This story is about Nautica and her friend Frenchie and their adventures that they have encountered while living in Virginia.  This tale is one that will leave you spell bounded  and wondering the whodunit in this story.  The series of events will leave you guessing and surprised at the chaos caused while living away from home.

Today is my best friend’s wedding day. The groom and the best man are late. I would hate to think that he left her standing at the altar and six weeks pregnant. The church is crowded and everyone is here waiting for the ceremony to begin. My best friend is Nautical and I am Frenchie.

Let me start from the beginning so that you can understand how we got to this point in our lives. Nautical and I grew up in Raleigh, North Carolina but we now live in Portsmouth, Virginia. After graduating from college we both got management jobs at the local shipyard. We were both excited because we were on our own and away from north Raleigh. We could party like we wanted without being hassled by parents and any other nosey people that lived in our neighborhood. The biggest obstacle was being able to get jobs at the same shipyard and in the same town. Damn, we were lucky and we knew that Lady Luck was going to be with us at all times. Any time you saw us we were smiling and wanted our luck to pour on everyone we met. We had no problems finding an apartment for ourselves in a very nice neighborhood. The rent was affordable and we were fortunate to have our own vehicles. Life was great and we knew that it was going to get better. Nautical and I have been together since fifth grade and when you saw one of us you knew that the other was close by or on the way. While in Raleigh, we lived lavish lives and wanted for nothing. Our parents were hard working and they were best friends also. Nautical’s parents met while in college at A&T in Greensboro and my parents met at Winston-Salem State University. After graduating they moved back home and made lives for themselves. Nautical and I were adventurous and we decided early in life that Raleigh was not where we wanted to be, so we planned our lives around moving to Virginia and maybe marrying someone who was in the military so that we could travel and see the world. We always kept to that and there was nothing that happened that made us change our minds. We always felt that the guys in Raleigh were dull and after one thing and one thing only. Mind you we were not virgins, but we were not so shallow that we were not going to fulfill our dreams. The day that we told our parents that we had gotten hired at the shipyard seemed to be disappointing to them as well as exciting, but as you know mothers find it harder to let go than fathers. Our fathers were supportive and we left home knowing that if things did not work out we could always go back. We knew that that was not an option with us because we would always be uplifting to each other.

After moving into our two bedroom townhouse in Pepperwood, we were well on our way. Being that we were just starting out and while working during the summer to save some money, we needed our parents’ help in paying the deposit and first month’s rent, which was no problem. We got furniture and had the utilities turned on with the money we saved. We both had car payments, but with the money we were about to bring home, there was no mistaking that we had made the right move. Getting the bacon and keeping it coming was not going to be a problem. Nautical, the short one with big hips, small waist and a short haircut was always talkative. She had the skin tone that was a deep brown and was curvy where she needed to be and without any flaws. She was not hard on any man’s eyes nor was she willing to take any shit off of a man. I have short curly brown hair and I was one that was joked by the girls in my neighborhood. They would say I was light, bright and damn near white. My father was albino, but he was sexy as hell and my mom was light skinned. I had no problems with the guys and I always knew that I could be any woman’s nightmare. Pride was not a stranger to me and my head was lifted always. We moved into our townhome over the weekend and we were excited about starting work on Monday.

The first day at the shipyard was busy, busy, busy, but also fun. We took our tour of the yard and were introduced to other managers in different departments. After finishing up our paperwork and doing first day things the day was already over. We had fun, but we were mainly flattered by the men doing catcalls and we ignored them while snickering amongst ourselves. We were overdressed for the yard, but we knew that shopping for clothes that were sexy, but also functional for the managerial positions that we had acquired would be fun and it is what women liked to do---shop! We knew that orientation would take place for a month, but after that we would have our nose to the grind. Nautical met Tim during orientation who was also a manager of his particular shop and we were assigned to work with him. They knew their jobs and made sure as sistahs we would learn what they knew, but we also knew that they would keep things from us because of job security and to let us know that the yard was a man’s place. Nautical and I knew that was the unspoken agreement and we would pretend, when necessary to be weak and feeble, so that they still felt their manhood.

They showed us the town and from there began the romances and troubles that eventually led to Tim being fired from his job and fired from life.

It all started with Tim not telling Nautical that he was married. We found this out while going to the bar on High Street and meeting other people while there. Some local guys, Chester and Wayne, asked if we were dating. We may it known that we were proud to say whom we were dating since moving to Virginia. Chester continued to ask questions about our employment and about the guys we were dating. He probed Nautical with questions particularly about Tim. He stated that he knew a Tim from the shipyard and wondered if it was the same Tim Biggs that he knew from school. He informed us that Tim was married to a local girl named Ann. Nautical couldn’t believe what she had just heard, but I wanted to know the truth. 

I got Chester to call Tim to see if it was the same one and he obliged us with the call. He got Tim on the phone and asked if he could meet for drinks at the bar and Tim stated that he would. The plan was to leave the bar and wait in my car to see if this was the Tim that was dating my best friend. I got Chester’s digits and stated that we would talk later. We had only been in Virginia six months and look at the trouble that was brewing.
 
We sat in the car and thirty minutes later Tim pulled up in his Escalade. Nautical wanted to get out of the car to confront him, but I talked her out of it until we had some specifics. It was hard but we left the club and headed home. She cried and laughed all the way home. This was frightening because I could see that she was mad as hell. Laughing and crying at the same time-this is really schizoid!

****** 

Beatheia Weeks is the author of “Living A Lie” as well as other novels and poems.  New to writing, she welcomes all ideas and insights from her readers. She lives in the rural section of northeast North Carolina. You can learn more at bunnys-place.com