Released, Renewed, Restored.

Let's go! " Shouted Brian, " You are already fabulous, so whats the hold up"? "Oh Hush." Nashi said, as she walked out of the room, smoothing her hands down her mom's favorite summer dress. Oh how she missed her, today makes five years since she lost her fight to cancer. Brian noticed the distant stare in Nashi`s eyes, and made a valiant effort to try and distract her or at least make her smile. "Girl!! My feet are already killing me, and these panties I have on,are sliding into places there not suppose to." "Hahaha chuckled Nashi, why are you wearing heels in the first place? And tmi on where exactly your underwear has slid into. Why can't you just keep it simple? You always have to do all this extra stuff. "Unlike you, said Brian, my beauty didn't come naturally, I had to work to obtain it, and I have to work even harder in maintaining it, and besides I look good doing it! "Brian bends down and twerk his butt a little, then jumps up, and does a full pivot , showing Nashi his ensemble at a 360 degree angle. "I can't even hate, you do what you do well, and one day I will play dress up with you, bubbles Nashi, but for now, am okay with a summer dress and a pair of sandals, comfort over fashion, works fine for me. Nashi slid her feet in a pair of tan sandals and took a deep breath in and started towards the door, "ah ah ah" , shouted Brian as he gentle pushed by , " beauty, before brains , or in this case, Brian before beauty. Nashi just simply stepped back, and allowed her flamboyant best friend to go by. As they stepped outside, the intense ambient ray of the sun along with the stifling humidity, reminded them of exactly what time of the year it was. Ahhhhh!!!! Brian said, as he slapped his shades on his face, and threw a hand up to his forehead pretending to faint, " oh don't be so dramatic" said Nashi, "darling, I wouldn't be me if I didn't " said Brian as he pretend to clutch at pearls around his neck , and flutter his false lashes. You know what , your absolutely right, I forget who am talking to sometimes, Nashi chuckles as she gripped his hand and said, it's not that far, we both can use the fresh air, and a little bite of walking will do you good. Ahhhh ! Are you calling me fat? Brian asked as he sucked in his stomach, and slid both hands to his waist, "baby this is the body of a goddess, plump and succulent, delectable and delicious, tantalizing and tasty, am what men secretly desire, and women envy to be, am the cat's meows and the"..... " oh save the speech for someone that doesn't know you, okay, yah yah yah your fabulous, now let's go, we can walk and talk". s**t, I'll go, but dammit am going to complain the entire walk there, trying to have me walking on these streets just causing a disturbance, with all this body oddy oddy, Brian said as he rubbed his hands over himself. Anyway let me take of these heels first before I have to walk barefoot halfway there, baby these heels are for fashion, not function, shouted Brian as he slipped out of his heels and grabbed a pair of slids from the backseat of his car." Miss extravaganza, those are what you should have had on in the first place"said Nashi, "okay Basic Betty" ,Brian said as he rolled his eyes, and stuck up his middle finger at Nashi, it was Nashi this time that pretended to clutch at her pearls with her jaw opened in disbelief, then bursting out with laughter as she shouted " how rude"! Brian just stuck his tongue out and wrinkled his nose, and shot her another birdie. "Just hurry up"! shouted Nashi, "you always make us late to everything". "Listen drill sargent Forbes, do I need to remind you of where my underwear went, girl am trying to get myself together, and things ain't acting right", Brain said as he was walking towards Nashi, and pulling his panties out of his butt, then dipping and shaking one leg. Hahaha Nashi bursting into laughter watching as her best friend did a entire dance routine. " ummmm maybe if you wore the correct underwear for the equipment that you have, things wouldn't be so out of place". "Oh shut up, and let's go"! Brain looped his arms around Nashi's and they both burst into laughter and started down the street to their destination. ****** Brian & Nashi , how it started **** Brian and Nashi have been friends for over 20years, they meet in kindergarten, and instantly became best friends, Nashi was Brain's rock, grounded & strong , and he was her shield, willing to protect her from anyone, or anything. Nashi supported Brian, when he told his Christian parents that he was gay at 13, his father beat him black and blue that day and many times after. He would say to Brain, "you gone walk ,talk ,and act like a man,or you gone get beat down like a b***h, until you stop thinking that your one" ! As for Brian's mother, you would think