by David Weaver
"Yes it is! Houston Texas!"
He took her ticket and handed her a stub in return. When she stepped onto the bus, she saw that it was packed. She walked through the aisle slow, careful not to bump into the people who were adjusting their luggage in the compartments. Women were giving her the evil eye and holding on to their man in a protective fashion. She ignored them as best as she could, and continued walking until she finally found a seat with one vacancy.
It was the last seat on the bus and was adjacent to the filthy restroom, but she didn't care. There was a guy sitting on the inside seat against the window, his body language as paranoid as a crackhead's, but his body had the physique of an olympic athlete's. The temperature was around 97 degrees outside and the bus driver hadn't gotten around to turning on the AC yet.
Almost every passenger was sweating, but this one guy in the back seat simply sat there unaware of the heat. It was like he was in another planet. His tank top wrapped around his muscular torso with a possessive precision. His skin was as smooth as the surface that he was staring out of.
"Ahm... do you mind if I sit here?" Alicia asked.
The guy in the seat did not respond. He didn't look in her direction, didn't even acknowledge that she had even existed. Alicia's face turned red from embarrassment. It had been quite a while since a man held that type of power over her. Even when she was with Alex, she didn't feel nervous being around him. And yet... she didn't even know this stranger's name.
Her heart was beating as if it had been trapped inside of a cage with a hungry lion. She calmed her jitters and tapped the stranger on the arm. He jumped. If the wall and window hadn't been there, he would have jumped completely off of the bus.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry..." The stranger said.
Alicia smiled to attempt to calm her nerves and pointed at the seat.
"Ack a tis air... I'm sorry..." Alicia said, completely bogging her entire question. She couldn't believe that this stranger had her acting like that.
"I mean to say, can I sit there?"
The stranger smiled at her and nodded his head. In that area of the bus, the temperature had increased by at least 10 degrees. Alicia and the stranger were both obviously attracted to each other, though they both tried hard not to show it. After the bus had been moving for about 30 minutes, Alicia finally attempted to break the thick ice.
"Excuse me sir... If you don't mind me asking you... Where are you headed?"
The stranger stopped staring out of the window for a moment and stared at the seats in front of him. He seemed hesitant about answering the question, seemed like he was looking for another empty seat so he could avoid speaking to her. Then, finding none, he looked at Alicia without saying a word. He sighed and shook his head in obvious irritation.
"Why, where are you headed?"
This time Alicia avoided the question. She glanced around the bus subconsciously looking for a vacant seat as well. She didn't realize how personal of a question it was until he'd asked it to her. She swallowed hard, attempting to down the fear that she had been sitting besides an undercover officer. If worse came to worse, she had two pistols in her duffel bag that she wouldn't hesitate to use. It was set in her psyche that before she went to jail she would kill the officer attempting to take her.
She slowly started unzipping the bag and reached for the reassurance of her chrome saviors. She had wiped her prints from the A.K. and ditched it, leaving her to trust solely in the power of the pistols.
"I'm going to Texas..." The stranger said as he absentmindedly stared back out of the window.
She let go of the weapon and started rummaging her hand around in her bag, enjoying the texture of the fresh bills. The stranger turned and faced her, which startled her; almost causing her to drop the bag and its contents.
"Do you happen to have any chips or cookies in your bag? I haven't had anything to eat for the past 11 hours. I'm starving!"
Alicia looked at the angle of his jaw and the plumpness of his lips. He seemed to exert a sexual glow without any effort. There was something about him that seemed so... different.
"You haven't had any food for half a day? Wow... can I ask you where you're coming from?"
The stranger's stomach growled. It's roar was the sound of a hot rod with a broken exhaust system.
He looked like he was about to say
something, then reached into his left pocket.
"O.K.," he said, "I'll let you see my bus itinerary if you return the notion and let me see yours."
Alicia considered this for a second, knowing that that simple move would quiet a couple of her worrying questions. She figured that she had nothing to lose, so she grabbed her itinerary from her bag. They swapped tickets, and after about 8 seconds; they gave off slight chuckles almost simultaneously.
"What?" They both spoke in unison.
The stranger shook his head and smiled. His smile had noticeably relaxed Alicia's nerves. Her smile relaxed his.
"O.K... well I'm laughing because I know that your name is not Kanye West!"
"Well, I know that your name isn't Britney Spears, so what's up with that?"
Alicia smiled and shook her head. She had butterflies in her stomach and she felt like a school girl with a crush.
"It's really a long story stranger, and even if it was a short story I wouldn't tell you."
"Haha... that's fine..."
They sat there in silence for a couple of minutes before the stranger abruptly stood up.
"Excuse me, I need to go to the bathroom... Could you let me out?"
Alicia stood up as the stranger tried to slide out of his cramped seat. When he was directly in front of Alicia, he stopped; his masculine chest pressed up against hers and their faces close enough to kiss. Alicia panicked and her bag slipped out of her hand onto the seat. His body gave off a natural, erotic fragrance that turned her on and made her bite her bottom lip.
