Lies & Affairs

nine

Ty'Quan stared at his phone before turning it off and sitting back against the couch. He sighed and tapped his thumbs on the back of the phone and closed his eyes. Pamela came out of the kitchen and stood in front of her son with her arms crossed.

"Ty'Quan!"

He jumped. "Huh?"

"I thought I told you to take that trash out." She said. "Every time I tell you to do something you never do it!"

"I'm sorry." He said.

Pamela squinted her eyes at him. "What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing."

"Something is wrong, you're not being your usual self. Normally you'd be aggravating me but you're not." Pamela said. "I know my kids, something is wrong with you."

"I just want to be quiet right now." Ty'Quan said. "I'm not in the talking mood."

"Is it a girl?"

Ty'Quan didn't answer. Pamela smiled and sat down beside him eagerly. "It is a girl. What happened? Did you two argue? A little relationship problem?"

"We're not in a relationship."

"That's the worse kind of argument." Pamela said. "Those situationships are the worse. What did you two argue about?"

"We didn't argue."

"Then what is it?"

Ty'Quan sighed and sat up straight. "We had sex for the first time a week ago and I haven't heard from her since. Whenever I call, she doesn't respond and whenever I text I don't get a response either."

"Oh." Pamela said. "Did she like it?"

"I know a fake reaction from a real reaction, she liked it. A lot." Ty'Quan said. "And after we had did it I helped her to the shower and helped her clean herself up. Then we did it again, but the second time I just left because I had to go to work."

"Maybe she's mad about that."

"Mom, she fell asleep right after that. Like immediately after that. And besides, we're working together on this thing called 'communication' because she has a hard time communicating how she feels. I just....I don't know where I went wrong."

"It's not you, honey, it's her. Obviously she needs some time to think." Pamela said. "And it seems like you're catching some feelings for her."

"I'm not." Ty'Quan said. "She's married. Why would I fall in love with a married woman?"

"Oh my." Pamela said.

"Her husband works for me and he treats her like she's not worthy at all. You know she came to a gala once in pink scrubs and just yelled at him until I broke it up? And the way he talks about her to the other men at the office is sick. He talks about her underneath her clothes like she's a prostitute instead of his wife; He doesn't listen to her, I do. He doesn't take her out on dates and make her feel pretty, I do. She works all the time just to get away from him because he's a trash ass man child who can't even do a simple task. I can treat her way better than he can."

"Her husband didn't find out, I know Marcus. If he would have found out, he would have came to me and said something about it."

"Where does she work?"

"The hospital. She's an anesthesiologist."

It sounded like he was a little angry. Pamela grabbed his hands to calm him down. "Son, she's confused. She loves her husband, but she's also—maybe—catching feelings for you too. You're spending all this time with her, listening to her, giving her everything she's begging her husband for. I think you should have a talk with her...without all of the animosity because you're upset and frustrated I know it. And you can sit up here and deny all day long, but, Ty'Quan, you're catching feelings for her too."

"Do you know where she is?"

Ty'Quan moved his hands. "No."

"You did say she works all the time to get away from him, is there a chance she may be at work?"

"I don't know." He shrugged. "And I don't care."

"Now, Ty'Quan, you're not going to do this," Pamela got up and pointed her finger in his face, "I didn't raise you like that. Stop acting like your father; you should never be scared to show your emotions to anybody. And stop saying you don't care when you do, that's not you. That's not the Marshall that I raised. Now you get up, and you take your ass to that hospital, and you talk to her like two civilized adults."

Ty'Quan just looked up at his mother. She raised her eyebrows and he grabbed his keys, got up, and left her house. When he arrived at the hospital, everything was quiet except for the beeping of machines or papers rustling. There were people inside, but it was just a smooth and chill night.

He went to the front desk and leaned against it. "Is Sapphire here?"

"Who's looking for her?" Mabel asked.

"Me." Ty'Quan said. "I—look it's a personal reason why I need to speak with her right now."

"Sapphire just left." Mabel said. "You just missed her, she just clocked out and left. If you run through the parking garage, you'd probably catch her she usually parks on the second floor."

"Thanks." Ty'Quan rushed outside to his car.

He'd never driven so fast in his life, and he was thankful that he did because when he turned the corner he saw Sapphire walking to her car with her purse on her arm and her keys in her hands. His heart pounded in his chest, she looked amazing; even after a twelve hour shift her hair was still straightened neatly and trimmed at the ends, she was wearing pink scrubs but these had little flowers plastered all over them. She had her pink, Starbucks cup tucked in the crook of her arm so she wouldn't drop it.

He just parked behind her car to block her in, then got out to chase her.

"Sapphire."

"Ty'Quan?" She looked up at him. "I—I have to go."

She tried to walk around him, but he stood in the way. "No, you're not going anywhere until you explain to me what's going on. What is the problem?"

"Ty'Quan, I really don't want to talk about it I just need some space, okay?"

"I gave you a week." He said. "I deserve an explanation; I give you explanations all of the time but when I ask for one you're acting like it's the end of the world. Did Marcus do something to you?"

"No."

"Did he say anything to you?"

"No." Sapphire said.

"Then what's going on? Do you regret what happened that night? I asked did you want me to stop and you said no."

"Ty'Quan, I can't talk about this right now." Sapphire said, walking around him to her car.

She could hear Ty'Quan following her and just by the sound of his footsteps she could tell he wasn't  too happy. He grabbed her and pushed her against her car.

"Why can't you just talk to me?"

"Why can't you just respect my decision and leave me alone?"

Ty'Quan stepped back. "Okay, Sapphire."

He put his hands in his pockets and walked off to get back inside of his car. Sapphire didn't even look his way because she couldn't even process what she'd said; she didn't want Ty'Quan to leave her alone, but that's what she'd just said and now he was gone. She got inside of her car and just sat there crying for the next thirty minutes until a call from Milani interrupted her session.

"Hello?"

"Girl, I had something to tell you but let's push that to the side. Are you...crying?"

"Yes."

Milani exhaled. "What did Marcus do now?"

"It's not Marcus," Sapphire said. "I did something really bad and now I regret it and I need someone to talk to."

Milani sounded more alert. "Sapphire, what did you do, honey?"

"Can I come over?"

"Of course, you don't even have to ask." Milani said.

"Okay."

Sapphire hung up and started her car up, leaving out of the parking garage.