Honest Betrayal

Phoebe and Raya lived in a small hilly town at the outskirts of the city. Phoebe was a banker and she worked at the bank in the city, on the other hand, Raya was a Nurse who worked at the Caregiving home few blocks away from their apartment.

They had been best friends for 8 years and knew each other very well. They moved in together after they finished college into this apartment which they had been staying for three years.

It was a very sunny Saturday and Phoebe sat outside her window watching little children as they played on the beach and reminiscing moments of her and her lover, Derek. They had been lovers for five years and had gotten too used to each other to break up but she thought about every moment they had spent together for the last five years and wondered if she was doing the right thing.

They both knew that they had drifted away from each other and needed to patch things up, but then she thought about all the hurtful words he had said to her and made up her mind not to patch things up.

Phoebe’s thoughts were interrupted by a hard knock on the door.

She opened the door and Raya walked in with excitement,

‘How’s my bestie doing?’ Raya asked

‘All good, Raya, All good’

‘Don’t tell me u spent all day thinking of Derek and his emotions’ Raya asked with an angry look on her face

‘Nah….. I’m good’ Phoebe answered unsure of what to say or do next. Raya dropped the groceries, she got from the store and went into the shower.

‘Let me just take a shower real quick’ she said to her friend who just sat there thinking about Derek and all the good times they had with each other and an erotic thought crossed her mind. His kisses, his warm breath on her neck, his built up body, his voice whispering sweet words to her ears, his sense of humour, his hands caressing her body and the sensual feeling made her rethink her decision over and over again, she loved Derek from the depth of her heart and did not want to let him go.

‘Gring! Gring!!’ the landline rang loudly

‘Gring! Gring!!’ It rang again, this time bringing Phoebe back to her reality, she sluggishly picked up the phone and a familiar voice called her name from the phone,

‘Please, who is this?’

‘My bag of smiles, how are you?’ a male voice asked her from the phone

‘Sly? Sly? Is that you? How long has it been Sylvester?’ She asked so excitedly

‘I’m sorry, Mama, I’ve been off for so long, lets hang out this evening at your spot’

‘Yea, definitely, what time?’

‘7pm, Mama’ Sly said as he hung up

Sylvester was Phoebe’s child hood friend and they hadn’t seen each other in 5 years, hearing his voice again lightened her mood, apart from Raya, he was the only person she could talk to and share all her feelings with. They had somehow had feelings for each other but none of them was bold enough to tell the other, so Sly decided that they stayed as besties till he finally left town and now he was back.

‘Finally, someone to talk to, this guy is God sent!!’ she thought loudly.

‘Who is God sent?’ Raya asked as she stepped out of the shower

‘Nobody,’ She said giggling

Phoebe was a cheerful soul and had a perfect sense of humour, ‘Bag of smiles’ as Sly fondly called her but these days everyone noticed her gloomy nature and a few people asked her what the matter was but now she left Raya speechless as she giggled the rest of the day,

‘Thank God, you are gradually moving on from Derek’ Raya said sarcastically.

It was already 7pm and Phoebe was already at her spot, it was a park that was always quiet at night and she loved to sit there and enjoy the evening breeze, she sat there, trying not to think about Derek and how manipulative he was she felt a gentle pat on her shoulder and someone whisper to her ears,

‘Hey Mama’

‘Sly!!!!’ She jumped and hugged him passionately,

‘I’ve missed you, my bag of smiles’ Sly said with a smile.

They sat down and talked at length, chatting about old memories and all the crazy things they did together in college,then Phoebe skipped a bit and was lost in thoughts of lust for her bestie, Sly. He had changed a bit, looked like he had been working out more, his shoulders were broad, his lips looked soft and his voice was deeper.

‘Damn, how come I’m just noticing this now,’ she thought to herself

‘Even his voice is enough to turn me on’ she muttered under her breath.

‘What did u say, Mama?’ Sly asked

‘Nah, I didn’t say a word’ she replied smiling

‘Wait, Sly, when did you start calling me Mama?’

‘You don’t like it?’

‘Nah, Sly, i do, its just strange’

‘Well, we should go home, its late’ Sly said as he stood up

‘Yea, we probably should’

As Phoebe got home, she reminisced moments of her and Sly and a few lustful thoughts crossed her mind, she had feelings years back for Sly and she made herself believe she had moved on with her life but here she was thinking about having mad sex with her male best friend whose physique had obviously changed.

