by Pepper Pace
Betty Mathena stared at him. “Look…can I talk to my daughter alone? I’d appreciate if you all could leave for a moment.”
Jason’s lip twisted as he bit back the urge to tell her not to stress Robin. The last thing she needed was someone needling her to do shit that she clearly didn’t want to do. But in the end he silently did as he was asked. The others followed, knowing that Robin was about to get the full brunt of her mother’s wrath. Belinda looked back over her shoulder trying to send Robin rays of encouragement. She wanted to say something but didn’t want to add to the crapfest that Robin was sure to experience.
Robin turned to her mother once the room was once again empty. “Yes, Mom?”
“Honey…I wanted to wait until we got home before I had this discussion with you, but do you think it’s wise to have an…’intimate’ relationship with a boy like that?”
“A boy like ‘what?’”
“You know what I’m talking about.”
“You mean, a boy with Cerebral Palsy?”
Her mother grimaced. “Is that what he has? Is he mentally…you know?”
“Jason is actually top in all of his college classes. I would say that he is probably smarter than most. He just can’t control his muscles the way the rest of us can.”
Her mother was shaking her head. “Well…honestly Robin, I don’t understand it. I don’t understand why him when you can be with anyone-”
“Mama, I don’t want to talk about this right now-”
“I’m just telling you how I feel-”
“I really like Jason.” She gave her mother an earnest look. “I want you to get to know him and give him a chance.”
Mrs. Mathena could barely believe the stern way in which her daughter was speaking to her. “Robin, your Dad and I raised you to see all people as equal. We didn’t raise you to differentiate between color or to judge people based on a disabilities. But damn…life with him will be so much harder than it has to be. And what about babies?”
Robin sighed again. “We just got together! We’re still brand new. I’ mean…neither of are thinking about babies. God, I just started dating him two weeks ago.”
“And you’re already having sex?”
Robin blushed. “I’m twenty-one-”
“I didn’t have sex with your Dad for over a year.”
“Mama you hated Daddy when you first met him-”
“If you get pregnant by a boy like that-“
“Mama, stop referring to him as ‘a boy like that’!” She rubbed her forehead and calmed her voice. “Now you understand why I didn’t want to go back to your house? Do you Mom?”
Betty gave her a shocked look, almost sputtering her response. “Don’t you ever tell me how I should turn a phrase. As a matter of fact, don’t you ever raise your voice at me! The things I say to you, I say out of love. How dare you snap at me because I care about what happens to you! I am being a mother, and nobody will love you more than I do!”
Robin stared at the wall.
“Look at me Robin!” Robin’s eyes moved to her mother’s. “Do you understand me?”
Robin felt warm tears prickling behind her eyes. Her heart was beating very hard in her chest and she wanted to tell her mother to shut up; to shut her big fat fucking mouth. She wanted to tell her to get the hell out of her face, out of her room, the way Jason had told his mother to get out of his apartment—that he didn’t want to see her face-
“Robin?”
She blinked and focused on her mother again. She realized that she was breathing very hard. “Ma’ame?”
“Are you okay?” Mama’s face was filled with sudden concern. For a moment, Robin had looked like she had blacked out with her eyes opened.
I have a bleeding ulcer and I’m in the hospital…yeah Mom, I’m doing pretty freaking good…Robin felt suddenly tired. “Yes, Mom.”
Her mother gave her a guilty look. She hadn’t meant to jump down her throat. It’s just that sometimes she pushed all of her wrong buttons; especially now that this…Jason, was in the picture—another mistake that Robin was making with her life. But she sighed. She knew when her words were falling on deaf ears. When Robin felt better she’d try to talk sense into her again.
She stood and walked slowly to the door. “I’ll leave you to your friends. I don’t want to get on your nerves.” She waited for Robin to speak. Robin just sat there looking sad, not even looking at her.
“I love you Robin.”
“I love you too Mom.” Robin murmured.
“So…you’re going to…his house?”
“Yes.”
Mrs. Mathena’s hand rested on the doorknob. “Church tomorrow, then?”
Robin finally looked up and met her mother’s eyes. “Yes. Jason and I will be at your house, ready for church.”
Betty Mathena froze, a surprised look on her face. Robin knew by her expression exactly what she was thinking; everyone at church will know. She dared her mother and her sanctimonious attitude to deny church to anyone—even Jason. Robin smiled when her mother couldn’t find a word to say. “Bye Mama. See you tomorrow.”
