The Other Side of the Pillow

“The fact that you happen to know their names doesn’t mean that they’re not strangers. Put on some damn clothes and get them out of here.” I walked past the sofa toward my bedroom and waved them off. “You can miss me with all of that.” I paused and turned around, glaring at Winsome. “On the sofa, though? You’re buying a new one. I’m never sitting on that shit again!”

I went into my room and slammed the door.

After undressing, I went into my bathroom and hopped into the shower. By the time that I threw on a nightgown, Winsome was poking her head in my door.

“How did the date go with that dude?”

I rolled my eyes at her. “His name is Tevin. He’s cool. I plan to hang out with him again sometime.”

“Thank goodness! You need a man!” Winsome came in and sat down

on the edge of my bed. She had on a black T-shirt that had BEAT ME, WHIP ME, FUCK ME, CUM ALL OVER MY TITS, AND THEN GET THE FUCK OUT printed in white letters on the front, and a pair of white sweatpants. “I’m tired of you disrupting my flow!”

“Winsome, you’re a trip. I’m not disrupting a damn thing that doesn’t need to be disrupted. You are sexing way too many people at the same time. And from what I saw tonight, with no damn protection.”

“Oh, come off it. We were doing oral when you came in. You will not make me believe that you use dental dams and condoms when you’re serving up your pussy or slobbering on a dick. Don’t even try it.”

“I’m not going to try, but the difference between you and me is that I only have sex with a couple of people.” I paused and started analyzing what she had said a moment ago. “And I could have a man if I wanted one, and you know it. I’m sick of the bullshit, so I’d rather stay single and do me. Relieve my sexual tension when I feel like it and keep it moving.”

“You push men away the second they start talking about getting serious. There are a lot of chicas out there who want a man to tie them down and you push them all away.”

I climbed underneath my comforter and turned on the news. I really wanted to go watch Paternity Court, but I was serious about that sofa. I was donating it to a nonprofit and making Winsome purchase a new one, but not before I laid down some ground rules.

“You can’t be fucking all over the place, Winsome. That’s not cool. You’re getting a new sofa and you’d better not have done anything on the dining room table.”

She sucked her teeth. “I’m not that damn nasty!”

“At this point, I wouldn’t put anything past you.” It suddenly hit me. “You’ve never fucked someone in my bed while I’m at work, have you?”

“No, don’t nobody want to fuck in your scraggly little queen-size bed when I have a California King. As much as you play in your pussy, ain’t nobody got time for that.”

I laughed, picked up a pillow, and threw it at her head. I did have quite the toy collection to knock the edge off. “Get out of my room. I have to be at work in five hours.”

She got up and headed out. “What did you think about Dominic and Kay Kay?”

I shrugged as I reached for my lamp switch to cut it off. “What is there to think? You were just doing them, right? Or are you contemplating doing some kind of polyamorous nonsense?”

“I don’t even know what the fuck that is,” Winsome responded sarcastically.

“The Devil is a liar. You know exactly what it is.”

She grinned. “We were just doing it. They’re actually siblings, though.”

I stopped worrying about the lamp switch. “Siblings? That’s disgusting.”

“It wasn’t disgusting for me, and it’s not like they did anything together.”

“Didn’t they?”

“No, they did not. You didn’t see no shit like that going down. Both of them were doing me, but that’s it.”

I glared at Winsome like she was crazy. “You need to chill before you end up with some incurable disease and come crying on my shoulder.”

“Get some sleep. I’ll holler.”

Winsome closed the door and as I was reaching for the lamp switch again, I noticed a text message that must have come in during my shower. It was from Tevin.

JUST CHECKIN ON U TO MAKE SURE U GOT HOME