by Siren Allen
A smile spread across his face. It had gone better than expected. He couldn’t have dreamed up a better outcome. He’d kissed Willow. And she’d kissed him back. The memories of her wrapping her legs around him made him want to rush to her apartment right now.
“Look, he’s still smiling. The world is coming to an end.”
Kang opened his eyes just as the three stooges joined him on the couch. “Must you sit right next to me?” He asked them.
“We must,” Nahm told him before taking a sip of his own drink. “This Brandy is good. I’ve never had this brand. I may have to take a bottle home with me. Speaking of home, now that you’ve fallen for Willow again, do you plan to return home?”
“Of course.”
“Just asking. Are you planning to bring her with you?”
Of course. “What’s with all the questions? I’m home now. I want to relax.”
“Oh, right. By the way, how did your conversation go with Olivia?”
“Still with the questions.”
“That’s an easy one to answer. How did it go?”
“It was very informative.” Kang told them of all the things Olivia had told him.
“I knew she had it out for our little Willow,” Lee said.
“Our Willow?” Kang’s eyebrow raised.
Shao patted him on the shoulder. “Haven’t you heard? We’re Team Willow now.”
“Of course, you are,” Kang replied sarcastically before taking a huge gulp of his drink.
“Which means,” Shao continued. “We have to look out for Willow. We have to put her first.”
Kang shook his head.
“Which means,” Lee added. “That if you want to be with Willow, for real, you have to go through Willow Boot Camp.”
Kang nearly choked on his drink. “Willow Boot Camp?”
Nahm nodded. “Right now, you’re not the type of man Willow needs. You’re petty.”
“What?”
“It’s true,” Lee added. “You’re also short tempered and easily irritated.”
“No. I’m not.”
“And you think you’re always right,” Shao chirped in. “If you want to be with Willow, you have to change your ways. Luckily for you, we’re here to help. Finish your drink. Boot camp starts in one hour. If you pass Boot Camp, you can be with Willow. If you fail, Kang, please leave her alone and don’t make things hard for her. Do you agree?”
No, the fuck he didn’t.
“I know Willow better than any of you...”
“And over the years, your attitude towards her has hurt her. When she looks at you, she appears nervous and frightened,” Shao pointed out.
Kang opened his mouth, then closed it. She did. He no longer wanted her to be nervous and afraid around him. He was ashamed of himself for having ever wanted that. Then again, maybe what she was feeling wasn’t fear.
His theory was, she felt guilty for breaking his heart and was trying not to do or say anything to stir up the past. That was something his Willow would do. She liked to keep things calm. But when she was angry, truly angry, no one could escape her wrath.
“Hurry up and finish your drink,” Nahm told him. “Bootcamp starts soon.”
“I’m home now, guys. I want to relax. I want to take a hot shower and watch T.V.”
“We only have three months to change Willow’s opinion of you.” Nahm downed his drink. “It’s going to be hard work, but we’re your brothers from another mom.”
“It’s brothers from another mother,” Shao corrected him.
“Same difference. We’re your brothers, Kang. And we want you to succeed.”
“Weren’t you the one who told me to let it go?”
“That was before Lee convinced me to help you with this. He told me about what you found on Willow’s computer.”
Kang glared at Lee. “Snitch.”
“You didn’t say it was a secret.”
“I didn’t know I had to.”
“Now you do. Plus, there should be no secrets amongst brothers.”
“Having brothers is starting to irritate me.”
“Get used to it,” Nahm demanded. “And finish that damn drink. Lesson one of this Boot Camp is with me.”
“Great.” Kang downed his drink. “Let’s do this.”
An hour later, he regretted those three words. They were really treating this as a Boot Camp. Kang inhaled deeply as he went down for another push up. He’d shed his white button down ten minutes ago.
It had been drenched in sweat and clinging to him at the time. Clad in his slacks and socks, Kang raised up and lowered himself to the ground again.
