Better, Brighter, Whiter Part 5 (Patreon)

“You’re absofuckinglutely kidding me.” Loida said, her pale, tawny face caught in a crossfire between irritated outrage and sheer terror.
“Hell no. I’m not fucking going.” She said, backing away towards her house with her hands up in a defensive posture.
“Oh come on Miss Rodriguez, you know you wanna have a little fun! We’re gonna have a GREAT time!” Malcolm called to her. He was wearing a dorky red Hawaiian shirt with a dorky fishing hat on his head. He had sunscreen all over his nose and a smile that showed off his dorky teeth whenever he did it, which was often. He had a pair of Japanese wood-block sandals that clinked when he walked, and skin so pale that he gleamed like he was made of moonlight.

“That poor boy is going to BURN.” Tonisha said, shaking her head with a look of mild concern mixed with sarcastic judgement.
Malcolm had arrived in the cul de sac at 7AM and began calling every woman to come outside with a megaphone. Emefa and Katie were already out and had nearly missed them on their morning run After meeting up by chance two weeks ago, the two had become fast friends, meeting up three times a week to run and do yoga. Katie’s “Fitness First” mentality coupled with her energetic, peppy attitude were infectious, having in addition to her new running buddy Emefa, convinced Keilani to join them twice, Tonisha once, and even Loida a total of 5 times. Emefa hadn’t expected that she would have become so active, but ever since she and Katie had begun hanging out, the both of them had become much more fit and flexible.

(1)

It was surprising to both of them when they extended to the offer to her out of courtesy. They hadn’t expected her to be interested at all, but she simply shrugged and said “Sure. Text me when.” And then went back inside. But sure enough, at 7AM on the dot, the skinny alt girl was already stretching her quads. She had her headphones in the whole time and didn’t say a word almost the entire time, but Loida turned out to be a remarkably good runner despite or possibly because she was so thin. That and both women were convinced she had a low level eating disorder and became toned as a result of unneeded cardio.
“What’s the matter, afraid of getting dirty?” Malcolm teased, playful affection coming through clearly to everyone, including Loida herself.
“Nooo…I could give a shit about getting dirty or whatever, I don’t want to be in a place where there are a lot of people, AND be in an outfit that shows off my body at the same time. Nope. No sir.” She said.
“Well what if I bribed you with snacks?” He asked, apparently oblivious to the fact he was unapologetically refusing to take “no” for an answer and having fun with the debate.
“Oop. That ain’t gonna work. You’re never gonna see that poor girl again talkin like that.” Emefa side-mouthed to Katie so only she could hear.
Loida’s hands flew to her hips first, then she whipped out one accusatory finger and began berating Malcolm in the form of a 200 mile an hour lecture in Spanish, her head tucked towards him and her waist bent with what seemed like the intention of stabbing him in the face with her short black-painted nails.
Malcolm stared, his big teeth still showing, but this time in an open mouth frown. “I uhh….Well you talk really fast first of all, so I didn’t…..uh…catch all of that. But I’m on like day 600 of Duolingo so I did…um…catch SOME of it aaaaaaaaand I already knew the bad words..so. Yeahh…I’m sorry if I offended you or something. You know, if you don’t wanna go, that’s fine. I just thought you needed some encouragement to come out of your shell, you know?”

(2)

