by
Gyrlcandy

_____Lane Edwards stood in line with her friend Vanessa to see The Bone Collector. The line was long and she was mad. She was a big baby and she didn't want to see that damn movie at all, but Vanessa insisted.
_____"Damn, this line is long, lets go see something else" Lane said turning to Vanessa. And made a face when Vanessa started laughing.
_____"Yo punk ass need to stop" She said cracking up. "You are 21 years old and still scared of scary movies."
_____"I'm not scared." Lane protested and Vanessa gave her a look.
_____"Girl yes you are, now we are gonna see this movie with fine ass Queen Latifah and Fine ass Denzel Washington, and I don't want to hear no more shit about it." Lane opened her mouth to curse out her friend of 3 years but before she could say anything, she saw Vanessa's eyes widen. "Ok, now don't panic, but Chase is heading right toward us."
_____Lane's heart stopped. Chase! Don't panic, she thought. Vanessa, being the good friend she was gave Lane some advice. "Be cool, relax, and for God's sake breathe!" she nodded and tried to look surprised to see Chase when she walked up.
_____"Hey Lane, hey Vanessa" Chase said with a smile on her face "Ya'll here to see The Bone Collector too?" They both nodded. "I can't wait, I love Latifah"
_____"Yeah me too, I can't wait to see the movie, I practically had to drag Vanessa here to see it." Lane lied, ignoring the look Vanessa gave her.
_____"You here by yourself?" Vanessa asked
_____"Yeah, I wanted to spend some time alone, so I decided to come to a movie."
_____Lane was trying hard not to stare at Chase while she was talking, but she was finding it hard. Damn she has really nice lips she thought. Wonder what it would be like to kiss them. She noticed Chase smiling at her and blurted out. "You can sit with us if you want."
_____"You don't mind?" Chase asked.
_____"Oh, I'm sure she doesn't mind" Vanessa said in a teasing voice. Lane shot her a look and poked her in the ribs.
_____ Once in the movie theater Lane sat in between Chase and Vanessa. During the movie she couldn't help but cover her eyes and jump at the scary parts. She knew she was being a big baby but she couldn't help it. Chase noticed and laughed to herself. During one of the scary parts, she put her arm around Lane who was practically shaking. "I thought you liked scary movies." Chase said laughing.
_____"Uh, I do but uh..."
_____"It's ok, when it gets to a scary part, just put your head in my shoulder." Damn, this is working out better than I thought, Lane thought to herself.
_____She spent practically the rest of the movie with her head in Chase's shoulder. After the movie was over, Vanessa came out and asked Chase if she could drive Lane home. She swore she was tired, but Lane knew better.
_____"Sure, I'd be glad to" Chase said. Vanessa shot Lane a "Don't fuck this up" look and left. They decided to go get something to eat and went to a cozy little restaurant. Lane couldn't believe how good things were going. She had been in love with Chase since freshmen Bio. She thought about telling Chase her feelings, but she was too scared. She was not Chase's type. Chase always got with the glamour girls that thought they were all that. Her girl right now is rumored to be a model. Lane didn't think she had a chance. She never had a problem getting anybody, but beautiful was not a word that described her. So, she settled for being Chase's friend.
_____After that night they started spending a lot of time together. If Lane wasn't at Chase's place, then Chase was at Lane's place. Lane helped Chase through a bad break up with her girlfriend Toni. Toni and Chase had been seeing each other for about 6 months and Chase was devastated when Toni just announced that she was leaving. Chase ran to Lane and with time she got over it. Lane was caught totally by surprise when Chase asked her out.
_____They had been seeing each other for about 4 months. They were pretty serious about each other. Lane pretty much moved into Chase's place. She spent all of her time there and slept there, but she still had her own place. They were in love, their sex life was off da hook, and Chase was a very good girlfriend. Lane was totally happy until one day she over heard Chase talking to a friend of hers...
_____"...No, I love Lane very much, that's my baby." Lane smiled. "But sometimes I miss Toni, yeah I know I she only calls when she needs something. But I just want to know that she's ok. I don't want to lose Lane, but I do miss Toni..."
_____Lane stopped listening after that, damn my momma told me about eavesdropping, she thought. Well, she thought I guess I have to try harder to make her forget about Toni. Toni, damn she hated that name. She never even met the girl and she practically hated her. She hated the hold she had on Chase. Even after she left Chase, she still calls wanting or needing something. And Chase's only focus is to make sure she got it. Lane had no doubt Chase loved her, Her worst nightmare was Toni coming back and Chase having to choose. Well don't borrow trouble she told herself. Toni hasn't showed her face in 6 months. Chances are she wasn't going to show up no time soon.

