We’ll Meet Again Someday

The Present…

Audra wrapped her legs around James as he pumped her higher and higher. Their bodies were slick with sweat. The sheets were damp beneath them. Audra moaned in ecstasy, eyes closed, and trailed her fingertips along James’s back. Slowly, the coarse, hairy skin gave way to soft, smooth skin. Audra’s eyes snapped open to find Riana upon her naked body. Riana’s long, dark hair cascaded down her back and teasingly brushed Audra’s skin. Her pale skin seemed to glow in the darkness, breasts gently bouncing with her movements. Audra was about to reach out and stroke the downy softness between Riana’s legs when Riana began moving toward her. Her lips found hers just as Audra cried out in the still of the night. James stirred beside her. “What is it, honey?” “N-nothing,” Audra breathed. “Just a weird dream.” She pushed the covers off her sweaty body. “You sure you’re okay?” “Uh-huh,” she yawned. “Go back to sleep. I’m fine.” James fell back asleep at once, but she didn’t. She lay in the dark, thinking of the green-eyed brunette whom fate had returned to her life. She’d have to keep this one at a distance. And in her proper place.

The Past…

“Do not come here again until after two in the afternoon!” Riana had shouted at the maintenance worker in the spring of 1993. “I told you that I work nights, and constantly having the wacko next door waking me up is enough to deal with as it is!” “I’m sorry, Riana,” said Gordy. “I hate to pester you like this, but until we get this plumbing situation squared away, I may have to return tomorrow as well.” And return he did. Only this time, he had brought Audra for protection. “Riana,” she said, acknowledging her with her famous businesslike nod when she opened the door after being roused from her sleep once again. “If I weren’t so exhausted, I’d laugh my ass off. You scared of me or something, Gordy?” Riana taunted. “Behave, Riana,” Audra warned as she headed back down the stairs. “Hey, Gordy, you got the water turned off up there?” called out Everett, another maintenance worker. “Yeah,” Gordy shouted down to him. Riana felt her frustration growing. “No water? But I have to pee! First, I get woken up, and now I can’t pee. I’m finding another place to live!” Audra had come partway back up the stairs, smiling with amusement. “Why don’t you get some shoes on and come down to the office? You can use the toilet there.” When Riana entered the office a short while later, Judith was on the phone and Audra was eating lunch at her desk in her office. She glanced up through the open door and waved her arm toward the right. “The bathroom’s off the room next door.” Riana stepped into a large room that ran alongside the main office. She’d never been in it before. A buffet table was laid out along one wall, and office supplies adorned the other. She found the bathroom in the far corner of the room and emptied her bladder. She emerged a moment later to find that Audra had entered the room and was filling her plate with more food. Mark was there too, plate in hand. “Having a party?” Riana asked. “Didn’t you read about it in the monthly newsletter that gets placed by your door?” Audra asked. “No, I never received it. The whacko next door probably used it to blow her nose with, for all I know.” Mark burst out laughing, and Audra said, “Well, if you’d like, you and Mark can fill up a plate to take back with you. Gordy should be done by now.” Riana happily accepted the free food, as broke as she still was, and convinced John, one of her regular cab drivers, to sublease her apartment. He was a heavier sleeper who was better equipped to deal with Andrea’s chaos. “I’m the one she’s mad at anyway,” Riana had told him, “so she may simmer down once I leave. I already spoke to Judith at the office. She explained to me how this works and said to just go in and fill out an application.” John had informed her a few days later that he’d filled out an application, but Audra denied ever receiving it when Riana questioned her about it in the office. “Besides,” Audra added, “I can’t let you do this.” “What do you mean you can’t let me do this? With him taking over the rest of my lease, you still get your damn money—and even more.” “Sorry, Riana. I can’t ball and chain you to your door, but you’ve still got two months left on your lease, and I can’t just let you go and turn it over to someone else. I can’t make you stay, but I can’t let you go either.” “But you can!” Riana insisted. “This is perfectly legal. Judith explained it all to me. John can sublease my place and make this damn management company more money. He’d be paying thirty dollars more each month than I pay. So why wouldn’t you want to go for it? To make me more miserable?” Audra sighed and said, “Riana, I told you what I can and cannot do.” “But I don’t understand. I thought you’d be thrilled to see me go, but now it’s like you want to trap me here. You really are a bitch, you know that?” Audra laughed. “I told you how it is, Riana, and if you leave, I’ll have to turn your name over to collections.” “Oh, just go to hell and stay there!” She’d stormed out of the office that day, never expecting to see Audra again. But they would meet again soon.