The 'next day' that Sheron told Wendy she could come by his place and retrieve her engagement ring turned into three harrowingly long days and nights. The feeling of emptiness and loss seemed to grow with each passing moment within Wendy's mind and she felt as if she had been kicked in the stomach each time she looked down at her naked ring finger and noticed the unmistakable tanline that signaled its absense.
As much as she dreaded the mere thought of going to Sheron's apartment and having to look him in the eyes while asking for her rightful property back, the overwhelming stress that came with having to avoid her fiancé, Brad, just so she wouldn't have to lie to him about where his ring went, was becoming too much to bare.
"I've got to put this to a stop..one way or the other..I've got to end this," Wendy finally decided. "It was my weakness of the flesh..my immorality and sin...I've got to be the one to stand up and face the consequences ..I've got to be the one to deal with it."
Deciding it might be prudent to have someone along for the ride over to Sheron's, to act as a buffer and perhaps a witness, Wendy convinced her friend Tina to accompany her under the guise that she was going over to help Sheron with a few tutorial concerns before one of his Finals.
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"So...again...why are we going over to that football player's apartment, Wendy?" Tina casually asked from the passenger seat as Wendy weaved through the crosstown traffic.
"Ah...Ah...just like I said on the phone..its just a quick tutoring session for Sheron before his last Final tomorrow...I just thought you might like to tag along," Wendy replied, keeping her left hand concealed between her body and the driver's side door so Tina wouldn't have any chance of noticing the missing diamond ring.
"So how did the study session go the other night after I left...you never told me," Tina wondered.
The question hit Wendy like a bullet, causing her to tighten her grip on the steering wheel.
"Fine...Fine..it went fine," she lied.
Having made a quick call to Sheron before she picked Tina up just to make sure he was home, deep down Wendy knew the whole situation had a chance of blowing up in her face.
On the other hand, confrontation seemed like her only option. There hadn't been a minute since the incident with Sheron that Wendy didn't flog herself for allowing what happened to happen and bringing Tina along for moral support and perhaps enough of a distraction to keep Sheron from trying anything else was the only idea Wendy could come up with to retrieve her engagement ring and return her life to some sense of normalcy.
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Eventhough she had thought Wendy was acting a little strange the whole trip across town, Tina had chalked it up to the stress they all were feeling being smackdab in the middle of Final's week, not to mention the added stress that Wendy must be feeling knowing she was going to be married in less than 3 months.
It wasn't until Wendy pulled her car up to the front of Sheron's apartment building and sat there looking through the windshield at the football player's front door as if death was waiting on the other side, that Tina got the feeling something deeper was at work.
"...Wendy...are you OK?" Tina asked her friend.
"AH....Yeah...Yeah ...I'm fine," Wendy stammered back. "Just sleepy....tired I guess....got a lot on my mind."
Four days without Brad's engagement ring, the feeling of emptiness and nakedness on her finger had gradually poisoned her entire soul.
"Let's get this over with," Wendy finally grumbled as she fumbled for the door latch. "Let's just get this over with."
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Relative neat freaks, Wendy and Tina felt their skin crawl when Sheron let them into his apartment from the dizzying array of empty pizza boxes, discarded clothing, football equipment, magazines, video games and CD's that littered the floor.
"Sorry about the mess," Sheron casually offered, his shirtless presense causing both the girls to stare down from embarrassment.
"I thought she said Sheron was expecting us for a study session...why does he looked so surprised we're both here...I don't see a textbook anywhere," Tina found herself wondering as she searched out a clear place on the carpet to stand.
Several moments after entering the apartment, the two girls were startled even further when Sheron's roommate and teammate, Calvin, entered the living room from the kitchen with an opened bottle of beer in his hand.
"OH...Sorry," he exclaimed. "I didn't know we had company Sheron...what are they doing here?"
>From the moment Calvin walked in the room, and acted as confused as Tina felt about what was going on, she could sense a definate vibe that there something she couldn't fathom unfolding inside of Sheron's claustraphobic apartment.
The two unwitting participants in the room could feel a definate tension between Wendy and Sheron as they heat radiating off Wendy's body caused both Tina and Calvin to squirm.
"UHHH...Sheron..UHH..could I maybe see you...in the other room...just for a second?" Wendy babbled, feeling an inch tall under the weight of Sheron's icy stare.
"What about?" Sheron asked, knowing the answer but enjoying the way the aimless girl waffled in place, helpless to think of a next move.
Tilting his gaze to his left when Wendy again bowed her head, Sheron noticed his camera sitting on a bookshelf several feel away. Reaching over to pick it up, Sheron smiled slyly and asked Tina and Wendy to stand next to each other.
"Let me get a quick picture of you two...something I can show my Mom to let her know about a couple of the tutors that helped me pass Finals this semester," Sheron implored.
Slowly easing towards her paralysed friend, Tina still didn't have a clue what was fueling the friction between Wendy and Sheron.
"Come on..just a little bit closer...Yeah..O.K.," Sheron sighed before pressing the button, snapping off two quick pictures of the girls before placing the camera back down.
"Sheron..please..could I talk to you...alone?" Wendy once again grumbled, trying desperatly to hold back the reservoir of tears burning her eyes.
"You want to see me..alone?" Sheron quizzed, his feet tingling from the unquestioned power he felt in the situation.