Loida’s heart sunk upon seeing Malcolm’s face, instantly regretting going off on him like that.
“No…Uhm…It’s fine. You didn’t do anything wrong. You didn’t know. I just like have a thing with people not listening when I say, you know? It’s a trust thing. I’m apparently supposed to be Soft, Sexy, and Spoiled but how can I be that if I can’t trust the people around me, you know?
Her stomach lurched at the thought of a previous beach trip that had ended with a sea cucumber jizzing on her while she screamed bloody murder.
“Well, I didn’t mean to upset you or anything.” Malcolm defended sadly.
“Well I’m sorry too. It’s just that…I don’t really like the beach? I don’t understand people like Keilani who practically live there even in college. It’s grimey, it’s salty, the WATER is sticky, and there are so, so, so many weird slimey plants and animals and gross things and it super uggs me out and I hate it and I’m sorry. I just never understood why people like the beach so much. If you all wanna hang out, we can just chill at my place and drink or whatever instead..” Loida offered anxiously, shooting finger guns to anyone who would look.
“Well, I want to go to the beach still, but Loida, you don’t have to go if you don’t want to.” Emefa said, stepping in with Katie at her side.
Malcolm immediately tried to back up and give Emefa some space to speak, but ended up bumping into Katie and knocking her on her ass.
“Oh my god I am so sorry! Here, can I help you up?” He offered, frantically reaching for her with his hand.
Katie sighed and stood up on her own. “No Malcolm. Thank you Malcom.”
“Dude it happens. You may just be havin a rough day. Let it go and we can all enjoy our trip. Sophia, you have a wonderful time watching Korean horror thrillers on netflix and playing Animal Crossing.” Emefa said, easing both of their fears and concerns.
“Thanks Emmers.” Sophia said sweetly and submissively, pressing her arms to her face while tucking her hands into her fashion sweater sleeves.
“Yeah..Thanks, Emily.” Malcolm said, smiling warmly.
Emefa’s eyes grew wide and blank, but exponentially more intense as time went on. She slowly craned her neck over to look at him, then tilting it to the other side as she walked towards him, a menacing aura permeating the area around her and causing Malcolm to shrink back in genuine fear.
“Ho-lee fucking shit. God DAMN you musta just woke up, looked in the mirror at yourself and said ‘You know what, I think I’m just gonna piss EVERYBODY off today.’ Is that right?”
Malcolm tried to stutter through an apology but Emefa wouldn’t let him finish. She took a deep breath and centered herself, trying to apply the breathing techniques she’d learned in her morning yoga sessions with Katie. They helped calm her down, and Malcolm seemed to feel less like he was going to be eaten alive.
“Malcolm, that’s not my name and you know it. Please do not call me that. I don’t care what my application said.” She stated calmly, but firmly, with a soft, pleading pity directed at the skinny man.
“But let’s not let that ruin our day. Everybody in the car and see if we can’t educate Mr. Dell on how to speak to a woman. Man’s gotta step up his GAME. BAD.”


The beach itself was so close that in all reality the group could have walked if they so chose to, though it would take about forty minutes to do it and absolutely no one was willing to walk for that long while carrying all their stuff. Luckily for them, the closest part of the beach just happened to be owned by the school, and as an administrator, Malcolm did indeed “have the hookup” he claimed he did.
They arrived somewhat early for Emefa’s taste, as the wind was still chilly and the morning clouds were still in the process of vanishing. She could only imagine how cold the water was, and even said as much which prompted Tonisha to remove her shorts and tank top.
“I’ll go check!” She said, gleefully running out and diving into the waves like she’d been doing it all her life.
Emefa and Katie sighed together, then went looking for a place to put their stuff and unload the stuff from the car. “Thaaaaanks Tonishaaaa.” They said in unison, their sarcasm and pitch tones perfectly in sync. The two women put up the parasol while Keilani and Malcolm did their best to haul the picnic table out of his Jeep. Between Malcolm’s unimpressive upper body strength and Keilani’s complete lack of stamina, they were getting to their destination considerably slowly and with a decent amount of stress and strain.
“Good…god….I’m so out of shape…..This…is….torture. I can barely breathe when I pick this…thing up. I end up holding my breath. And that sucks. I need…to lose weight…really bad.” Keilani huffed.
“What? Noo! Keilani, you’re…you don’t need to do that, you’re beautiful.” Malcolm said dorkily and awkwardly. Keilani actually felt herself become annoyed at his complete dismissal of what she just said. It was like he was reading a script off a list of things men were supposed to say when a girl says she feels fat. She rolled her eyes and continued trying to catch her breath. “Tits On A Stick my ass.” She grumbled, feeling her hand sink into her belly just before a sudden cramp made her gag for a moment before it passed. 

