Marilyn's a Working Girl
Keywords: Marilyn's, Working, Girl, a,
Prev 1 2 3 4 Next
"What, you hate my guts?"
She shrugged, "Not so much." She tried to play her first knee-jerk reaction off as a joke.
"You're breaking my heart Harmond. Don't do that."
When they were eating Wicks was talking about his parents. His parents was a favorite subject of his. How proud of him they were but how annoying they were. They talked about how they expected too much yet how they were always there for him. He always had an anecdote about growing up in his small hometown in Massachusetts that always involved his parents. Most of the time she just listened until the inevitable happened. He asked her about her mother.
She stiffened up a little and he asked, "What? What's wrong?"
"Nothing."
"I just asked you about your mother, how she was like..."
"I don't have the kinda stories you do Wicks. Not all peaches and cream and all..."
"I know. Most people in the Second Chance program don't. I just wanted to know more about you. But if you don't want to tell me..."
"It's not that it's just...weird." She sipped from her glass of water, a small hunk of ice slipping between her lips.
"I'm not going to judge you or anything like that. Come on, you know me don't you?" Wicks pointed to himself, his dark blue eyes shaded by the brim of his fatigued cap.
She crunched on the ice in her mouth and said, "Okay...my mom. She's not alive anymore. She died when I was thirteen."
"Yeah, you told me that." Wicks answered sullenly.
"As for how she was like, it's hard to tell. Most of how she was was how she was on dope." Leese shrugged, "She overdosed on heroine, see. Then, I got involved in drug trafficking. Went to jail...came here. You know all of this though," she made a rolling motion with her hands.
"Well what about your dad? Did you know him?"
"I didn't know him then," she sighed, "but I know him now."
He squinted his eyes just a little giving her a perplexed look. "Well, tell me" he said tapping his fork against the table cloth, "What kind of dude is he? Is he cool? What's his name? How'd you meet him?"
"Easy there with the semi-auto questioning" she said, "I'll tell you "everything", just calm down."
That night after training Wicks dropped her off downtown where Jeffrey's office was. He was headed that way so she'd go with him and get a ride from Jeffrey to make it easier on everyone.
She waited for him outside of the police station. When he came out, he looked serious and even kind of angry behind his shades. He gave her a look and kept on walking past her. She took that as her cue to follow him. "Ohhhkay..." she said under her breath.
They drove along the boulevard headed north when he said, "Why didn't you tell me that you're failing Physics."
Her eyes opened wide as she stared ahead, stunned. "Wh—what?"
"And you're not doing so hot in your Quantitative Reasoning class. Or Bio. What's the deal?"
"How'd you..."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"I...I didn't think..."
"Didn't think what?" he turned to stare at her, his eyes hidden behind his dark shades.
She felt herself shrinking in her seat. The look he gave her made her wither. "What was I supposed to say?"
"That you needed help."
She cringed. She was tired of asking for help. "I didn't want to bother you. I mean, this is my thing so I was gonna deal with it."
"By what? Flunking out? Listen, this isn't just 'your thing'. I've been invested in this since day one."
She said nothing. Just tried to stifle the thoughts in her head and ignore the moistness in her eyes. Why was she about to cry? What was wrong with her?
"I know, you have been invested. But, I'll finish and I'll be out of your hair soon enough. And even if I don't finish, even if I don't get through I'll just leave you be."
He turned his head sharply, "Hell is that supposed to mean?"
She didn't answer.
"You're stubborn. Extra stubborn. Just like your grandfather."
Leese furrowed her brows, "What?"
"You heard me. Why can't you take responsibility for what you do instead of trying to threaten me with leaving every time—"
She interrupted, "Threaten?" she was confused. "I'm not threatening—"
"Well then listen to me, Elise. God damn it. I don't want you to fail. Point blank." He was so angry that the vein in his neck bulged and throbbed.
"I'll handle it," she said softly. Something in the tone of his voice made her feel hurt. She couldn't help herself. She wiped her eyes with her sleeve.
"That's what you said the first time about the letter remember? Where'd I find you? Hiding out on somebody's couch about to be back on the streets again. " He had wanted to say that she'd be back with Teto, but he stopped himself. "And you were supposedly 'handling' it then. You know, the way you 'handle' things is like a child. You act just like a child, you are no better than Christina or Isabelle...really. I mean you are twenty-three years..." he looked over at her. Her face was turned all the way to the window but he could see it face in the reflection. Her eyes were wet. He could see it no matter how much she tried to hide, no matter how much she tried to control the heaving of her chest. He stopped talking for the rest of the ride home.
