by Ws Greer
“I don’t want to go, and I tried to tell my stupid mom to just drop it, but I’m sure you know how that went. She’s making me go. With him,” she finished.
Him, is that little piece of rich shit named Charlie. Reina has been telling me about him on and off for a while now. He’s just some guy Reina’s parents try to force into a match, but I know she would never go for some arrogant, obnoxious, spoiled bitch like Charlie so I’ve never felt truly concerned about it. Reina has been leaving her life of luxury behind to come to Strawberry Mansion and be my partner in crime, so when she mentions her parents trying to act like Charlie is her perfect match, I’ve always laughed it off. What could someone like him possibly do for my Reina? Nothing, is the answer! Absolutely nothing. But when she said her parents were forcing her to go to prom with Charlie, I started feeling some type of way about it, especially since I know this asshole has tried to make some unwanted advances on her already.
I let out a frustrated growl. “Charlie. The same guy you told me about? The one who can’t keep his hands to himself? That Charlie?”
“Yep. It’s not even worth fighting them over. Like I’ve told you before, Charlie has my parents in the palm of his hand. They believe he’s some good guy because he puts on this front when he’s around them. He’s so smarmy. You know you don’t have anything to worry about, Solomon. Right?” she asked when she could sense my anger growing like a cancer inside of me.
“I know that,” I said, swallowing the fury boiling under the surface. “I know you’d get out of it if you could. That’s not the case, so what can we do? When is this prom?”
“Next Saturday at Rittenhouse. I don’t want to go, but you don’t understand what it’s like living with my parents. I don’t have a choice. Believe me, I’d much rather run him over with his stupid BMW than be inside of it with him. Are you okay?”
“Don’t worry, babe. I’m good.”
Of course I wasn’t good! Even though we spent the next hour kissing and rubbing each other in the park, I was dying inside, thinking of her going to prom with some rich little creep who severely needs his ass kicked. Reina means everything to me, and the fact that she’s going to prom with some rich asshole from Center City West is a problem. I never figured her idiotic parents would do anything that’d bother me like this, but they’ve gone and done it by forcing my Reina to go dancing and crap with another guy. Like I said, it’s a bit of a problem. At least it was.
Don’t get me wrong, I couldn’t possibly care less about a prom. I dropped out of school a long time ago, and I wouldn’t be thinking about anything like prom if it wasn’t for Reina. If she was going with a bunch of girlfriends, I wouldn’t be fastening the belt on crisp white pants right now. If she was just going to have a girl’s night out with some dancing and laughs among girlfriends, I wouldn’t be cinching the black buttons on a perfectly white shirt. I wouldn’t be rolling up the sleeves enough to showcase my new tattoo with the vibrant orange and blue flames engulfing the large crown. I wouldn’t be spraying on cologne and grabbing the keys to a royal blue Mercedes I had Nix rent for me—since Nix is the only person I know who has a driver’s license. If Reina meant nothing to me, I wouldn’t be on my way to Center City to crash their little prom being held at some fancy hotel. If I didn’t care for Reina, her date, Charlie-something, wouldn’t have anything to be afraid of. But I do care about Reina, so Charlie has everything to be afraid of tonight. He just doesn’t know it yet. Oh, but he will. By the time the night is over, Charlie will know Reina belongs to me, and me alone.
The drive to Rittenhouse is annoying. How many fancy buildings and houses does one place need? It’s like watching an episode of Cribs. Ugh. Everything is nice and looks brand-spanking-new. Brand new white lights illuminate the street leading to the hotel, showcasing buildings that look like they just finished construction last week. You can tell just from driving through the place at night, there are no robberies here. No bums on the street begging for change. These establishments look like they’d actually hire someone for more than minimum wage. If you work here, you’ll have enough money to do more than just pay your rent and not die. You can live here. Money has been poured into Center City West by the government to keep it bright and vibrant. It keeps it beautiful and drives the prices of everything in it up, so that poor people like me can never come here. When the prices are high, poor people can never come here because we can’t afford to shop or live here, and the owners of these establishments would never hire someone who looks like they live in Strawberry Mansion, so people like me are forever stuck in the environments we were born into. This system is designed to keep us out, and keep us poor. This is nothing like where I come from, and it fills me up with envy. I hate it, but I also know that one day soon, I’ll be more than capable of living in a place like this, because I’m going to beat the system. Once you know the system exists, you can learn to exploit it. You can be the anomaly that breaks out of the place you were supposed to be stuck in, and move amongst the people who are supposed to be “better” than you. I’m the anomaly, and I’m coming.