that she would interject, or a least try to say something, at least to stop the beatings, nope! she stood in the backdrop the entire time, shouting at, those imaginary "s****l perverted demons" as she would say, that were trying to take over her son, all while screaming out the name of the Lord, clutching her Bible, and throwing olive oil all over Brian, which in actuality only increased the intensity of the pain from his father's belt, as he whipped Brian continuously, sometimes until he tore his skin, and when he felt like the belt, the shoes, the broom wasn't enough, he would use his fist until he was unable to raise his arms and Brian was unable to move. The beatings continued, every day, sometimes multiple times a day, if Brain walked as if he had, "to much sugar in his tank" as his dad would say, or spoke in to high pitched of a voice , his father would literally hit him so hard he would hit the floor. One time Brian's dad, caught him wearing his mom heels, that was the worst beating yet, he hit him with anything that his hands came in contact with, it was like he was possessed, his eyes where black with rage, and he shouted profanity like a drunken sailor, yes his father, the revered "Pastor" Brown, the man that spoke on love, and acceptance, and how Jesus wants us to come as we where, yes the same man that spoke on being our brothers keeper, and loving people into the church, stood over Brian all 6ft, 250lbs of him, and beat, and brutalized me, until i blacked out, and lost consciousness. I was awoken hours later laying in bed black and blue , with eyes swollen shut, and my jaws stiff with pain, I looked at my tearful mother as she sat on the said of my bed dabbing an icy cold washcloth over my face, and mumbling to herself, i assumed she was saying a prayer. WHY!? Was all I said, because my swollen face and my heart , where to hurt & broken to say anything else. WHY !? I asked her over ,and over as the tears streamed from my swollen lids, my mother just kept on repeating the same mantra, " am sorry, please try, am sorry please try" . PLEASE TRY WHAT!!! I thought over in my head, I vowed from that day forward this is not home, this is not love, either i leave, or am not going to be alive. So i ran, I ran away, well I ran to Nashi's house, and stayed there with her and her mom, one look at my bruised body, as Ma Forbes opened the door, made tears stream down her face as she opened her arms, and engulfed me in her embrace, I fell into them willing, because i had no more fight left, how could my parents the people that made me, hate me, how could my mom , who carried me ,not try to protect me, how can this supposed " man of God" , that speaks on love so often , hate with such intensity, towards his only child, HOW !? I could hear ma Forbes kept saying, " Baby I don't know, but am here", I didn't even realize that i was asking these questions out loud, until i heard her answer. Nashi hugged me also, and through her tears said ," Ma we need to call the police, look at him, this is wrong ma, their going to kill him, ma" ... , her word where silenced by her mom holding her against her breast and kissing the top of her head. The three of us sat on the floor for the longest, as ma Forbes allowed us to calm down as she comforted us. I begged her not to call the police, i didnt want to ruin my dad's reputation, and i really didn't want him or my mother in jail, with a tearful smile Nashi's mom agreed not to call, but she took pictures of all my bruises , and made a short video of me telling what happened, just in case my parents wanted to demand that i come back home. No one looked for me, i guess they assumed i would run to ma Forbes house, but the worst of it all, my parents didn't even look for me, or reported me missing, they finally discovered where I was, but cared less about me or my well-being, they just acted like I was a virus that needed to be eradicated, and it was one less problem for them. But I found love, and acceptance with Nashi and her mom, they, never judged me, or called me names, or made fun of the way I acted, they simply loved me where I was , and for who I was. Nashi's mom nicknamed me, her " carebear" , a name that I absolutely adored being called, but only by "ma Forbes",which I called Nashi's mother. Man I loved that lady to the core, she was kind, selfless, intuitive, non-judgmental, and an absolutely beautiful person, inside and out, even as she laid in her hospital bed dying of cancer, she reminded them to love each other, look out for each other, take care of each other, and to always remember to leave people better than you meet them, and "if you can't help, don't hurt" ,which was something she would, say to us everyday before we left the house, and even now we continue to say to eachother ever time we part ways.