*

_____Lane had a special night planned for Chase. She was in Chase's place cooking her favorite dinner. She stopped and got Chase's favorite wine and a bouquet of roses to decorate the table. Basically the place was hooked up. The food was almost done.
_____Now all she was waiting for was Chase. She put on her Body and Soul CD and went to the oven and checked on the bread. She heard the door open and looked up to see Chase walk in the door. _____"Hey baby," Chase said walking over to Lane and giving her a sweet kiss.
_____"Hey yourself," Lane said stepping into Chases warm embrace.
_____"Mmm that smells wonderful."
_____"Thank you, now cmon." Lane said, leading her to the table. "I know your hungry."
_____Chase sat down while Lane fixed her plate.
_____"Ooh this is good" Chase said after Lane started to feed her. Chase loved to be fed, and Lane was happy to accommodate. They were so wrapped up in each other that they didn't hear the door open.
_____"Well isn't this cute" A voice came from the doorway.
_____ Chase's head snapped up. "Oh my god" Chase said.
_____"Oh no" Lane whispered. She couldn't believe her eyes. Standing in Chase's apartment was Toni. There was a stunned silence. Lane looked at Toni and saw why she was a model. She stood about 5'7, smooth caramel complexion, the face of an angel, and a perfect body. She was in a word...beautiful.
_____Toni looked at Lane and dismissed her with a look. She fixed her sights on Chase and gave her a beautiful smile and walked over to her and gave her a big hug. "How have you been?"
_____Chase was frozen, almost entranced. Lane looked at her and knew trouble was ahead.
_____"Fine," Chase said snapping out of it. "An...and how have you been."
_____"Oh I've been busy doing photo shoots stuff, my schedule has been hell" Toni practically purred. "But I've been missing you a whole lot" Chase swallowed and let out a loud breath. Toni looked at Lane and gave her a slight smile and said. "And you must be Lane, Chase has told me all about you." "Yeah, it's me, so what brings you to town?" Lane said through clenched teeth.
_____"Well I uh...had some unfinished business here" Toni said looking at Chase.
_____It was all Lane could do stop herself from messing up Toni's pretty face. But she kept her cool. "Oh, unfinished business huh, so when will you be leaving?" Lane said.
_____"Well I'm not sure, I'm not sure if I'll be leaving at all" Toni said. Damn, Lane thought.
_____"Well I better get going, I have to go see my family now, they are going to want to know why I'm so late." She fixed her eyes on Chase "I will be talking to you later" she said, then she glanced at Lane. "Nice meeting you" she said insincerely.
_____"Yeah, same here" Lane said just as insincerely.
_____When she left there was a silence.
_____"Well," Chase said nervously, "You want to finish dinner?"
_____"No, I'm not hungry." Lane said.
_____"Baby look, I was just as surprised to see her as you were, but I know how you are and I know what your thinking and there is nothing going on between us."
_____Lane listened to Chase's words, that were spoken such conviction. But she knew in her heart that Chase still wanted Toni. "Honey, do you remember that night you came over my place in tears?" Lane asked.
_____"Yeah I remember, I felt like a fool" She let out a bitter laugh "She just told me she was restless and she needed a change...she left that night."
_____"And what was the first thing you did?"
_____"I came over to your place and you opened your arms and held me while I cried, and then you listened to me moan about her all night."
_____"Yes, and do you know why I did that?"
_____"No."
_____"Because I loved you, I loved you then, and it was killing me to see you in pain like that."
_____"I didn't know..."
_____"I know, I didn't want to tell you, you had enough to deal with , but I saw what she did to you and I don't want to see you hurt again."