Betty left the room. She walked past the four people that were standing on the other side of the door, very obviously listening. They all tried to hold innocent expressions; well except for the one that her daughter had chosen. He couldn’t control his muscles enough to look innocent. He just looked plain stupid staring at her with his flopping head.
She despised him already.
“Bye Mrs. Mathena.” Amberly said.
“Bye.” She said without turning to face her.
“I’ll get your daughter home safely.” Peter called. Mrs. Mathena was frowning even harder. The boy in the wheelchair? What did he mean he would get her home safely? The big girl is the only one of them that should be driving a car! Betty ignored them.
Jason finally got to be with Robin with no mother’s watching. He clutched her hand and kissed it.
“Are you okay?”
“No.” She said honestly. Her heart was still pounding; more from the adrenalin rush of facing off with her mother—and this was only round one. She gave Jason a shaky smile. “But I will be as soon as we get to your place.”
Peter dropped Jason and Robin back at his apartment. He was back to sulking because he’d tried to give Belinda the eyes and she had ignored him and gotten into Amberly’s car to be driven home. Jason was a bit annoyed with him for even thinking about opening up that can of worms again. No sooner had he managed to salvage his friendship with her, than he was trying to creep back into her pants! He was an asshole sometimes.
“Thanks Man.” He said as they left the car.
“Yeah.” Peter said shortly.
When they were in the apartment, Robin just shook her head. “I feel so bad for Peter. You can tell that he loves her. Why is he being such an ass? He should just admit how he feels.” Jason shut and locked the door.
“I don’t know, babe. I think he is being honest about his feelings. They were good friends. That other stuff should have never happened.”
Robin checked the floor for any evidence of her getting sick. She did honestly feel better. Whether it was the blood transfusion or the pain killers she was again pain free. Other then feeling a bit tired and a slightly sore throat, she felt as good as new. But she knew that she would have to take it easy. The pain earlier was about the worse that she’d ever experienced. She gave Jason an embarrassed look. “Who cleaned?”
“I did.”
She grimaced. “Oh. I’m so sorry, Jason. You shouldn’t have had to clean my mess.”
He shrugged. “It’s not biggie. You do more for me on a daily basis than that.”
He gestured for her to come give him a kiss and she backed away quickly, covering her mouth. “I need to brush my teeth!” She hurried to the bathroom and slammed the door thinking about all of the barfing she had done. Ugh! And the bathroom was a mess! She found the cleaning supplies under the sink and began scrubbing away.
Jason chuckled to himself, finding her shyness very endearing. He wheeled to the computer and put on some music. “Hey Sweetheart?! Are you going to be hungry? I can make you some soup.” He wheeled into the kitchen and located a can of Progresso Chicken Noodle soup. “Robin?” Distantly he heard her respond that she was a little hungry. He opened the soup with the electric opener and then poured the contents carefully into a bowl and placed it in the microwave. He grabbed two bottled waters, placed one on the table and carried the other back to the computer where he pulled up his homework.
“Baby?” He bellowed a few minutes later. “What are you doing?” He wheeled to the bathroom door and heard the shower running. “Robin?”
“What?” She called.
“What are you doing?”
He could hear her laughing. “What do you think?”
He grinned. “How many guesses do I get?” She laughed again. “Can I open the door?” He was serious now. “I just don’t want you to black out or anything…”
“It’s unlocked.” He felt better once the door was open and then he could go back and work on his homework.
He checked his watch after a few more minutes and then he went into the kitchen, stirred the soup that was still in the microwave and heated it for another minute. “Baby!” He yelled. “Are you still showering?!”
He could hear her laugh again. “Jesus. I’ve only been in here fifteen minutes! I’m shaving my legs.”
“With my razor?”
“No, babe. I found some sandpaper under the sink. I thought I’d rub the hair off my legs with it.” Jason smiled. He loved her sarcasm. He was happy that she was getting used to sharing it with him.
Finally, after nearly half an hour, she left the bathroom and darted into the bedroom to dress. She came out a few minutes later wearing one of Jason’s shirts and panties from her overnight bag. He looked up from his studies and just stared at her.
Damn…she looked amazing. The short curls of her hair glistened with some moisturizer and was still damp from the shampooing she’d given it. The shirt she’d chosen was long enough to cover her bottom and her dark brown legs were perfect; shapely, smooth-looking, and she even had a dimple on each of her knees that he’d never before noticed.
