D.I.L.F. (BWWM)

Structure.

Autumn's chill had settled in. Gone were the beautiful flowers and trees, now the branches stood naked and vulnerable. Noir envied them for that- their ease with their nakedness and vulnerability.

Life would be easier if she was a tree. Unfeeling, but tall and strong.

"Well, I'm off.", Phillippe yelled from the yard. She nodded, waving as he drove off.

She wished she was unfeeling.

Then she wouldn't love him so!

She sighed. He spent less time with her. He used to take the weekends off just to take her out wherever she felt like going, now he works through most of Saturday and half of Sunday. Worse yet, Lori Gaines was making her presence known again. Wrinkled and aging badly, she'd parade around the diner like a bright orange sharpie like some self- proclaimed Queen. She hadn't said a thing to Phillipe, but during one of her phone calls to Larissa, she let it slip.

"I thought the fucking hag left Texas for good!", Larissa had exclaimed.

"Nope. As a matter of fact she was staying right around the corner from the Mayor's house! And guess what?", Noir had scoffed roughly.

"Chicken butt."

"No, Larissa.", Noir laughed. "She has the unmitigated gall to try and make herself look and sound like Dolly Parton. Now, I love me some Dolly, so you know how I feel about that."

Lori gasped. There were a group of women who were to remain untouched by the public in their little group: Nicki Minaj; Beyoncé; Selena Quintanilla; Lana Del Rey; and Dolly Parton.

"That old- time, rickety, leather skin, mayo bitch heifer! What did Pasco say about all of this?", Lori listened to the ruffling background on the phone, then heavy breathing.

Pasco came on the line shortly thereafter. "Well honey, you know how I gets down about my Dolly Parton, okay. Lord knows I wouldn't have minded if the bitch looked good but she looked like a tomato on rotten, girl! I said, "no ma'am, no ham, no turkey", cause there was no way in hell she thought that was a serve. Only two women I know could pull off a wig that big, and that's Dolly and Miss Wendy Williams, child!"

All three of them agreed.

"What about Dad and Pa? What did they say?", Larissa asked no one in particular.

"Well, they don't know about it.", came Noir's reply.

"This isn't good.", Pasco later said.

Noir shook her head, remembering the conversation. Pasco was right, this isn't good at all.

Maybe Phillipe does know, and that's where he's running off to on the weekends. If so, then his house wouldn't have made as much progress as it has. If so, the insecure, unsure turmoil would have returned to his heavenly blue eyes. Noir prayed he'd never find out. She prayed Lori would go away....

Silently.

Noir wrapped her blanket closer to her body. Lori would never go away silently.

******

Janice's hair stuck to her forehead. She dashed through the rain like an idiot because she had forgotten her umbrella at home. The scent of her perfume had faded in the down pour, her mascara was running, her lipstick was smudged, and her beautiful, red hair was now brown and shaggy from being wet. Yet as Lori opened her door, Janice was sure she looked better than this abomination of a woman.

She had a god awful mole at the center of her chin, lumpy, tanned skin, a permanent smile, stiff cheeks, transparent eyebrows and plumped lips. Janice remembers her from seeing her around town when she was just a teenager. They went to school together, but only for a while because when Janice first entered High School, Lori had just graduated. Her beauty was so great that she was still the talk of the hallway for years after they graduated.