Body Heat

“I was worried!” Tug.

“Well, who asked you to worry? I just want to be left alone!” Tug.

“Fine!” Barbara let go of the comforter just when Nikki was about to throw her full weight on the next tug.

Next thing Nikki knew she was careening over the side of the bed and the left side of her face smacking against the hardwood floor. “Ow.”

“Ohmigod, Nikki!” Barbara raced around the bed. “Are you all right?” She knelt down and turned her sister over onto her side. “It sounded like you hit your head.” She immediately started examining her.

“Will you stop it?” Nikki said, pulling away.

“Just hold still. I need to make sure that you don’t have a concussion.”

Nikki swatted her sister’s hands away. “I’m fine.”

Barbara finally snapped. “Why are you always fighting me?”

“Why do always think you can fix things?” Nikki barked as her eyes welled with tears. “You can’t fix this, Barbara. So please, please stop trying.”

Her little sister’s eyes glossed with tears as her bottom lip started trembling. “Okay.” She glanced around. “Then I guess I better…” She stood up and hand-ironed her skirt down. “I’ll just…talk to you later.” Barbara turned and headed toward the door.

Nikki watched as her sister walked away with her shoulders slumped and her head hung low and felt like a complete ass for blowing up at her. “Barb,” she called.

But Barbara didn’t stop walking.

“Barbara!”

Her sister opened the front door and then slammed it behind her.

Fearing that she had finally done it, Nikki jumped to her feet and ran after her. “Barbara!” Damn, me and my big mouth. She gave chase all the way out of the building, but like in everything else, Barbara was a better runner, too. Great. Just great.

Later that night, Nikki’s girlfriends Antoinette and Gwen pulled off a miracle and actually managed to get Nikki out of her self-imposed exile and dragged her down to their favorite hole-in-the-wall club, Sparkle. The place was fairly popular with the artsy crowd where everyone pretty much just bragged about whatever project they managed to snag over the loud eighties music.

“See. Don’t you feel better getting out of the house?” Antoinette said, wearing her usual sunny smile.

As far as Nikki knew there wasn’t a tragedy that Antoinette couldn’t put a positive spin on. That habit had a way of being both endearing and annoying. “I guess it’s all right.”

“Well, I think it’s awfully brave of you,” Gwen said, expressing her usually pessimistic view. “Had it been me up there flashing my ass to a theater full of people, I wouldn’t come out of my apartment for at least a couple of years.”

“Good night,” Nikki turned around on her bar stool and started to climb off when Antoinette grabbed her by the shoulders.

“No. You’re not going anywhere.” She twirled Nikki back around. “Gwen, you’re not helping.”

Gwen shrugged her shoulders. “I’m just keepin’ it real.”

“No. You’re just—”

“Just let it go,” Nikki said. “I’m not in the mood to play referee.” She held up her empty glass toward the female bartender that was splitting her time between flirting with the male customers and working. “Refill.”

“Isn’t that your third drink?” Antoinette asked.

“Oh, please,” Gwen rolled her eyes. “The only time to get concerned is when she starts ordering drinks that actually have alcohol in them.”

Nikki twisted her face into a comical frown. “I may be depressed, but I still know that me and alcohol don’t mix.”

“Amen,” Antoinette agreed. No doubt she was remembering a college spring break that landed Nikki a starring role in Girls Gone Wild.

“Another virgin piña colada?” the bartender asked in a dull voice.

“If you don’t mind.” Nikki smiled tightly because she detected the woman was struggling to refrain from rolling her eyes.

“Comin’ right up.” She took Nikki’s empty glass and walked away.

Once her back was turned, Nikki felt free to roll her eyes first. Then as she started to turn her attention back to her two girlfriends, she caught a few stares and hand-pointing aimed in her direction. “Just great,” she mumbled under her breath.

“Don’t pay them any mind,” Antoinette said, without having to be told what Nikki was referring to—which meant that she saw them, too.

“Yeah,” Gwen said and then yelled above the music. “What the hell are y’all looking at?”

The staring and pointing stopped. Not too many people were bold enough to challenge Gwen. On top of being loud and boisterous, she was a very large and rather intimidating woman who’d rather knuckle up than talk it out.

“Mmm-hmm. That’s what I thought,” Gwen mumbled.

Nikki shook her head. She didn’t know if her friend was making it better or worse.

“One virgin piña colada,” the bartender said, returning. “I even added an extra pineapple wedge.”

“Thanks,” Nikki deadpanned. But as she stared down at the tropical drink, she didn’t really have the urge to drink it. “Maybe Gwen is right,” she said. “It’s too soon for all of this.”

Gwen bobbed her head in agreement.

“Nonsense. Whenever you fall off a horse, you get back up,” Antoinette said, pushing Nikki’s drink toward her.

Nikki didn’t respond. She was too busy listening to Michael Jackson scream “Beat It.”

“Maybe what you need is a little vacation,” Antoinette finally conceded, “someplace where you can just get away from the hustle and bustle of the city.”

“Yeah, someplace where they don’t know your name,” Gwen added.

Antoinette angled a hard glare at her friend.

“What? I’m just keepin’ it real.”

“Well, unless this magical place can be reached by the subway, I can’t afford it. And hell, to be honest, I can’t afford that.”

Her friends’ faces collapsed in disappointment. After a few jams from Bobby Brown and Prince, Nikki sighed. “It would be nice to get away.” She took a long sip of her frosty drink. “Somewhere tropical, exotic.”

“Hmm. I know a place like that,” said a woman sitting to Nikki’s right.