.
That doesn’t seem to impress his friend though, who just looks at him with no emotion. At realizing that, Simo’s face changes too, “But on a serious not man,” he says. “Don’t over commit to someone who isn’t committed to you okay? Just have fun with her and enjoy those moments whenever they happen and keep it right there. If anything more than just sexy benefits happens to both of you, then you’ll both agree. If whatever this is you two are doing is meant to be, then let it play itself out okay. Don’t mess it up on your own,” he says as he takes another strong sip.
Mlu looks at his friend and thinks for a while. “I hear you man. I really hear you,” he says as he also takes a sip at his beer. There’s a moment of silence as the two gentlemen take a minute to digest this conversation.
“Anyway,” Mlu says. “Have you spoken to JB after he left the party last night?” But Simo stands and goes by the side table and takes the bottle of whiskey and two glasses. He comes back and sits down, much to Mlu's amazement. “Yep I spoke to that one,” Simo says as he pours doubles for both of them. “That is why I am pouring us this good stuff because I’m going to tell you what he thought about last night’s birthday party.” They both laugh at that one.
***
Over at the Stain's house Julie had arrived to see her cousins Lee-Ann and Derby. She finds them outside on the lawn, under the tree table. This house has a big lawn, with a beautifully cut grass. It is surrounded by tall trees, which helps with the shade in this scorching heat Saturday.
“Ladies,” Julie shouts as the three women hug each other in excitement. “Hey cousin, it’s good to see you.” Derby says as they all sit down. “Oh I see you’re having fun without me huh?” Julie says jokingly. They all laugh about it. “Oh, relax girl, “Lee-Ann says, “Whose glass do you think that is?” she laughs as she points to the wine glass where Julie is seated. “Yeah we want to know all the dirty things you and Mlu did last night after the party,” Derby says laughing naughty “Plus you look so tired. Did you get it all this morning?” Lee-Ann joins in on the fun as they all laugh about it. Julie can’t hide the blush any longer, even the sunglasses can’t help her.
“Oh come on you guys, stop it,” she says as she looks away from them embarrassed at the topic. Lee- Ann and Derby look at each and laugh but Julie ignored them as she pours herself a glass of wine and takes a sip, still not looking at the two in the eyes.
“Seriously though, cousin, what’s going on between you and Mlu?” Lee-Ann asks curiously. That seems to annoy Julie a little as she shrugs her shoulders. She brushes her hair back as if she’s trying to ignore the question. Bur cousins are just looking at her in the eyes. They really are interested in knowing this information. Julie takes of her sunglasses, looks down and smiles at them as she shakes her head as if to say I give up. “I told you before Anny, there’s nothing going on between me and your boyfriend’s friend, okay,” she says. But Lee-Ann doesn’t buy it as she continues to look at her in the eyes clearly expecting to hear more than that.
“I’m serious,” Julie says, “We hook up whenever we can, that’s all. We are not girlfriend and boyfriend okay? Let’s get that part cleared. We are just having harmless fun, occasionally,” she says as she throws her hands in the air as if she’s tired of this conversation. “Okay, let me get this clear,” Lee-Ann says as she cut her off, “You give me a stick for dating Simo because he’s black and say he’s not good for me, yet you go and screw his friend, who is black, I might
add,” she rolls her eyes. At that Julie wants to protest but Lee-Ann continues, “So what’s the real problem here cousin? You don’t want me to date a black guy but you go on and secretly do it?” Lee-Ann says curiously but Julie can’t take it any longer, “Whoa cousin, just a minute,” she says. “This isn’t the same thing okay?” At that, both Lee-Ann and Derby raise their eyebrows as if to say, or really? Julie sees that but ignores it.
“Yes, I don’t want you to date black people okay? I don’t trust them, I don’t like them either,” she raises her voice. “Mlu is nothing to me. Unlike you and Simo, I have not committed my future to him and he hasn’t committed his to mine. We are…” she pauses for a second as if she’s looking for the right word, “we are having nothing but meaningless fun, meaningless ***. I don’t even like him,” she throws her hands in the air in annoyance. She picks her glass and takes a huge sip to try and calm her nerves. Lee- Ann and Derby look on in amazement.
“so, are you saying you’re using Mlu?” Derby asks in shock as she looks at her sister for backing. Lee-Ann looks back at her in amazement as well. “Look, don’t you think that’s unfair to Mlu, who might be feeling a little different about all this? Cousin, this isn’t good, it’s a little low of you, don’t you think?' she says looking at Julie who is looking right back at her with little emotion.
“look, Mlu gets it okay. In fact, we talked about it this morning. We are on the same page. You guys are making noise about nothing. Bottom line here is that Mlu and I are nothing to each and we’re good with that. So please relax about it,” Julie says as she takes another sip. But this seems too a little overwhelming for Lee-Ann and Derby. Since Mlu is Simo’s best friend, she has gotten to know him just a little better and they get along very well. She doesn’t know how to feel about all this. How will she look at her boyfriend in the eyes and not tell him this? How will he even look at Mlu? She decides to pour herself another glass of wine to calm herself.
“Oh I wish you ladies didn’t start with this on such a beautiful Saturday you know,” Julie says as she stretches herself and stands up. “Where are you going?” Derby asks curiously as she sips on her glass. “Is aunt Debra in the house?” Julie asks as she starts walking towards the house. Derby and Lee-Ann look at each other curiously, wondering why she wants to see their mother.