He swallowed and scratched his grimy hair. “Your soup is in the microwave, water on the table. Um…I’m going to take a bath and brush my teeth while you eat. I’ll be right out, okay?”
She padded bare footed into the kitchen. “Okay, Jason.” She opened the microwave and got her soup and while Jason bathed she devoured every delicious drop. She hadn’t eaten all day though she’d had an IV…was that food? Whatever, she was still hungry! She slurped up the soup and sucked down the water, half of it in one drink! Afterwards, she curled up on the couch and listened to the music playing from the playlist; something she didn’t recognize—funky, hiphop, no vocals. After a moment she got a mischievous smile on her face.
“Jason?!” She called.
“What?” He responded faintly from the bathroom.
“What are you doing?” She grinned. “Don’t make me come in there and check on you!”
“I’m painting the perfect picture, I’m composing the perfect song…I’m solving the mysteries of the universe.”
“Okay, well you better hurry up, I’m getting bored!”
“I promise that I won’t be half an hour.”
“Who is this playing, babe?” She was really enjoying the music; it was so mellow.
“9th Wonder.”
“Hmmm…never heard of them.”
“Him. He’s a hiphop producer. J Dilla was my favorite, all time producer. But 9th Wonder is pretty close.” Jason began running down the artists that he’d produced. He loved talking music and he began doing this as he washed.
“Earykah Badu, Luda, Destiny’s Child. He’s all over the place! He samples the oldies like Al Green, Curtis Mayfield.” He finished rinsing his hair and then pulled himself up to the edge of the tub. Then he maneuvered himself onto the towel that he had folded onto the seat.
“Babe?” No answer. He grabbed a second towel and roughly dried his hair while also trying to wheel into the living room. Still naked and wet he stopped short of the couch. Robin was sleeping soundly, curled in a fetal position with her hands folded beneath her head. Her full lips were slightly parted and he would have kissed her if not for the fear of waking her from the well needed rest.
Jason wheeled back into the bedroom and finished drying and then dressed. Robin was still sleeping when he returned to the living room, so he finished up his homework and began digging for breaks, donning studio headphones so as not to wake her. She slept for about four hours before suddenly sitting up. He looked over at her.
“Robin?”
She jumped up and darted to the bathroom. He heard her retching. “Robin!” He rushed to the bathroom. She was kneeling on the floor and vomiting into the toilet. “Shit.” He wheeled into the bathroom, cursing again at his inability to not get close enough without rolling over her feet. He put his hand on the back of her head, lightly stroking her hair.
“What’s wrong?”
“Soup…wouldn’t stay down.” She coughed and gagged and tried not to vomit but it erupted from her again, blood was evident but not as much as before. Jason was worried. They had stopped the bleeding but what if violent vomiting reopened what the Doctor had so painstakingly cauterized? He rubbed her shoulders lightly and after that last she didn’t vomit again.
She looked tired and a little afraid. Her stomach ached a little but the sharp stabbing pains did not return.
“Robin, remember the pamphlet said that your ulcer might cause you to puke after you eat; they said about 3 or 4 hours later, right?” She nodded and dragged herself up to her feet where she rinsed her mouth and brushed her teeth again.
Jason flushed the toilet and when she was finished he pulled her down into his lap. “Poor baby.” He crooned. She smiled slightly and snuggled against him.
“Does it hurt?” Jason asked.
“Just a little soreness.” Jason wheeled them back into the living room and grabbed the remote control. “How about we sit on the couch and get comfortable? Do you want to watch a movie, videos-?”
Makeout. That is what she wanted to do. She moved over to the couch to join Jason thinking that he hadn’t made much of an attempt to makeout with her. Not that she could blame him, with all of the puking she’d done today. She sighed. “You know, I want to watch all of the wheels of Steels videos; the ones you didn’t put on YouTube.”
“How do you know that I have videos that aren’t on YouTube?” He was connecting something from the computer to the big screen.
“Because you’re a perfectionist. So I’m sure you have all kinds of stuff that you don’t want anyone else to see.”
He started pecking on the computer. “Okay, so you do know me.” Suddenly the computer feed began playing through to the television and she saw the Wheels of Steel gang playing around and having fun. Peter and Jason were making beats and Robin laughed. Jason had short hair! She made a wolf whistle as Jason joined her on the couch. He placed his arms around her.
“You like the short hair?” He was surprised. Most people liked it long.