An SMS notification popped up in her phone from an unknown sender and it read, ‘Crescent Suites, Room 321, it’s urgent you really need to see something, come immediately’

‘What’s happening?’ She thought to herself

She dialed the number to ask whoever it was what was going on but there was no response so she stepped out of her apartment and took a cab to Crescent suites.

As she walked home, she thought of everyone and everything around her, she felt betrayed, lost and lost her sense of love and commitment,

‘It’s definitely not worth it’ she said to herself

‘I need to clear my head and forget about everything else I’d go crazy’

She made a U-turn to Sly’s house which was down the street.

‘Hy Sly’ Phoebe forced a smiled

‘Pretty lady, How are you?’ Sly asked with a wide smile

‘I’m going crazy, Sly’ she said as she sat on the couch

‘Hey Mama, What’s up? Talk to me’

‘I’m losing my mind’ she said as she burst into tears

‘Hey, hey it’s okay to cry but i need to know what’s up’

She told him about Derek and her encounter with guys over the years, she narrated what she saw at Crescent suites and then she talked about every other guy she dated and all the hurtful things they did to her.

‘That’s crazy, Phoebe’

‘Why did you leave me? Why did you stop talking to me? Maybe I would not have met this shitty people’ Phoebe said amidst tears

‘Please, Sly can i spend the night at your place?’

‘Of course Mama, you can’

They talked for hours and they talked about each other’s lives and laughed about all the jokes they had made.

‘It’s late already, Mama, lets go to sleep’

Phoebe thought to herself ‘How do i stay in an Enclosed space with Sly and control myself?’

‘You can take the bed, I’ll take the couch’ Sly said.

It was already past midnight and Phoebe was wide awake thinking about her life and how miserable it had become then she felt a warm breath over her shoulder,

‘You are still awake?’ Sly whispered to her ears

‘Yea i am’

‘You know you really need to sleep’ he advised her

‘Nah… I……’

He leaned in and kissed her.

‘Sly?! Where did that come from?’

‘I don’t know, mama, i just felt it will help you sleep’

At this point Phoebe realized it was the right time to shoot her shot and have sex with her best friend, ‘maybe it will take my mind off Derek’ she thought to herself.

Her phone rang loudly, she picked it up and the caller was Raya, she thought about wether or not she should pick the call and she decided not to pick it up.

‘Hey mama….. pick it up’

‘Sly, I’m not in the mood please’

‘Ok, but she may be worried you know’

‘Papi, I am not going to pick it up, She should fuck off for all i care’ Phoebe replied with rage

‘Hey hey mama, What’s going on? Is there something you’re not telling me?’ Sly sat beside her and held her hands

Phoebe burst into tears and gave Sly a tight hug, ‘You’ll be fine, mama, you will’

RAYA’S POV

Phoebe was Raya’s friend in the whole wide world and she was happy that Phoebe was happy that evening. She did not have a strong relationship because she just got out of a toxic one with a gay guy so it was useless according to her to go into a relationship again. Unlike Phoebe, she had been the strong friend in the friendship and was not so emotional about things although it seemed like she didn’t have issues, she was a strong lady. Phoebe always stood by her whenever she had issues like when her mum died, her friend always supported her and consoled her, now she felt she needed to support her too as she was going through a rough path.

She picked her phone to call someone and she saw a message notification from an unknown sender which read,

‘Crescent Suites, Room 321, it’s urgent, Come Immediately’

‘What the hell?, who is this please?’

She called back but there was no response, as scared as she was of the possible outcome of her outing, she stepped out and got a cab to Crescent Suites.

Raya walked home amidst tears, she regretted why she went to suites in the first place,

‘Maybe I wouldn’t have seen that shit in the first place’ she thought loudly.

She got home it was all dark and quiet,

‘Phoebe! Phoebe!!, where the hell is she? Its past 10 o’clock

She called but Phoebe was not picking up.

She laid on her bed, thinking about what happened at the suites and how it will affect her friendship with her friends, she just tried to figure out a way to tell her friend what happened at the suites, she hoped that Phoebe had not gotten a hint of whatever was going on. It was already past midnight and Phoebe had not returned home,

‘Where the hell is she?’

She dialed her contact but she didn’t pick up,

‘Where could she have gone to?’

Raya paced up and down in their room thinking of what to do and where to go in search of Phoebe, she thought about different possibilities that Phoebe might be in danger and snapped out of it.