In My Sister's House (20 page)

A
fter spending the entire afternoon shopping, Storm decided to have an early dinner before going in to work. She was back in her element. Visiting shop after shop on Walnut Street, she felt like her old self. Although she hadn’t been able to get any credit cards, she had plenty of cash. Not from her salary at Legends—to her surprise, Skylar had presented her with a check for thirty thousand dollars the other day. It was her half of the money Dutch had left his daughters in his will. Her inheritance! He’d also left fifteen thousand to Nettie. Skylar hadn’t told Storm about this when she first came home, fearing that she’d run right through the money as fast as she got it. But after the talk with Nettie, she decided giving her sister the money was the right thing to do.

Storm applied for a one-bedroom apartment in the Society Hill Townhouses that she was sure she’d get. Dressed in a pair of white Guess jeans that clung to her like Saran Wrap and a flowing cotton three-button blouse, she stood out among the passersby. Her three-inch white summer sandals accentuated her beautifully done pedicure, finished off with her favorite light pink polish. Her swagger was back. She stepped easily into her trademark walk, her stroll— one that made passing brothas turn around to check out the back shot and sistas cut their eyes at her. She even went into a new salon,
called Justine’s—she’d decided against Zenora’s because she knew that’s where Skylar went—and got her hair done. She was lucky to even get the time in a chair, being a walk-in and all. But she did and she was happy. Turning the corner of Eighteenth and Walnut, she swore she saw DuBoy’s jeep, but it pulled off so fast and merged into the traffic that she couldn’t tell. If it was him, she was glad that he didn’t see her, because she hadn’t told him about the thirty thousand. Seeing her with all these bags would have piqued his interest for sure. After she had a bite to eat, she planned on dropping the bags off at Nettie’s place.

Storm was covering for Nettie at the club tonight so Nettie could make it to June’s celebration. Storm had only met Nettie’s lover once, and felt she was okay, but after what she had been through in prison, June made her a little uneasy. Storm was cool keeping her distance, she didn’t need to be at the ceremony. Besides, she knew that Skylar would be there and she didn’t want to socialize with her. She saw her enough at work—she didn’t need to see her in her free time, too. And she especially didn’t need everybody commenting on the fact that they were twins. How annoying was that?

“Hey, Miss Girl,” a voice said behind Storm’s ear.

Swiftly turning around, she saw who it was. “Pia! Hey, girl, how you doing?”

Before she knew it, Pia was hugging her. “I’m good. I heard you were home and I’ve been meaning to come back to the club to see you,” she said.

“Back? You were there before? No one told me.”

“Yeah, it was a couple of weeks ago. I told Nettie to tell you,” Pia lied.

“I’m sorry, she must have forgotten. Everybody is so busy over there.” Storm knew that Nettie did not like Pia. Truth be told, Storm wasn’t that crazy about her either.

Storm and Pia were known for their battles. Both were beautiful sistas with bangin’ bodies and attitudes to match. Perhaps that’s why they had often clashed. Storm felt Pia always had to try and one-up
her on everything. Whether it was money, men, homes, or cars, she knew Pia would try and compete. And she couldn’t be trusted. She remembered Lenora telling her that.

“If that’s the way you feel about her, why do you have her hanging around you all the time?” Storm remembered asking Lenora.

“Ever heard the saying, ‘Keep your friends close but your enemies closer’? Well, that’s what I’m talking about,” Lenora had said. The thought of Lenora brought a frown to Storm’s face. Still, Storm had to admit, looking at Pia, it was good seeing one of the old gang.

“I see you still holding it down,” Storm told her. “You look good.”

“Thanks, it’s a struggle every day, you know that, but I’m still in the game,” Pia giggled.

After an uneasy moment of silence, Storm told her that she had to leave, she wanted to grab a bite to eat before heading over to the club. Perhaps they would run into each other again. Pia told her that she pretty much had the afternoon and evening free—if she didn’t mind, she’d join her. It would give them a little time to catch up. Storm’s uneasiness about this offer was apparent from the expression on her face, which did not go unnoticed by Pia.

