2009
Midtown Part 11
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Midtown fans! Get your Midtown character guide here!
Do you miss The L Word? Well do we have a solution for you! TLL is happy to introduce Midtown, a fictional lesopera. Midtown is a weekly look into the lives of lesbian women in Atlanta written by Alix from the blog A Brown Girl. A new installment of Midtown will be published every Tuesday on The Lesbian Lifestyle. Please check out Alix’s blog and drop her a comment to let her know how you feel about the ladies of Midtown.
New to Midtown? Start with Part 1
Ed left the park with good memories, but a heavy heart. She made the walk back home slowly, ignoring the brightly shining sun. She ignored the calls from Ki and Ash. She didn’t want to deal with either of them right now. Right now was about Taylor. She needed to focus on the memories. She wanted to keep her alive in her mind.
Four hours later, Ed got out of bed. She stretched her tired muscles. A sense of accomplishment surrounded her sorrow. Her stomach announced its hunger with a loud growl urging her to the kitchen. She heard voices in the living room. When her foot hit the final step, the room was completely silent.
Three faces focused on her. All in various states of disappointment. They all started to speak at the same time. All of their tones were sharp. Ed shook her head to clear it. She held her hand out to stop them from talking.
When silence filled the room, Ed asked, “Why are yall yelling at me?”
“Muthafu-“ Ki sighed loudly. “We’ve been lookin’ for your black ass all day. You haven’t been returnin’ phone calls and then you have the nerve to walk down those fuckin’ stairs like everything is o-fucking-kay?” Brie went and stood next to Ki. She rubbed her back. “Somebody hold me back, I’m ‘bout to open a can of whoop ass on this big broad…”
Brie glared at her.”Don’t make me let her go! You really do deserve somebody’s foot up your ass. Where have you been all day?” Ed walked passed the trio to the kitchen.
“I’ve been here.” Her voice was terse. She pulled a beer from the fridge, opening it and taking a long swallow.
“You could’ve told someone that.” Ash spoke softly. “There are people here that worry about you.” Ash didn’t look in Ed’s direction when she spoke. She didn’t want Ed to see the expression on her face.
Ed didn’t acknowledge her statement. She grabbed another beer and went back up stairs.
A few days later, they closed Latte Pride for the funeral. There was a wreath on the door with Taylor’s picture. The funeral was full of current and former employees, regular customers and friends.
Brie and Ki occupied the seats on either side of Ed. Ed had made an attempt to keep herself together, but to her friends it was obvious that she was falling apart. Her locs looked fuzzy. Her white shirt needed to be pressed. Her black slacks didn’t look as neat, or put together, as if she had gotten dressed without thought. Her eyes were sunk in due to lack of sleep.
Ed hadn’t been at the store since she had been told about Taylor’s death. Ki and Ash were keeping the store running while Ed laid around the house. They would take turns making sure Ed ate, but they left her alone for the most part. Ash’s visits were always the shortest. She seemed to be avoiding her, but who would blame her. What sane person wanted to be around someone that was mourning their dead girlfriend?
Ed moved from the funeral to her car in a cloud of guilt. She shouldn’t have viewed the body. Seeing her lying in the coffin, pale and lifeless, felt as though someone had torn her heart out of her chest. She had insisted on driving herself to the funeral, she knew that she wasn’t going to want to leave with the others.
She sat in her car, listening to a cd Taylor had made for her. She watched the parking lot empty. When her car was alone in the lot, it was dark. She went to Taylor’s grave. She stood looking down at the mound piled high with freshly exposed dirt.
“Taylor…” Her name felt funny on her lips. “Taylor, I’m sorry I left you…”
She bent down to run her hand through the dark dirt. It felt cold in her hands. “It’s my fault that you’re here…” She sat down in the dirt. “If I could do it all over again, I would’ve stayed. I didn’t want this to happen.” Tears started flowing from her eyes. She started wiping them away with her dirt covered hands. Soon her face was covered with muddy tears. She laid down next to the grave, her body heaving with the force of her tears.
That’s how Ki and Brie found her 4 hours later. Ed sat in the fresh dirt alone. Her face and clothing were covered in mud. Brie and Ki helped her to her feet. Without words, they went home together.
Ash poured her third shot of the night. She was ready to fall apart, but she knew she couldn’t. Everyone was looking to her to hold things together. She had to keep the store running successfully so Ed would have something to come back to.
She let the liquor slow down her thought process. She thought back to just a few nights ago when she and Ed had finally been intimate. It brought about mixed emotions because as she was feeling her best, Taylor was dying.
When Ki and Brie came through the door with Ed, she saw a woman covered in mud. She rushed to her side. “I’ll put her in the tub.” She escorted Ed up the many stairs and sat her on the toilet in her bathroom. She turned on the water and tested the temperature.
“Stay here…” She told Ed. She didn’t know if Ed heard her, she just looked straight ahead at the wall in front of her.
Ash returned with a cup of mint tea and attempted to hand it to Ed. She didn’t reach for it, but when Ash put it to her lips, she started to sip. This simple action made Ash smile. It gave her hope.
“Can you undress yourself?” Ash turned the water off. Ed didn’t move. She started unbuttoning Ed’s soiled white button down. Ed lifted and turned whenever prompted until Ash had her completely nude. She climbed in the tub willingly.
Ash started to babble, about random things that had happened in the past few days while washing Ed’s hair. Ed didn’t say anything. Ash started to get frustrated.
“Dammit, Ed…We miss you. We need you. I need you…” Ash started crying. Ed turned to look at her, as if she just realized she was there.
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Wow, you’re such a gifted writer. A lump of emotion started forming as read this. I feel for Ed…