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Never The Same Again
Part 12
By: Ashley

Lenny stood in the kitchen, buttering a slice of toast.  He could hear Laverne’s heels clacking down the steps and soon found her entering the kitchen.  She was attempting to put on a sweater. 

            “You want toast?” Lenny said, sticking out a hand containing a buttery piece.

            “Nah,” she said, opening the refrigerator.  She took out a bottle of orange juice and poured its contents into a glass.  “I’m just gonna have some of this here juice.  My pop’s pickin’ me up any minute to go to the hospital.”

            “Oh,” Lenny responded.  He chomped down on the slice.  What seemed to be an eternity passed between them.  An awkward eternity, but eternity nonetheless.  Finally, Lenny spoke up.  “Vernie, listen, about…”

            Before he could utter the rest of the sentence.  She was on her way toward the door.  “Len, I ain’t got time to talk about that right now.  I gotta go pick up Shirley and the baby and figure out how I’m supposed to fit another person in this apartment.”

            Lenny cocked his head to one side.  “Don’tcha mean two more people?”

            Laverne drew a breath.  “Oh, well, I figured, you know, with Shirl movin’ in and all, you’d be, you know…”

            Lenny nodded.  “Movin’ out.  Right.”

            “I mean, as long as Shirl’s here, I’ll be fine, you know?” 

            He forced a smile.  “Yeah.”

            “But … you’re welcome to stay here as long as you need to, Len, okay?”

            He nodded, the same artificial grin still plastered across his face. 

            “I’ll see ya later,” she said, and suddenly she was gone with the slam of a door.

            Jesus Christ.  She had done it to him again.

            Shirley sat in the passenger’s seat of her 1962 powder blue Bel Air.  Laverne was driving, and Lily was fast asleep in the back seat.           

            “So,” Laverne sighed.

            “So,” Shirley repeated.

            “You really gettin’ a divorce?” Laverne asked.

            It took Shirley a moment to respond.  “Yeah,” she nodded.  “Yes, I am.” 

            Laverne shook her head.  “I just don’t understand, Shirl.  I mean, nine months ago, you up and marry some guy I only met once, then you find out you’re havin’ a baby, then all of a sudden you disappear overseas somewhere, and now you’ve had the baby, and now you’re divorcing the guy?”

            Shirley rested her right elbow on the window sill and put her head in her hand.  “Laverne, I really don’t want to talk about this right now.”

            “Yeah?  Well, I do.”  Her tone was tough.

            “Well, it’s none of your business.”

            “How is it none of my business?”
            “How is it any of your business?!”        

            “I’m your best friend!”

            There was a long silence before Laverne continued.  “I don’t get it, Shirl.  I mean, we used to tell each other everything.  My business was yours and your business was mine.  It ain’t the same … is it?”

            Shirley shook her head.  “No, no it isn’t.”

            Laverne pulled her sunglasses down over her eyes as she drove toward the sun.  “You think it’ll ever be the same?”

            “I don’t know, Laverne.  I just … don’t know.”