“Okay,” Storm reluctantly said. “I’m thinking about Rouge,” she said, pointing to the quaint five-star restaurant next door to her old residence at the Rittenhouse Claridge. Once they were seated, the maître d’ offered to take Storm’s bags and put them away for her, to free up room at the table. She agreed and thanked him. Storm had planned for this to be a quick dinner, and then she’d leave. There was only so much of Pia she could take in one sitting.

But forty-five minutes later, there they were, still cackling about any-and everything. The wine started to loosen them both up. Storm asked, “So, girl, are you dating anyone special?”

“Not really. I mean, got me a regular and all, but nothing serious,” she laughed, taking another sip.
If she only knew
, Pia thought to herself. “What about you? Seeing anyone special?” She held her glass up to her lips and sipped.

“Me and DuBoy still together, girl,” she told her.

“For real? Get out of here. I thought maybe since you were—”

Storm cut her off. “Locked up? Yeah, well, you would have thought it, but, yeah, we sorta picked up right where we left off three years ago. Now, I ain’t no dumb bitch, I know he has probably messed with a few chickenheads, because that shit was going to happen.” The pinot grigio was doing a number on her now, for sure.

Being indirectly referred to as a chickenhead didn’t sit well with Pia. She wanted so bad to tell Storm that DuBoy was in fact with her, but she knew he would kick her ass. Besides, he had promised that everything would be straight in due time. Pia would get her opportunity eventually to see the look on Storm’s face when she found out that DuBoy was her man. She listened as Storm went on and on about him, how
good
he was in bed.

Ha! You don’t know the half of it, girlfriend
, Pia thought to herself. She couldn’t imagine why Storm was sharing all this with her anyway. It
must
be the wine. She decided to put a stop to Storm’s bragging.
Nothing has changed. She’s still a bitch!
Pia thought.

“So, girl, tell me what the hell did you do all that time you was locked up? You know, doing without?” she asked Storm. “I mean, didn’t none of them women get to you, did they?”

“Hell no!” Storm lied. “I let it be known from day one, mother was strictly dickly.” They both laughed. “And that strap-on shit don’t do nothing for me!” she protested.

They proceeded into a lively discussion that would normally have been overheard by others in the restaurant, but luckily the combination of music and the chatter from the other tables was masking their conversation.

Storm confided, “I don’t care how real-like they are, they don’t do the trick!”

Pia laughed but agreed.

The whole thing reminded Storm of a story that she wanted to share with Pia, but she could hardly get it out because she was laughing so much.

“Girl, what? What is it?”

She told Pia about a guy she’d dated named Purvis. “A coffee-brown-complexioned brotha who was a dead ringer for Taye Diggs. One night we were lying in bed, and he said to me that he’d like to try something a little new.”

Pia was already laughing but not enough to be distracted; she was hanging on to every word Storm said.

“That was cool with me, ’cause I’m always up for some new freaky skit,” Storm said, laughing herself. “I figured maybe he was gonna
ring my bell
a different way, you feel me? In the heat of passion, nigga pulled out what musta been a twelve-inch dildo and wanted me to mount him! I was speechless.”

“No he didn’t, girl!” Pia shouted.

“Yeah he did. Talking about, ‘I ain’t gay or anything like that…. I just want to keep our lovemaking exciting.’

“Okay, so once I got myself together, I thought about whooping his ass, but then thought, what the hell. So I strapped the shit on!” Storm leaned in to tell Pia.

Pia’s mouth was wide open. She couldn’t believe the story, but she had to admit, she was loving it.

“I had no idea how he was gonna take all of this. Girl, that shit went in so easy, you woulda thought his ass had been sprayed with Pam. I knew right then that this wasn’t the first time he had done some shit like this. I wore his ass out! Literally and figuratively.” She gave Pia a high five and went on, “Girl, you would have thought I was ridin’ a mechanical bull! And the power I felt, whew, let me tell you.” Pia was practically on the floor now, holding her stomach and begging Storm to stop.

“But mother held on,” Storm told her. “Get it, ma’! Get that shit! Purvis started screaming like a bitch in heat. I just could not
believe
that this six-foot-five, two-hundred-and-thirty-pound man was actually enjoying this shit. For a split second, I found myself getting jealous. Shit, he was having more fun than me!” Storm shouted.

Pia was hysterical at this point, but she found out that Storm was not through yet.

