Season 1, Episode 30

[Last time on Suds, Darien's dad gave him reason to wonder about his relationship with the lovely Leilah. And then, light years ago around episode 28, Shantel had another devious little plan in the works.

Meanwhile, Mira still hasn't been feeling too great. Let's check in on her.]

~~

Leilah jammed her emergency key into the door and twisted it open.

“Mira,” she called.
Groggily, a voice from the sofa answered, “What?”

Leilah closed the door and rushed to her friend’s side. She noticed that Mira's bed was stripped of it's covers before she tip toed around the sofa. Mira sat upright with her eyes were glued on Fresh Prince of Bel-Air reruns on the muted TV screen. Her cocoa brown skin was pale, and her disheveled hair was tucked into the thick, cotton bathrobe she wore.

Leilah sat next to Mira, and smoothed her hair. She blinked away a flashback of smoothing her mother's hair during one of her many withdrawl periods. Leilah remembered cleaning up vomit, and cradling the frail, shaking body of her mother in her arms. She remembered being yelled at, and kicked out of the room in bouts of anger. And then she took a deep breath and remembered Mira, instead.

“What’s wrong? I saw Sylus on my way to class. He said that you needed me.”
“There’s too much noise,” Mira whispered. “Too many voices. Laughing. Screaming. Too much.”

Her dead eyes remained fixed on the mid sized screen. Leilah looked over at the screen. A young Will Smith and Carlton were doing the 'jump on it' dance on stage. Mira didn't crack a smile even though it was her favorite episode.

“Why do you think we’re here,” Mira asked. “Why would God put us here if we’re only gonna die anyway?”
Leilah opened her mouth to answer, but didn't have one.

Mira's blood shot eyes met Leilah’s. A peaceful smile lifted the corners of her lips. “I’m going to die, Leilah.”
“You're going to die, " Leilah eyes bulged with astonishment. “Why would you ever say that?”
A breathy laugh escaped Mira’s lips, but didn’t reach her lifeless eyes. “I have HIV, that's why. I’m going to die sooner than you think.”

Leilah’s heart contracted. She felt every muscle in her body tense. HIV? Mira? No, that’s impossible.

Mira studied the expressions of denial on Leilah’s face: the anger laced with confusion, and scouring for logic in the illogical. Mira had felt the same until she accepted her fate.

“I thought it was a cruel joke,” Mira laughed. “God’s way of telling me my pants were too tight or something crazy like that.”

Leilah’s brain scrambled through possibilities, meeting a dead-end each time. “How? Who? When?”
“Sylus and a busted condom.”
“Sylus has HIV?” Leilah panicked.

Mira’s eyes flickered with a hint of compassion. She whispered, “He doesn’t know it yet.”

“Let’s just get tested. I’m sure that you’re not… I mean, you’re the safest person in the world. This isn’t the first time that a condom has broken. Come on, get some clothes on, we have to get tested.” Leilah stood, heading toward Mira's bedroom.

“Window period,” Mira murmured, returning her gaze to the silent screen, and sighed. “It’s possible to test a ‘false negative’ from three weeks up until six months after infection.”

Leilah stopped in the hallway, registering the information slowly. How could anyone go six months wondering if the were infected? “Well what about Sylus? If he gets tested then we’ll know if you’re... you know.”

Mira slouched deeper into the suede-like sofa. “He tested negative.”
Leilah sighed in relief. “That’s great! We don’t have anything to worry about, then!”
“It’s probably a false negative,” Mira said flatly. “They told him to come back in three months to be tested again.”

Leilah headed toward the computer next to the television“Maybe we can find statistics on three months after infection?”

Mira answered before she reached the computer. “It’s rare that someone will test a ‘false negative’ three months in. Usually there are detectable antibodies present at that point.”
“Okay, so you’re probably not infected.” Leilah winced at the word.

Mira looked at her friend as though she were an incredibly naïve child. “I said rarely, not impossible.” Mira gulped hard, feeling spastic. She clutched her chest, breathing deeply.

Tears formed puddles in Mira’s reddened eyes.
Leilah rushed to her side embracing Mira's body as it heaved, and her wails grew louder.

“Shhh,” Leilah whispered. “It’s going to be alright.”
“You don’t know that,” Mira wailed.
“There’s always hope.”