"Maybe when I step out of the restroom, you'll tell me your name and we'll no longer be strangers..."
Alicia wanted to say something, but couldn't force her tongue to operate. The only thing her tongue wanted to do at that moment was attach itself to the stranger's body. After a mental power struggle, she finally managed to speak.
"You smell good..." Her voice was sultry and made her sound like an angel, despite her hardened core.
The stranger's face took on a serious look as he bit his bottom lip in appreciation.
"You look good..." The stranger told her as his tight compact body remained pressed against her soft beauty.
"You look good too..." She managed to whisper back at him.
Her eyes trailed down the front of his body until she saw the imprint of his package right beneath his slacks. It didn't look like he had on any underwear, and she was enjoying every moment of her visual.
"O.K... I normally wouldn't do this because I have way too much at stake right now, but I am going to tell you my name. I know I'll probably regret it... but... My name is Alicia."
The stranger nodded his head in
understanding. He knew it was a big risk telling Alicia his name too, but he got a certain vibe from her that made him feel as if she had plenty to lose as well.
"Well, hello Alicia. It's a pleasure to meet you. I don't know if you told me your real name or not, but it wouldn't matter because you wouldn't know if I'm about to tell you my real name or not... My name is Jamal..."
Alicia inhaled his pheromone, smelled Jamal's skin through the fabric he was wearing and closed her eyes. With them closed she could see her future with him in it.
"Jamal... that's a nice name... But is it your real name?"
Jamal's lips parted into a slight smile. He had been claiming his name for the past few decades, so there was no way he was going to disown it just because it was on the FBI's radar. No matter what he did or said, he would always be him. And he would always be him with his own name.
"Yes... that is my real name. Is that your real name?"
Ali
cia opened her eyes so that she could absorb another visual of such a handsome man. Then the bus went around a curve and caused Alicia to fall with Jamal falling directly on top of her. They both lay there for a moment, two people running from their past and hiding from their future.
Both of thier minds producing 100 thoughts per second; and their hearts tried to process it all. Until the day he died, Jamal would always love his wife and his son. He wanted to figure out a way to move Mya and Lil Richie overseas with him if it was possible. But on the bus coming from Pittsburgh, he realized that it would be selfish to uproot his family out of the U.S. just because he was in trouble.
It was his problem, and he had to man up and accept it. What better way to accept it than meeting a new mysterious friend who could possibly help?
"I'm sorry..." Jamal whispered, and attempted to get off of her.
She held him in place, surprising him.
"Don't be sorry Jamal. You haven't done anything wrong..."
They lay there gazing into each other's eyes with a sense of concentration and
understanding. They both understood that every beginning occurred after an ending; knowing that new chapters would always follow old chapters until the end of the book. Knowing that their books contained highs and lows, and no matter how many bad it got; there was always another high point coming as long as they were living.
For Alicia, she would seek for Jamal to comfort her. In a male dominated world, she often felt afraid and lonely when it was just her in it by herself. When Alex came along, she felt like she was desperately trying to accept anybody, and she accepted him without taking time out to get to know him. She didn't know how much longer she had to be a free woman, but she knew that it was too late in the game to make that type of mistake again.
She would get to know Jamal. As a friend, but she wouldn't object if something more derived from their friendship. With Alex, she would mention something without even thinking it out thoroughly, and he would accept it. She needed a backbone. She need something that she never had as a child; guidance.
For most of her adult years, she had been accepting guidance from everyone with a voice. She didn't even wait to see if those people could make sound decisions or not. She just accepted it. This time she wasn't going to make the same mistakes again; it was a new chapter.
******
Chapter 7
The trip to Houston TX was a learning experience for Jamal. After trading life stories with Alicia, he had come to several realizations about his life. One of the things that shocked him to find out about himself was that he no longer had the player elements that he used to have. He no longer had any desires to take advantage of women for financial gain because his wife had changed him.
She had given up her career for him; and given up her freedom for his child. She had done things for him out of love when he had set out initially to take advantage of her. Listening to Alicia tell him her life story opened a new level of compassion for him. Here was a woman who had been raped and locked inside of a basement from the age of 12 until the age of 14.
Here was a woman who had no
understanding of what love was; thus she didn't know how to recognize it when it was or wasn't there. He told her about his beloved brother and his brother's wife, but that type of drama was normal for her. He told her about his wife and his baby's mother, and she was astonished by it.
Alicia stared at him teary and wide-eyed during the thrilling conversations involving real love. It amazed her that two people could just love each other even when they didn't have anything to offer besides each other. Love in the manner that Jamal was describing was taboo compared to what her thoughts on love were. They shared their stories and experiences through the entire trip; the trip being therapy for Jamal, and bringing new realizations to Alicia.
She realized that she had still never experienced true love and she desperately wanted to do so. She realized that her and Jamal were not compatible and never would be, no matter how bad she wanted him. She was used to men hooking up with her, regardless of if they were married or single. She wasn't accustomed to a gentleman like Jamal.