Envious feelings aside, I press on towards the lavish hotel as I see it in the distance and come off of a circular exit. It’s huge and sort of reminds me of a mini castle with its peaking roofs that look like church steeples and lavish, decorative brick design. My first thought is that I should figure out a way to rob this place, but that thought quickly evaporates as I drive up to the entrance and see Reina already standing outside. My eyes zoom in and focus on her. She looks unbelievable, with a red dress that fits her so perfectly and jewelry that glistens as the lights from the hotel hit each piece, including the bracelet I bought her in the mall a while back. She’s a vision, but I don’t know why she’d be standing outside right now instead of being inside enjoying herself. The party started over an hour ago, so I know I’m crashing it, but I wasn’t expecting to see her outside when I arrived.
With a second glance I realize what’s going on. Reina’s not alone. She’s facing the road I’m driving on, and there’s a guy who has his back to the street as I approach slowly. All of the happiness I felt at seeing her standing there with that sexy red dress on has all but vanished and been replaced with a slow-boiling anger. The guy has a black tuxedo on and I can tell from just looking at him as I stop the car behind him that he thinks he’s the best thing that has ever happened to planet earth. It’s Charlie. After all this time, I’m finally seeing him. I’ve been waiting for this moment for a long time, and I’m going to enjoy every second of it
“Okay, honestly, what is your problem, Reina?” I hear Charlie say to her as I open the door quietly and step out. I don’t close the car door because I don’t want to startle him with my arrival. I want him to keep talking, and he does, totally focused on Reina.
My Reina.
“I’ve been doing everything in my power to show you that you and I are a great match, but you keep blowing me off,” Charlie continues, blind to the rest of the world around him. “Do you know how many girls in there were giving me the eyes? I could’ve hooked up with any one of them, but instead of doing that, I’m standing outside, begging you to go back in. This is ridiculous. You should be begging me! Would you please just stop being such a bitch and come back inside.”
“Fuck you, Charlie,” Reina spits back, not even realizing I’m approaching from behind him.
“Yeah, you got that right,” Charlie retorts. “Instead of being an ice queen, that’s what you should do. Fuck me.” He breaks into a ridiculous laugh, so I decide to join him. It is funny, after all, that he has no idea what he’s getting himself into. I throw my head back and laugh hysterically. The two of them seem to catch on at the same time.
“Solomon?” I hear Reina say. I can tell from the sound of her voice that she’s smiling when she says my name. Charlie stops laughing, and he isn’t smiling.
“Oh how can anyone resist you with jokes like that?” I say to Charlie as I step up on the curb and stand next to him, sizing him u
p. He’s a clean cut, white collar type who hasn’t gone through anything in his life that could ever be considered tough. He’s exactly the type of person I despise, and it takes everything in me not to just punch him in his face right now and take his wallet. Even with all the money he has inherited from his mother, this guy is beneath me.
“Who are you?” Charlie responds to me, looking me up and down and staring at the tattoo on my forearm like he’s afraid of it. He sees how different we are, and it scares him. I love it.
“Who, me?” I answer, smiling. “Oh I’m just an admirer of your super fresh jokes! You should do standup. Let me hear that joke again. Reina said ‘Fuck you’ and then you said something witty. What was it again?”
Charlie looks back at Reina, who’s smiling at me like I’ve just given her her first taste of sunshine after a lifetime of darkness. He doesn’t like that she’s smiling, and his face contorts into a frown.
