Date: Mon, 13 Sep 2004 23:04:52 -0700 (PDT)
From: Cassandra Whitehead <cocoa8007@yahoo.com>
Subject: Garden of Eve 5

** "Be still.  I'm never going to get this right if
you keep moving your head."  Jackie turned her head to
the right side again, allowing Eve to get a better
grip on her hair.  Eve had been dying to braid
Jackie's hair for the past 3 months.  Every since she
had seen the way Alicia Keys had her hair, she had
wanted to do the same thing with Jackie's.  So
finally, after being nagged for so long, Jackie had
given in and allowed Eve to braid her hair.  And now
that she was sitting in this chair for the second
hour, she wished that she had never agreed to it.  She
tried to distract herself, by looking at the view
outside of Eve's wall size window.

"I love the view from here.  It's like a whole new
world when you look out this window.  It's amazing."

Eve looked up from Jackie's hair for a moment to look
out of the window too.

"Yeah, I love it too. The only problem is that when I
look out there, everyone is looking back.  It's kind
of spooky at times, because they can see everything I
do when the blinds aren't drawn."  Eve had just
finished the last braid with Jackie's hair, when there
was a knock on her door.

"Don't move. Stay just like that.  I don't want you to
see it yet."

Eve placed a kissed on Jackie's neck and went to the
door.  Jackie, of course being curious about her hair,
ran to the bathroom as soon as Eve walked behind the
Chinese curtains.



Eve opened the door and couldn't believe who stood
there.

"What in the hell are you doing here?"

"I came to see my baby."  Joyce Taylor walked into
Eve's apartment with a satisfied look on her face.
She stood at 5'6" even, about 135 lbs, short black
hair, dark brown eyes, dark brown skin.

"I think I looked all over Florida for you and now
I've finally found you."
Eve couldn't believe that Joyce was actually standing
in her apartment.  After all the things she had put
her through, she couldn't believe she had the nerve to
even show her face.

"Well now that you've found me, forget where I am and
go back to Missouri."

"Now why would I want to do that? You know they say
home is where the heart is."

"Well I guess you don't have a home, because you
definitely don't have a heart."  Joyce gave a small
laugh and began to walk around in Eve's living room.

"There's that humor I missed so much. You're so
funny."

"Who's trying to be funny? I'm just telling the
truth." Joyce sat down on Eve's couch when Jackie
called from the bedroom.

"Baby it looks wonderful. You did a great job."

"Now who can that be?" Joyce asked.  She didn't have
to wait long because Jackie come down from the bedroom
a second later and stopped dead in her tracks.

"Oh, you still have company."

"Yes she does." Joyce said as she rose from the couch
and walked toward Eve and Jackie.

"I'm Joyce Taylor and you are?"

"Jackie this is an old friend of mine Joyce, and Joyce
this is my girlfriend Jackie."  Her statement got the
reaction she was hoping for.  When she said girlfriend
Joyce kind of stepped back like she had been slapped
in the face.

"Girlfriend?"

"Yes, girlfriend." Eve said as she reached for
Jackie's hand.

"Well, it seems we have something in common Jackie.
You're her new girlfriend and I'm her old one."
Jackie didn't remember Eve ever saying anything about
a woman named Joyce and she was suddenly curious as to
the reason why.

"Well, it seems like you two have some catching up to
do. I'll just let myself out." Jackie moved to get her
things off of the dining room table.

"No! I don't want you to go." Already Joyce was
messing things up.  Tonight was supposed to be a
special night for them.  They had set everything up.
First Eve was to do Jackie's hair, and then they were
going to cook dinner together, and dessert was
whatever they decided would come next.  But even if
they didn't do anything tonight, Eve still wanted
Jackie to stay.  She slept so much better when they
were holding each other.

"Baby, I'll see you in the morning, first thing. We
can have breakfast together."

"But I want you to stay."

"Eveie, don't you think we need to talk?"

She turned back to Joyce and glared at her.

"No I think you need to leave.  No one asked you to
come here."

Eve turned back to Jackie trying to think of something
good to say.

"Look obviously you two need to resolve some things
and I'll just be in the way.  I'll see you in the
morning."  Jackie gave Eve a kiss and walked out the
door.

"What do you want, Joyce? I thought I made myself
clear before I left Missouri."

"But I know you didn't mean it."  Joyce walked over to
Eve and began to rub her arm.

"You were upset and when you're upset you say things
you don't mean.  I know you still love me and we can
work this out." Eve snatched her arm away from Joyce
and moved toward the door.

"Love you? I can't stand you.  You made my life hell
before I left and now you think everything's okay.
Have you lost your mind? There is only one person I
love and it sure as hell isn't you.  It's that
beautiful young woman that just walked out that door."

"You've been here all of 10 months and you love her.
Please, we were together for 2 years, there's no way
you love her more than you love me." Joyce once again
sat down on the couch and stared at Eve.

"I don't know what I felt for you, Joyce but it
couldn't have been love, maybe lust.  And you couldn't
have loved me or else you wouldn't have done the
stupid things you did.  Look I don't have time for
this.  Stay away from me.  Don't come back to my
apartment or anything else.  Forget that I even exist,
because I forgot all about you.  I don't want to talk
to you, see you, know you, or anything else.  You are
dead to me and I plan to keep it that way.  Don't
start any mess here Joyce, because I promise you that
you will regret it."

They looked at each other for a moment, when Joyce
smiled a little and rose from the couch.  She walked
toward the door and opened it.

"Strong words, but I don't believe you."

"I could care less what you believe."

"Before it's all over, we will be back together,
because like the old saying goes, if I can't have you,
no one will." Eve knew exactly what Joyce meant by
that statement. Looking around Eve's apartment one
last time, Joyce smiled and closed the down behind
her.  As soon as Eve was sure that she was gone she
grabbed her bag and keys and headed for Jackie's
apartment.