TLWM: The Hate Experience

\XVIII/ The Long Night's End

     "I'll take you to the ocean floor but you gon' have to do something for me first."

"What's that?"

"Hold-on."

She paused, and before she said anything else, I clicked back over to Raven.

"Who is on the other line?" her ego asked me.

"Enjoy your space. I'll see you in two weeks when rehearsals start."

"It's Melody, isn't it? I heard she was in Minneapolis and stopped by Paisley Park."

"Scratch that. Let me enjoy my space. I'll see you in two weeks."

"Whatever, babe. Bye."

On the other side, Letty was still lying in bed, waiting for me to take her under.

"How long you got?" I asked.

"All night if whatever you got for me can keep me awake."

There it was again, her words making me question myself. Was she saying shit like that on purpose or was it my explicit mind twisting things?

"I promise I won't hang up on you but I can't promise I won't fall asleep."

"Cool."

"So take me." It didn't help that she was tired, 'cause she sounded sexy as— "Prince?"

"Yes?"

At the tail of her sigh was a moan. "Talk to me. My eyes are closing."

The pounding in my chest was distracting. "Um..." I cleared my throat. "Hold on. I have to get the other phone before this one dies."

"Mm-hm."

Changing rooms, I went down to the den where a corded phone was. "Still with me?" I asked, settling down on the sofa against the arched window.

"Barely."

I had the light off, so when I yanked the phone closer, I couldn't see what got knocked over by the cord. "How'd your brother get my address?" I had to keep Letty talking while I got myself situated.

"Oh goodness..." She started chuckling. "Raven had my brother so whipped when he first met her."

"What do you mean?" Opening the curtains, I let the moonlight in and saw a bunch of marbles scattered on the rug and a vase knocked down.

"When he went to pick up Jax from the after-school program one day, he said he saw Raven and his heart stopped... He was saying to himself, where did this beautiful creature come from and why is she in Eden Prairie. And he actually approached her but then realized she was Ace's mom and thought 'no wonder, this is Prince's woman. She's imported.' But he could hardly form a sentence around her anyway. Raven did most of the talking, saying she wanted to get the kids together and that's when they exchanged information. But he said there was no way he could handle being around her again so that's when he sent me to JUMP instead."

I didn't have the will to get every little glass ball. I went to the sofa to lie back down.

"My coworkers had the same stunned reaction after meeting her. One of them questioned their sexuality."

Still shirtless and now chilly, I kicked and pulled the blanket over me that was sitting at my feet.

"They way people describe her—she sounds like a special edition Barbie."

"Yeah..." Finally, I was comfortable, wrapped in warmth and on my side facing the window. "She's absolutely breathtaking on the outside but there's a lot going on underneath."