When Leese and Green finally arrived home, they got out of the car unceremoniously and gave a half wave to the kids as they did their homework. Rita came out of the kitchen announcing that dinner would be done in a few minutes but Leese had just run upstairs with her head down.
"What's wrong?" Chrissy asked.
Jeffrey put his hand on his hip and said, "Nothing baby, finish up." Rita gave him a questioning look, but he just stared back and said nothing before going upstairs to shower.
Dinner was ready but there was one less person at the table. Izzy asked, "Is she okay? Does her tummy hurt?" She picked up a piece of broccoli and said, "Broccoli makes my tummy hurt. Do I have to eat it too?"
"I'll bet you'll want dessert though," Rita said. "Eat it now."
Izzy popped the broccoli in her mouth and gave a sly laugh.
"Is she really okay though sweetie?" Rita whispered to her husband, her dark eyes serious and concerned.
His voice cracked a little, "Yeah...umm" he cleared his throat. "I mean, I don't know. She could be sick or something. I didn't ask."
After dinner the kids took their dessert to the living room while Rita and Jeffrey did the dishes side by side.
"Okay," Rita said softly so no one but Jeffrey would hear, "What happened?"
He told her about what happened in the car. "I fucked up. I don't know what I did exactly but I know I fucked up."
Rita chuckled, "You two are so funny. She really is yours."
"You keep on saying that but I never know why." He said in a puzzled tone.
She laughed, reaching up to kiss him on the temple. "You're just as clueless as she is."
"What?" he said as she stared at him grinning. "I don't see how you could be smiling right now. This ain't funny."
Meanwhile Leese sat up in her room with her Physics book trying hard to study, but it was just too hard. She was distracted. Frustrated she threw the book against the wall, then became startled when she heard a small knock at the door. She gasped, her hand flying to her chest right before she rolled her eyes at her stupidity and got up to open the door. Cracking it open she saw Izzy and Chrissy at the door holding a plate each filled with a chunk of chocolate cake and vanilla ice cream.
"We came to share." Chrissy said.
"Broccoli makes my tummy hurt too." Izzy said.
For a little while Leese said nothing. She didn't show them her inward smile, trying to keep her composure. "Broccoli huh?"
They nodded.
"We're not supposed to eat in our rooms." Chrissy whispered. "But they won't find out if we eat quick."
"No, I don't wanna get you guys in trouble. Besides that cake looks too good for me to take any from you."
"Things taste better when you share!" Izzy yelled.
"Shhhhh!" Chrissy gave her the most severe look, "What's wrong with you are you crazy?"
Izzy giggled, "Yeah!"
Leese couldn't help but to laugh, "Let's go downstairs then and I'll help you eat that."
Rita caught them as they were halfway down the stairs . "What were you doing upstairs with that?" She pointed to their dessert.
"Uhhh...uhhhh...uhhhh..." Izzy kept stammering.
"We were going to the bathroom and we didn't want to leave our cake."
"There's a bathroom down here." Rita said, "And why wouldn't you want to leave your cake?"
"It's not their fault." Leese said placing her hands on both of the girls' heads. "They were just trying to give me their food."
Rita stared into Leese's eyes for a moment and then back at the girls. "Really?"
They nodded.
"She has a plate right here waiting for her," Jeffrey walked out of the kitchen. He and Leese locked eyes but she looked away.
"It's in the kitchen." He walked away. The girls scampered off with there melting ice cream and gooey cake and Rita said, "I'll heat it up for you, come on."
When Leese and Rita got into the kitchen Leese sat down while Rita took the plate of food and put it in the microwave. While it was nuking she leaned against the counter, folding her arms against her body and crossing her legs at the ankle.
"How do you do that?" Leese asked.
"What?" Answered Rita, shaken out of her reverie.
"Those heels. They are so high. You wear them all the time?"
She laughed looking down at her Ferragamo pumps. "I guess so. My feet have really high arches. They're actually quite comfortable.
"How tall are you?"
"Five-ten...why?"
"Wow. That's tall." Leese said. "I'm only five four. I wish I were taller."
"I used to hate being tall. When I was a kid I always got teased." The microwave beeped and Rita carefully pulled the hot plate out and gracefully walked toward her stepdaughter and put the food in front of her. "Here you go."
"Thank you Ms. Greene." Leese answered.
Rita smiled. "You make me sound so old."
"Oh," she said, "but you're not at all."
"Well, anyway. I was always the tallest person in school, until Eighth grade that is.
Prev 1 2 3 4 Next
Keywords: Marilyn's, Working, Girl, a,