Spring Chic Lit: Jade's Diary, Chapter 6

Go here to read the previous chapter in Jade's 2008 diary.

Denise’s face was a tapestry of misery. All these different emotions were showing on her face, and none of them looked pleasant. I knew that today was the day to pay her back for the shoulder she gave me last summer. Denise was my rock. It was sort of disturbing to see her appear to be disheveled. I sat down next to my friend and asked her to talk to me. I had no clue what she was going to say, I braced myself for the worst.

“I know we just moved in, but I have a huge favor to ask you. A friend of mine is leaving California and needs a place to stay….I told them they could stay here until they found a place.”

Denise was talking in a deep, somber tone as if she was condemning me to walk the green mile. I didn’t get it. “Is that all,” I said completely puzzled, “Is that what the morbid look is for?

“Well it is half your place Jay. You pay half the rent. I just can’t move someone in here without your permission.”

“Of course your peoples can stay here. I’m not going to lie and say that I was looking forward to settling in here, but if they need a place to stay.”

I put my arms around Dee – bear hugging her back and forth in the hopes that she would snap out of her funk. She gave a weak smile. Swift thoughts started to flash in my head. Denise has always been evasive. We were neighbors and had been friends since we wore Minnie Mouse barrettes on the ends of our pigtails, but she has always been very guarded about her life. I think it was because of the fact that her sick grandmother lived with her growing up. She suffered with Alzheimer’s and she was always deathly afraid that our classmates would find out and tease her about it. The only reason I found out about was because her grandmother had called the cops to my house one afternoon when Denise was playing with me. She had told them there was a killer in my house. After the cops raced to my house for what was a false alarm, Denise finally told me the reason why I could never come to her house to play. Her grandmother died our senior year in high school.

Yep, Denise has always been protective of her life, even from her closest friends. I started to realize that there was more to the story then what she was saying. She was playing the “pronoun game” – using pronouns instead of names. She wasn’t even using male or female pronouns…I mean who in the hell were they? And why was Denise willing to have this person come to live with us? And why was she so sad about it? No, no, no….there was definitely more to the story and I needed to find out what it was.

I looked at her square in the eye and said, “Spill it. Spill it all Dee.” Suddenly a look of relief flooded her face. The muscles in her cheeks relaxed and the lines in her forehead disappeared. She looked at me and without saying a word I read her thoughts. She said, “So the jig is up, huh?” I nodded my head with absolute certainty; there was no going back now. Denise began to tell me about our new roommate.

Our new roommate was named Dora. She was twenty-four and was born in Brazil. She and Denise met on campus and decided to room together. Dora was a free spirit who was very intelligent and spoke three languages fluently. She had also helped Denise during a rough time out in California. Ya know…I had always known there was more to the story of Denise’s homecoming. I also knew the reason why she returned would come to light one day.

It appears while in California Denise fell deeply in love with a thirty-eight year-old theater professor and got pregnant soon after. Fearing scandal and loss of his fiancé, whose father is a big time Hollywood producer, the professor begged her to have an abortion. What was even more shocking to me was that Denise refused to get rid of it. She was really in love with him and thought that he was her soul mate. Dora had given her a tarot reading before she found out she was pregnant, and it said that he was the man that she was supposed to be with and they would have four kids together with one dying before the child was born. Hell, I didn’t even know that Denise was superstitious.

Anyway, once she had found out she was pregnant she believed that the prophecy was right and that this professor was the one, only he hadn’t realized it yet because he wasn’t there for the reading. Denise also knew that the professor was only marrying his fiancé as an entry to get into Hollywood. He really didn’t love his fiancé, but her father really liked him. He told Denise that he really loved her, but felt like this was his last opportunity to get where he wanted to be. He meant it to. Denise vehemently refused to have an abortion. As payback, the professor had her physically assaulted. Denise wanted to go to the cops, but there was nothing linking him to the attack. Ultimately the professor got his wish as she had an abortion two weeks after the attack.

Denise began to sink into a depression, but Dora refused to let it slide. Denise eased her pain daily with Percocet and Chardonnay. She said the days following the abortion were a blur. She still can’t remember it. She told me she felt like she was levitating in a foggy bubble. Five days after the abortion Denise turned on the news to see the professor’s house on fire. The professor was hospitalized with second degree burns and smoke inhalation. An investigation was done and the police determined it was arson. There was evidence and cops requested that Denise not leave the state. Dora pulled some major platinum clad strings. Her father is a diplomat and has many friends in Californian state government. Denise’s name faded off the suspect list. Once she was cleared, she didn’t follow the case to find out if the police had another suspect.

Anxious for a change of scenery and the prospect of starting over, Denise returned back to her roots. She didn’t mind putting Dora up. What bothered her was that she didn’t want anything or anyone to follow her from the hellish experience in Los Angeles. Seeing Dora again would only drudge up memories she tried feverishly to suppress in the part of our mind that is suppose to keep all unspeakable things, but eventually these memories turn into baggage we carry. Denise had been carrying this baggage since she returned home. And here I was thinking that I had dealt with a low down, no good man. Denise had tussled with a demon straight out of Lucifer’s fire pit. I had felt so bad for her. I put my arms around her and brought her head to my bosom. I tried to comfort her the way our mothers would. I finally understood why the favor Denise was granting was so burdensome.

I told her I had her back and would always be there for her. The telling of the ghastly last months she spent in California must have really worn her out. She decided to go to her bedroom to take a nap. I sat there thinking about my friend, when I got a call from Ty. He wanted to see me. I told him I couldn’t because I felt as if I needed to be there for Denise. He seemed a little peeved, but he will get over it. I went back to my thoughts. So roommate makes three – I hope Dora’s coming will help bring closure to any open wounds Denise may be hiding. I also wonder what new escapades we might get into. After all, I have never been in a group of women without having some adventures. I just pray that the only explorations this Dora will bring will only result in fun, not in drama. But we will see….

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