“But wait, then out of nowhere he started screaming at the top of his lungs,
‘Mother Popcorn, ride it! Mother Popcorn! Pop it! Pop it!’
“

Pia spat out her drink and quickly apologized, grabbing her cloth napkin and wiping herself off.

“I didn’t know whether to laugh or start crying, girl. This confused queen was screamin’ like he had just won a million dollars on
Deal or No Deal
. I thought any minute Howie Mandel and one of those skinny bitches was gonna come in our bedroom and open a suitcase.” Storm was on a roll now. “When it was over, we were so wet, it looked like we had been swimming. The sheets were so soaked I thought he peed on them. And here this brotha was, laid out on his back, breathing all hard like he just ran a marathon. So I stumble into the bathroom, you know, trying to get my shit together, ’cause this nigga done knocked my ass off balance. When I look in the mirror, though, how pissed was I? I was like, ‘Aw, hell naw!’ That bastard made me sweat my one-hundred-and-twenty-five-dollar perm out!”

“Girl, don’t you hate when that shit happens?” Pia high-fived Storm. Storm’s increasingly inebriated state caused her to miss Pia’s hand.

“So, pissed as all hell, I go back to the bedroom and find the dude in bed eating popcorn! Now I’ve heard of people wanting a cigarette or getting the munchies, but he actually got up and popped popcorn! I don’t know what the connection was with sex and popcorn, but I refuse to eat popcorn to this day. As a matter of fact, whenever I go to the movies, I close my eyes while passing the concession stand.”

Finally managing to get themselves together, Pia and Storm decided that they’d end the night on this happy note. Actually, Storm couldn’t believe how much fun she’d had with Pia. She invited Pia to come by the club if she felt like it tonight.

“I will,” Pia said, before hugging Storm and saying her final goodbyes. They headed in opposite directions leaving the restaurant. Walking down Walnut Street, Pia texted DuBoy asking if he could pick her up. He told her he couldn’t, that he was still with Torch and
Cleet, so she took a cab home. During the ride, Pia thought heavily about Storm.
I must confess, that was enjoyable. Could I actually be starting to like Storm Morrison?
A smile crept across her face until she remembered what Storm had revealed to her about still being with DuBoy. A saying that her mom used came to mind: “A smile ain’t nothing but a frown upside down.”

S
kylar was thrilled that Sidney was joining her for June’s celebration at Deana’s. She knew that Nettie was going to be surprised, too. Riding with him in the BMW, she grabbed his free hand and just held on.

“You okay, baby?” Sidney asked, quickly glancing at her while still trying to keep his eyes on the road.

“I’m fine. Just so happy that you are with me tonight,” she said, and squeezed his hand tenderly.

“Same here, baby. Anytime I’m with you it’s a treat, and you know it.” He kissed her hand. “Listen, I know the office has kept me away from home and away from the club a lot more than usual, but the workload will ease up soon and I promise I’ll make up for it, okay?” He looked at her again with
that
smile. Skylar couldn’t help but feel comforted by his words.

“You know I understand, baby. Your business is growing so fast. I know this is your dream. You deserve success, and I’m so proud of you.” Skylar knew all the hard work that Sidney had put into his business since striking out on his own several months ago. She also knew that, even with that, he had been there one hundred percent in support of what she was attempting to do at Legends. However,
something else was on her mind, and she wanted to talk with him about it.

“Baby, you know I told you what Storm wanted to do with her share of Legends?” Skylar asked him.

“Yeah, but we’re not going to let that happen. If we have to, we’ll buy her out,” Sidney said. “What did your attorney say?”

“She said that, because I didn’t officially buy the property from Dad, no matter what business was operated on the land, both Storm and I are the equal owners. I wanted to buy it from Dutch but he said he wasn’t going to sell anything that he owned to his own daughter. That I could just do what I wanted to do with it since he was retiring. Besides, when he passed it would be mine anyway, so why would he sell it to me? I never thought I would have problems with Storm about it. She wanted nothing to do with the family business. ‘That isn’t my thing,’ as she would say.”

“So what does she suggest?” Sidney asked.

“Who, Storm?”

“No, your lawyer.”

“Either I buy her out, or like Storm said, we sell the place,” Skylar said, and frowned.

“Selling isn’t an option, baby. Legends is you. So what’s the damage?”