“Twenty-five,” he announced, then pushed himself to his feet. Sweat beaded his forehead and dripped down his chest. Glaring at the three stooges, he asked, “Are we done?”
Nahm shook his head. “Of course not. You still can’t get the answer to question one right and it’s been an hour. You’ve done a hundred pushups. Just answer correctly and we’ll pick up here tomorrow.”
“Answer the question right, Kang,” Shao said. “If you do, we can all go to bed. I’m tired and ready to shower. Ask him again Lee.”
Lee nodded. “Kang, I’ll repeat question one again.”
“The answer will be the same.”
“If Willow doesn’t feel the same way about you, will you leave her alone and let her be?”
Kang glared at his friends and repeated the answer he’d been saying for the past hour.
“Never.”
***
AFTER A FOUR-HOUR NAP, Willow was still tired.
She couldn’t believe she’d left work early. She’d never left work early a day in her life. Neither had she ever been hunched against the wall of a stairwell. Today was a day of many firsts. He’d kissed her. He’d really kissed her.
Seated on the center of her bed, Willow touched her fingers to her lips. He’d really kissed her. And not some simple peck on the lips. He’d tongued her down like he was ready to fuck her.
And she’d let him. Screw that, she’d kissed him back. She’d hunched him back. Hunched? Who hunches? Especially at her age. Ugh. Willow flopped back onto her mountain of pillows.
“Why did I do that? Why did he do that? Why did we do that? What the hell is wrong with us? We don’t even like each other.”
A knock on her bedroom door startled her. Sitting up, she glared at her door. Her roommates never knocked. They just barged in. And if her door was locked, they used a knife to get the door open.
“Who is it?”
“It’s me.”
Kizzy. “Why didn’t you break in like usual?”
“Because I know you’re going through a lot and I didn’t want to bother you.”
Yeah right.
“You don’t have to get out of bed. I have the butter knife in my hand. I can unlock the door myself.”
Of course, she could. Willow plopped back down onto her pillows. A few seconds later, her bedroom door opened.
“Hi, Willow.”
“Hi Kizzy,” Willow said, staring up at her ceiling fan.
“First things first. The mouse trap in the kitchen was popped. The cheese is gone. But there’s no mouse in the trap. This sneaky mouse is on some Tom and Jerry shit.”
“We’ve only seen the mouse once. Maybe it left. Our apartment is too clean for a mouse to be here anyway.”
“I know. Our nasty neighbors are the reason one got into our apartment in the first place.”
“Don’t say that.”
“It’s true. We never had mice problems until they moved in. Anyway, that’s not the only reason I came in here.”
“Of course not.”
Kizzy plopped down on Willow’s bed. “I’m not going to mention He who must not be named.”
“Thank you.”
“Dez and I have decided to do something to take your mind off of work.”
“I don’t want to play Uno.”
“We have something better than Uno planned.”
Oh no, Willow was
scared. “What?”
“Ladies’ night.”
“It’s Monday.”
“I know. And there’s a bar within walking distance that offers three free shots for ladies on Monday nights. You get tipsy after three anyway. Do you want to go?”
“No.”
“Let me rephrase that. Get dressed, you’re going. Now. Or, we’ll sleep in your bed tonight. And we’ll eat beans.”
“Seriously, Kizzy, what will going out drinking do? It won’t change my situation.”
“No. But, it will make you forget, for just one night. You’ll sleep better tonight. Who knows, you may even be so hung-over tomorrow, that you won’t care about He who must not be named.”
Unlikely. She would always care about him. That’s what made this so much harder.
“Come on, Willow. Forget, for just one night.”
Forgetting did sound tempting. Since she’d already taken a nap, she would be up all-night thinking about what happened. She didn’t want to do that.
“Alright. Three shots, then we come home.”
“Five shots. Okay, let’s go.”
“Hey, I said three.”
“Five. Get dressed.” Kizzy got off the bed and raced from the room.