(3)

After the two had rested, they hit their stride having made it through the parking lot and through the hardest part of the trip.
Tonisha had only returned after everyone had finished setting uo, eagerly reporting that the water was “nice” as she stood, her sleek, fit curves glistening in the sun. “Anyone coming down with me?” She asked eagerly until she noticed the irritated glares that each girl was giving her. The three of them began chewing her out at once, but Tonisha stuck to the defense that she was only trying to do what she was asked: Check if the water was cold. 

(4)

“You’re a lazy ass bitch, you know that? I thought you were gonna be like the go getter powerhouse kinda person, buuut…You ain’t, so.” Emefa said, her eyebrow quirked in moderate but not severe irritation.
Tonisha smiled, not even remotely rattled as she put on a sincere face and clasped her hands together. “Well…So I feel like that characterization of me is somewhat…flawed? Because if you look in my student file, you will find that it is proven ON RECORD that I am NOT a lazy ass bitch. I am…in fact, A Plushy Princess. And as such, I simply cannot be expected to bother myself with physical labor.”
The girls all stared at her, even more anger welling up until she dropped the act and spoke again.
“Also….If that excuse doesn’t work for you, then I am sorry I ran off and took too long. I really was actually planning on just running over, sticking my foot in, and running back, but there was a surfer guy down there and he was really hot and I wanted to try to get his attention but got sidetracked. So….My bad.” Tonisha said, now with a pleafing expression that made her at least look like she was taking the confrontation more seriously than she was prior. The other three girls looked at each other, then back to Tonisha.

“Soooooo…..Did…you….get his number or something or….?” Katie asked, her eyes pointedly directed away from her friend while she fiddled with her hands. 

“…….No. I am afraid I did not.” Tonisha confessed, her shoulders slumped downward as her soft arms dangled and her head hung.” She perked up again quickly, her smile returning as she daydreamed about having a hot, adventurous boyfriend who could handle her.

“Well then, I guess I got a shot then.” Emefa said, now stripped down to her own bikini and headed out to the water. She wasn’t entirely pleased with her body for the most part, but had compromised with herself to not go insane trying to lose a bunch of weight in college lest she burn out and fail both her fitness goals as well as her classes. She did notice with a small amount of satisfaction that while the group made their way down to the beach Malcolm had been staring at her ass the whole time they’d been there, feeling a bit more pride in her appearance. Being desired was definitely not something she hated.

They all played and splashed for hours after Tonisha had taught them how to body surf. Eventually, they moved to the boardwalk for lunch. Malcolm insisted on paying for whatever they wanted and urged them to splurge, but even so, Emefa found herself largely uninterested in her favorite fried treats or even in the fast food restaurants in the area. In the end, she had him buy her a bag from a local vendor just so that he could feel like she was able to do something for her. He seemed to appreciate it. 

They stayed most of the day and even built a fire when the sun began to set, each if them becoming more and more tipsy as they traded drinking games in between making sandcastles and sculpting mermaid tails over each other’s legs with sand. Every other minute had someone reaching for their phone for a picture, and almost all of them were filled with smiles.
“Alright everyone, welcome home.” Malcolm said, rousing the drowsy girls in the back of the Jeep before sending them off to their respective houses. “I have had an AWESOME day, but before you all head to bed, I have something for each of you.”
“Is it a Starbucks gift card?” Tonisha asked through a yawn.
“Nope!” Malcolm said enthusiastically. “Even better! It’s your class schedules.” He said, and handed each woman a color coded envelope with their name on it. He held onto a gray one and gave Tonisha a blue one just like it. Keilani’s envelope was pink and Katie’s was orange.
Emefa took hers and immediately rolled her eyes, sighing as she looked down at the wax seal pressed onto a pure white envelope.
“Of course it is.” She said sarcastically.
“What else could it have been?”