A man who wore his wedding ring when his wife was hundreds of miles away. A man who brushes off the advances of a beautiful woman, and instead preferred to talk about his son as if he was going to see him again. Alicia witnessed the fire in his eyes and felt a pang of jealousy.
Jealousy because she wished that she could be a woman like Mya. A woman with a simple life and a handsome husband who loved her unconditionally. She wished that she could have a man who was sexually unselfish, doing all of the things to her that Jamal said he did to Mya.
Alicia had never had an orgasm; she was accustomed to guys grabbing her and holding her with a lack of sensitivity.
Guys who rammed into her recklessly and never kissed her.
She had never experienced a man giving her oral pleasure; had never had a man to make her enjoy sex. The more Jamal talked, the more she learned.
Jamal loved someone in this world more than he loved himself, and she had never heard of anything like that before. Jamal told her about how much he had grown up over the past few years since his brother died. Told her of how hard he had been trying to locate his brother's wife and his three nephews.
She realized that he was a family man. A man who loved who he came from and where he came from. He spoke about Pittsburgh PA with a passion that was unrivaled. She could tell that he was out of character by being a man on the run, but that his wife loved him so much, that she would rather push him out of character... Would rather push him out of her life forever instead of having to see him caged up like an animal.
The trip to Houston revealed truths. Revealed falses.
Falses like the idea of fleeing the United States; as opposed to staying and fighting the battles like countless other men and women had done. Falses like her level of love for Alex. Realizations that the truth was like a vegetable. It was bitter at times, but it was better for you.
Truths were uncovered in their entirety. Truths like the respect that Jamal held for his city and his family. Truths like the realization that Alicia had not even lived yet. Alicia reflected on everything that had brought her to that point in life and knew that she had a long ways to go.
"Jamal..."
Alicia had a newfound respect for him after the therapy session that they had just been through. He was indeed the realest man that she had ever encountered in her lifetime, and she knew that with someone like him in her corner, she could continue to grow and learn. Her respect for him was through the roof, and she would always covet the lessons and experiences that Jamal shared with her. "What is it Alicia?"
She hesitated for a moment, then she spoke from her heart.
"Jamal, I have a little money here in this duffel bag... It's not much, maybe around $120,000. You told me that you didn't have anything, so I was thinking that we could go to Mexico and just live. We both are headed there, so why not go together?"
When Jamal didn't immediately respond, she spoke again.
"Listening to you, I realize that it's not the money that matters in life... it's the love that matters. It's having someone to wake up next to you that will treat you with respect. And, Jamal... I will always treat you with respect. Everything happens for a reason Jamal, and it was a reason that we met like this."
Alicia pulled two pistols out of her duffel bag and handed him one.
"This is in case the cops are waiting on us. We can't let them take us alive Jamal."
Still in deep thought, Jamal stood and exited the bus with Alicia. They were in Houston, TX; their final destination. It wouldn't be long before they were out of the country. Alicia was all smiles.
"Jamal, I'll go call a cab. I'll be right back."
As soon as she walked off, every man in the bus station turned and shifted their attention to Alicia. By far she was one of the most beautiful women ever. Despite his
predicament, something inside of him ju
st wouldn't allow him to make the choices that he was about to make. He was about to run away from his life as he knew it with a woman he barely knew.
"Boarding bus 7250 to Pittsburgh PA and beyond in five minutes!" Came through the intercom.
When he heard it, he knew exactly what he needed to do. He was going to man up and fight his problems the right way. If he ran, he would never see his wife and child again; but if he was in prison, it would hurt, but it would be worth it if he could occasionally see his family. His old ways were past him, and he was slowly noticing traits in himself that his older brother had possessed.
He started walking to the ticket counter and walked past a mirror. He stepped back to double check the reflection, and saw an up to date version of Richie. His brother was alive through him and he knew he had the full responsibility to make the correct choices from that point on.
Richie had taught him that life was not a game, so it was time for Jamal to stop playing. He kept walking; now seeing himself in a different light. A more mature light with a sharp enough shine to cut through the thickest of darkness.
"One way ticket to Pittsburgh Pennsylvania please."
The words lifted from his soul effortlessly; without thought and without regret. He would not run away from hatred and punishment; he would accept all punishment if he was allowed the opportunity to fight for love.
He ran from the counter towards the bus boarding for Pittsburgh and stopped directly in front of the door. It was like a cosmic force stopped him in his tracks and forced him to turn around.
Across the room with tears in her eyes was Alicia; frozen in her tracks and smiling at him. Alicia was crying because she had grown attached; because she felt where he was coming from; because she could feel that he was real.
Alicia was smiling because she knew that he was going to go back to his wife. She knew that she was no match for such a lucky and incredible woman. Alicia knew that she had done nothing positive in her life to deserve a man like Jamal.
A man who had learned from disaster about how to execute perfection.