Me: Is that a shiner, Alecia?
Her: Ya, umm, ...., well, I might as well just tell the story. It's from a fight. Last night. Half-catfight, half-fistfight. Fists .... then claws and hair and crap ... then fists again. I won, by the way .... she looks WAAAAAYYY worse than this. Cuts, bruises, the works. Missing patch of hair. It's Vanessa, by the way. I don't know if you ever met her. She was the class ahead of us. I never hung with her. We just had mutual boyfriend's in common. Way too many to be a coincidence, if you ask me. Kinda creepy. I'd date the guy . ..... THEN she would. "By coincidence". Stuck up bitch. She went away to college, but dropped out because of the pandemic. Couldn't keep up. Not college material ... never was. College wannabe. That's what started the fight .... I called her that on Instagram. A college wannabe. Her friends saw and told her. She came over last night all bad-ass. Jeans. Jean jacket. She was alone. I was alone. She asked if she could come in. "To fight?", I asked. "Well, not to make love," she said. I said, ,"But I'm alone." " Doesn't scare me if it doesn't scare you," she sassed. My heart started racing. First time I'm talking to her in 3 years and we're planning a fight. Or, not planning. About to fight. I was in layin-around clothes--nothing I didn't mind getting ruined. My hair was down tho, down my back. Hers was up in the front, down in the back. If it was down in the front, I would pulled it right there and kneed her in the face. Instead I motioned her in and led her to the den. I closed the front door, then the den French doors, behind us. I was shaking, but she was too. Not cuz of the fight 'bout to happen--we've both seen each other fight a couple times in school. Because we were alone. I've never fought alone, even against my sister. We both made sure someone else was home.
To be continued......