_____Chase let out a deep sigh."I know you don'.t"
_____Lane stepped close to her and took her face in her hands looking into her eyes "I love you Chase, and I would never hurt you...never."
_____Chase smiled and said, "I know, I love you too, and I would never leave you."
_____"You promise?" Lane said, her voice unsure.
_____"I promise" Chase said and gave her a deep long kiss.
_____The dinner sat cold on the table, they had forgotten about it. They had better things to do.
_____For the next two weeks, things were perfect between them. They had pretty much forgotten about Toni. Neither had heard from her. Chase couldn't help but think, Damn, I got me a good woman. And it was true. Lane was very good to Chase. That's why she couldn't believe she messed up so bad with Lane. She was in her apartment relaxing and heard the doorbell ring. She went to the door was surprised to see Toni.
_____"Hi" Toni said stepping in.
_____"Hi, what are you doing here?"
_____"I came by to see you, I'm not allowed to stop by and say hi?"
_____"Sure you are...so what's up?"
_____"Well to be honest, I came by to ask you to come with me."
_____"Come with you?" Chase said confused.
_____" I have a photo shoot in New York and I don't want to leave without you. I know I fucked up but I love you and I want to make things right...I'm so sorry for hurting you, I still love you and I want to be with you" She took a step towards her, "I need you."
_____Chase's head was swimming. She couldn't believe this was happening. She had a very good woman that loved her very much, she couldn't mess that up. But Toni was drop dead gorgeous and she really did sound sorry. Damn, what the hell was she gonna do? Before she could say anything, Toni leaned forward and gave her a toe curling, body rockin passionate kiss.
_____Chase knew she was in trouble...when Toni's lips touched hers, all the emotions that were dead, sprang back to life. She wrapped Toni in her arms and kissed her deeper. They stopped to take a breath, just as she was taking a step back she heard the door opening. She looked over to see Lane come in with a big smile on her face and a bouquet of flowers in her hand.
_____"Baby, guess what, I found you favorite flow..." Lane stopped in mid sentence when she saw Toni looking as stunning as ever and very satisfied and Chase looking guilty as hell. She noticed that Chase's clothes were messed up and her heart sank when she realized what they had been doing.
_____"Lane, it's not what you think" Chase started
_____"It's not?" Lane asked "Well I think you and Toni were kissing in the middle of the living room, am I wrong?"
_____"Well..."
_____"Red lipstick, isn't your color Chase" Chase looked over at the hall mirror and saw that Toni's lipstick was all over her mouth. She knew that was it.
_____"Lane, I..." Chase started to speak, but Toni beat her to it
_____"Well Lane, it's a shame you had to find out this way, but Chase is coming with me to New York... isn't that right Chase?" Two pairs of eyes stared at Chase. One pair looking at her triumphantly and the other looking at her in tears.
_____"Your leaving with her?" Lane said her eyes bright with tears
_____"Lane, I'm sorry to do this to you, but I love Toni and I want to be with her"
_____Lane felt her heart pounding in her ears, she wanted to beg Chase not to leave her, she wanted to tell her that Toni will just use her and throw her away, she wanted to scream, but most of all she wanted to cry. She looked at Chase, at the face she loved so much, and saw that her mind was made up and nothing was going to change it.
_____"Well then, I guess I guess there's nothing left to say" Lane said in a choked voice. She put the flowers down that she had been holding, the flowers that she had searched all over for, and left.

To be continued

Copyright © 2000. Used by permission of author. All Rights Reserved.