Willow stared at her closet. What to wear? She was sure her roommates would be dressed scantily. Even though it wasn’t a club night, they’d still wear their freakum dresses. She was right.
She entered the living room wearing black jeggings, black wedges and a black halter top that dropped down to her thighs. It was loose fitting a bit, but tight around her breasts. She adorned the outfit with silver jewelry.
Her friends entered the room wearing skin tight dresses and six-inch heels. She felt under-dressed. Oh, well. She wasn’t changing.
“Should we take a shot before leaving?” Dez asked.
“Only if you guys know that this counts as one of my three.”
“Five,” Kizzy told her. “And no, we’ll drink at the bar. Let’s go.”
Willow followed her friends to the front door. When Kizzy opened the door, Willow felt something furry brush up against her ankle. Screaming, she stared down. The cat she’d met the past weekend was in her house.
When she screamed, her roommates screamed. Willow watched the cat run between Dez and Kizzy’s legs and out the front door.
“Was that a cat?” Dez screamed. “That was the cat you were petting. Did you let it inside the house, Willow?”
“No. Of course not.”
“Maybe that cat is the reason we haven’t seen that mouse again.”
“Right,” Dez said. “Catch it. We need it around to keep mice away.”
Oh, now they wanted a pet cat. What about all the times she’d suggested it? Willow watched her friends chase the cat off the porch and down the front walkway. Mr. Cat was too fast for them.
Laughing, Willow turned, closed the front door and locked it. She faced her friends, only to find them stumbling in their heels as they searched for the cat.
“He’s gone guys.” Willow laughed.
“Stupid cat,” Dez yelled. “I need it to stay and keep the mice away.”
Willow walked down the steps. “You can’t run in high heels. I don’t even know how you’re going to walk to the club in high heels.”
“We’re not walking. Our Uber will be here any minute.”
As if spoken into existence, a car pulled up.
“Right on time,” Kizzy said.
The three of them climbed into the car. The bar was indeed within walking distance, almost not worth catching a ride to. Luckily, there wasn’t many people inside. The music was nice and mellow.
None of that loud gibberish she couldn’t understand. The first three shots at the bar were indeed free for ladies. Not wanting to get tipsy, Willow nursed her first shot while her friends tossed back two easily.
By the time they were on their fifth shot, Willow was nursing her second. As long as she didn’t drink a third, she’d be alright. Just as her friends were pressuring her to take another shot, a group of bikers entered the bar and walked over to the pool tables.
Minutes later, a fight broke out and the club was shut down, which was fine with Willow, she wasn’t the partying type anyway. When they stepped outside, Kizzy pulled her phone out to call an Uber.
“Look,” Dez yelled. “There’s that cat. It’s the same one, isn’t it?”
It looked like it.
“Catch it?” Dez screamed.
“Really, guys? Are you really going to chase Mr. Cat?”
They didn’t hear her. They were too busy running as fast as they could in their heels. Willow had no choice but to follow.
“Guys, stop. We can buy a cat. They have plenty at shelters. Hey, guys.” They rounded the corner. Damn, they could sprint fast in their heels. “Guys, it’s just a cat. Remember, you said it had fleas last time.”
“There,” Dez yelled. “It went into that shop.”
Dez and Kizzy disappeared into a shop. Willow stopped to catch her breath. She never thought she’d be chasing a cat on a Monday night. Today was truly a day of many surprising firsts. She was embarrassed to admit that it was also a very exciting day.
Part of her couldn’t wait to see what would happen next.
Chapter Eight
The Chronical Oracle.
What kind of place was this? This was the shop her friends had followed the cat into. Willow entered the shop. It was dimly it. There was a low instrumental playing in the background.
Shelves decorated the room. Some contained books. Others contained vases and other odds and ends. Willow journeyed further into the shop. Various end tables had incense burning on them.
Yet, the smell wasn’t too overbearing. Her friends’ voices reached her. Willow followed the sound to the back of the shop and came up short. Her friends were standing in front of a table.