“Aww come on, guy. What’d you say in response?” I press him. “Oh I remember! You said she should stop being an ice queen and just fuck you. That is clever. But I think maybe your observation is all wrong, because she doesn’t seem like an ice queen to me.”
With that, I walk past Charlie, bumping him with my shoulder as I step up to Reina and press my mouth against hers and we embrace, falling into a passionate kiss. By the time we separate, Charlie looks like I just killed his cat. If I find out he has one, I just might.
“What the hell is this?” he says, his voice trembling.
“Well, I think it’s time we have a proper introduction,” I say as I turn around and face Charlie. I smile at him as I look him in the eye. “It’s nice to finally meet you, Charlie. My name is Solomon, and you seem to have a hard time understanding when she says it, so allow me.” My smile fades. “Reina doesn’t belong to you. She’s not your prize to be won. She’s not even your friend. She’s someone you’re never gonna talk to again . . . because she’s mine. You’re just some little bitch who could never know what it takes to satisfy a woman like her. You could never know, and she would never waste her time trying to show you. You see, all the begging you’ve been doing to try to win her over—I’d never do that. I never had to. Because she knows just from looking at me that I’ll give her everything she needs. I can satisfy her in ways you couldn’t imagine in your wettest dreams, little boy.” I reach into my pocket and remove my box cutter, slowly revealing the razor blade and lifting it to his neck. “You see that look on your face? That terrified expression shining through your eyes? I love that. It’s one of the things I live for. You know what else I live for? Reina. So if you ever come near her again, I’m going to take this razor, and slice you from ear to ear. I’m going to make you smile forever, Charlie. You’ll be permanently smiling in your sleep when I’m done with you.” I pause long enough to reach back and take Reina by the hand. “Do you understand everything I just said to you?”
Charlie nods, but that’s just not good enough for me. I want to put a smile on Reina’s face, so I take it further.
“I want to hear you say it, Charlie. That way I know you really got it. Reina is not yours. Whose is she?”
Charlie swallows hard as his eyes well up in embarrassment and fear, and a couple of people from inside come out and watch in terror. “Sh . . . She’s yours.”
“That’s right. Good boy. Now move out of the way.” Charlie steps aside and I step up to the Mercedes, guiding Reina into the passenger seat as I put the box cutter back into my pocket. “Have a great night, Charlie. I’ll make sure she gets home safe,” I say as I close her door and walk to the driver’s side, smiling at the tiny group of people watching from the entrance of the hotel. We leave Charlie and his audience standing there, fighting back tears of anger as we drive away. Now he knows she’s mine, and he’ll never forget it.
“THAT WAS INCREDIBLE, Solomon. Oh my god, he looked so heart broken,” Reina says behind loud giggles. “Why didn’t you tell me you were coming? And where’d you get this car?”
I press on the gas and take a second to marvel at how I can push this car to go this fast. I don’t know if there’s any cops around, but as the speed climbs, I get a rush that I love. Sixty. Seventy. Eighty. Ninety. The black leather interior, the blue lights illuminating the inside the car, the bright LED headlights glistening off of the other vehicles around us, the smell of Reina’s sensual perfume, the black night sky littered with bright stars, the fear I felt emanating off of Charlie as I spoke to him—it all mixes and fills me with an excitement like never before. I could get used to all of this. I could get used to feeling like a god!
“I got the car from Nix, who rented it for me,” I reply, staring straight ahead, doing my best to hold back a smile I barely understand. “So that was Charlie? I wasn’t impressed.”
“Yeah that was him, and he’s not impressive, so there’s no surprise there. You, on the other hand, were extremely impressive. I’ve never seen him more afraid. It seriously looked like he was gonna cry.”
“Aww, poor Charlie. Now he knows not to ever mess with you again. He knows you’re not his to mess with.”
As we drive down the dark road being lit up by white street lights on both sides, I can feel Reina staring at me. Her blue eyes burn into me as I speed right through a stoplight with nowhere in particular to go.
“So,” she says, still smiling about the thing with Charlie. “Now that you have me, Solomon, what’s next?”
I look over at her and return the smile, her blonde hair hangs over half of her face and makes me feel an urge to stop the car and answer her question on the side of the road. “Whatever you want.”
