Dahlia

Virginia...I Mean New York is for Lovers

The couple enjoyed their dinner and a late movie. On their way home from the movie Dahlia was staring out the window and the city lights when her phone rang. “Hello” she said curiously. “You’re WHAT!” “No, where are you?” “Stay right there I’m on my way.” She turned to Cortez. “We have to go get Kalmia!” “You’re cousin Kalmia?” He said. “All the way down in Virginia?” He sounded confused. Dahlia sighed. “No baby, she’s in New York, she got into it with her mother or something and she sounded really upset. “She’s at Port Authority.” “Baby, can you please go get her?!?!” “I got you baby.” Cortez quickly maneuvered and got to Port Authority in five minutes flat. Dahlia hopped out the car and began searching for her cousin. Dahlia was very close. Since they were babies Dahlia and Kalmia were thick as thieves. The hardest thing Dahlia ever did was leave Kal behind when she went to New York. They had discussed Kalmia moving to New York with Dahlia but not until Dahlia graduated school, got a job and got settled.  Kalmia stood by the escalator scanning the crowded bus terminal for her cousin. She spotted her and ran towards her. “Dee I missed you so much!” The pair hugged tight for a couple of minutes. “You sounded so bad on the phone Kalmia, I was so worried about you.” Kal clutched Dahlia’s arm as they headed to their car. “Your mother told me that you moved in with Cortez, I can’t believe this is my first time meeting him.” Dahlia smiled and said “Yeah, Cortez is my heart but the Dennis curse is creeping in.” “I have to fill you in on the unfolding drama in our relationship.” Kal rolled her eyes and shook her head.  “Dammit, you can’t escape, even all the way up here.” Cortez saw the two of them coming and popped the trunk for Kalmia to put her bag in. When she got in the car he looked through the rear view mirror and said “Hey Kalmia, I’m Cortez.” “How are you doin?” “Much better now.” She said smiling. “Nice to meet finally.” The three of them talked excitedly all the way home. They got back to Queens aat about 1:30 in the morning. Cortez had to work at 10:00 in the morning, so he went in the back to go to bed. Meanwhile, Dahlia was setting up the sofa bed for Kalmia. “Do you need to take a shower?” Dahlia asked. “Yeah, I feel really terrible.” “I’ll tell you all about it when I get out of the shower.” 

Dahlia went back to prepare for bed. She put on her pineapple shorts and tank pajama set and wrapped her hair in her scarf. When she walked back into the living room Kalmia was just lying down in the bed. “Are you serious right now?” Kal asked, chuckling. “What?” Dahlia asked. As soon as she did she realized what Kal was talking about. “Wow.” Dahlia said laughing. They somehow managed to have the exact same pajama set on.“Are you hungry?” Dahlia asked, settling in next to Kal. “No.” Kal said quietly. Dahlia lied beside her and asked “So, why are you here and what happened?” “Leave NOTHING out.” “Well, basically my mother is forcing me to be her slave.” “What do you mean?” Dahlia asked. “Like what is her problem?” “Well” Kal started, “She wants me to do all these chores and have her house clean, do her laundry, cook dinner for me her the monster and Lilly.” “Also, she is now charging me rent to stay at the house.” “But I can’t keep enough hours to make any money because if I am not home to have everything done, she has a fit.” “Oh, and Lilly is a whole other story!” “She really thinks that she’s grown now and she thinks she can tell me what to do.” “Why is Lilly starting to act up?” Kalmia looked over and said “Because Mom told her.” Dahlia’s eyes widened with shock. “Are you serious?” “Why on earth would she tell her?” “I don’t know” Kalmia said sadly. “But ever since she told her, Lilly has been actin’ like she’s better than I am.”

Kalmia was a beautiful, loving and sweet girl, but she was the poster child for sweet girls finish last. She was a special child. She was special because her mother was two seconds away from aborting her. Kalmia’s mother Rose never wanted her to begin with. Dahlia and Kal were the same age because Rose and Linda were at the same party that night. Both of them were drunk off their asses and up to no good. Rose being two years older than Linda was a bit more responsible than her younger sister but a lot more malicious. She hated Kal’s father with a passion. Kal was the result of a drunken night, similar to Dahlia’s conception. The difference is that Rose knew exactly who Kal’s father was. He was the boyfriend of a girl that she hated. Her goal was to humiliate his girlfriend, so she decided to seduce him and get him to sleep with her. She succeeded and then ended up with Kalmia. She wanted nothing to do with him or Kalmia. When he saw her out and about and asked her if he could take Kalmia she told him no. Rose didn’t want Kal but she also didn’t want her to be raised by another woman. She had heard this story a thousand times and it disgusted her. She didn’t understand why her mother wouldn’t just let her go with her father. Not only did she deny her the chance to live with her father she cut him off all together. Kal was never able to have a relationship with him. Her mother went to ridiculous lengths to keep them apart and unfortunately when Kal was 10 years old her father passed away in a car accident. When Kal was four years old her mother got married to Donny, her stepfather, and they had her younger sister Lilly. Donny had always treated Kal noticeably different than his own daughter and Rose blatantly ignored it.  “I just got tired of it Dee.” Kal said through her tears. “When I said something about the way I was being treated Donny said that as long as I lived under his roof things would be that way.” ”Then he said if I didn’t like it I could get the f**k out.” “So I just left.” “And Rose didn’t say a thing.” 

Dahlia looked stunned. “Wow baby, that’s real heavy” she said as she was fishing around her purse for a stick of gum. “I don’t even know why I came here” Kal said wearily. “I have a few dollars saved in my bank account so I can probably survive for 3 or 4 months while I find a job.” “New York was not the best place for me to come with no money and no job, but you are the only family that I have.” Kal said. Dahlia smiled at Kal and said “Listen, as long as I’m here you don’t need to worry about anything except for getting on your feet.” “Tomorrow, I’ll talk to Cortez about you staying here until you get yourself together.” “I’m sure he’ll have no problem with it.” After Kal’s story the mood lightened and the girls lied beside each other swapping stories. Dahlia told Kal about the Anita situation and Kal told Dahlia about some things that were going on back at home in Virginia. After what seemed like five minutes it was 4:30 in the morning. “Whoa, I need to get to bed” she said as she slowly rolled off of the sofa bed. She kissed her cousin on the cheek and went back into her bedroom. Within five minutes, the cousins were sleeping like babies.