Seated behind the table, was a dark-skinned slender woman with her hair styled in long braids. The right side of her face was covered in tattoos. Not tattoos. One tattoo. It reminded Willow of an oriental rug. And her eyes were blue. They were probably contacts.
“Uh, guys, did you find the cat?” Willow asked.
Kizzy looked over her shoulder. “Madam oracle...”
“My name is the Chronical Oracle,” the woman interrupted Kizzy.
Kizzy rolled her eyes. “The Chronical Oracle here, said that no cat entered her shop.”
“This is a shop for humans, not cats. We only allow familiars to enter on Sundays.”
“Familiars?” Willow asked. “You mean, pets kept by witches?”
“If that’s how you want to describe them, then okay.” The woman pointed to a bird cage next to her. Inside of it, was a black bird.
“This here is Luther, my familiar.”
This nut job considered herself a witch. It was time for them to leave.
“Um, guys, since Mr. Cat isn’t here, maybe we should go.”
“Not yet,” Dez said. “We’re about to get our palms read. But the lady is getting ready to close and only has time to read one person’s palm.”
“Wait. Let’s allow Willow to be the one who gets her fortune told. She’s the one having bad luck.”
“I’m not having bad luck. I’m just having a bad day. There’s a difference.”
“Either way, you can be the one. I’ll pay for it.”
“You three decide quickly. Time is ticking and I have to close.”
Dez walked over and grabbed Willow’s hand. “Come, have a seat.”
“You guys know I don’t believe in this kind of stuff.”
“Just sit down.”
Willow was forced into the seat. The crazy lady smiled at her. Willow smiled back, nervously.
“Give me your hand,” the woman instructed.
“I don’t even know your name.”
“Just call me the Chronical.”
Willow sighed.
“Hand, please.”
Kizzy nudged her shoulder.
“Do it.”
Damn it. Willow gave the lady her hand. The woman shivered. Willow tried to pull away.
“Don’t,” the woman whispered. “I have a lot to tell you.”
“You do?”
“Oh yes. There’s a lot going on in your life. Isn’t there?”
She was a fake. There was a lot going on in everyone’s life. “Be more specific.”
“There seems to be a lost love returned.”
What? Willow tried to pull away again.
“Don’t mess it up this time,” the woman instructed. “If you do, you won’t get another chance. Allow yourself to feel all emotions. Not just love. Feel hate. It’s okay to be angry. It’s okay to let it show. Feel fear. No fear leads to dangerous mistakes in life. Most importantly, feel love. Without love, we become like animals. We have no purpose. Don’t lose out on love because of your inability to feel.”
Tears welled in Willow’s eyes. “You probably say that to all women. All women struggle with emotions. If we feel too much, we’re called weak. If we feel too little, we’re called cold. If we allow our anger to show, we’re called the Angry Black Woman. You can say this to most women and have them feeling like you’re talking specifically to them. You’re a fake. Admit it.”
“You’re in love. Admit it. You’ve been in love for a long time but you refuse to let it show.”
Willow tried to pull her hand away again. The woman held on to her tightly.
“Most women have daddy issues, that’s true,” the woman told her.
A tear slipped down Willow’s cheek.
“Most women have relationship issues. But what most women don’t have, is the love of their life, right beside them, trying to be with them, yet, they continue to resist.”
“Ooh, Willow,” Kizzy said. “She knows you like him. She knows that you turned him down...”
“Shush,” Willow said. “Let her tell me, if she isn’t fake.”
“You resisted him because you have daddy issues.”
“That’s generic...”
“You resisted him because you believe all men are like your father. You believe they can love you one minute, then discard you the next. But, he isn’t like that. His sense of loyalty surpasses most men. When he loves, it’s for life. Just like you. In that, you two are the same. Know this, until you’re able to let go of your past hurts, you won’t be able to move forward with this relationship. Let go and let love in.”