“My parents aren’t home tonight,” she says, her smile fading into something else—something much more seductive.
“Is that right?” I reply with a smile and she nods a yes. “Then the night is young. Guide me to your place.”
“With pleasure.”
Reina does her best impression of a GPS and before I know it, we’ve passed a bunch of fancy, luxury houses in the gaudiest residential area I’ve ever seen, and we arrive at her own mini mansion.
“This is your house?” I ask as I park in the expansive driveway made of perfectly laid red brick. I know it is, but it just can’t be for real.
“Come on. I’ll give you a tour,” Reina says as she opens her door and climbs out.
“I don’t want a tour,” I snip. I can’t really explain it to her, but seeing all of this is like a slap in the face to everyone I know in Strawberry Mansion.
“What’s the matter?” Reina says, sensing my annoyance. She walks over to me, her heels clunking on the brick, and wraps her arms around my waist.
“I’m not interested in seeing your parents’ house. I don’t care about how much money they have. I’m here for you, and if it isn’t yours, then I don’t want to see it. So just take me to your room. I want to see where you sleep, where you live, where you think about me.” Reina takes a second to let my words settle on her, then she smiles and leads me up the driveway and into the luxury home.
Inside, the lights to the house are off, and Reina doesn’t bother turning them on as she leads me through the place, weaving in and out of rooms that feel humongous, but it’s too dark to really tell. Even in the dark I can see that Reina’s parents own much more stuff then they could ever need. I see paintings on the walls that look expensive—like they were done by some fancy painter with a name I’ll never hear simply because I’m poor and unworthy of it. The handrail to the staircase is thick and feels like it’s made of ivory or some other extravagant material, and I feel as if I’ll be arrested just for brushing my hand against it as we ascend the stairs.
Finally, we make our way inside a room as Reina flicks on the lights and closes the door behind us. The space is filled with lavish furniture that looks like it shouldn’t even be in a bedroom. Everything is thick and trimmed in gold. Even the headboard is gold and pink—hideous colors, but what stands out to me isn’t the furniture, it’s the fact that this i
s where Reina sleeps every night. This is where she goes when she’s not with me. When I’m lying on my crappy twin-sized bed that should’ve been upgraded a long time ago, she’s here, living a life of luxury in Center City West.
“Solomon, what’s wrong?” she says as she sits on her bed with the thick, white, warm comforter. “I know you’re thinking something, and you’re not one to keep your thoughts to yourself. So what’s up?”
“What the hell are you doing going down to Strawberry Mansion when you live in a place like this?” I ask, which seems to surprise her. I lean back against a dresser that could fit my entire wardrobe inside and still have room to spare. “What could you possibly want with someone like me? I’m not normal, Reina, and you’d be giving up a life of comfort to be with me. Legitimate comfort. I have to steal everything I want, and you already have it all. You have it all right here, ripe for the picking, ready for the taking. It’s all laid at your feet. So what are you doing?”
She takes a deep breath and furrows her eyebrows. Even with the wrinkles in her head, she’s still beautiful, and I think that’s what scares me. Maybe she does belong in this world. Not the world I live in. She deserves better than anything I can give her right now.
“I’m surprised you’re even asking me that. I told you a long time ago, having money doesn’t mean you have happiness. You make me happy, Solomon. You even said it down at the car before we came up—this belongs to my parents, not me. This is their house, and it’s their money. The happiness I have though, that belongs to me—to us. My heart belongs to you, Solomon. You may not have a house like this, but you have my heart, so don’t you dare start thinking you’re not good enough. I don’t care about any of this, and I’d gladly give it all up to be with you. So I’ll keep going to Strawberry Mansion as long as you’re there. Because I love you, Solomon King.”
Suddenly, I feel like my heart has just been run over by a truck. It’s a new feeling deep inside me and I don’t know what to make of it, so I just stand there and stare at her beautiful face. With all the shit that goes on in my life, I have Reina—the beauty that shines through all of it. What did I ever do to deserve this—to deserve her?