"Are we gonna get married?" Tash asked Pep.
Pep slowly moved her eyes from the television to stare at Tash. She was released from the hospital for the past two weeks and had been lying in the same position since she got home.
"When you gonna get yo ass up." Tash asked again.
"You talk too fucking much." Pep rolled her eyes.
"Bet mi trim yuh locs." Tash narrowed her eyes and hissed her teeth.
Jumping off the bed she took up the remote to turn the tv off and placed it out of Pep's reach. Tash walked out of the room leaving a cursing Pep behind, she was tired of the bullshit. To Tash, Pep was behaving like a bruised rib was the end of the world. Her rib cage didn't break but she sure was acting like it.
Stepping into the kitchen, Tash moved directly to turn the stove off and then started on sharing a plate for Pep. She was tempted to over salt it or maybe add a little more pepper than usual, she knew Pep hated pepper but at the current moment she was more bitter and spiteful than thoughtful. Instead of acting on her malicious thoughts, she sighed and took the stewed fish with mashed potatoes upstairs to Pep.
Resting the tray down onto Pep's lap, she moved to sit on her side of the bed with another deep sigh. She waited, wanted to see if Pep was going to address her somber mood. Pep sat staring at the side of Tash's face waiting to hear what was wrong with her, she knew she would say whatever was bothering her regardless.
When nothing came, Pep finally asked, "what's wrong with you?"
"I don't want to cook meat anymore," Tash quickly spilled as if she was waiting her whole life for this question. "I think it's full time you either stop eating meat overall or cook it for yourself because it grosses me out every time I have to handle meat and it hurts and breaks me down on the inside, you know? I love the little creatures and here I am cutting into their bodies and watching the blood seep through the flesh and bones. It feels like I'm cutting into a human, it feels disgustingly grotesque." Tash concluded her rant by wiping a stray tear from her face.
"I'm sorry, I didn't know it affected you that badly." Pep felt remorseful.
"Well, you never asked. Never seemed to care." Tash drew her nose up.
"You can't hold animal and human life on the same pedestal." Pep reasoned.
"You don't seem to hold either at any real importance, do you? So don't be a hypocrite." Tash hissed her teeth.
"I knew you wouldn't understand, I can't do this anymore. I'm silently going mad, can't you see?" Tash stood up and stared at Pep.
Pep took the time to stare back at Tash. She was slimmer than usual, her eye sockets looked a bit shallow and her jaws weren't as plump as before. Pep wondered to herself how she missed the physical changes, she wondered how all of this happened in front of her and the only thing she ever saw was that her phone screen was cracked.
"It seems I haven't been paying attention to you," Pep sighed.
"You never see shit! You're so selfish and self centered and if this is what it feels like to have you in love with me then I don't want it." Tash started pacing. "You don't see me, my needs are invisible to you. We have it all Pep, but that's not what I want anymore. I'll admit that in the beginning having all of this money was cool but now it's just lame."
"What are you saying?" Pep slid the food tray from her lap, her fish still untouched.
"I'm saying take care of me like I'm taking care of you. Ever since you we found out that you have anemia you've been behaving like you were diagnosed with cancer. You don't even want to go to work anymore, we don't do nothing but sit our asses here and me being a maid in this big ass house. You don't even clean up on your days anymore." Tash broke down.
She never worked well under pressure, she always found it much easier to leave rather than make a hard decision under pressure. Pep sat and stared at her, no words came to her mouth, not as if she had anything to say regardless.
"I'm going to Melody's house." Tash quickly drew the already packed duffle bag from their closet and rushed out of the house before Pep could stop her.
"Wait, hold the fuck up." Tash heard Pep screaming from the bedroom but she was already at the bottom of the steps reaching for they car keys on the entrance table.
By the time Pep got downstairs and through the already opened front door, Tash was putting the car into drive and taking off down the road. Pep screamed out at the top of her lungs and kicked the potted plant. She watched it roll down the driveway as her chest rose and fell with her anger, she was livid.
Pep slammed the door behind her, shaking the floor to ceiling mirror Tash had installed, as she stepped back into the house and rushed back towards their master bedroom forgetting about the faint pain in her side. She grabbed her phone and pulled up the tracking app to search for the BMW that Tash drove off in. The small green dot blinked slowly as it moved across the map, what triggered Pep even more was finding out that Tash was headed somewhere else and not to Melody's house as she said before storming out. Pep threw the phone down and started stripping to take a quick shower.