“Yes, she’s in the house with dad, why?” Derby asks as she looks at Julie almost at the door. “That’s none of your business?” Julie shouts as she turns around and smiles at her cousins, who look on as Julie closes the door behind her. They again look at each other curiously. “what’s all that about?” Lee-Ann asks as she sips her wine. “why does she want to see Mom?” she looks up with wonder. “I have no idea sis,” Derby says, “She has been coming over to see Mom a lot lately, I don’t know about what. In fact I was going to ask you about that as well today, she says as she sips her wine. But this gets Lee-Ann's mind raising wondering why that is. There’s a moment of silence as both ladies think about it.
“Well, we both know that those two are the people that don’t approve of your relationship with Simo. They don’t like him,” Derby says embarrassed. “We can only hope that whatever they are talking about there has nothing to do with that sis,” she says looking at a visibly curious and worried Lee-Ann. “Yeah I hope it’s just about work and nothing more hey.” Lee-Ann says, trying to dismiss whatever thoughts she’s having in her mind. But they both continue to drink their wine, enjoy the breeze that comes with the trees shade in this scorching heat.
Julie gets in the house and finds Debra in the living room, watching TV. “Hey aunt Debra,” she shouts with excitement as she hugs and kisses her aunt, who is just as excited to see her. They both sit down. “Where is uncle?” Julie asks as she looks around. “oh that old fool is laying down a little bit,” Debra says as she slips her coffee. “How are you sweetie?” she asks. “Did you see your cousins outside?” Julie takes out her cosmetic bag and starts checking if her lipstick is still okay as if she doesn’t want to entertain her aunt’s question. She puts her lipstick away, “Yeah, I saw them,” she says as she rolls her eyes. Debra notices that something may have happened.
“what, sweetie? Something happened outside?” she asks. Julie picks through the window and sees her cousins in a distance, still sitting under the tree. “No auntie, nothing happened,” she shrugs her shoulders. But Debra doesn’t look like she’s buying it but doesn’t say anything except just looking at her niece who clearly wants to avoid the question. She goes on and sips her coffee.
“okay auntie, it’s nothing but they just love bringing up that Simo guy and his friends and it really annoys the hell out of me,” she says a big upset over it. “Oh yeah that’s what I actually wanted to talk to you about,” Debra says. “But first things first,” she says “what is going between you and Lee-Ann’s boyfriend’s friend, Mlu is it?” That seems to catch Julie by surprise as she really didn’t expect that. She looks at her aunt curiously but she looks at her back without saying anything but just waited for an answer. Julie looks away to break the stare down. “Aunt Debra, what are you talking about?” she asks as if she’s shocked but she’s not good at hiding it.
“Julie, don’t do that, don’t do that.” Debra says a little annoyed at her niece. “I mustn’t do what auntie?” Julie asks as she goes over to the window and looks where her cousins are seated. She turns around and only to see that Debra is just looking at her. She comes over and sits down.
“Aunt Debra, there’s nothing going on between me and Mlu, okay?” she smiles as if to reassure her aunt. “So what is it then that I’m hearing that you’ve been sleeping over at his place? Are you dating that black man now? After all we talked about concerning Lee-Ann and her boyfriend?” Debra raises her voice. Clearly this upsets her. Julie looks away. She’s embarrassed but she’s also trying to figure out what to say to her aunt. She moves from that opposite sofa and comes to sit next to Debra. She looks at her in the eyes, “Aunt Debra, I can assure you. Please trust me when I say nothing is going on between me and Mlu,” she says as she looks at the ceiling.
“Do you remember when I said to you that I have a plan?” she asks her aunt who is trying to recall. But she doesn’t wait for her to recall, “Well Mlu is part of that plan. I’m using him to help us get rid of Simo from Lee-Ann’s life auntie,” she says to a confused Debra who takes a moment to digest all that. “How are you going to do that exactly?” she asks curiously.
“Don’t worry aunt Debra, I will let you know when it’s time for it okay?” Julie says as she gets hold of Debra’s hands as a reassurance, “Auntie, I need you to trust me on this okay? In Mlu's mind, we are friends who are just having fun,” she says as she rolls her eyes. “But it looks like he wants us to be more than just that…” this seems to unsettle Debra who has her eyes wide open. Julie sees that, “Relax auntie,” she says, “That’s not going to happen. My plan is to get rid of Simo in my cousin’s life and that his through his friend, Mlu. So don’t worry I know what to do with all this,” she says as her face suddenly changes to that of a woman who has set her mind into doing something bad.
“Well, as long as my daughter doesn’t get hurt in all this Julie, please,” Debra says with a worried voice. But Julie shrugs her shoulders and Debra doesn’t like that response. She looks into Julie for reassurance but Julie goes over by the window and looks through it. She sees how happy her cousins are, under that tree. She turns around and looks at Debra.
“Well, auntie we can’t avoid that happening can we?” she says as she comes over to sit down next to Debra. “If Simo breaks up with her, she will get hurt. All we can do is be there for her, right?” she says looking at a worried Debra who is a little embarrassed that she’s plotting to hurt her own daughter. She nods her head. “We don’t have a choice, auntie, we are doing this for her. To protect her from these animals.” Those words seem to uplift Debra a little bit, “Yes I agree. This is for her own good. She will thank us later,” she says as she goes by the window to look at her two daughters having fun under the tree. She smiles but her eyes are filled with sadness.
Julie stands up, not wanting to disturb the moment, “Okay auntie let me leave you okay?” she says, “I’ve got a few errands to run. I’ll see you at the party next weekend okay?” Debra turns around, “Okay sweetheart. Thank you for coming to see me,” she says as she turns around to continue looking at her daughters through the window. She watches as Julie joins them the table.
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